My A-body feels really, really confident now, but it does have most of the Hotchkis parts and 18's. Mine feels really good even at 80 mph.
I think the main things that need to be done to these is rod-end strut rods because the strut rod bushings are too loose. You also want more caster. Those things alone help a ton.
I'll take a look at the strut rod ends. Even though the Valiant is a super low-mile survivor (22k), the rubber under it likely isn't as much a "survivor." I did put the offset UCA bushings on it though.
It's not really the steering though - I know that's off (when I mounted two SBP 14" wheels with large tires in front as a test, all the steering issues vanished). The feeling is more as if you're driving Buford Justice's post-bomb Pontiac from Smokey & The Bandit III - all the outside noises are eerily audible inside, as if the weatherstripping was shot (but it's not).
As for the Satellite - it's tie rod ends are completely shot, so pretty much everything there needs going over. I shouldn't be passing judgement on it.
That said, I'm not particularly keen on throwing a whole bunch of expensive suspension components on a virtually all-original 4-door. I might go LBP so I can run 14's and be done with it, as I bought the disk conversion for the Satellite, only to realize that the Viper brake conversion (on the '73+ A-body spindles) would be a heck of a lot more fun
As others say, that is just the suspension not being upgraded/modernized. Better springs and T-bars and good fresh bushings and steering parts, good tires, and most importantly, a good set of gas shocks up at the level of Bilsteins, will astound you. My son has finished off the upgrades on his '65 Barracuda, that the PO started, with a set of Blisteins for X-mas. We have agreed that is has moved up a notch from being a cool car to an amazing car..... it is not far behind our '09 Challenger in road feel now.
And let me add my congrats on the lifters! Very good.
You asked about the oil hole in the passenger side gallery... the pressure drop there by adding that small hole will be pretty much non-existent; that gallery is fed directly from the pump and filter.
The Valiant, for all the complaints I have with the steering, is pretty stable around corners for an old car with no sway bars to speak of.
Figured the hole wasn't an issue. It wasn't an issue since '89, and Mopar put it there. Not to say that the engineers didn't screw up often, but the LA engine series seems to have survived pretty immune to bean counters and bad engineering over its entire life.
What brand lifters did you end up using?
Sealed Power (Federal Mogul). All of them marked Made in Mexico. One was exchanged because it was not smooth in the bore, but the rest were good straight out of the box.
Yeah. I'll probably end up with a Magnum-infected LA top end motor if I get bored for too long with motivation. Problem I've had lately is keeping gas in projects- lol. I dunno how you can make so completely sure to run things out of gas that haven't even seen the road in months. Nothing like starting to diagnose a no-start and remembering to check and see if it's empty first.
In-tank pumps are not unlikely to've been retained and they were also added to some Ms to solve vapor-lock issues.
With the right donor parts on your doorstep, the Magnum head swap is ridiculously tempting for the roller cam engines. Very easy swap, and a no-brainer for anyone dealing with a burnt valve or other head issue.
I haven't seen any of the in-tank M pumps - are these the "Sawzall a Spectra tank and shove a Magnum pump unit" kind of conversions? Not really a fan of the school of flattening a ribbed tank for the purpose - or the clearance that's required above them. Also a royal pain to mig weld a drop plate onto them. Save that effort for bodywork, I say...
-Kurt
