Front Sway Bars

-

mopar crazy

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2006
Messages
63
Reaction score
1
Location
New Jersey
Hey guy's, I need some advice for my 70 Duster. I have a 6cyl. K-Frame. I'm putting a 340 in it with the schumacher motor mount conversion kit.
This car does not have a front sway bar.
1. Did only 8cyl K-Frames have front sway bars??
2. Can I use a factory sway bar from the 8cyl frame on a 6cyl frame???
or do I have to go to aftermarket on the 6cyl frame???
Thanks for the help...
Pete
 
mopar crazy according to the parts interchange manual there is no break down for anything other than body styles and years of interchange. 69 cuda ,69-72 dart, valiant; 70-72 duster; 71-72 demon all interchange. the 6cyl k frame will have to be changed to a v8 k frame for the engine swap so find a donar car and grab the whole thing. i personally don't think slant 6 cars had sway bars but i could be wrong.......besides it might be too small for a v8 anyway if it did
 
Go here:

www.firmfeel.com

I bought their front sway bar for my '71 Demon which also did not come with a front sway bar. It was also a /6 car that I used schumacher's mounts to put in a 318. Test fit it, drill four holes and bolt it right up to the original /6 k-frame. Easy easy install and it works great. I'm going to order the rear bar next.

-Alex
 
All you ned to do is fabricate LCA tabs and upgrade the torsion bars while you're under there.
 
I bought my sway bar, for my old 71 Dart Swinger /6 car, from P.S.T. here's a link if ya like --->CLICKY LINK I got the 1 1/8" and man what a huge difference it made in how the car cornered. Wrecked that car foolishly driving it in the winter. Now I have the same sway bar mounted on my 73 in my pic. You can see it hanging under the front. Also have solo cross torsion bars in it (I like corners) Makes the car take corners with ZERO body role, I have a 360 in this car with the same /6 k member that was in it originally, used the schumacher mounts also. Not a difficult install at all. The slant 6 k is plenty strong
 
how the original sway bar mounts has nothing to do with the engine size. my 70 duster /6 had the hd suspension from the factory and had a sway bar. the aftermarket bars use the shock hole to add a mounting bracket for the endlinks. personally, the firm feel has the bar to frame mounting down pat. great design. the PST isn't much to write home about. their brackets hang down too low with the L bracket design. just my opinion.
 
My '72 Duster doesn't have the sway bar tabs on the LCA. How do I put a sway bar on the front without the clips? Do the sway bar kits come with the clips or do you have to fab your own?

bwhitejr
 
PST you have to drill a hole in the LCA to place their L bracket. firm feel uses the lower shock bolt to put an L bracket for the endlinks.
 
krabysniper said:
Also have solo cross torsion bars in it (I like corners) Makes the car take corners with ZERO body role,
what are solo cross torsin bars, i am very intrested in making my cuda turn, turn very good to, where do i get those, how do they work? thanks man
 
.920 diameter torsion bars. I got mine from this site --->Moparts racing but you might be able to get them elsewhere for less, just have to let your fingers do the shopping.
As far as mounting, my PST kit came with tabs for attaching to the lower shock mounts, as to whether they are something to "write home about" you must have a personal reason for saying so, I personally think PST has fair prices and they send you a detailed video (for those who might not have a clue what they need to do) that shows you all about front end repair work and how to go about installing their susspension kits when you order the whole front end kit from them, and as far as how low they hang down, never had a problem with mine, hangs low on my car because it is a sway bar for a 72 and earlier and wasn't meant to be on a 73 and newer, I am just to cheap to buy a difrent bar and am a fabricator by trade so making it work on my car wasn't a problem. I have more worries about banging up my headers than I do about the sway bar hitting anything.
 
nothing personal towards you or your car, KS, but i have installed PST on quite a few customer cars, and I don't like the frame bracket setup, as for the endlinks, I installed one on a 73 scamp and you had to drill into the LCA. Fords and Chevys they work great. you being a fabricator is an advantage. PSC in my mind is better.
 
