I have a roots blown small block and th400 with brake going into my 66. I have listed my current suspension and brake plan for your input. This car will be street driven on a regular basis and run low 10's/high 9's at the drag strip.


Front end

SC&C stage 2 kit with screw in BJ, prolite, racing bushings, stainless hardware.

travel limiter straps

Stock lower A arms braced with screw in bj and delalum bushings.

Alston Varishocks double adjustable

stock style coil springs (need help with what springs to buy)

Wilwood front brake kit -vented rotors (anyone here using 12" kit on 15" rims?)

s-10 manual steering box

Rear end

Moser 9"

Currie upper adjustable and lower alum trailing arms

HR anti-roll bar

Double adj Varishocks

Relo brackets for lower arms IC? (input please)

Stock type rear springs (need help choosing)

Wilwood 12" vented disc kit with ebrake.


Please help me make good choices! I know there are better "race only" set ups like House of Hook or Alf's but I want a street friendly set up.
I really like that splined front sway bar from Detroit speed.. does anyone know if it would allow the front end to rise easier than a stock style bar?

This site rocks! It is so funny how I can spend 4 days of my vacation looking at this site and still not know what the best suspension and brake options for me are. I guess it is so different for each person and their personal usage requirements and budget that there are no "recipes" posted. I would love to hear from Bob West and others who have dual purpose street/strip cars.

I am still researching and it looks like Santhuff springs are working for many so I will go with them in the front. I have also decided that the 12" wilwoods all the way around will be good with my 15" rims since I have skinnys up front currently and then if I go with some wider 18" pro touring wheels later they will work great.
I will probably just get some stock springs for the back but all springs are not equal so please give your thoughts. Still no replies to this topic.. hmmm.. A simple "yes it looks like a good combo" or your ideas would be great.

Thanks!

Russ

That sounds like a pretty good plan :) A few things raise a flag though...

Manual steering box - nothing wrong with this with the 15" skinnies, but you mention possibly going to wide 18" wheels on the street. You won't like the manual steering with a wide sticky performance tire on front, especially if you run a lot of + caster. :noway:

Moser rear end with lower relocation brackets - find out first if the Moser housing relocates either the upper or lower mounts to begin with. I know some of the aftermarket housings relocate the upper ears, so it's likely you wouldn't need the lower relocation brackets. Also, at your HP level, I believe you're getting into the territory of needing a longer SVSA to soften the hit on the tires. I'm not a drag-racer though, so you may want to talk to others in your HP range about what works for them. Being a wagon, you do have more weight over the rear axle than most though.

DSE front bar - yes would move more freely than a regular bar, due to the use of rod ends on the end links, and delrin bushings on the frame blocks. That's a lot of money though for that little advantage. Some creativity might get you close with a stock type bar for a lot less money. Poly bushings at the frame, and rubber bushings in the end links would allow it to move pretty free, and fabbing up some brackets to put a rod-end on the top of the end link would help even more.

Santhuff springs - Find out what the rates would be, and size the front bar accordingly.

Going for "pro-touring" in street trim, you'll very likely have an oversteer condition with the drag-race rear anti-roll bar. Soft front springs won't help that either.

Thanks for the great reply! This plan is not for my wagon, it is for my newly aquired 66 SS. I am putting my Blown Monte's running gear in it and want to border on pro street and pro touring themes.

I would really like to go power steering but am trying to keeop the weight off the front and and have less clutter on the front of my 671 blown engine. I willl do some research on drive pulley and bracket arrangements and see where it takes me. I guess the Grand Cherokee box is a good way to go if I go power, correct?

I already took the relo brackets off of my list last night after coming to the same conclusion about the moser housing upper mounts. :yes:

The DSE swaybar is just a really bitchin unit and I thought haing it might stbilize the front end for some street cornering on my local twisy roads. The HR bar will have my rear end stiff as a board in the corners but the front with the soft springs will stil be floaty. I didn't have a sway bar on my Monte to reduce front weight and allow quick front lift at the strip and definitley noticed it missing on the twisty roads. Anyone here running a sway bar in the front and getting good 60' times?

Keep the ideas coming.. I know I am trying to make a real dual purpose car here so it is difficult to find that middle ground between touring and drag. I think it would be cool to be able to swap wheels and tires, adjust shocks, and change attack modes..

It's going to be tough to try to do both things well... which would you rather make some sacrifices on? Handling, or Launch?

I think I will definitely have to make sacrifices in handling for the good 60' times. I could however put some kind of quick release set up on my HR bar links and that would help..