im building a frame for my model A and i'm starting to build my four link area.. does anyone know how long the four link bars need to be?? the way i have my frame built is for a tall guy im 6'5 so i had to move the rear-end notch back quite a bit so i could drive the car with the chop and floor the way it is going to be..
i think i need to make that more clear.....the length of my frame right now is gonna make my four link rods about 13 inches and i am just wondering if that is gonna be long enough...
Thats not very long, it doesn't allow for much up and down movement. I have used about 22-24" and they worked well.
I can check mine tonight, the rods aren't very long on it, but it seems to work fine for me. If it helps, I am 6'1" and the set back is such that I have about eight inches between my seat back and the rear wall. Oh, this is in a 29 five window.
thats what i have always ran on my other projects but to get the up rails back far enough for my seats to be in the right area that makes the four link rods 13' inches
That's awfully short but would work. Is there any way you can make the bottom bars longer? If you could run them at about 20 to 24" it would help a bunch. I am guessing you are using off the shelf brackets on your axle housing. You can fab brackets that wing back behind axle centerline to add length to to your bars also. So if you could add length to the bottom by going under the seat and length to the rear by going behind the axle a couple of inches it would likely work out quite well.
I am no expert by any means but that seems pretty short. The supension will travel in a small arc, ie, at 4 inches of traval up and down the rear end would move forward about 1/2of an inch. in relationship to the center line, albeit 4 inches of travel maybe alot.
I have seen some run aft instead of forward, can you run longer ones mounting to the rear of the chassis?
I don't know what kind of ride you're looking for, but these bars are nine inch and give a very good comfortable ride on my T, on the street. While longer bars are ideal, set up properly with the spring, short bars will work just fine. The T is raced also and hooks up very well. I've been running them like this since 1964. (well, sorta. They weren't double captured until I peeled the single axle mounts launching at Indy in the early 90s ) If you want a really soft ride I'd go longer. Mutt
Okay, I took a few photos with my cell last night and measured the links. 10.5 inches long on both. It's very dirty back there, but that is the price I pay for driving it a lot. By the way, I think I am running a Ford 8.8, can anyone tell from the photos what that rear end is? I have never known what the rear end is out of. Cheers RustyNCA