On another board I saw a guy put hairpins and coil overs on his SS Nova was wondering how that would do on a full bodied car? Here are some pics of his install. Speedway has a good price for a complete kit, it also leaves room for the back seat, how would this work for a daily driver???? I wanted to add coilovers and a four bar to the wifes 62 for a long time if this would work good I may go with this set up.
I'd say too feeble, they look like front end parts for light roadsters. The two bars aren't even tied together. Any power+grip will probably bend the bars. Then there's the old bug-bear of parallel ladderbars in street applications. Do a search on that one. Bottom line is it's not a good idea, 4-link is better.
If those are speedways they are front pins, their rear pins have a "z" brace in the middle and are longer. Still too light for full body car.
Buy a Thorbecke 4 bar setup - they have 1 1/2" DOM bars with big beefy bushings - about $50/bar so not bad pricewise. They sell brackets and other misc. parts as well (or complete setups). We're looking at a set for a fullsize 60's sedan build with a proposed 1300+ ft. lbs. of torque! Steve
!!! THAT setup, on a car like that is DOOMED! No way...single shear, light-duty clevis's, long, spindly pins... double-shear heim ends on the pivot end, not a prob, they will absorb some flex, and so will the pins, without a mid-point brace, so that takes care of the "broken housing/parallel ladder bars on the street" thing, BUT, at the rear, no. Never. Its already broken...it just doesn't know it yet! ANY traction...EVER, and this is gonna break, unless its behind a stock 305, with a 5500 rpm converter...with 2 dead cylinders... This stuff breaks on 2000 lb hot rods, with mild-motors, if you hook it, or stuff it into a turn... BTW, whats with the bars going up from the top, rear, hair-pin mounts? Where do they go?
Looks like sway bar links. BTW, as I've often said; this set up (hairpins. either end), forces the axle to operate as a sway bar. Mock it up with popsicle sticks, you'll see. Besides the power issues, this will tear the tubes right out of the carrier, or tear the mounts out of the floor. You see, what has been created is a large, rigid "U" shape, with the axle as the lower portion of the "U". With pivots at only the tips, the "U" has to twist to allow for roll of the pivots. But, hey, once again, it'll probably get driven on and off a trailer, so no biggie. Why, oh why cannot people read even basic information on ch***is design. HPBooks has two wonderful ***les: How to Make Your Car Handle, by Fred Puhn; and Ch***is Engineering, by Herb Adams. Note these are links to Amazon, so YOU can buy these great books. Cheaper than a tow!!! Cheaper than a box of welding rods!! Cosmo
Thanks for the links I'll have to beg the wife for the ch***is book. I took a sneek peek through the book online and it has what I want in it. Thanks again.
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