[66sprint6]

What's one thing that I could do to improve the handling of our '66 Tempest?
Our car has mostly new suspension, steering and brakes. Only the rear control arms are original. All factory replacement parts. We re-used the front sway bar.
15 x 6's on the front, 15 x 7's on the back wider BFG's.
We were thinking of first switching out the front brakes from standard drum to power disc, but frankly I've never had a problem with the way the car stops. This after replacing virtually every part of the braking system. Like the brakes and everything else on the car, we've done it a little at a time. So where should I start with upgrading the suspension for handling? I don't mind doing something that I may switch out again if I make wholesale changes later. Rear sway bar? I believe that people have mentioned taller ball joints. Maybe a different front sway bar? Leave it alone because I'll not gain anything? I'd love to do everything, but that's not viable on my short term budget.

[b-man]

A good set of shocks like Bilstein.

Swap out the stock front sway bar for a 1-1/4” 2nd-gen T/A unit, you’ll need the sway bar brackets too.

Some boxed rear control arms and a factory 7/8” rear sway bar would be a nice addition.

[Chris65LeMans]

I’d do the brakes. If you can stop an extra 10 feet quicker, that’ll come in handy. I went from disk/drum to hydroboost 4 wheel disks, and there were a couple of times that I was bracing for impact and... ...stopped in time.

As for one thing for suspension- add a rear sway bar. If you’re gonna do one thing, do that. But do your brakes, too.

[Geoff]

Anti sway bars will give best bang for the buck in the handling dept. Bigger on the front, & on the rear use one that bolts to the diff housing with links that connect to the frame; more effective than the spaghetti factory rear bar. [ Hellwig is good, three adjustment positions ]

[nas t eh]

The number one thing you can do is update the tires to modern rubber. But you will need new 17 or 18"rims and you will loose the stock look. Maybe you can get 17" steel wheels paint them and put dog dish caps on?

If that's off the table, then I think b-man is on the right track.

[amcmike]

As mentioned used sway bar from a T/A is biggest bang for buck, even though you already replaced bushing on the stock one.

If you haven't changed your body mounts yet, find some aluminum (you'd be amazed how much it can improve the cornering by reducing lean between body and frame, WITHOUT impacting ride quality).

Then taller ball joints for better camber gain and get a street performance alignment.

After you've done the front bar, ball joints, and alignment, decide if you need to add the sway bar (depends on the amount of over/under steer).

[JLMounce]

This all depends on your goals and your budget, as well as how the car is going to be used. Without that information, anything somebody suggests, is more based on opinion than need.

How does the car get driven? What is it doing now that you'd like to improve?

There's a lot of things that can make noticeable changes in how the car "feels" that may not actually improve how it "performs." As an example, you can modify the toe setting to out by a small amount which creates a quicker "turn in." To many drivers, this quicker turn-in makes the car "feel" like it's handling better, however it's over-all "performance" isn't really changed by any measurable amount.

Some things to think about are what changes you make effect typical driving. You can make a poorly designed suspension handle rather well by adding tons of wheel rate and sticky tires to it. That destroys ride quality however. By correcting geometry deficiencies in the suspension system first, you can gain measurable handling performance while not sacrificing ride quality.

If the car is primarily just a driver that you don't really do much enthusiastic driving in, but you want a bit more for when you need it. My recommendation aligns with amcmike's. Start with modern alignment and a tall upper ball-joint on the factory control arm. Stay with a .5" tall joint which is enough to equalize negative camber gain.

Shoot for an alignment of around:

.5* negative camber
1.5-2* positive caster (basically as much positive as you can get out of the factory arms, it won't be much, but every little bit helps)
0 or 1/16th" toe-in

Even just a modern alignment without changing the upper ball joint is going to be an improvement. The factory settings are "backwards" of what they should be for any type of performance driving. Those settings are designed to add understeer to help balance what typically were tail-happy cars and to account for cars that were delivered without power steering where high positive caster settings make wheel effort more difficult.

Start there and the car is going to track better, have more positive on-center feel and is going to increase cornering grip in the front tires by a good percentage. Handling ability beyond what that will provide is going to require you to let go of the 15" wheels, move to modern rubber as well as changing parts including the control arms, springs/shocks and sway bars.

