I am trying to work out a design for a torsion bar front suspension, along the lines of some of the early rods that were shown at the first anaheim shows. Does anyone out there have any pictures of those early suspensions linkages, or does anyone have pictures of any torsion bar, dropped axle front ends? I am looking to do a suicide tube axle with about a 6" drop and torsion bars tucked inside the frame tubes/rails. thanks for any help you can offer.
Dennis Varni has an inside the rails torsion bar set up on his 1992 AMBR winning '29 Hiboy - can't find any pix of the front suspension set up, but this sounds like what you are after. He has had the car since the sixties and it was cool until it got Boyded....
Look in the Feb. issue of Street Rodder. They have an article about one the Moal shop is making/selling. Really cool design, evrything hidden from view and super low. There is a red '40 coupe on the cover. Frank
I should imagine it would be economical and easy to hide sprint/super mod. type bars and links and they're adjustable to boot. Also a lot of different weights and rates to choose from.
My car is not finished yet but, being the cheap guy that I am, trying to use junkyard parts, Chevy luv front bars in the rear mounted transverly and Toy. bars in the front inside the frame rail. If the bars are to stiff plan on reducing the bar diameter. Couple pics.
Thanks for the feedback, pictures and pointing me to the sources. Weasel the Varni 29 is a lot like what I had in mind. Does anyone have any close in pictures of the levers and links? Desigs your setup looks good too, how are you planning to deal with shockabsorbers?
You've hidden your real location so this may or may not be relevant: Steve Panarites in Jamestown, IN (aka The Greek) has been building cars with torsion bar front ends(inspired by Lee Osborne) for quite awhile. Longitudinal bars hidden in the frame with arms reaching out to a contact on the bones.
I always thought these were neat and obviously very tidy set ups. I remember seeing a story in one of the mags in the '80's about an A roadster a guy had put torsion bars on the front and had electric rams on levers on the back so he could raise and lower the front on the fly. I remember he had a titanium skid plate on bottom of the car and there was a pic of him going down the road throwing sparks.
I'm using sprint stuff on my front end, torsion bar. I'm running the tubes on the inside of the frame rail longitudinally (not inside the frame rail, on the inner side of the frame rail, if you know what I mean) and I'm make the arms myself from .500" 6061, broached to the bar I'm using. I think this is very different from what you're after, but just thought I'd throw that out there. Check out old sprints and old indy's, a lot of the torsion set ups on those cars were pretty cool and pretty different.
jagrod, Your question on shock mounts, the rear will be mounted like a regular shock or a coil over. The upper front shock could be a issue. I originally was going to fab up a head light bracket with a hole for the upper shock. Richfox's pictured shows a shackle, I do not know how I am going to hook the lever to axle, shackle, heim joints or what.
Thanks for the pics and info. I have been debating putting the shock inside, under the hood on a lever, versus using an old lever action shock or a friction shock on the outside. I am trying for a clean 1930's look and for mine I don't want to see tube shocks on the forntend when I'm done. Anderhart, it sounds like your setup is not so far from my ideas. I am still debating longitudinal torsion bars versus lateral torsion bars. Either could fit my packaging, but I think the shock absorbers will determine the final layout for me. I also want to have the Steering tie rod link behind the fornt axle, tucked below the radiator shell while the tube axle sits out in front of the rad shell. I am planning a four bar front with a panhard rod, and in the rear also a four bar with panhard rod. I will probably use coilovers tucked inside the body at the rear. The packaging at the front is much trickier because I want the front very low and I am trying to still keep a lot of suspension travel. I have considered the torsion levers acting on the 4 bar trailing arms, but I would prefer to keep that joint on the axle if I can.
Most of what you are proposing doesn't seem to fit the "clean 30s look" you mentioned in your post. Sounds more like a modern street rod to me, and there is nothing wrong with that. One of the coolest roadsters with torsion bar suspension I've ever seen was the Willingham Roadster, a 26-27 T with 32 shell and grille, shortened windshield, 38-39 Ford teardrop taillamps, 3pc. hood with inside release to remove the top, 59A flattie with converted V8 dist mounting Lincoln dual coil, Lincoln OD trans, torsion bars front and rear, full belly pan, and ...single exhaust! Builder was a Lt. Willingham who engraved his name and date in 1947 on the back of the instrument panel.
I have a photo in my album of my front suspension (haven't figured out how to post it here) that might give you something to think about. I'm using coil-overs tucked inside the body work to help clean up the front end. I've installed a sprint car torsion bar as my anti-sway bar and am using an "A arm" in place of the usual panhard bar. The "A arm" runs under the radiator from the lower frame to a swivel at the axel center (you can just see the attachment point in the photo). This allows for a very low stance in front while keeping the solid front axel and helps clean up that area on the car.
As stated above torsion bars are not really 1930's era. If I can attach the correct picture you can get very low with a leaf spring. My modified I used a reverse suicide mount. Spring mount behind the radiator. The car is acutally two low. Pan drags in driveway. You also can see the homemade friction shocks.
Thanks for the pics. I really like your front end, and it is helpful for me to see how you did it. If you have any other close up shots of the linkages and torsion bars I would appreciate seeing them. What I am going for is really a car along the lines of a 30's base but how it would have been built in the late 40's or early 50's. Hard to explain, but the radiator shell, front axle and much of the basic hardware is mid 30's, while the motor, gearbox rear axle, suspension, brakes etc are all 40's to about 1950. Basically nothing newer than 1950. I have seen pictures of a few early rods (was it the Neikamp rod that won one of the first Oakland roadster shows?) that had torsion bar suspensions, as well as some of the european racers that were playing with the same ideas around the same time. I am not being fanatical about sticking to any one period or idea, but I want to use enough original parts (and I have them already), as well as a look that would make most people think its an original old car, rather than a new streetrod.
The first pic appears to be the red car posted above (?) the second pic shows it's not really a new idea.
jag rod the first picture Rootie posted is real interesting. Center pivot to keep axel centered, specially constructed arms to hide the arms behind the axel and inboard air shocks. I do not understand the linkage on the inside of torsion arm. The second picture of the Indy car is dated 1946 or 1948, I am pretty sure that was the begining date or time frame when torsion bars started becoming popular.
Rootie do you have anymore pictures of the center locater or similar set ups? Does that replace a panhard bar? Thanks for any imput.
Thats exactly what I am looking for. thanks Rootie. if there is any chance of a bigger scan of that indy car it would be hugely appreciated! the layout and period is exactly exactly what I was hoping to see.
The Jalopy Journal
