Heavy duty torson bars for my 1964 plymouth valiant

-
64whiteghost

64whiteghost

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2020
Messages
334
Reaction score
71
Location
90710
Hello guys !

Thank you all for the awesome support with my build. I will be posted pics shortly. I have half my garage full of parts and will finally have time this week to start the take apart.

I need hlep choosing some good torsion bars for my set up. The car is originally a slant 6 but will now be a 340ci with 450hp 4 speed 8 3/4 with 3:73s. It will have the QA1 uppers and lowers with QA1 shocks. What torsion bars do you guys recommend ?
 
Mopar64340 said:
Hello guys !

Thank you all for the awesome support with my build. I will be posted pics shortly. I have half my garage full of parts and will finally have time this week to start the take apart.

I need hlep choosing some good torsion bars for my set up. The car is originally a slant 6 but will now be a 340ci with 450hp 4 speed 8 3/4 with 3:73s. It will have the QA1 uppers and lowers with QA1 shocks. What torsion bars do you guys recommend ?
Click to expand...

What is the planned use for the car? And what wheels/tires do you plan on running?

In general, I wouldn't run less than 1" torsion bars on anything. I ran them on my '74 Duster for a bit with 225/60/15's all the way around and still found they were fairly soft even for typical street use, left a decent amount of body roll in the car still. That was just with the Monroe replacement style shocks and no sway bars though, adding sway bars and better shocks would likely have improved things some. A big improvement over stock no doubt, but still far short of even the most basic modern commuter for handling.

Obviously for more spirited driving with better tires you'd need bigger, for a drag race only car you'd want smaller, etc, etc. Really depends on how you plan on using the car.
 
>1” plus good shocks will make it feel like a much more modern car. I hav 1.08’s for my 66
 
anything above .920 you will need shocks that are better than KYB, so figure that into your budget.

i like to run what are considered lighter t-bars (.920, .990) and bigger sway bars (current bar is 1.25 solid).
 
Yes, I second PST's 1.03" bars. I 've been using them the past 3+ years with QA1 shocks. (Ditch the KYB's if you go to the 1.03")
They improved the handling even a little more* than it was already and stiffened up the ride a little.
No more squishy ride.
*I have QA1 front suspension upgrades (upper control arms, front sway bars, K-member, C-Body Tie-rods & Strut rods)

Mine is mainly a street driven daily.
However my driving ranges from scenic civilized driving to being a little "spirited" in the twisties.
 
This is for the torsion bar itself. you can get additional accessories for it on the site if you want. Such as polygraphite or rubber boots, clips, etc.
Here you go: 1.03" Torsion Bar - A Body
 
So who sells anything smaller than 1.03?
 
20 years ago Mopar Performance sold the .920...Man I'm old.
 
Darter6 said:
20 years ago Mopar Performance sold the .920...Man I'm old.
Click to expand...

They did until very recently, I saw them available at Summit Racing just a few months ago. They're not listed there anymore, but I didn't look anywhere else
 
72bluNblu said:
Firm Feel still does. Looks like they have .88, .94, and 1.00” for A-bodies still on their website

Sway-Away also lists .87” and .96” bars.
Click to expand...
Well, what are your thoughts? I have a 1 1/8" front bar now and a 7/8" rear bar to install. I'm thinking the 1.03 bars might be a little stout with that rear bar.
 
There are some Firm Feel 1.06's for sale by dartwizer in the suspension parts for sale section.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Well, what are your thoughts? I have a 1 1/8" front bar now and a 7/8" rear bar to install. I'm thinking the 1.03 bars might be a little stout with that rear bar.
Click to expand...

Honestly I don't think the 1.03's will be an issue at all. Whether or not the 7/8" bar in the back ends up being too much will have a lot more to do with the rear leaf spring rate.

As I said earlier I found that my Duster with 1" front torsion bars and factory rear leaf springs was still very soft. Sway bars would have helped, but even just with 225/60/15's all around I don't think the biggest sway bars I could have thrown at it would have been anywhere near "too much".
 
