More questions about torsion bars

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67redcudavert

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I read through the recent thread started by Snake and it answered some questions but raised others.

I looked at the PST website about the 1.03 bars and it said that the position of the hex was turned slightly to lower ride height and that you could not adjust it enough to bring it to stock ride height.

The Just Suspension website does not say anything about the hex being altered but since they call them Pro-Touring bars I suspect they might be to lower ride height for better handling.

My car is at what I think is stock ride height which I like the look of. I'm not interested in going autocrossing, I just want a little firmer ride and cornering. Besides the torsion bars, I intend to replace the rear springs which I think are pretty tired, put on some gas shocks and a front anti-sway bar, which it does not have now.

So for all of you out there with aftermarket torsion bars, where is your ride height at? Did you want it lower or near stock and what parts did you use?

Thanks, Gary
 
I didn't know that, and find this somewhat troubling. There should be PLENTY of adjustment in the adjuster bolt, and I don't see the need for this. Also if you get ride height to darn low you run the risk of damage due to bottoming the suspension hard.
 
I am at slightly lower than stock height on MP .920 bars. If I was to do it again I would go with stiffer bars, but at the time I only paid $132 for new t-bars from chrysler. This was about 8 years ago and I worked at a dodge dealer at the time so my pricing was good.

Many good things were said about edelbrock IAS shocks, but I hear they are discontinued. I would say get bilsteins. They are currently on sale at summit this month for about $50 a set cheaper than normal. I believe pst and firmfeel also carry them. In the world of shock absorbers you get what you pay for. You must spend money if you want quality. If the $100 per corner price tag seems high do some price shopping compared to new factory shocks for any modern car (ie camry,taurus,impala etc...) and you will find $100 per shock isn't really that high.

And since you didn't list what kind of car I assume it is your usertag and it is a 67 convertible. Probably the absolute best improvement you can make to your cars ride, handling, braking and durability would be a set of quality frame connectors. They improve all aspects of you car with very minimal drawbacks. The ones from www.uscartool.com look especially good.
 
Yes, I have a 67 Cuda vert. Bought it in April, got it on the road in August, have put a little over 500 miles on it so far, like it a lot.

I'm real familier with the world of shock absorbers, I worked in the engineering lab of a shock manufacturer for years. I already bought a set of KYB monotube shocks to put on it. They're a pretty good product for a reasonable price, got a set of 4 from RockAuto for $137.
 
I have Just Suspension 1" bars on my Duster. The JS bars are 0* offset, so they are different than the 30* offset stock bars. But keep in mind the spring rate plays a lot into the offset, the stiffer the bar, the less offset is needed.

My Duster sits pretty low, but I'm fairly close to the bottom of the adjustment as well. You wouldn't have any issues adjusting the JS 1" bars to put you at stock height. Probably couldn't go any higher than that, but why would you want to?

I have heard the Hotchkis torsion bars sit the car low enough that the stock height can't be reached even with the adjusters all the way in, but I'm not familiar with any issues with the PST bars.

As far as bottoming the suspension, keep in mind also with larger bars/higher spring rates that you're actually losing suspension travel. The higher the spring rate, the less travel you'll see, so the car can sit quite a bit lower without running into any bottoming issues. I probably only have a bit more than an inch from the LCA bumpstop to the frame on my Duster, and even with the 1" JS bars (which are not super stiff) and lame softy generic shocks (need to upgrade) I've had no issues with bottoming the suspension. Also keep in mind that the distance from the bumpstop to the frame is not the total travel for the suspension, its not even all of the upward travel because of the angles involved.
 
I am running Firm Feel 0.940” bars at factory ride height in my ’67 Dart ragtop. These are a little softer than I would use in a hardtop car.
In addition to aftermarket front anti sway bar I added sub frame connectors. If your car is a hard top you may want to install torque boxes at all four corners which will also stiffen the body, rag tops and Hemi cars have torque boxes installed at factory.
I installed six leaf factory ride height rear springs from Springs n Things to round out a suspension upgrade that has changed the flopping mess I started with into a flat cornering, easy steering, nice riding car with disc brakes that easily keeps up with modern traffic.
 
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