I am new to this site and any help would be greatly appreciated. I am recently finishing up my 67 barracuda conv. and I am in desperate need of some help. I converted the front brakes to 74 duster disc. These are my questions:
1.What is the difference between polyurethane bushings and polygraphite?
2.I did not switch the lower control arms. What will I need to do to them? I heard I might have to move the sway bar tabs? Or do I need to convert the lowers too?
3.Does anyone suggest any specific company for the bushings and sway bar?
Thanks
 
I got my 1 1/8" bar from PST as well and am very happy with it. What I did for mounting was fab up a cutom tab that is braced and welded on to the lower arm - super strong and bullet-proof. Braced the arms themselves as well, while I was at it. Being a '74 chassis, it mounts through the K-frame and looks stock to the untrained eye. But man does it corner well, like kraby says - zero body roll.
 
67 ragtop,

polygraphite is graphite impregnated polyurethane for lubrication so they don't squeak and stay pliable. Although they still need the lube that comes with them. why do you need to move your sway bar tabs? did you put the calipers to the front or rear?
 
I am going to put the calipers to the rear, but it looks like the bolt on the lower ball joint might hit the tab? I have not finished the project because I am trying to figure out what bushings to use.
 
If memory serves here... you only need the sway bar with radial tires in front and/or you want to make it handle. If your drag racin' ya dont need em so long as your running belted tires up front (non-radial) I say save the weight.
 
If you use a sway bar kit from Hellwig http://www.hellwigproducts.com/ (front or rear), their kits are complete bolt on. It comes with a bracket to bolt onto the LCA and K frame . It's probbaly better to weld on an original style LCA bracket but if you don't have access to a welder, it's better than no sway bar!
 
So it seems obvious that front sway bars are well worth the price, but what about rear sway bars? If I get a front sway bar, will the rear sway bar make 225$ worth of difference? I like the looks of the Firm Feel sway bars.
 
1) Did not know Hellwig made bars for Mopars.

2) Firmfeel bars look very nice (especially the rears). Don't like the idea though that using the stock 340 mounts means relocating calipers to the rear.

3) I have PST/Just suspension or something or other (don't remember, it was '92) and mine mount up to stock 340 LCA mounts, but with front 73+ rotors on front I need to be careful to pump brakes after fully jacking up front end and turning wheels left and right. Also had to correct both front and rear brackets (rear was too low and front not strong enough). Maybe since '92 they are better.

4) BTW - I'd never heard of rear mounting the calipers. How does one do this?

5) My '75 /6 Valiant has stock front sway bar.

~Bill
 
I got my sway bar off of E-bay. Still paid close to 140 for it with shipping. I think it is an Addco unit, but there was no names on it. I am not happy with the mounting on the K-frame. It uses an "L" bracket that mounts the swaybar bracket in an upright position instead of horizontal to the ground. I will be breaking out the welder and solidifying the mount when I put in my subframe connectors. As far as performance goes... I say, don't leave home without it. The car handles extremely well now. I also added in the .920 bars, poly bushings from Energy Suspension and SS springs in the rear with 2" blocks. (I sat on the springs for six weeks trying to decide if I was going to dearch them or not, but didn't want to without knowing how far I needed to go.)

If I had it to do over again, I would be calling the folks at Firmfeel. I have installed there swaybars in several Mopar projects at the shop and all of their stuff is topnotch. These guys do their homework and it really shows.

Rev.
 
Revhendo said:
If I had it to do over again, I would be calling the folks at Firmfeel. I have installed there swaybars in several Mopar projects at the shop and all of their stuff is topnotch. These guys do their homework and it really shows.

Rev.
thanks for the recomindation they look like they make a very good quality product. i saw a front sway bar mounted on a 69 dart and it looked not were near to as clean and stable as the ones on Firmfeel site :thumbup:
 
-
Back
Top