looking for advice on suspension, brakes etc

[aussiewannabee69]

Hi guys im about to pull the trigger on some PST gear. Im looking at the Poly Performance super front end kit, LCA rebuild kit and the 1.03 torsion bar set up.
The car is a 1969 dodge coronet,440 6 pack, front disc which i believe are an early 70s set up and rear drums. Although ive had the car 5 years-ish ive never actually drove it. It arrived from the states, i drove it into my shed about 5 metres and pulled it apart. (had to, so much dodgy **** on it).
My questions: Torsion bar size. ive never driven cars with torsion bars before, so much confusing and sometimes contradicting content online so i thought i would ask before i buy.(since im in Australia and postage sucks) Its going to be a 90% cruiser and 10% sending it. Will the torsion bars be suitable. Keeping in mind i will be having 16inch wheels.
Upper control arms, are the tubular ones worth it for what i am doing? i belive the PST kit comes with new joints.
Brakes. the brakes i have on i believe arent standard, can someone tell me what they are from? It seems the rotor and caliper dont match up quite right as it rubs on the hub. Im planning to go disc on the rear aswell. Will the old ones be ok to use if i clean them up(sandblast, paint, new guts and pads) they seem ok on a quick visual, but is there any telling signs that a newbie wouldnt see? i was planning to go dr Diff on the rear but seems hes out of stock. maybe wilwood on the rear, but then the front should be changed to i guess.
Do i require both brake valves if i get rid of the rear drums? one is adjustable and one has the switch in it.

Any help would be much appreciated, this is my first car build. I usually work on large mining equipment, i guess its all nuts and bolts though.

Cheers.

 

[aussiewannabee69]

Torsion bars are much better than a coil spring. The front suspension was well engineered. In reality it all depends on how you wish to approach this subject as you will hear many comments. My personal set up is , large front sway bar, factory style rear sway bar, mopar performance next step up over big block front torsion bars, quick ratio pitman and idler, boxes lca, energy suspension bushings, older Nos moog ball joints and tie rod ends(C body) tie rods, bilstien shocks all around, new mopar big block RT rear leaf springs and good tires on a 15” rim , brakes another story again depends on you. 11” drum work well but if push it you may consider fancy linings or disc set up but what ever you do avoid china made suspension parts as much as possible. Also recommend a firm feel steering box stage two or three, if not buy the reaction springs and rebuild your box to suit your needs. I recommend firm feel for a lot stuff, poly graphite isn’t my personal fav as I’m really disappointed with it. Energy are quieter and a little better.

thanks for the quick reply, ive been looking at sway bars as well. Ive found one from Hellwig that looks alright.
Im also ditching the standard steering box and going with borgeson box and coupler from bergman. read so many good reports about them.
So drum would be fine for what i would be doing? i mean there are brand new cars with drums on them so they cant be to bad.
What did you dislike about poly?

 

[F4R/T]

Energy is a better bushing in my opinion. PST are noisy I don’t like the boots they use. Next size up on the torsion bars, larger front sway bar, add a factory style to the rear( firm feel) bilstien shocks, quick ratio steering arms, stage 2 or 3 firm feel steering box , box the LCA, use C body steering linkage with good rear leafs and add some Will wood brakes on all four corners and a dam good alignment with good tires and enjoy. I tried to shorten this but it didn’t help!

 

[F4R/T]

Energy are a different type of material and stay quiet. They are poly too. PST my boots got hard, failEd no warranty on those and you can’t use a regular boot to replace them that will stay on properly. I called PST awhile back and they advertise lifetime warranty but my boots on all my joints are falling off and not warrantied..
I have both brands on two cars.. moog/ energy, the other is all pst.

 

[F4R/T]

I wouldn’t go borgeson. I would recommend calling firm feel! I’m not a fan of that little box, some will say otherwise but I’m telling ya firm feel kicks butt.. and the parts fit with not cutting.

 

[aussiewannabee69]

I wouldn’t go borgeson. I would recommend calling firm feel! I’m not a fan of that little box, some will say otherwise but I’m telling ya firm feel kicks butt.. and the parts fit with not cutting.

ok no worries i will check out firm feel and energy parts. Thanks very much F4RT

 

[F4R/T]

Others will chime in I’m sure, it’s my opinion and what I’ve used, so make a educated choice.
Good luck and keep us updated!

 

[hunt2elk]

I really like PST's 1.03" bars, I have them on all 3 of my cars. Those bars, Bilstein shocks, lower control arm stiffening plates, 11/16" C-body tie rods and solid sleeves, Mancini heavy duty strut rods, along with frame connectors and torque boxes are what I like. If you have an actual A12 car I would not weld in connectors or torque boxes however.
For brakes, I like Dr. Diff's 11.75" stage 2 front disc kit.
And I may be in a minority, but I do not like the poly front end kits, preferring stock style rubber instead.

 

[Outlawd]

Why not just keep everything stock? rebuild it with stock rubber kit. Both my B bodies are stock rubber and drums all around, they drive great and stop great just as they should.

 

[VFilms]

No help here from me, never did any of this work so I can't be of any assistance. But, I do want to say kudos to all of you who are helping @aussiewannabee69. Taking the time to help another builder is a wonderful endeavor. You are to be commended.

