"Striper" You are absoulty right! The law of 'threes!'
Modify ONE thing. THREE more related to that ONE will have to be modified in some way or another!
If I may, let me take your surmation to the next level.
There is a thick booklet put out by Addico, called; "Handling What It Is And How To Get It"
There is an article in there about coil sprung, link bar/controll arm suspension, sway bar mounted to the LCA's vs to the frame. THAT will settle ANY argument as to which design is better! But,,,,,, as "Striper'' said, how far are you going to be willing to go,,,,, before,,,,,?
OK, the easiest/cheapest up grade to ANY suspension is a anti-roll/sway bar, PERIOD!
Now take "Stiper's way of thinking.
A common vehicle,,,, lets take a stock suspensioned sedan from the '60's It can only go so fast into a certain radius turn, before,,,,,,,,?
Now, add a front anti sway bar. That same car can take that same turn now at a faster speed.
Now, add radial tires. That car can safely take that turn faster.
Now lt's add urathane bushings. Faster yet.
(OEM rubber busings have a 2" give built into them. meaning OEM rubber busings will let the car lean/roll/give 2" before they start to work.)
Polyurtane bushings, faster yet,,,,,, before?
Ok, here is where the "before,,,,,?" comes in.
That vehicle is now negoiting that turn as a speed greater than is was orginally designed to.
Notice what I said. The car is now able (succesfully) to go that fast(er) certain speed through that same turn, but at a speed faster than the car was orginally design for.
What is happening, ALL of the improvemnts (except for the tire change over) had been to the front of the vehicle.
The inside REAR is lifting high,,,, sometimes the inside REAR tire is off the ground, transfering ALL that extra weight on the outside front. Something now has to ,,,,,'before',,,,? Wheel breaks, tire roll off the rim, A-arms crack, spindle breaks,,,,????
So the NEXT step, to this '60's sedan that has had all these FRONT suspension up grades,,,, is, to the rear. Urathane, or polyurthane bushings in the rear, and above all, a REAR anit roll/sway bar to bring the inside rear back down, to transfer the weight off the outside front.
Now you can go FASTER yet through that same turn!
Now what's next? Indinpendent rear suspension,,,, That car can now take that same turn safely at twice the speed it could orginally. Whoo-Haw!
Now, the front suspension is over loaded,,,,,,,(again) lets' see, Tublar A'arms and needle bearing in place of the busings. MORE speed in that same turn.
OK now lits go with tublar REAR A-arms,,,,, faster yet th,,,,,,,,,,,,. Wait a minute!
You now have a sedan that can corner just as good as a Indy or open wheeled race car,,,,, and that is it. Other than you now have 10 trimes what the vehicle is worth! It can't be driven safely on the street, no supension give for the pot holes, RR track and a million other road hazards, or 'normal' hazards in the road, that a bone OEM vehicle doesn't even notice!
See what "Striper" is saying? How far are you willing to go? The rule of threes!
Those frame gussets, slot in the caprice, hole in the CV, hard street driven, some auto X'ing are NOT going to break/crack!
I have see a small piece of 3/16" angle iron welded to the side of the frame for the link bolts to fasten to,,,,,, never broke or cracked. Some dirt track roundy rounds have less of a mount that what is in these CV's and wagons!
The LCA's will/have broke before that gusset!
There is a guy down here that bought a Y2-K or '01 Extended cab Dodge Cummins dually.
He likes to tinker. He tinkered that truck to a ungodly 1,200 hp and 900+ ft # of tourque!
The ONLY thing that is orginal on that truck is the body! It 'looks' just like ti did brand new!
60 mph in OD , gently give it some fuel, the 4 rear tires will spin.
10 second 1/4 mile times. This is with a almost a 9,000 pound truck!
This truck is so useless, it can't be driven very far on the street. The exhaust gas temps get too high! But, it can 'smoke' any Corvette!
Smoke! I guarantee you there are NO bugs of ANY kind around his place!
Matt, the spring perch idea you mentioned, is almost how the CV has the bar mounted to it's rear end housing! I used the CV swaybar to axle housing mounts, and welded them to the wagon housing in the same angle location they were on the CV!
It is better to have a piece of bungy cord back there to help keep the rear end of these wagons from lifting up and putting too much ,,,,,, before,,,? on the outside front, than nothing at all!
Those that want to go the ho$ki$ (or however you spell it) EVERYTHING, or to those that use the CV bar and muffler clamps, it's what your 'heart' tells you, or what you 'beleive in'
I 'beleive' I found a better/cheaper 'mousetrap' when I did this swap several years ago. To me, I thought all of these LCA's cracking/breaking was dangerous, but, some took it as every day normal useage, wear and tear.
I think I'm going to try it when I do the SS rear in the wagon. It'll save me some "up front" money for beefier control arms.
