Piecemeal Suspension Upgrades: What do you think?

[Road_Runner]

Ever since I bought my Baracuda at the first of the year I've been buying parts for it including suspension stuff.  I'm starting with a 1973 318 Barracuda, no sway bars, decent monroe shocks, probably upgraded rear leafs since the original owner towed her boat with it and there is no rear sag whatsoever.  Handling seems decent, but honestly I've never pushed it.  The ride is surprisingly nice, no squeeks, rattles or pops. 

What I've gathered so far is: original front (non TA/AAR) & rear sway bars, front lower control arms with sway bar tabs & aftermarket bracing welded on, and Edelbrock IAS shocks.  All this stuff I got used and very decent prices.  Is this a decent package of upgrades or am I wasting my time with the stock bars?  Am I wasting my time not changing out the T bars to larger ones?  Do I need to consider a poly bushing kit or will the rubber ones do OK? Although I wouldn't be unhappy to get Corvette handling out of this thing, honestly I'm fixing this up to be a nice pony car that's fun to drive.  Opinions?  Comments?

Thanks in advance, Jim

[Supercuda]

What you have right now is an excellent recipe for a good-handling, stock-level car. You will probably be happy with the results, and the car will be responsive. However, this will probably lead to a desire for further upgrades and even more responsive handling. You can achieve this with the stock-style suspension, but it requires finesse and proper parts selection. You will eventually try larger torsion bars, heavier rear leaf springs, and progressively fatter anti-sway bars. Wider, stickier tires will find their way onto your car, and you will wind up reinforcing the seat mounts, and adding wider, more restrictive safety belts to hold you in. Enjoy the process; play with the car as it will be after your modifications, and decide then where you want to change things next.

[Chryco Psycho]

Depends what you ulitmatly want out of the car
the stock sway bars F&R are decent especially combined with good shocks
bigger T bars & poly bushings will improve the handling as well

[Strawdawg]

I think the biggest improvement, immediately, will come from from quality shocks and tires...not BFG TA's

Bilstein shocks are my favorites but many seem to like the IAS's.  I have had only one set and they were on an suv so I cannot compare them

The problem that you will run into is that as you increase the tire size and go radial, the load on the suspension in cornerning situations will increase significantly due to the better bite at the tire end of the equation.

Bigger torsion bars and better springs will help there...then one day, you will decide you need more sway bar (s)

As stated above, you have a pretty good basis for a nice car....the harder you drive it, the more you will want more-funny how these things are.

[MEK-Dangerfield]

If you are just looking for a nice street cruiser, installing the sway bars and upgraded shocks will do wonders.   

[Road_Runner]

Thanks guys.  You've confirmed my thinking on my upgrades.  They won't turn it into a canyon carver, but I was mainly going for a 'balanced' approach.  The shop owner that rebuilt my transmission raved about how well the Barracuda rides, and thankfully I'm pretty sure he wasn't drifting it around corners so I know he was just talking about normal around-town driving.  And yeah, I can see me going bigger on T-bars & Sway bars down the road perhaps, but maybe not if I like what I end up with.  And yes, I am running BFG T/As  at least for now so I know I don't have high performance rubber. 

Thanks again for the feedback.  Its greatly appreciated!

Jim