Boompy

Been doing some research about eliminating some of the body roll on my 1969 newport. Found a company that makes anti-sway bars (front and rear) for my fuselage C-body. Wondering if new duel-action gas shocks (all the way around) would do just about the same thing. Shocks on the car are likely origional equiptment. Would new shocks help, and can you recomend good brand? Thanks for your help.
Sea sick, Capt. Boompy

moe7404

check with a suspension / aliment expert that may be one of the chrysler lettered 300s might have had anti-sway bars. i do know many did. for sure a 1965 300 L had one on the front. the 300s a few years early er had stiffer torsion bars. or a spring shop might be able to make a custom one.

demetri

Generally, shocks only dampen vibrations, and do not offer spring action. However, some gas shops offer some spring action via gas pressure towards the end of its stroke, and it might help.


Sway bars: If you add a rear sway bar, make sure you also stiff up the front one, or the car will tend to oversteer badly, and may get a bit dangerous. When beefing up front sway bar, make sure you do not over-do it, or the car will understeer too much. A thicker front sway bar may work better if you stiffen up the rear springs, which may be relatively easy to do as they are more universal parts than torsion bars.


Torsion bars are very tricky parts to manufacture, so I do not think any random spring shop can (or should even try) to build them. Even Chrysler had some quality control issues when they first started making T-bars in 1957. However, there are some sources out there that remanufacture heavy duty torsion bars for Chrysler products of the 60's and 70's. They are probably not cheap.


Finally ... These cars do roll a lot by modern standards, but they roll a lot less than the typical US car of the day. Also, body roll was part of the design, and the high profile tires used back then coped with roll fine. So, as long as you use properly sized tires, and/or do not have the suspension adjusted excessively high, the body roll and overall handling should be very good for any car of that size, especially given the splendid ride you get out of it. That does not mean that you cannot improve it, just be careful to not generate other unforeseen consequences, as discussed above.

RacerHog

I think both would help....

My choice for shocks....
http://www.qa1.net/

My Choice for Sway bar if they have them.
http://www.addco.net/aftermarket/catalog/dodge/

Archer

B -

You're dealing with a car that's over 2 tons and 40+ years old.

The odds are very good that your suspension is tired at best and yes, there are upgrade parts available.

I would talk to these guys, in fact I did talk to them. They are pricy, but everything is made in house, and they have a lot of experience doing it. They'll also tell you what to expect.

http://www.firmfeel.com/

Archer

moe7404

i think the 65-70 monaco will be the same body as the 68 newport. dont expect it handle like a Challenger. it IS a Big Boat. on my 300 L i raised the front 1-2 in and the bars was much stiffer. could the old bars be weak? or could you use 300 L bars to get some stiffness?

Rooty

Put new suspension bushings all around, aftermarket sway bar out back, one
addition helper spring on the leafs and Bilsteins on all for corners. That's what
I did on my 65 and solved the same problem you have. Not cheap but not
really to pricey either. Problem solved.

demetri

Stiffening the roll stiffness on the rear without stiffening the front will make the tail happy (or at least more than it was). The car will want to oversteer more. That may be dangerous, and it may happen when you least expect it, unless you test the car thoroughly first at the limits of its cornering ability. You may be able to get away with some, because the cars were designed to understeer from the factory, but not much.


Also, springs may sag with time, but they do not lose their stiffness. In the case of torsion bars, when you readjust the height to compensate for the sagging, you are back where you were 50 years ago.


But bushings replacement is always a good idea if these are still the originals....

RacerHog

Good Point...