Our dog-tired '68 Barracuda had a well-worn front suspension. One of the best upgrades on any old Mopar is to freshen the underpinnings up front with a complete rebuild. We had the engine out of this car for a rebuild, so it seemed like the right time to go through the suspension.
Quite some time ago we introduced our ragged '68 Barracuda fastback. The tired old beast was put on the road with a minimum of wrenching-just enough to get it going. With its rat-rod flat-black primer and stripped-out interior, it was the perfect machine for slummin' in style. We got the itch to make it a little better though, and out came the well-worn 318 for a buildup. With the engine out, it seemed like the right time to get other mechanical matters up to spec. Though the rear suspension had been thoroughly rebuilt, up at the front, things were downright sloppy. With more power on its way, it was time to bite the bullet and do a full rebuild of the front end.
Suppliers, such as PST, offer complete suspension rebuild kits, providing all of the normal replacement components in one box. With a kit, the front suspension and steering can be stripped out and fully rebuilt to as-new freshness. We strongly prefer this comprehensive approach, rather than replacing parts piece-by-piece. PST offers bushings in either stock rubber or their proprietary PolyGraphite material. We opted to get a mix of the two, going Poly for the strut rod and upper control-arm bushings, while retaining rubber for the lower control-arm pivot bushing. New upper control-arm adjusting cam-bolts were provided in our kit, and we noted that the design had been beefed-up considerably from the replacements offered a few years back. To complete the parts selection, we ordered a complement of components to renew the steering linkage, including all the tie-rod ends, a set of heavy-duty tie-rod adjuster sleeves, as well as the pitman and idler arms. Rounding out the kit for our application were new ball joints and fresh rubber bumpstops to replace the battered originals.
Long term, we really aren't sure of what direction we want to go with this fastback fish. On one hand, we like the idea of building a fast drag car, taking cues from the SS/AA package cars that made this particular body style famous. Big-block, full cage, Hemi scoop, and 9-second performance-it would definitely make a statement. On the other hand, a nice fastback 'Cuda street machine with a warmed small-block, overdrive tranny, and a few chassis upgrades would be tough to top as a driver. We're leaning towards the first option, and as a step in that direction, we tapped Competition Engineering for a set of 3-way adjustable drag shocks. We may change directions before it is all said and done, and welcome your comments in helping us decide.
