Hi guys. Can anyone please supply me with pics of 47 Mercury panhard rods front and rear and also the steering drag link showing all bends. We have a customer who has just imported a 47 into New Zealand and we are trying to get it legal for the road down here but the wizards in charge with their wealth of knowledge don't believe the bends etc are actually factory. If anyone can help or would be greatly appreciated. Chris.
The excellent VanPelt site shows the curves in the rear one. Note that these illustrations are from the Ford parts catalog, and probably everything you need is in either the USA or Ford Canada chassis parts book. http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/...s/Flathead_Suspension_1942-48reartrackbar.jpg The kinks in both are shown well in enhanced photos in the 1946 Service book, both the USA and Canadian versions. Those sources will get you real Ford pictures.
Cool thanks for that. It shows the drag link nicely also but still need pics of the front panhard and possibly a different angle on the rear rod. Of anyone has pics of the rods on their cars showing bends from both front/rear and underneath as they bend in all directions.
Just get the mentioned '46 service book (not the bigger shop manual)...the USA edition is reproduced and readily available, the originals are pretty common. The F and R suspension pics in that are based on straight-on photographs retouched for clarity...they show the multiple kinks perfectly in an original Ford publication.
I assume you are dealing with clueless bureaucrats of course, and Ford paper as noted should settle them... but if there is an engineering clue in the house, point out the obvious: Geometry of a bent sway bar is the same as a straight line between its ends, even if the span between is tied in knots. If the bar had started life straight, and had then bent by evil hotrodders to render it unsafe, the bends would have shortened it and the axles would be pulled off-center, which would be visually proven by both shackles at each end sloping off to the side AND enough movement to visibly change wheel spacings...
You are correct in the clueless bureaucrats having to be dealt with, worst of all is the fact that they are so called hot rodders themselves, wouldn't make a hot rodders arsehole in my books but this is just some of the dumb shit we deal with at times. We have explained to them that they are indeed factory bends but they need proof. I'd really like to get some pics of another car just to prove that yes both the cars and the pictures in the Ford manual ate in fact correct.
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