Part 7: Whoa There, Son-Valiant Gets New Brakes

In wiring the Line-Loc, we didn't want the switch mounted to the shifter or the steering wheel, so we hid a three-way toggle switch under the dash. From there, we placed the wire coming from the horn button on the middle prong of the toggle switch. The spliced wire from the horn to the horn button connected to an outside terminal of the toggle. The third prong on the toggle has the wire from the Line-Loc connected to it.

The other wire from the Line-Loc is connected to a fused wire running to a 12-volt source when the ignition switch is on. Under normal driving conditions, the toggle switch is placed in the "horn" position. While at the track, the switch is placed in the opposite position, and while doing your burn out, all you have to do is hold the horn button to activate the Line-Loc.

Since we were getting deep into the disc brakes and torsion bars up front, we thought it wise to replace the six-cylinder springs in the rear as well. We contacted Springs and Things in Danville, Pennsylvania, who supplied a new pair of six-leaf A-Body springs.

We wanted to eliminate some inherent softness of rubber bushings when we mounted the rear springs. We ordered a pair of steel-sleeved aluminum spring-eye bushings from Mancini Racing and new rear-spring shackles and bushings. The front rubber bushings supplied with the springs were pressed out, and the alumninum pieces from Mancini were pressed in place and ready for the mounting brackets.

The front mounting bracket needs to have the spring mounting hole enlarged to 5/8 inch from 3/8 inch for the new bolt.

With the rear now more strongly supported, it was time for shocks (by the looks of the old shocks, it was "time" some time ago). Summit was again called, and a set of their adjustable units was put on all four corners.

Well, here it is, riding on a new suspension, tires, and a disc-brake set-up. Now there's only one thing left to do . . .