Man I'm excited to see headlights and a grill and shock mounts on this thing. lets hear the opinions... the real opinions. Thanks
It's hard to tell from pictures but I'm just wondering how strong the front shock mounts will be under load with that engine weight. Maybe they are sturdier than they appear in the pictures. Other than that I like it.
Are the front 4-bars parallel or is the picture angle making them look farther apart in back than in front? Keep at it, you'll be screaming hwen it runs and drives down the road the first time!
gotta agree on those shock mounts, they look to be butt welded to the chassis, don't look to be strong enuf. front axle locaters ( 4 bar ) unequal length, and are shorter than steering arm, this can give you bump steer.
Not trying to bash you or anything. I'm at the same point in my build and learning everyday. I also noticed the rear panhard rod mounted may give you some trouble. I was always understood they need to be completely horizontal. Otherwise, when the springs compress, its going to force your chassis one direction while you rear end tries to go the other. Could put unnecessary stress on your other mounting points not to mention no telling how it would handle.
food for thought. if you mount the lower part of the shock to the lower bar in the 4 link it won't stick up as high and depending on how you do your backet it might be alittle more sturdy.
alright, The front fourlink bars are on opposite sides of the front batwing but, thats not how its supposed to be, I did it like that to figure out which side I needed to mount them to. The shock mounts are made out of 3/4 stock. I do think your right on the butt weld I think that is the weak point. The four link, links are equal lengths they are mounted staggered though, and not as long as the steering arm. Would them being staggered cause bump steer?? I think I'm also going to have to redesign the panhard bar. We thought about mounting the shock to the bottom 4-bar but we couldn't quite figure out the whole setup. Thanks I'll definately look in to everything brought up
Kyle... I don't think anyone outside of the "Jimmies" crowd knows how old you are. You've done a lot and it's really coming along. Good job. Comments: Already been said but the panhard should be level if I remember correctly. The U-Bolts on your spring are there to hold the spring in place and not the bracket. Set the U down over the spring. I still don't like the 6. Maybe someone in Houston can find something with 2 additional pistons.
remove the rear coil over springs.....and use a piece of exhaust tubing to set them at their installed height....that way no guessing where the panhard will be at ride height....or for that matter , any of the suspension.....i do the same on the front ...and set them up with the main leaf and spacers till its all most all the way together.......brandon
The panhard bar is going to move the chassis side to side no matter what angle it's mounted at, the angle merely moves the location of the roll center. Circle track cars run the panhard bar at more severe angles that the one on the car, it will be fine. With the braces on the front shock mounts, I don't see a problem with those either.
Thanks, for the insight and help ya'll. I'm not sure if they know how old I am or not? Thanks for the compliments. as far as the panhard angle I kinda copied it off of a drag car I saw. It is a racecar though I'll do some more research on the panhard angle. Thanks for the advice and compliments ya'll. By the way is Jimmies still on for the first sunday of december? I ain't bringin no damn girls this time if soo
I'm not trying to be a jerk, just trying to understand. If the panhard is mounted parallel with the frame and axle on the same horizontal plane, any side-to-side movement will be very very minimal. I don't see where a circle-track suspension can be used to compare on a car that is going to be driven on the street with right and left turns. The roundy-round cars suspension is purpose built for the track they drive on to provide the optimum results for their purpose which, as far as I know, typically only run in one direction. Help me understand if I misunderstand what you are saying.
Wyatt reminded me that we're meeting this coming Sunday. As far as the panhard I was always under the impression that it had to be level on a street driven car as well. Perhaps some additional research is in order?
I was refering to the fact that circle track cars alot of times have some angle in the panhard bar, and the mounts withstand the car flying into the corner at top speed. You were concerned with the mounts suffering stress because of the angle. I was merely saying that if it will take a circle track cars abuse, as long as they are strong they will be fine on the street. It does not matter how level or how much angle you run in the panhard bar, the rear axle is going to move in an arc about the pivot points it is on. The longer the bar, the less side to side movement of the rear end and vice versa. Changing the height of one or both sides of the bar will change the roll center and how the chassis rolls about that point. In this case, the roll center probably isn't even correct for the car, so a little angle isn't going to hurt a thing. Will it matter, probably not on the street.
all very good points I do believe blacksix is right more research is in order. I hope to be at Jimmies. this coming sunday.
take the springs off the rear and run the suspension thru its range of motion....you'll notice if its going to move a bunch or not...alot will depend on how heavy of a spring you have....you might not move it at all...... brandon
The springs in the rear are pretty heavy I can't move them with my body weight (175lbs) well see today after school I'm going to check that out
Don't worry about the job, study hard and get a good one when you are out of school. The shock mounts may or may not be STRONG enough, but as far as looks, well...we'll see. See ya Sunday.
Here's a thread with some nice front end photos, not so much of the shock mounts, unfortunately. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=212055&showall=1
Maybe I am looking at it wrong but is the headlight mount welded to the front axle and the frame? If so it is going to crumple the first time the front axle arcs from side to side. You could eliminate the bar connecting the 2 and it would work.....
No sir, the mount isn't welded to the axle and the frame. Richard, I don't like how high the mounts are either but it was kinda the only way to do it without attaching them to the four bar. thanks for the link. The problem with mounting the shocks was in the fact that its a suicide frontend and a 64 truck axle. I thought and thought and just figured somethings just got to be a little ugly. Thanks
Have you considered friction shocks? As far as ugly, it's your first nearly-scratch built car, and you will learn a lot about the function of the components. Your next one will be better. (That's what I hope happens in my case).
Thanks, Richard I'm sure it will. I thought about friction shocks, but hear nothing except that they don't absorb shock well at all.
Remember guys that trackbar isn't parallel but there also isn't any weight on the car either. I don't think it will be that out of wack once its loaded up. I could be wrong. Dad's t-bucket had the exact same problem. Too hard of springs and a track bar that ran at a 45 degree angle. You hit bumps and you had bumpsteer up front, and the axle wanted to walk hard passenger side. Jason McDaniel "Modernbeat" loaned dad his race scales. We weighed the car, then called Eibach and gave them the weights and they spit out a new coil spring for us for the rear. I think they were around $150 delivered. Put them in, which softened the ride a huge amount. At that point, I dropped the frame end of the track bar down 5"s, and then bent the axle end of the bar so that it looks more like a "J" to clear the top of the axle diff. With all of that I had to change the taillight mounts as at compression the shocks would be guilotined by the taillight brackets. Kyle keep on rockin', and yeah get a job so you can keep buying cool parts for the "T". Hope to see you on Sunday.
Thanks Wyatt, Yeah I hope to be there, I'll probably end up buying new spring cause, mine are super hard.
It maybe an optical illusion but it looks like the steering arm will interfere with the axle in a right hand turn. There maybe some bump steer but I don't think it will be excessive but it does look like the drag link is not straight which is a weak spot.
It barely clears, I'll probably have to bend the steering arm a little bit. the tierod is just for mocking up.
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