Front suspension question

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hoosierdaddy

hoosierdaddy

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I was wondering why you can/can't install coil over shocks in your stock suspension and eliminate torsion bars ? The reason I ask is I saw a coil over conversion kit which included new new upper and lower tubular CA's and the coil over shocks . So what would be the issues involved here ?
 
hoosierdaddy said:
I was wondering why you can/can't install coil over shocks in your stock suspension and eliminate torsion bars ? The reason I ask is I saw a coil over conversion kit which included new new upper and lower tubular CA's and the coil over shocks . So what would be the issues involved here ?
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In most part the shock tower is not designed to carry the weight of the vehicle. I believe that there is a tubular kit that mounts to the car and you don't use the exiting shock tower mount location. In most cases using that kit the shock tower was braced in order to handle the weight.
 
The XVMOTORSPORTS.COM unit seems to have the UCA mounted to a bracket connected to the crossmember and not to the shock tower. This would be much better than having handling forces travel through a component (shock tower) that was not designed for such forces. Torsion bar cars have those forces transferred through the bars to a crossmember underneath the front seats - very strong.

Those systems that do not have an arrangement like XVMOTORSPORTS would be okay to use if the shock towers were connected to a roll cage.
 
hoosierdaddy said:
Bob's is the coil over conversion kit that I was referring to but from what I can see it looks like the kit relies on the stock shock tower .
Click to expand...

it does but with a little boxing on the sides i think would be plenty strong enough did you see in the pics he has or the tubing he has that hooped up there to the shock mount and attached to the side of the frame rail
 
you can see how he braced it here

front1[1].jpg


front2[1].jpg
 
Badart said:
Just wondering. Why would you want to? I think torsion bars are brilliant.
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I ALSO. My '70 Duster has a ride at least as smooth and stable as any late-model car. I don't understand why people wish "upgrade" to coilovers so much; to me converting to a coilover front suspension on a classic Mopar is the same as running a Ford rear end or Brand 'X' engine. There's absolutely no need for it unless you're doing some hard-core road racing and need spring rates higher than those allowed by the max diameter of the torsion bars. OR if you just want to change the K-frame to lighten up the front end...
 
i think the torsion bars are great too, but i have heard getting rid of them makes tons of room for headers and such.
 
nothing wrong with running coil overs as long as you support the shock tower. the stock shock tower isn't made to support the entire weight of the car and can/will end up twisting the frame. thats not good. if you reinforce the shouck mount like in the pics above you should be good to go. taking the torsion bars out clears a ton of room up under there.

i know that RMS sells a kit to do the coil overs on a stock suspension. you'll have to call them though because i can't find it on their site. you'll just have to do something with the stock shock mounts.
 
Here is how XVMOTORSPORTS handles the K-frame. Notice that the shocks and UCA are connected to the K-frame via a steel bracket, negating the need for running steel tubing in the engine compartment for support of the shock tower.

LevelIIFront_lg1[1].jpg
 
FISHBREATH said:
Here is how XVMOTORSPORTS handles the K-frame. Notice that the shocks and UCA are connected to the K-frame via a steel bracket, negating the need for running steel tubing in the engine compartment for support of the shock tower.
Click to expand...


i believe you have to cut out around the stock towers with that set up. then weld a reinforcement that they give you in. thats the basic system there but if i recall that is more then just a bolt in.
 
here is a true bolt in. you can clearly see that it uses its own shock mounts. but i think the original poster wants to go coil over using the stock suspension.



alterktionsmall.jpg
 
oh i believe you may have to run a tube upper arm . not sure if the coil over will fit through a stock one.
 
Doesn't the LCA also have to be beefed to handle the added stress from the weight of the car resting where normally only the shock bolts up? Better have a good through-bolt on there too because you've got the weight of the entire side-front of the car resting on it.
 
I may be kinda old and senile but if you remove the torsion bars your taking away one of the great mopar fetures, strength and adjustable, great ride, reliability!????
 
there is more then one way to get the job done. your also clearing out a ton of room under the car without torsion bars. theres pluses and minuses for just about anything.
 
I am going to run my car hard on very winding roads so I am going to hop-up mine but when you consider that the car is in stock configurations drivetrain wise the weight is equal or below stock design standards. I already know that the car is going to handle pretty well already, but I plan to push it againest road cars so I want it a little better. I thnk I will be able to get it by adding 1 1/4" sway bars in front and rear and an adjustable UCA along w/a adjustable shock. After reading this thread I am going to reinforce the shock tower. Then add the adjustability of the car stock I should be able to run with the corvette boys without any problems at all. I am also going w/4wheel disc brakes along with air in the rear.
 
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