Torsion bars

[raymond73]

Hi i have a procharged 440 1969 dodge charger that is heavy and need bigger bars. I have 0.96 Old bars now.
Do any of you use swayaway bars? They go up to 1.24.
Or do you all use firm feel bars? I allready have 2" drop spindels so i Just want good bars.
Any suggestions???

 

[BLK 68 R/T]

I have 1.03 bars on mine with the 2 inch drop spindles.

 

[raymond73]

I have 1.03 bars on mine with the 2 inch drop spindles.

What brand are the bars?
I have seen pst has the 1.03
And hotchkis has 1.1 but they are clocked for 2" drop.
But swayaway takes 50$ in Shipping
And firm feel takes 100$ in Shipping to norway
So do any use swayaway or heard some things about this?

 

[Mopardrew]

I have the sway away 1.03 and seem decent. Only used last summer. Mine has iron headed hemi.

 

[raymond73]

I have the sway away 1.03 and seem decent. Only used last summer. Mine has iron headed hemi.

Thanks for info.
The local roads here in norway is like an autocross track Just to get in to town
Iron headed hemi is heavy so if the bars held up they are good i was thinking 1.14 from swayaway but mabye those are to stiff?

 

[Sixpactogo]

I upgraded to PST's 1.03 when I built my 68 Charger. With the Bilstein shocks and the factory sway bar I like the ride. Any bigger would not be an improvement IMO.

 

[Mopardrew]

Pretty happy with 1.03. Was gonna go bigger but backed out at last minute. Mostly back roads by me and car stays true in corners now. I run a 225/70/15 on front so lots of sidewall. Was like a boat in turns before new bars and bilstein shocks. Didn’t go bigger because I was kinda scared as to what it would do to torsion bar support. Did I over think it? Lol I’m happy way it turned out.

 

[BLK 68 R/T]

What brand are the bars?
I have seen pst has the 1.03
And hotchkis has 1.1 but they are clocked for 2" drop.
But swayaway takes 50$ in Shipping
And firm feel takes 100$ in Shipping to norway
So do any use swayaway or heard some things about this?

I have the pst bars.

 

[PST]

The 1.03" bars that we offer are designed with a 20 degree clocking or preload. I believe the sway away are flat-flat or zero clocked. You may want to ask them. We had had this design at one point as it was directed more towards the pro-touring and lowered crowd. You can attain stock ride height with the zero clocked but required cranking in the torsion bar adjuster. We have since changed our design

The 20 degree clocked torsion bars that we have offered for the past 7 years will install just like factory and easily attain stock ride height with plenty of adjust up or down. Plus as a member of the forum you are eligible for the members discount and we do ship overseas.

If you have any questions please let me know.

Thanks
James From
PST

 

[69_Coronet]

The general recommendation I have seen is to start with a torsion bar with a wheel rate of about 10% of the front end weight of the car. I don't know the front end weight of your car, but I would guess somewhere in the 2000 - 2200 lb (sorry for the Imperial units, but most of the info I have comes from the US) range. From this,you would want a bar in the 200 lb/in to 220 lb/in range. From the Firm Feel web site, their 1.00 in diameter bars have a rate of 175 lb/in and their 1.06 in diameter bars have a rate of 225 lb/in. You don't want to get too stiff bars because the ride will get worse, and the car won't handle bumps in the road as well if the wheel rate is too high. For a better discussion of this, see Andy Finkbeiner's article at: http://arengineering.com/tech/torsion-bar-tango. His book on improving performance on B-Bodies is very good as well.

I have no experience with the Swayaway bars. Have fun with your Charger.

 

[Cranky]

Going with too big of a bar like 69 said can ruin your ride quality. If the car isn't handling the curves/corners as well as you want but the ride quality feels good to you straight line driving, you might consider going with a larger stabilizer bars. I don't like my cars riding like a 3/4 ton pickup so I have a tendency to use a lighter torsion bar with a bit oversized stabilizer bar....and again like 69 said, need to know what the car's front weight is to make an eddycated guess Knowing the particulars of the car will help you get it closer to being a good handling ride much quicker and without rattling your fillings out but of course, everyone has their own tastes in how they like their own vehicle to act and feel. I'm one that likes a bit smoother straight line ride with a bit of over steer in the curves but still corners flat.....but some don't care for any over steer. I grew up with cars that had terrible under steer and well, I hate that.

 

[raymond73]

Hi and Thanks for all info about this.
I have hotchkis sway bars front and back and bilstein shocks. Calvert monoleaf w/caltracks on the Dana.
I have a 440 stroker 505. W/trickflow and a procharger f1 kit. And aluminium radiator cold case. And battery in trunk.
So i think i will go for the pst 1.03
But Thanks for all replay here.

 

[raymond73]

The 1.03" bars that we offer are designed with a 20 degree clocking or preload. I believe the sway away are flat-flat or zero clocked. You may want to ask them. We had had this design at one point as it was directed more towards the pro-touring and lowered crowd. You can attain stock ride height with the zero clocked but required cranking in the torsion bar adjuster. We have since changed our design

The 20 degree clocked torsion bars that we have offered for the past 7 years will install just like factory and easily attain stock ride height with plenty of adjust up or down. Plus as a member of the forum you are eligible for the members discount and we do ship overseas.

If you have any questions please let me know.

Thanks
James From
PST

Thanks i will order from you this week. Can i get a Shipping quote on your web site?
Raymond

 

[PST]

Send me a pm with your address and I will get a quote together for you

Thanks
James From
PST

 

[rarefish]

I have a question for James at PST.
Did the bars that were offered before the 20 degree clocked design have the bar's "flats"
aligned with each end?
Also, did the pre 20 degree design require the torsion bar adjusting bolt to be cranked up an additional amount in order to get the proper ride height?

 

[PST]

The ones prior to the 20 degree clocking were a flat-flat design. So if you were to lay them on to a flat surface the bars would lay flat. The flat-flat design was for a lowered stance or pro-touring as they have no pre-load. So if you wanted a stock ride height or higher. It would than require to crank the adjuster bolts in farther. The ones that we offer now have 20 degree clocking which is pre-loaded so less adjustment is needed

Thanks
James From
PST

 

[rarefish]

The ones prior to the 20 degree clocking were a flat-flat design. So if you were to lay them on to a flat surface the bars would lay flat. The flat-flat design was for a lowered stance or pro-touring as they have no pre-load. So if you wanted a stock ride height or higher. It would than require to crank the adjuster bolts in farther. The ones that we offer now have 20 degree clocking which is pre-loaded so less adjustment is needed

Thanks
James From
PST

James,
Thank you for clarifying that detail....

 

[Markzx14]

Hi and Thanks for all info about this.
I have hotchkis sway bars front and back and bilstein shocks. Calvert monoleaf w/caltracks on the Dana.
I have a 440 stroker 505. W/trickflow and a procharger f1 kit. And aluminium radiator cold case. And battery in trunk.
So i think i will go for the pst 1.03
But Thanks for all replay here.

This is the engine that I am building .what kinda power are you getting

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

@raymond73 - so how do you like the 1.03 torsion bars 4 years later? I also have 2" drop spindles and Bilstein shocks like you in my big block 68 Plymouth Satellite with big block and am considering 1.03 or 1.06 size bars. I currently run 1.00" bars and feel they could be a little stiffer for street driving.