 

[66 Sat]

Mate I got the full super polygraphite kit from PST. It's been on the road for 3 years now, no issues. Very quiet, no squeaks. I've got the 1.03" torsion bars on my shed floor, haven't installed them yet. The car rides great, leans a bit in roundabouts but is otherwise fine. I went with Koni shocks as I could get them locally here in Oz.
I'd just clean up your front brakes, check the pads, new brake fluid and new rubber lines. I'd also keep the rear drums, just replace the cylinders.as they're probably leaking. You can get all the drum brake parts locally, no need to source from the US. I'm not sure how rear discs work with the factory tapered roller bearings. I always thought you had to switch to Green Bearings if you wanted discs on the rear so I kept the drums. The car stops great with front discs/rear drums so I'm happy.
I also kept the factory steering box. I pulled out the column and re-greased the shoes in the coupler but that was all. Once you've replaced all the bushes and ball joints you might find there is hardly any play in the box.
It all depends on how far you want to go and how much you want to spend. I did 90% of the work myself, and the car runs like a dream. Not a show car, but a good driver quality car.

 

[Hilljack68]

On my Coronet, I kept the drums on the rear, but went with the Dr. Diff discs on the front. I too upgraded to the 1.03" bars (from PST) even though I have a small block. I kept the stock front end, but upgraded to poly instead of the stock rubber... plus Bilstein shocks.
I also went with a Steer and Gear box, but wish I had gone with Firm Feel for the steering box. My steering is a little tighter, but not what I expected. I had the stock leafs re-arched and put them back on.
Overall, I'm really happy with the way she handles. I don't drive like Bobby Isaac, but it feels good when I'm into the curves and hills.
Good luck with your build; that's half the fun!

 

[slepr1]

Keep the brakes, stay away from anything "tubular", yes on Bilstein shocks. Poly vs rubber suspension? Poly is a noticeably stiffer ride, rubber not so much but comfortable. On heavy cars I like poly. I removed the torsion bars and tried coil springs. I'd swap them back if I wasn't so lazy. Torsion bars are way more comfy ride.

 

[aussiewannabee69]

I really like PST's 1.03" bars, I have them on all 3 of my cars. Those bars, Bilstein shocks, lower control arm stiffening plates, 11/16" C-body tie rods and solid sleeves, Mancini heavy duty strut rods, along with frame connectors and torque boxes are what I like. If you have an actual A12 car I would not weld in connectors or torque boxes however.
For brakes, I like Dr. Diff's 11.75" stage 2 front disc kit.
And I may be in a minority, but I do not like the poly front end kits, preferring stock style rubber instead.

cheers for the info. No its just coronet 500. was sent over as a WannaBee. but thinking of removing all the wannabee stuff when the paint is all stripped.
yeah i like the dr diff stuff, but seems hes out of stock atm.

 

[aussiewannabee69]

Why not just keep everything stock? rebuild it with stock rubber kit. Both my B bodies are stock rubber and drums all around, they drive great and stop great just as they should.

Interesting, financially id love to keep the rear drums on. might just give it a go, if its not enough i can always go further.
Cheers

 

[aussiewannabee69]

Mate I got the full super polygraphite kit from PST. It's been on the road for 3 years now, no issues. Very quiet, no squeaks. I've got the 1.03" torsion bars on my shed floor, haven't installed them yet. The car rides great, leans a bit in roundabouts but is otherwise fine. I went with Koni shocks as I could get them locally here in Oz.
I'd just clean up your front brakes, check the pads, new brake fluid and new rubber lines. I'd also keep the rear drums, just replace the cylinders.as they're probably leaking. You can get all the drum brake parts locally, no need to source from the US. I'm not sure how rear discs work with the factory tapered roller bearings. I always thought you had to switch to Green Bearings if you wanted discs on the rear so I kept the drums. The car stops great with front discs/rear drums so I'm happy.
I also kept the factory steering box. I pulled out the column and re-greased the shoes in the coupler but that was all. Once you've replaced all the bushes and ball joints you might find there is hardly any play in the box.
It all depends on how far you want to go and how much you want to spend. I did 90% of the work myself, and the car runs like a dream. Not a show car, but a good driver quality car.

Oh sweet, yeah it looks like a decent kit with most of the stuff you would need.
The front brakes, i reckon i will have to change the rotors as they are rubbing on the calipers as you can see in the last picture. Would Valiants have the same pattern? maybe i can source rotors here to. I would like more room in the engine bay as the box is a very tight fit in there at the moment. I will be doing it all myself. Koni shocks i will check them out

 

[aussiewannabee69]

On my Coronet, I kept the drums on the rear, but went with the Dr. Diff discs on the front. I too upgraded to the 1.03" bars (from PST) even though I have a small block. I kept the stock front end, but upgraded to poly instead of the stock rubber... plus Bilstein shocks.
I also went with a Steer and Gear box, but wish I had gone with Firm Feel for the steering box. My steering is a little tighter, but not what I expected. I had the stock leafs re-arched and put them back on.
Overall, I'm really happy with the way she handles. I don't drive like Bobby Isaac, but it feels good when I'm into the curves and hills.
Good luck with your build; that's half the fun!

Good to hear more people staying with drums, think i will stay with the standard drums and just give them a B'day. Cheers

 

[aussiewannabee69]

Keep the brakes, stay away from anything "tubular", yes on Bilstein shocks. Poly vs rubber suspension? Poly is a noticeably stiffer ride, rubber not so much but comfortable. On heavy cars I like poly. I removed the torsion bars and tried coil springs. I'd swap them back if I wasn't so lazy. Torsion bars are way more comfy ride.

Oh really, i would have thought coil being a modern type suspension would have been better. Thats cool i think the PST bars are a done deal then.
Cheers

 

[Dennis H]

www.musclecarbrakes.com

I’ve got em all 4. Nice with good modulation.

 

[aussiewannabee69]

View attachment 1183166 www.musclecarbrakes.com

I’ve got em all 4. Nice with good modulation.

I like the look of the stage 3 rear drums. Is that what you have?
Would you have an email address? They only have a ph number.