Really nice work John, I own two 70 Cuda's and a 71 Challanger vert., could you give me a rough idea what it would cost if I shipped you one of my cars to have K frame suspension installed and rear big sway bar? Also I would like a new 4 wheel disc brake system.
You can send me a PM if you like.
Thanks
The suspension on the Challenger is our Level II setup.
It has an aluminum K-Member, aluminum upper and lower ctrl arms, aluminum spindles and aluminum power steering rack. Front uses coilovers and the upper mount gets welded to the frame rail in the shock tower pocket.
In the back of the car the rear leaf springs are replaced with a three link rear setup with a panhard bar. Lower links are billet aluminum. Again, coilover shocks are used. In the back the upper shock mount and one end of the upper link get welded into the car. On the axle housing brackets are welded on for the upper link, lower links and lower shock mounts.
We also have several chassis stiffening components, including an engine compartment brace, sub frame connectors, a replacement lower rad support that ties the front of the frame rails together and some mandrel bent bracing that goes inside the front fender to tie the shock tower and outer firewall together.
The steering column also gets reworked as the stock setup doesn't support the shaft adequately for a rack at the lower end of the column. We machined an insert that gets tig welded into the bottom of the shaft and then a roller bearing is installed in the insert and held in place by a retaining clip. The shaft is polished and then reassembled.
Sway bars front and rear are splined shaft type, like is used on race cars, with billet aluminum links and spherical rod ends. These type of bars are available in many rates, so if someone wants to go racing this can be tuned to their hearts content. Rear sway bar is mounted through the frame rail with a bearing mounted in the rail. Gets it up and out of the way and is pretty slick looking as well.
The shocks we are using are aluminum bodied adjustable and are about as good as they get, but also quite expensive. The shocks are custom valved for the application based upon four post testing and track testing the car and are matched to the spring rates as well. Shocks are revalvable and rebuildable and with the coilovers many spring rates are available and can be changed with ease if someone wants to go racing, as well as allowing easy ride height or corner weight adjustments. We will likely offer a less expensive option down the road at some point.
This setup also requires brakes as the stock one's won't work. Our Level II brakes up font are 6-piston caliper w/ 14" rotors and out back are 13" rotors. We are also running hydroboost on the brakes. The entire brake system was designed for the car to ensure optimal braking balance and overall performance. Brakes were not off the shelf pieces just bolted on, but designed as a complete system, with caliper pistons sized for the specific application. We may have a less expensive option at some point on the brakes as well, but right now all we have is the really good stuff, designed for optimal balance specifically for the vehicle.
So we will be selling all the suspension pieces, chassis stiffening components, really good shocks and really good brakes as a complete package - it's not just a suspension package if you will. Final pricing will be determined later this month - we're quoting out components right now. We expect it to be in the $15K - $18K range for all the pieces, including the Level II brakes. Installation would be on top of that. I know it's not cheap, but it's the best there is and was fully engineered by professional suspension people and it’s been fully tested - and it works really well. Look at the XV Engineering section on our site and you can see what went into it.
For the cars we are building, we set out to build the best pieces for them - especially in suspension and brakes. The technology and expertise we got access to is pretty much unheard of in the aftermarket for any application, new or old.
John Buscema
XV Motorsports
www.xvmotorsports.com
Topic: XV001 - 70 Challenger Unveiled - Mosport Track Pics (Read 3258 times)
