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#1
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How does one go about making a car handle well. Space to work on a car?
Ok, I have somewhat of an understanding of what needs to be done to the chasis to have a near pefect whole shot. But what If I or anyone wants to have the power of a back-halved, locker diff, coil over shocks, 4 link suspension for the rear. What would be needed in short to have vehicle be capable of handling or out handling the lil jack rabbit 4 bangers? Adjustable shocks? Shorter distance between the front and rear wheels? Struts? Size of wheels? Sway bars? Any sites off hand that could help me out? I bought the Mopar Chasis book, am reading it, but just wondering what all in general would be a good start to be looking into?
Oh, being 17 I don't own a house, and my parents ( my dad is not a gear head, just use to be obssessed with dirt bikes ) will not let me use the garage as a place to actually start working and assemblig my project. Any ideas as to where I could rent space out or something? Anyone ever have to do this? |
#2
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Handling
I had a 69 dart that cornered very well. I could take the new mustangs out of the hole, and keep pulling away in the corner. How? My suspension mods were very limited but effective. 1)Added a rear stabilizer bar. Bought a kit from "Just Suspension"I think, that was a few years ago. 2)Took off the factory front bar and put a 1 1/8" front stabilizer bar on. Removal of that little rad support bar is necessary for this. 3)Installed urethane radius arm bushings. 4) set of 4 michelin 215/60/14 performance tires. That's it. Basic stuff, night and day difference. |
#3
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my old 69 also handled well.
one of the best things you can do for the handling is low profile tires. no more than a 17 inch rim is needed and probably a 60 series or 55 series would be best for a bigger car. but you have to remember that if you wanna corner, you have to sacrifice launching traction also, my dart handled really well when i stiffened up the shocks. but than you again have no off the line traction and it's a really bumpy ride. if you wanna handle like the 4 bangers, you gotta bounce around a little bit too. |
#4
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You did not specifically identify which type of car, but generally most of the older 1960-1970's Mopars has small 14"x5.5" rims with pretty narrow and tall tires. You would want to start with some wider tires, and larger rims.
Gas shocks are a good starting point too. This will get you better traction, but the softly sprung suspensions really could use higher spring rates, and sway bars. Also, the 30+ year old rubber bushings are most likely shot, so a rebuild will help, and you can upgrade to urathane bushings too. Also with the older age of these cars, the steering box may be a bit slopy along with the steering shaft coupler, which may need to be rebuilt. |
#5
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There are a few things that can be done to any car/truck for better handling. Lowering the vehicle to lower the center of gravity, higher rate springs/torsion bars/leafs, better shock absorbers, soft low profile tire that do not need to be real wide (wide is for traction, not handeling), good poly suspension bushings, big sway bars and a good alignment. Also some cash.
The reason that new japmobiles handle is mainly that they are light cars and have good suspension geometry. Tough to beat in a corner but they are easy to pass on the straights. |
#6
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wide tires do help handleing by imporving traction,the more traction you have going into the corner,the less likely you are to slide out,also the wider tire gives you better stance(wider IS better:P)
also stiffer will help to,stiffer shocks,springs,sway barss,etc.. a larger rim(wide and tall) helps by giving both less flex than tire,and a wider stance,tires should be realitively soft to glue you to the pavement better |
#7
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On my ol'Magnum, I just did a few things that really improved handleing.
Went from stock to 60's.on all 4 corners. Grab a rear sway bar from a Cordoba. New MP gas shocks on all 4 corners. B-body XHD rear springs from MP. The springs had the rear sit a bit lower than stock. So I lowered the front of the car. Total was about about an inch. The whole car sat lower. Rebuilt the front end useing all new bushings. It made quite a diff. You can take this farther. |
#8
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The biggest single handling improvement you can make is tires. Anything else just enhances the ability of the tire to grip. I'm building a '66 Barracuda for my Son to be a very good handler, and after a lot of research, decided to use Toyo Proxis tires. They seem to be better than even the Pirelli P-Zero Asymetric. Cost for the 225/50VR15 is about $180 each. Goodyear, Firestone and Goodrich aren't even close for this kind of tire. They are mounted on 15 by 7 steel rims. Small tire and wheel is necessary because I didn't want to cut up the body of the 'cuda. Also, those early A-Bodies started life with a 13 by 4 1/2 wheel, so it really is quite an upgrade.
I did all the other stuff, too - polygraphite everything, SuperStock springs(both right side) relocated inboard for clearance, Wilwood disk brakes, Hemi torsion bars, KYB shocks - this sucker had BETTER handle!! What kind of car are you working on? Also, anything you do to improve cornering will take away from dragstrip performance. That's just the way it is. On the place to work problem - if your dad isn't up for it, how about the auto shop at your school - usually if you take an auto shop course, they'll let you use your own car for your project - that also applies if you take the course in summer school. Another possibility is joining a local car club - one of the guys there might help you find a place. Also, maybe one of your buddies parents would be willing to help you out. Maybe a summer job at a place with a big warehouse? Good luck with your project. |
#9
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I did find a summer job doing landscape with a great company for great pay and great hours. That takes care of the income, now for a place to work on, Mr. Sowles who taught at colleges, and two high schools, one of them, the last one, being mine, just retired, we got to talkin and by the next day he had his last draw with a hard ass administrator and basically left with no intenent on coming back. SO for those of you that knew Dale Sowels, after 35 years of teaching. Hes enjoying retirement and his wide assortment of car antiques.
Sorry for the personal stuff, just thought I'd share some info. |
#10
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Well, I don't know what kind of car you are intending to work on, but I wanted the same thing out of my Dart. First thing is new rubber, I put some BFG radial T/A's 215-70-14. Along with a full polygraphite bushing kit (replace all the hard stuff too, ball joints, tie rods etc..) and some KYB gas-adjust shocks too. It handles like a slot car now, and the car will spin out before it leans in the corners (found this out the hard way ). Oh yeah, I put some real fat torsion bars in it too (.920). It's an awesome ride! Rough though! Of course now that I've done all this I'm going to put a BB in and shoot all that work to pieces. Good luck!
L.C.D. |
#11
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Please tell us what your project car is.
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