I want to see some pictures & ideas of what guys ran in the 60's for rear leaf spring suspensions for traction on there drag cars. I'm building an old school g***er & am trying to figure out how I want to do my rear suspension.
Go pick up a copy of this months Hot Rod magazine, the one with the Panneton Bros. 56 Chevy on the cover. They have an article detailing (with pictures) many 60's era drag car suspensions, including those with quarter elliptic springs like ProEnfo linked to. Seems that for leaf spring cars, commonly used options were an under-rider bar like a Traction Master, long lift bars like the Thunderbolts used, or ladder bars with housing floaters. Both under-rider bars and long lift bars can cause binding in the suspension due to the differing archs of travel the springs and bars will follow. Clamping the front section of the leaf spring to create a semi-solid 'link' is another option. There are likely others that aren't coming to mind right now.
This months issue of Hot Rod was where I got the idea from. I was thinking about the lift bars like the Thunderbolt had but I figured I would start this thread to get some ideas before I started my project. When you say under rider bar are you meaning what some people called ******* bars?
I really like the setup on Mazmanians Willys in the Hot Rod Mag article. A major problem with leaf springs and lift bars is that the rear housing needs to be able to rotate with forward acceleration, (think housing floater) most of the old school setups had the housing bolted firm to the leaf springs and with lift bars (especially ladder bars) the rear end is put into a bind and you basically trying to hook with the tire only and no real help from the "traction bars". The Thunderbolt set up is better because they only bolt to the bottom of the axle tube and do allow the springs to bow some. The way Maz's car used a semi eliptic "half spring" with a shackle mounting at the axle housing, it would allow the rear end housing movement without bind. The watts link keeps it all centered side to side. For another successful "housing floater" idea on an early set up, look up the couple year old thread on the restoration/clone of Fred Texierra's Willys.
I'm looking at the pictures of Fred's Willys right now. I've also been looking at an old thread from a couple of years ago about g***er suspensions. I really just want to see different set ups from back then & then see whats going to work best for mine on the street & strip! Any body have an opinion about what will be best for a street car?
If I went with the Thunderbolt style rear bar setup, would I need to make the rear end a floater style? How would this do as a street setup? I have a full frame car if that makes a difference.
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