What front suspension to use on 1967 Satellite

[Max440]

I am looking for opinions on what front suspension should I use on a 1967 Satellite with a 440. All the hard body work is now complete so I am planning the front suspension. Should I rebuild the existing OEM with upgrades. If upgrades what? Should I go to a coil over like Magnum or others? If I put new upper A arms, disc brake conversion, replace all tie rods , ball joints , Torsion bars and possibly steering ( current it is a manual) I do not have an unlimited budget for this but I cannot afford to do it twice. I have been reading through the forum, researching the net - there are so many options just not sure what is the biggest bang for the bucks.
I am not building a drag car, not a touring car. More like a stop light racer and cruising to car shows. The 440 puts out about 500 hp at the moment.
Any info or suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

[HYRDGOON]

what about ride height? are you staying close to factory?

 

[mmissile]

They are a ton of quality components to upgrade the stock stuff.

 

[Cranky]

And the stock stuff isn't a bad design especially for being 50 years old! I also upgrade my K frames by trimming off the spot weld lip and solid welding it. That alone is a good thing to do. Talk to a good welding tech before doing it yourself. Ya don't want to warp it. There's also pieces you can buy to strengthen the lower control arms or make the pieces yourself. There are also weld in kits available to strengthen the whole body....or make them yourself.

 

[Budnicks]

Depends
how trick you want to go?
how much you have to spend ?
What kind of fab or mechanical skills you have ?
do you want to still use torsion bars ?
do you want to do a bunch of fabrication ?
do you want to use mainly just bolt on stuff ?
is adjustability, stance & ride height a big part of your decision ?

Stock stamped steel type OE stuff can be made to work,
can be made to look better too,
boxing the lower CA's
cleaning up & welding up the K-Member
add better new rubber, or offset or poly bushings etc.
add beefier or alum. strut rods

Do you want tubular stuff or just stock appearing stuff ?

QA1 they are very affordable,
you can do a piece at a time...
It was the "Best bang for my buck",
I didn't have to cut or weld anything...

Opinions will vary vastly,
ask 10 people, you'll get 10 different answers,
some stuff have a bunch more alteration
or needed fabrications, cutting than others

check out any of these,
see what your comfortable with doing & fits your budget
QA1 *
Gerst suspension
Magnum Force Racing *
Hotchkis *
RideTech
Reilly Motorsports
Mopar Performance *
P-S-T
Speedway
SPC Performance *
http://www.manciniracing.com/rihaadupcoar.html
Chris Alston Chassisworks *
Competition Engineering * {not sure about front sups.}
Calvert CalTracs * {rear suspension}

most bigger names are sold thru
Mancini Racing, Summit Racing or Jegs etc. or on the -www-

there's a few others too

good luck

 

[Max440]

Depends
how trick you want to go?
how much you have to spend ?
What kind of fab or mechanical skills you have ?
do you want to still use torsion bars ?
do you want to do a bunch of fabrication ?
do you want to use mainly just bolt on stuff ?
is adjustability, stance & ride height a big part of your decision ?

Stock stamped steel type OE stuff can be made to work,
can be made to look better too,
boxing the lower CA's
cleaning up & welding up the K-Member
add better new rubber, or offset or poly bushings etc.
add beefier or alum. strut rods

Do you want tubular stuff or just stock appearing stuff ?

QA1 they are very affordable,
you can do a piece at a time...
It was the "Best bang for my buck",
I didn't have to cut or weld anything...

Opinions will vary vastly,
ask 10 people, you'll get 10 different answers,
some stuff have a bunch more alteration
or needed fabrications, cutting than others

check out any of these,
see what your comfortable with doing & fits your budget
QA1 *
Gerst suspension
Magnum Force Racing *
Hotchkis *
RideTech
Reilly Motorsports
Mopar Performance *
P-S-T
Speedway
SPC Performance *
http://www.manciniracing.com/rihaadupcoar.html
Chris Alston Chassisworks *
Competition Engineering * {not sure about front sups.}
Calvert CalTracs * {rear suspension}

most bigger names are sold thru
Mancini Racing, Summit Racing or Jegs etc. or on the -www-

there's a few others too

good luck

 

[Max440]

Thank you for the wealth of information. Lots of good questions - I doubt I will go tubular as that gets to 5-7K quickly - so something less. I do have reasonable fabs skills and had done lots of carsa and trucks but never a Mopar until now - so its quite a bit different that the chevy's and Fords. I do plan to put in sub frame connectors, etc. I will look thru the links you gage me - thanks allot

 

[Max440]

what about ride height? are you staying close to factory?

 

[Max440]

I plan to run the car lower - not sure if I will run 2" dropped spindles. I have heard they are cast and can break, bump steer issues and so on. But this is just what I have read. Others say they work well - so who knows?

 

[Budnicks]

$240 each SPC

$550 QA1

$220 QA1

$460 QA1

QA1 it's $2200 ballpark, that is pretty reasonable, for the front
{if you can't make your own, want bolt on stuff}
it's not anywhere near the $3,500-$5k-$7K, like some can be,
you can still use OE steering boxes or OE/OS Torsion bars
with certain QA1 K Members too,
have them add the tabs for Sway bars on the LCA's
add a aftermarket sway bar $200, in it for about than $2400-$2500
add what ever shocks etc.
that is a big part of the cost especially if you go Coil over,
prices are all over the map
If you stay with the torsion bars {not saying you have to}
but you can go with a cheaper/more affordable shock &
still have great front suspension adjustability
@ an affordable/reasonable price...

 

[Max440]

Awesome info - thanks

 

[Bone]

I just ordered the hotchkis tvs 20% off for holloween. New torsion bars. Reenforcing the LCA and K frame. Will upgrade to an aftermarket power steering system. We will see how it all turns out

 

[Max440]

I just ordered the hotchkis tvs 20% off for holloween. New torsion bars. Reenforcing the LCA and K frame. Will upgrade to an aftermarket power steering system. We will see how it all turns out

What type of aftermarket power steering. I have a manual system and want to go to PS

 

[Max440]

What brand/type of PS you going to - I want to convert to PS as well

 

[Bone]

I am going to go with the borgensen one. Didn't really want to deal with the big original equipment. I also found an interesting connector so I won't have to modify the steering column.

Here is the reference article I found.
http://www.streetmusclemag.com/proj...-82-mopar-steering-box-upgrade-with-borgeson/

This is the cheapest I have found anywhere and includes the coupler
http://bergmanautocraft.com/proddetail.php?prod=5-0002

Disclaimer: I am not an expert just trying to learn like everyone else. Not associated with indrusty either. Just thought it looked good.

Zach

 

[Max440]

Thanks for the info on Power steering - very interesting option -

 

[Max440]

looks like Budnicks QA1 set up looks good - price in range of what I would spend with a firm feel #3 PS unit or the PS unite Bone suggests. Put 103torsion bars on it with standard spindals and disc brake upgrade. Include sway bars - Does that sound like a a good combo?

 

[Bone]

Cool. Look forward to pics. I'll do the same with mine. Hopefully it will be here tomorrow. Right now my wife is loving the extra car in the garage on jack stands. Almost hate to deprive here of the experience by completing it.

 

[Max440]

lower is pic when we took it home. Stripped fronet end was a few weeks ago. We have done allot of sheet metal work on this car so far - I can post pics if anyone interested. Hopefullly this will be an awesome garage built car when done

 

[Torkmnstr]

Hey Max, the qa1 is a cheap way to get good performance out of these things. I have a set of brand new tube uca w/ bolt kit and weld in braces for boxing the lca for sale. PM me if you are interested. Thanks