Coil Overs

[cycledog]

Do any of you guys use Coilover shocks? I am going to order tubular UCA's, the ones bent for coilovers are a few bucks more and was wanting some input to weather these shocks are workable for street/strip type set ups.

C-Dog

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[slantzilla]

I am in the process of installing a complete tubular K-frame and suspension in my Duster. One thing I can tell you about the coil-overs I have (QA-1's) is you have to cut a bunch of the shock tower out to get the coil-over spring to clear. Definitely not a good idea unless you are going to run down tubes from the firewall to the front of the frame horn for support.

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[Matt Cramer]

Coil-overs have their advantages and disadvantages. The coil-overs have recently become quite popular in the import world, but one of the biggest appeals there is that you can adjust the ride height. On Mopars, we can do that already with the torsion bars. You can run progressive rate springs with coil-overs, which can make for a slightly softer ride but somewhat less predictable handling. Coil-overs make for somewhat more unsprung weight, which at least in theory will make the ride quality a little worse.

So, you've got a lot of relatively minor pros and cons to debate, and one major drawback - coil-over conversions are expensive! That tips the ballance towards torsion bars in my opinion.

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"Mad Scientist" Matt Cramer
'66 Dart - turbocharged 225
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[Dart270]

Cycledog,

If you want best handling, keep the torsion bars. The susp weight is lowest in the car, and the unsprung weight is minimized with T-bars. I wouldn't bother with the tubular UCAs because the stock UCAs are very light anyway. Spend money on good tires/wheels and shocks, stiffer T-bars, sway bar, etc...

Lou

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