|
|
| Vote for The Forward Look Network on the Mopar Top 100 Sites |
From: Daven Anderson
Email: 1961fury<at>Leapmail.net
Remote Name: 199.182.49.250
Date: September 15, 2003
Yes the '58 Fury had heavier duty suspension parts than the Savoy, but you have to remember that very few '58 Plymouths at all had front anti-roll bars, even Furys! (the few that did were police cars and special orders). An otherwise stock '58 Savoy with a front anti-roll bar installed could outcorner a '58 Fury without one, especially if the Savoy had modern low-profile tires and the Fury had stock sized tires! A good basic game plan here for handling would be rebuild the suspension to stock, fit a front anti-roll bar (adding a rear anti-roll bar as well would be even better!), and plus-sizing the tires/wheels from the original 205-80 B14 (that's 80 series bias-ply tire on a 14" wheel) to 215-70 R15 (radials, 15" wheels) or 225-60 R16 (16" wheels). A good spring company can supply upgraded rear springs that would be a lot better than 1958 Fury springs. It would be nice to have the Fury-size torsion bars as well, but those can be hard to find and really I think if you had anti-roll bars front and rear, and 225-60 R16's all around, you would have a car that would corner A LOT better than a stock '58 Fury! I have front/rear anti-roll bars in my '60 Plymouth wagon ('70 Chrysler in front, '73 Challenger in back) and 15" wheels and I have lots of fun outcornering fullsize SUV's like Ford Expeditions on the winding mountain roads near my home! I do have KYB Gas-A-Just shocks as well, for the rears they have a '57-61 part number but for the front you have to use the '65-68 Mopar C-body shock and trim down the top bushing (about 1/4 to 3/8" on each side) to get it to fit a '57-61 car, you can use the original shock to compare dimensions. The KYB's even improved my '61 Fury which does not have anti-roll bars at present!
