Front Wheel Drive Handling

There is more information on the EEK! Mailing List Home Page - which you should visit anyway if you own a non-Omni-based front-wheel-drive Chrysler car made before 1995 (except for the LH series).

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These apply to cars based on the K and extended K platforms, especially the Sundance/Shadow.

Tips from Vincent Cheng

Bigger sway bar in the back to reduce understeer.
New gas shocks.
Cut off half a coil off the spring in each corner. This lowers the car by about 1/2 inch to 2 inches depending on the type of sprint you have. This, with the large sway bar, can really make the car corner.

This setup gave me great control since understeer is reduced and the car is lowered.

Sway Bars (Herbert DaSilva)

You can use the front sway bar from a Shelby Daytona or a Shelby Shadow CSX in any Sundance, Shadow, Spirit, Acclaim, LeBaron Coupe, Daytona, or Chrysler Laser (NOT Plymouth Laser). Note that although the bar is the same, the bushings are different, so you need the right size bushing for the bar you get, plus it has to be the right style for the car it is being installed in. Note that there are many aftermarket bars available and installation of a new bar is a good time to put in polyurethane bushings as well.

I would choose the Shelby bar because it is the thickest bar available. The "strength" of an anti-sway bar is pretty much due solely to its diameter, and since the Shelby bar is 1-1/8" thick, it works better than the 3/4" or 7/8" bars that are stock on other vehicles, and yes 1/8" difference in diameter makes a difference you can feel. Also note that when you order a bar from an aftermarket supplier, they don't mention what option package (e.g. Shelby, ES) a bar fits, only the model, and then they list the sizes. Since the largest diameter bar is typically few dollars more than the smaller bars, I would opt for the largest available bar.

I'm pretty sure the Shelby bar is 1-1/8" diameter, and the bars standard on other sport models is 7/8". The stock bar on other cars is typically 3/4".

Also note that the rear sway bar is built into the rear axle, so if you want a rear sway bar upgrade, you must either replace the rear axle with a Shelby-style axle, or add a hanger-style helper bar. In this case, I would recommend against the Addco rear sway bar. Their design stinks, and the hanger parts are second rate.

The front bar is trivial to replace, but FWD cars actually respond better to more rear-end stiffness. Sometimes when you install only a bigger front bar, the car feels better during most of around-town and highway driving you do, but when you race or autocross it, it plows (understeers) WORSE with the heavier front bar. In that case, you can either stiffen up the rear with an anti-sway bar, or install really stiff shocks and/or springs. (Editor's note: this may lead to a dangerous understeer situation, so matching the rear to the front iss essential).

There are 4 bushings on a sway bar. The inner two appear to be the same shape on every K-derivative platform. The outer two are either square or round. If you look at the underside of the A-arms, where your existing bar is, it should be easy to tell which you have. Then, you simply need to get a bushing that is the right SHAPE and has an INSIDE DIAMETER that is the same as the bar you are installing. If the CSX outer bushings are the same shape as yours, you're all set. If they're not, you can get a full set of polyurethane bushings (another upgrade) from most speed shops in the proper diameter for your vehicle for about $30. A good aftermarket bar shouldn't run you more than $100 anyway.

- Mopar Performance sells "P-body Autocross Springs" - also good for road racing - lowers the car about an inch.

- Get a set of 15x6.5 Mopar wheels off a Daytona and slap some P225/50/15s on them (BFG Comp T/A generation 3s available for $130 each from Tire Rack, Z rated!)

- Set the camber on the front wheels to the maximum negative you can get. You will need to have the toe adjusted after doing this, so you might as well have it done for you. Most independent alignment shops will help you do a custom alignment.

Other handling upgrades for front-wheel drive Chrysler, Plymouth, Dodge

Tire upgrades esp for those awful Invictas. You can use 195/60R15 tires to really help handling; people often recommend Comp T/As, Dunlop D60A2s, and Yokohama Avid MDH-4s. (see below).

I used Yokohama Avid MD H-4s to maintain the original tire size (185/70R14). This cost about $240 but was well worth it in both dry and wet weather traction - no loss of snow traction. Superb tires compared to the Invictas, made the handling much better and greatly improved stopping and turning on wet roads. Note that I kept the original wheels both to lower the cost and to keep the ride about the same. I did not really notice a difference in the ride with the new tires; going to lower profile tires usually makes the ride stiffer.

Regardless of what tires you have, putting 35 psi in front and 32 psi in rear tires of ordinary Sundances/Shadows improves handling. Try putting slightly higher pressure into the front tires of your FWD car, Sundance or not. If you don't like it, let the air back out.

You can add a strut brace to stiffen the front end of most K-car based vehicles, including the Spirit and Shadow. See this page for details

Other performance modification pages

The EEK! page has a number of other handling tips, including but not limited to...

Brake upgrades to heavy duty
Tuning 2.2/2.5 TBI engines for higher performance
Sway bar upgrades for better handling
Coil spring clamps for lower height and better handling