72bluNblu said:
Honestly I don't think the 1.03's will be an issue at all. Whether or not the 7/8" bar in the back ends up being too much will have a lot more to do with the rear leaf spring rate.

As I said earlier I found that my Duster with 1" front torsion bars and factory rear leaf springs was still very soft. Sway bars would have helped, but even just with 225/60/15's all around I don't think the biggest sway bars I could have thrown at it would have been anywhere near "too much".
Click to expand...
Thanks. I'm sure I'm probably over thinking it.
 
Mopar64340 said:
Hello guys !

Thank you all for the awesome support with my build. I will be posted pics shortly. I have half my garage full of parts and will finally have time this week to start the take apart.

I need hlep choosing some good torsion bars for my set up. The car is originally a slant 6 but will now be a 340ci with 450hp 4 speed 8 3/4 with 3:73s. It will have the QA1 uppers and lowers with QA1 shocks. What torsion bars do you guys recommend ?
Click to expand...

I'm running .88 bars with the factory front sway bar, no rear bar, rubber bushings, HD 6 leaf rear springs and Bilstein shocks all around. 66 Barracuda Formula S, HP 273, Isky E-4 cam for now, four speed O/D, 3.91 gears in an 8 3/4 rear. It handles nice and rides nice. Just a good all around street car.

.88 bars came on 340 cars, .94 bars came on big blocks
 
My 1972 Duster had slant 6 torsion bars when I got it with a 340 (iron heads) and 727 transmission. I installed PST 1.03 torsion bars and left what ever front shock that was there and am very pleased with it. I bought a sway bar and have yet to install it and am very pleased with the performance in the WV curves so far, very little body roll. Also installed power disc brakes and not nearly the nose dive as before. PST recommends their matched Billstein shocks for the 1.03 bars but I did not go that route, and have no complaints so far. Also, they are very responsive to any questions or concerns you may have, so definitely recommend.
 
Cuprum-74 said:
This is for the torsion bar itself. you can get additional accessories for it on the site if you want. Such as polygraphite or rubber boots, clips, etc.
Here you go: 1.03" Torsion Bar - A Body
Click to expand...
66fs said:
I'm running .88 bars with the factory front sway bar, no rear bar, rubber bushings, HD 6 leaf rear springs and Bilstein shocks all around. 66 Barracuda Formula S, HP 273, Isky E-4 cam for now, four speed O/D, 3.91 gears in an 8 3/4 rear. It handles nice and rides nice. Just a good all around street car.

.88 bars came on 340 cars, .94 bars came on big blocks
Click to expand...
.88s came on V8 cars with AC in 66. Not sure on the earlier years. I have the .88s on my 66 Valiant V8 car that was AC. Added the Bilstiens and handles great.
 
I have PST 1.03's , ran them with a 318 and now the slant. I like them, my only complaint is the KYB shocks I put on. those will be getting replaced at some point with a set of Bilstiens or something similar
 
dart4forte said:
.88s came on V8 cars with AC in 66. Not sure on the earlier years. I have the .88s on my 66 Valiant V8 car that was AC. Added the Bilstiens and handles great.
Click to expand...

I've seen .88 bars on later V8 A-Bodies with AC also. I didn't want to complicate things.
 
Keep in mind that your 1964 is a bit lighter and narrower than the 1967+ cars of many people replying, so their T-bars might feel slightly stiffer in your car. The good thing is that all T-bars interchange and the lower control arms had the same "lever arm" for all A-bodies. There used to be one size and brand of after-market T-bar which was most popular and thus less costly. I recall something around $100/pair quoted maybe 5 yrs ago, with other choices costing ~50% more. But, looks harder to source new ones now. In factory bars, convertibles and engines with factory AC got larger T-bars, such as a slant w/ AC would get the same T-bars as a non-AC small-block, at least in some years. You can find a chart which documents factory T-bars with their color codes.
 
I have 1.03's In the Grüne Hölle '64 Dart with a 1.125 ( I think) Solid Sway Bar up Front It keeps up with 1990-2015 Porsche 911's on the Street and in the Corners - No Rear sway bar at all. Car is 3000# without me and is a very close to 50/50 weight distribution.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top