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Old 03-27-2001, 09:14 PM
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Glen440 Glen440 is offline
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I have a 77 Volare with a worked 440. I'm trying to make this heavy car handle. What I have: 275/50R15's
up front, 295/50R15's in rear, big cop sway bar with custom solid mounts up front, cast iron cookies between frame and K-frame, rear sway bar(might not be used), decent rear springs.Frame connectors. I havn't decided on shocks yet.
Mopar discontinued the F-body circle track shocks. I was thinking of making coil over shocks work in the front because of all the extra weight of the 440. I'll have to see how the car handles before selecting rear shocks and deciding whether or not to use the sway bar. I want to keep the rear a little loose cause theres not too much weight back there. I'm going to look into making a new light weight k-frame but not until next winter. This project has already takin way too long.
This is a street car that might be my daily driver and will see ocasional days at the dragstrip. My goal is to have a car that will run 11.9-12.0 (has no cage) and won't be scary in the corners. I'm taking it to a 1/2 mile oval for the king of the hill competition. One lap vs 1 other street car, winner goes on. Should be alot of fun running 100+ mph down the back straight!
All suggestions will be appreciated
Thanks
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Old 03-27-2001, 10:16 PM
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rumblefish360 rumblefish360 is offline
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I have a question or 2 to ask as well as a suggestion.
First, are you sure you want to run a single sway bar?
In the new catolog , i do see part #'s for the "F" body shocks. These are the ones discontinued? (Shame if they are)
What rear springs do you have? Also, what "T"-bars are in there? MoPar has the zero arch and the 1" arch rear springs. And of course the "T"-bars to suite.
For a suggestion, I say to make the car a 50-50 balance to start. Lower the front end as much as you can without causeing problems with jounce. The rear as well too if you can.
I like the wide tires. Wide as possible is the deal.
Did you change out your strut bushings? I like polygraphite bushing myself, quite nice they are.
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Old 03-27-2001, 11:18 PM
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Glen440 Glen440 is offline
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I'm not sure what springs are in the rear, as for torsion bars there is only one and thats a small block bar. As far as I know no one makes torsion bars for F-bodies. I tried ordering shocks today but the number was from the 2000 book, I'll try again when I get the 2001. I'll know if I need the rear bar when I take some corners real hard. The rear bar usually makes the rear end break loose in corners. It depends how stiff the rear springs are. I was thinking I could run coil over shocks in the front with the torsion bars to stiffen it up alot so I can run it low. It would only be a spring mount mod and a little relocation on the top. I'm pretty sure I could do it. The front tires clear with it as low as it can go so clearance is no prob. I'll play with the rear springs to get the proper height in the rear or have a shop re-arch them. The front end is all rebuilt but with rubber. The 50/50 thing is a real problem. Its likely 60/40
with the 440. The car looks real mean with a 10"wide tire in the front on stock car wheels. I was even thinking on maybe running 2 front sway bars. Just thinking right now, still snow on the ground.
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Old 03-27-2001, 11:51 PM
karfixer karfixer is offline
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I've got a '75 Duster that is similar-400/440 crank that will be a driver and is set up for handling. A few suggestions, first- relocate the battery to the trunk. second, fibreglass front bumper/ light weight fabbed mounts- leave that heavy crash bumper in the rear as ballast. Another option is to use manual steering-this cuts about 40lbs off the front. I would recomend using the rear bar- they make a huge difference in handling. Lastly front end alignment is important in keeping the front tires hooked up, find a good alignment man and don't be afraid to experiment. Sounds like you have a fun ride, let us know what works
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Old 03-28-2001, 03:43 PM
dwayne penner dwayne penner is offline
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Get in touch with Firm Feel, they have some experince in this sort of thing (F-body stuff). I think they ran 2 front sway bars.

If you have a cast iron master cylinder, switch to the aluminium one, it saves about 10 lbs & gives a little more room to work.

Making the "frame" a little stiffer with sub-frame connectors will help when the car is on the edge of it's limits.

If you want to keep the stock look, try gutting the stock front bumper.

Think about switching to the large diameter front brakes (11 3/4" diameter), braking is part of handling.
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Old 03-28-2001, 06:01 PM
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rumblefish360 rumblefish360 is offline
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Good suggestions by karfixer & Mr. penner there.
2 swaybars????? Can i have what your smokin ...just kiddin around. But I would like to know how you would do that.
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  #7  
Old 03-28-2001, 08:40 PM
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Glen440 Glen440 is offline
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Actually I have heard of people running 2 bars in the front. With my custom front mounts I can make a mount to bolt to the bottom and run 2 with no problem. I have the new style master cylinder, gutted both front and rear bumpers. They both have to be steel just incase I hit something or get hit, it is a street car. I had to change my original plans for my fuel system cause it would be dangerouse if I was rear ended. I do have a relocation kit for the battery but I'm not sure where to put the switch.It has been converted to manual steering and brakes. The car does have frame connecters after I twisted the first Volare. My friends were running these cars on the oval so I got some of their parts like, sway bars, mounts, cast cookies. And I have a cop car for parts. I'm going to go to a stock car shop and see what shocks I can get.I wonder if I could run 2 in the front? I'll take a real good look at the suspension this weekend if its at least above zero.
I'm trying to take the car to the drag strip in 2 weeks
So I can try out the engine. I just got the .509 cam and 1.6 rockers.
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