Doosterfy
Well-Known Member
I keep seeing people on the internet giving advice about building big block A bodies. One thing I see a lot is people saying you have to swap out the six cylinder torsion bars if you're swapping the big block for a slant six. I just want to let anyone doing the swap to know that it's not required to do that. I did the swap and kept the original six cylinder bars in the car. I have aluminum heads, intake, water pump housing and radiator and I relocated the battery to the trunk. I have all new ball joints, bushings, tie rod ends and Willwood disc brakes on the original spindles and Competition Engineering 3 way adjustable shocks. I drive plenty on the street, drive it back and forth (100 miles each way) to the track and race, and the car rides and handles fine. I am not getting a lot of dive during braking and it's nothing at all like the big block Chevy intermediates I used to build. Its no corner carver by any means and I have Mickey Thompson skinnies on front but it's not the least bit scarry or unpredictable. You do not need to swap them, don't follow the sheep. If the battery were still in front and I had iron heads it may be required. I think a lot of the guys saying they are required have not actually done the swap, they are repeating what they heard or read.