Johnny Dart
Well-Known Member
Letting the forum know what your intentions are with the car will help in your decisions. Street, Strip, Canyons, Cruiser, Show Pony, Grocery Getter ?
Best next upgrade?
- Thread starter breadly
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SLOPAR72
Well-Known Member
Just saw one locally on FB a few weeks ago locally. Drum to drum with 3:55 posi out of an A body. $300.00. I almost inquired but am getting lazy in my old age.... That's a deal if it was not damaged....
JW
Higher stall converter
MopaR&D
Nerd Member
I'd lean towards conversion to BBP with factory-based front discs and 8 1/4" rear and some wider 15" wheels. O.P. mentioned he isn't trying to get into serious racing it's mostly a fun cruiser. Also put in some ~1.03" torsion bars while you're in there, you'll be glad you did. Car will be so much more enjoyable and easy to drive (and safer!) with modern tires at modern speeds.
With those upgrades the car will be able to put down more power reliably and handle higher speeds when you go for power upgrades. Which I would say for that, longtube headers and a better cam for sure.
With those upgrades the car will be able to put down more power reliably and handle higher speeds when you go for power upgrades. Which I would say for that, longtube headers and a better cam for sure.
I'll drive it to work a couple of times a month when the weather's nice.
"Spirited" Sunday drives on back country roads, occasional car meet up. It's not pretty enough for a show.
Will probably take it to Woodburn drag strip once or twice in its life just to experience it.
I'd like it to be safe, quick and cool, probably in that order
j par
Well-hung Member
Take it to the Mopar Nationals and enter the sportsman class. Usually a 16 or 17 second car wins that just on consistency alone..I'll drive it to work a couple of times a month when the weather's nice.
"Spirited" Sunday drives on back country roads, occasional car meet up. It's not pretty enough for a show.
Will probably take it to Woodburn drag strip once or twice in its life just to experience it.
I'd like it to be safe, quick and cool, probably in that order
Nothing like bringing home a trophy from the Mopar Nationals.. of course the car show and swap meet as well while you're there...
Usually sometime in July...
MopaR&D
Nerd Member
I'll drive it to work a couple of times a month when the weather's nice.
"Spirited" Sunday drives on back country roads, occasional car meet up. It's not pretty enough for a show.
Will probably take it to Woodburn drag strip once or twice in its life just to experience it.
I'd like it to be safe, quick and cool, probably in that order
"Spirited Sunday drives on back country roads" yeah I'd put bigger torsion bars in there in a heartbeat.
before a sway-bar? or with one?
plumkrazee70
Well-Known Member
What part of Oregon?
East of Salem, South of Portland
plumkrazee70
Well-Known Member
Nice. I'm in Southern Oregon
junkyardhero
Well-Known Member
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por que no los dos?
MopaR&D
Nerd Member
Either way, I'd put them in regardless.
autopar3000
Well-Known Member
For your stated use case you should first improve the brakes and suspension. Later style disc brakes with quality pads are more than enough, or spend the big dollars and get a kit from one of the usual suspects.
The problem becomes the "while you're in there" mentality. While you have the front end all apart for the brake upgrade, why not just swap to 1.03" torsion bars? And why not add a front sway bar? And of course you would be replacing all your bushings.
Here's an unpopular opinion: I would not worry about the 7.25 diff right now. If you don't hammer on it you'll be fine. If you do hammer on it you'll soon break it, but that just means you've found your next upgrade. There's no reason you can't do the front brakes and suspension then upgrade the rear later, just get a couple of BBP rallye wheels for the front until you can swap out the diff.
The problem becomes the "while you're in there" mentality. While you have the front end all apart for the brake upgrade, why not just swap to 1.03" torsion bars? And why not add a front sway bar? And of course you would be replacing all your bushings.
Here's an unpopular opinion: I would not worry about the 7.25 diff right now. If you don't hammer on it you'll be fine. If you do hammer on it you'll soon break it, but that just means you've found your next upgrade. There's no reason you can't do the front brakes and suspension then upgrade the rear later, just get a couple of BBP rallye wheels for the front until you can swap out the diff.
MopaR&D
Nerd Member
I did that on my Duster because I couldn't afford to do the rear end swap at the same time as the front BBP disc conversion. Never broke the 7 1/4" even with a 330-hp 360 as it had 225-wide BFG Radial 'Banana Skins' on the rear.
Swapping torsion bars is definitely one of the easier front suspension upgrades with immediate big improvements. Probably the only tricky part is getting those cursed seals over the end of the bars before installing. Putting a front sway bar on a Mopar that didn't come factory-equipped is a bit more work (but still worth it for sure).
Sounds like PO and you have done quite a bit, all the while that 7 1/4 remains??
Hands down a better rear end.
You want to spend more money to break it?
Hands down a better rear end.
You want to spend more money to break it?
I guess the notion of a 'weak' 7-1/4 has been a little vague for me. I get that a built 410 stroker with slicks will eat it for lunch, but will a moderately built 318 with radials ever take it out? It's not clear and this is my first Mopar, so i ask the advice of the board
I'm on the prowl for 8-1/4 or 8-3/4 locally now, but it looks like it will take some patience to find a good deal...
MopaR&D
Nerd Member
Not sure if that was directed at me but running the 7 1/4" was temporary, after a few years I had the money to rebuild and swap in a 1967 B-body 8 3/4" which is still in the car now. Also my ultimate goals with my car were quite a bit more race-oriented than the O.P.
j par
Well-hung Member
I think I have a video somewhere where my wife goes... "Ut oh!"... When she was filming my duster at Woodburn and the 8 and 3/4 snapped on about its 20th pass..I guess the notion of a 'weak' 7-1/4 has been a little vague for me. I get that a built 410 stroker with slicks will eat it for lunch, but will a moderately built 318 with radials ever take it out? It's not clear and this is my first Mopar, so i ask the advice of the board
I'm on the prowl for 8-1/4 or 8-3/4 locally now, but it looks like it will take some patience to find a good deal...
Don't worry about breaks there's a cornfield at the end of the drag strip that'll catch ya .. LOL...
No, sorry not directed at you. I was just pointing out that one of the weakest links despite lots of mods is still waiting to break lol.
one thing that i learned the hard way was that even though this is an "A33" fender tag car (Track Pak w/3.54 ratio) it had a 7-1/4 under it when it showed up. I decided it was still worth buying but had hoped for better...
I had to look at my notes, and i'm sorry, i mis-recalled the tag number and misrepresented what happened.
I had been under the impression it was a A36 (not A33 as i said before, sorry) - which would have been "A36: 69-71 performance axle package with 3.55"
It was in fact an A86 car (69 only Interior Decor Group). hence the 7-1/4 not anything better...
autopar3000
Well-Known Member
That totally depends on how much torque you try to put through it. Take it easy and it'll last another 50 years. Put a set of slicks on the car and run it down the drag strip a bunch of times and you'll probably get a handful of launches before you kill it.
No Trak-Pak on any A body.
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