You can experiment with aftermarket sway bars with the current setup, but if your driving style and needs don't necessitate going further than a tall ball-joint and a modern alignment, the cost to benefit ratio of the sway bars just isn't there.

[66sprint6]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. This helps me in my desire to kind of plug away at the car for now. Bottom line, it's a Tempest in so-so shape. it may not be our last car. So.. two questions on the front sway bar: Is a used one OK? . And, would a 1.125 inch bar from a 2nd gen Camaro be worth it if I got a great deal? I see that the bushings and brackets are not expensive, even for good ones. So I could get new for those.

[JLMounce]

Will a 2nd gen f-body bar even fit on an A body car? I'd be verifying that first and second most on the used part would be inspecting it for fatigue and any damage. A 1.125" bar if solid is a pretty heft bar. There's a decent amount of wheel rate that will be added there. If the bar is hollow, that would be more in line with what you would want on an otherwise stock suspension car.

I have Hellwig bars on my 69 Bird and they are not expensive and of high quality. My honest opinion is that I would buy parts designed for your vehicle, instead of adapting used parts from a different car.

Going to larger sway bars, I would absolutely address the alignment on the car. Adding more wheel rate without addressing the backwards factory alignment settings, does nothing more than increase the rate at which you hit the envelope of traction. It's going to "feel" good until it doesn't. By addressing the alignment, you help that added wheel rate from the sway bar effectively transfer to the ground as increased grip, along with a more nimble feel.

[b-man]

The 2nd-gen front bars will fit, done it on several of my A-body cars, a Camaro 1-1/8” bar would be worth getting.

Ken Crocie at H-O Racing used to offer 1-3/8 solid bars both front and rear for A-body cars.

[JLMounce]

Good to know!

[Skip Fix]

After having my 78 TA for a couple of years had to fly form CA to Florida so rented a Camaro to drive. Plain Jane one soft springs small front sway bar handled like a pig. Sway bars are an easy add on that and good shocks and tires make a big difference.

[66sprint6]

Could I re-use my end links or would I need different ones for the 1 1/8” sway bar? I found new brackets and bushings but haven’t seen end links specific to the thicker bar. The ones presently installed are virtually new.

[b-man]

Originally Posted by 66sprint6

Could I re-use my end links or would I need different ones for the 1 1/8” sway bar? I found new brackets and bushings but haven’t seen end links specific to the thicker bar. The ones presently installed are virtually new.

As long as your end links fit and the bushings are good use them, the link length is really not important so long as nothing interferes throughout all the suspension motion. Mine are from Energy Suspension.

Here's a shot of the 1-1/4" T/A sway bar on my '64 Le Mans convertible. Running KYB gas shocks I bought when they could be had for $100 a set about 20 years ago, will probably swap them out for something better riding.

Junk 2" temporary exhaust has since been replaced with a 2-1/2" mandrel bent system.



Factory 7/8" rear bar and boxed lower control arms. Suspension both front and rear has new rubber bushings, it's just a cruiser running 14X6" wheels and 215/70-14 whitewalls.

[66sprint6]

Looks good. I'll do the rear sway bar/LCA's next. I believe that my stock sway bar on the front is 15/16", so I'm looking forward to hopefully feeling the difference.

[67GTONUT]

Originally Posted by b-man

A good set of shocks like Bilstein.

Swap out the stock front sway bar for a 1-1/4” 2nd-gen T/A unit, you’ll need the sway bar brackets too.

Some boxed rear control arms and a factory 7/8” rear sway bar would be a nice addition.

+100

These things alone will change the car ......

From there...... the addiction begins......lol

[66sprint6]

Yes I installed gas shocks when we did the bushings and front control arms. Big improvement there.

[64speed]

Front disc brakes next. My uncle and mentor always told me that handling and speed aren’t worth a damn if you can’t stop it

[amcmike]

I missed the part about drum front brakes. If you're set on staying with the 15" rims, there are companies that sell upgrade kits with four piston calipers. (Baer and Wilwood for example). Whoever you decide on, I'd call them first and confirm fitment. The single piston brakes that came from that era are not really better stopping power than drum just eliminates fade).


If you're on a budget, you could start with doing the fronts first, as they do the most work stopping the vehicle. you think you're brakes are good now, you'll be amazed what a set of quality discs will feel like.

[66sprint6]

Yay 40 bucks.