What, if any, is the advantage of the large bolt holding the spring pack together as the Posies kits does, as opposed to holding the tension with traditional (no pun intended) u-bolts?
What are the origins of this setup? Are there any huge advantages or disadvantages to this suspension? Can you use it on both the front and the rear of the same car? Brad
Qtr elliptic, full eliptic,semi elliptic.............all versions have their roots back to our earliest cars. Many styles were tried. Hotrodders stuck with transverse on the Fords because it was simple and it worked. Tom McMullen had qtr elliptics on the rear of his famous 32 roadtser however.
Miller worked magic with the quarter eliptics. Works of art! And yes, they can be used front and rear. In the racing application, it provided adjustments at each corner.
Thanks for the hi-jack......but as Tman said, this set-up comes from way back. Some MGs and Jags used them on the rear, and from what I have heard some early Chevy's used them, until they went to parallel fronts. I have also heard of this style spring being used on modified dirt cars. Anyway, back to the question...the large bolt only functions as ride height adjustment? EDIT: Don't mean to be a **** Brad. Sorry. If you search for "elliptical", "quarter" or "1/4", you will find a wealth of info on this type of suspension.
Posies is a much better system. Allows you to adjust for your driving style. Also allows you to independently adjust 1 corner, just incase you find yourself gaining a few pounds and want that level ride back when driving down the road.
Posies unit is pretty slick. I started buiding one a year or so before that came out. Not as simple as you think starting out with a clean sheet of paper! Of course, that was 10 years ago before so many 1/4 elilliptic cars hit the magazines and the HAMB. I was going off old old pictures of Bo Jones'? modified and Bills red Banger Mod that I had in some coffetable book.
hmmmm... maybe I won't be using a model A crossmember and spring on my ch***is... any pictures that show shock mounting options? nevermind http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=253504
That can be the kicker with this setup...it's SO clean that tube shocks stick out like a sore thumb. I'm building an O/T (not rat) rod using 1/4s front and rear. I put the front springs inside the frame, so it looks like the rails just become the springs... I've got Dakota drop shocks on the front, on mounts that will double as the headlight brackets. In the rear, the springs are together over the center of the rear end (ladder bar suspension), and I'm thinking seriously about hyd. lever action shocks attached to the ladder bars. The rear frame ends at the ladder bar mounts, so the entire rear end is "hanging out in space"...no place to put shocks off the axle. I'd also be very interested to see what others have come up with regarding shock mounting with 1/4 elliptics. I didn't see much specifically on shocks in that thread.
Yeah, mounting of the shocks seem to be the biggest issue with these.....levers, I think are the way to go on the front at least. All the pics I have show the shock mounted to the radius rod....which i don't like..but I have seen one with a lever shock from the frame to the axle with a long arm.
Here's one with a long-arm lever shock mounted directly to the axle....and one with no shock. I like the long-arm lever....
One more.....with no shocks...I wonder if that's okay..... BTW - Never seen this red mod....but it is really nice...... Tman....is this the red one you were building from?
You *******! No just kidding, I didnt mean to take your thread, it just made me wonder. The red car in your above post is in a book I have at home, I will see if there is any info on owner or builder and I will see which book it is for sure. No hard feelings I hope Brad
It was built by a friend of mine here in Phoenix about twenty five years ago. His name is Ron Olmstead. He sold it at L. A. Roadster show in about '89 or '90 to a guy over in California who did a quick paint job and claimed it as his own creation in American Rodder in '91 or '92 or so.
Lever Shocks mounted to the frame (see crude rendition)... panhard bar or watts link to the differential is what I was thinking. As to where to mount shocks on cars with a "short" frame??? I don't think I'd want them mounted to the radius rods... for more than a couple reasons... but I can't quickly think of a clean and easy solution for that problem.
The book is Ford Hot Rods by Dain Gingerelli, c1998. All I found about is the owners name and that is has a late model pontiac 4 cyl. I think I got the book on amazon for about 10.00 bucks and it has some decent pics of modifieds up through a's and 32s. Brad
Yeah, me either...and I'm usually pretty good at clean and easy solutions. BTW, if the spring mounts are constructed properly, there's no need for a any lateral locator (panhard, etc.), just as in a standard dual leaf setup. The shackles should be plated or bridged to keep them from twisting, but that's about all it needs.
I used lever arms but fitted them with a revalve kit to make them slightly stiffer. 2 small holes in the floor allow access for adjustment, they work good.
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