hotchkis b body total vehicle system

[66coronet500]

i have seen this on year one, does anyone have it fitted or know wha is needed extra, i am a novice and i would think my car will need everything replacing, i wondered if this may be an answer to my problems. or it may create them ????

[Blue]

Depends on how you intend to drive the car for a start, that kit is aimed at those that want to throw the car around a bit, if that's not your intention then you are paying a lot of money for parts you don't need. Hotchkis are propably the most expensive of the Mopar suspension suppliers as well. I can see there are bushes and shocks not included in that kit, it is more of an upgrade than a rebuild kit. Also try and avoid Year One, you can buy pretty much everything they sell, elsewhere for less money.

[66coronet500]

thanks for the advice, i am thinking what i need to buy so i can put it in before it leaves for uk, there are another two leaving after that so if needs be can load these too. basically what i need is a full rundown of stuff i need. I will do more research and prepare a list. I prob would be throwing the car about though i have a performance built 360 to go in it so it should be lively

[Dave999]

i built up a perfectly good front end rebuild kit for less than the cost of a kit

by judicious purchases on ebay on here and from rock auto

spend money on

upper and lower balljoints
pitman arm

buy moog bushes

get a pitman arm specific to you year/car range and steering box

if your idler arm is orginal or good quality pattern and the cross link end is in good nick you are better off gutting the rubber out of the other end and fitting a ball /disk roller bearing bush in place of the rubber than getting a new one.

new bearing conversions for the idler cost a lot but ebay shop soiled old stuff doesn't
australia and other countries also produced them.

if you buy New old stock joints or MOOG you get the proper joint seals. rubber with press on plastic rim
if you buy any old stuff or from other aftermarket suppliers you get modern urethane seals that look like bits of "transfomer" toy. they work but not as well as the originals.

there is no reason why you can't have a nice handling car with stock stuff
and possibly thicker torsion bars
if you buy torsion bars get some from Mopar or from Firm feel

they have the ends set at the right angle for the springyness of the bar and the style of car its designed for. if the hex ends are not set at the right angle (some other manufacturers) you end up at one end or the other of the adjuster, and the adjuster is not something that should be hanging on by a few threads or at a weird angle at the point where it contacts the lever. they are designed to be somewhere near the middle of the adjuster bolt

Dave

[66coronet500]

thanks that post was very helpful i will start hunting things down