Whoa, you’re reading too much into some of my info and not enough into other parts of it or I’m failing to accurately explain myself. We also are dealing with potentially opposite perspectives here. Quick can be quantified by an e.t. slip. Fast can be measured by trap speed. Handling is g-force, which many people don’t know how to measure, and feel has no means of measure other than each person’s own butt. So, we are kind of in an area that becomes pretty subjective when we talk about how a car feels compared to how it performs.
Let’s go back to the front page. The original poster, despite the title, said his truck wasn't necessarily that much better, but that his car was a slug. So I asked what was HIS definition on handling was, had he altered the weight of the car in any way through mods, and what did he want to spend.
As a result, we got the info that handling should be comparable to a late model performance sedan, the car had no lightweight panels or components, and he was willing to spend a couple of grand to achieve the goal. Had he posted different responses to those three questions, my reply would have been altered. Lets face it, if you think the stock .88 bars are okay in firmness, (I've seen guys complain that they thought they were too stiff), you have lots of light weight stuff on your car, or a $100 budget, you have to take an entirely different approach.
My recommendation comes from empirical experience, not some one else's testing. The fact that XV’s testing came to the same conclusion as my experience simply supports the 25 years with of experimenting that I have done with mopar suspensions.
Handling may have become a "hot topic" where you are in the last 5 years but in the rest of the world one of the biggest criticisms of American cars has always been (and still is) their poor handling.
I don’t know where you have been, but on the internet, classic mopar handling HAS become a hot topic in the last five years. Five years ago the predominate topics you saw posted on mopar boards were engine and restoration based. Now some of the most visited and responded questions deal with handling or suspensions.This also is actually quite a contradictory statement when you think about it. If one of the biggest criticisms about American cars is handling, then why would an owner interested in setting up the suspension to handle start with a set up that is lacking compared to a host of other cars.
The only way to compare apples to apples with the variety of suspension set ups out there is through wheel rate. Not everyone is going to know that wheel rates could be the same between and 800# coil spring, a 600# strut and a 1.22 torsion bar. Wheel rates are how you equalize everything since the spring rates are so different. So looking at it that way, a 1.12 torsion bar is around 250# of wheel rate, give or take depending on your source, or the equivalent to many late model performance vehicles. Also, let’s clarify that I’m talking about performance sedans here, not your average grocery getter Honda. This is the range for cars like Audi Sports, BMW M series, Pontiac G8s, or any of the factory boy racer set ups from Subaru or Mitsubishi.
If you “feel” 1” bars are sufficient, great. But then we are dealing with feel, not a quantifiable measurement. XV has provided a lot of research on the stock suspension set up to get around simply saying it “feels good.” They have quantified it with a number and their recommended combos produce handling just shy of 1g, which is comparable to any late model performance vehicle. However, the key to controlling increased wheel rate is to have shocks dialed in to perfectly match the characteristics of the wheel rates. Perhaps this is why you feel that 1” is rough, but I don’t know. This is also the biggest advantage to the XV “kit” is that the rates are perfectly set to control the springs included in the kit.
If your like me and prefer to set up your own parts, then the Afco shocks that XV uses can be purchased seperately from any kit. You can discuss with their techs about the wheel rates, usage, expectations and get pretty darn close to the XV set up, or you can just buy shocks and send them in for revalving until you get things set up. Since that is a pretty time consuming and expensive way to do it, adjustables may be the simplest and cheapest way to go, even if your spring for $200 a shock you would be money ahead.
BTW, shock and tire technology are two areas that have had the biggest gains in performance over the past decade compared to the rest of the suspension set up and are typically the least understood as well. I firmly believe a lot of dissatisfaction with suspension set ups are cheap shocks, but most people freak when told that they need $600-800 worth of shocks to get into the entry level of “premium” when it comes to shocks. When you compare that to serious performance dampers that are going to run $400 to $600 EACH, then those $40 KYB Gas Adjusts really start to look bush league and you may be able to understand why they may not perform at the levels some expect.
i also feel that xv stuff is a little to much
Drew, I’ve seen pics and photos of your car and it does perform pretty well for having a fairly stock suspended set up. I believe that the significant reductions in unsprung weight provided by the Wilwoods have given you huge gains over many other set ups, even using the stock torsion bars. I also think that you have more body roll than I would want in my vehicle and if you went to a 1” t-bar, would be pretty impressed with the change. That also would put enough front roll couple into the equation that the rear bar would become more effective as well.
One thing worth mentioning that I neglected to hit the original poster with was to ask if any reinforcement had been done to the body? One thing that is of vital importance when moving up to 1 inch plus t-bars is the need to have a good solid uni-body structure to actually use the new rates. Our cars are creeping up on 40 years, and that is a lot of mileage to expect them to put up with and then throw significantly increased wheel rates at them. Much like a house would not be very stable if built on a simple rock foundation without mortor, likewise a good handling car cannot utilize increases in spring and shock rates without reducing flex in the body first. The conception that only race cars need reinforcing also belies the belief that we have made advancements in understanding the rigidity of the vehicle chassis. If you at all want to see how large a problem this is, again refering to XV, go view the video on body flex. This is inherent to every classic mopar and it demonstrates that the body is actually a part of the suspension, which is not good. Even if you don’t step up to increased wheel rates, the reduction of deflection will make stock components feel better and respond quicker while improving over all ride quality, eliminating squeaks and rattles, and allowing doors and windows to open and close easier.
Anyway, this was a pretty long winded response to what essentially boils down to an opinion. But, any one reading can take it or leave it as they wish. I'm just throwing more food for thought out there.
You can spend a fortune on these modifications. But there is a difference between the world of advertising and the real world and unless your name is Lewis Hamilton and it is your "company car" they are not going to make any real difference to you. 
In closing, I think this actually sums it up pretty nicely. I’ve said it before, the stock set up can be dialed in to be more capable than probably 80% of the drivers out there can utilize. So at that point I guess it really does become academic whether or not most mods really need to be done any way. Of course, "need" doesn't really make us build 800 horsepower motors either, but a lot of people do that too.
