Projects The Wade Model A Coupe: Build Thread & Photo Journal

Bass tech question.

Do you still need a panhard bar with the way the rear spring is mounted?

Just curious because I was talking about this same type of set up in a guys shop on Thursday night

 

Beautiful...

 

man that is pretty. i just got done with a good day of work on my project, and think i need to go back and redo it after seeing yours. i guess thats why you get paid and i am just screwing around. great work!!

 

bullington

and just when i was going to quit for the evening...

you never want to use the leaf springs in the place of a stiff member like a panhard bar or radius rods. the reason for this is the spring is going to deflect. that is its job. when it does this it will change dimentions, and the angles and calculations you spent time on will be out the window, and so might your handling of the car. i know people do it, but its a bad idea.

 

i have to go clean myself now.

 

This has been hashed and re-hashed on here a lot of times, and there are a lot of opinions about panhard bars on hot rods. The general consensus is that yes, with a transverse leaf and ladder bars you should run some sort of link to stop lateral movement. Be it a panhard bar, Watts link, etc.

There are also lots of cars with a transverse leaf and no panhard, and I'm sure most of them do just fine. The idea behind adding the panhard is to keep the shackles from swaying side to side during movement.

My advice would be that if you are planning on building a car without a panhard bar, you should set the spring up to where it is in "tension" at ride height, meaning your shackles will be at about a 20-30 degree angle or so at ride height. Having the spring in tension is exactly as Ford did it until they started adding a rear panhard.

if you do decide that you want to run a panhard bar then you can have a little more angle to the shackles, which will normally impart a little softer ride. This is apparently the reason that Ford added panhard bars and changed shackle angle in the 40's.

That's the short answer to your question. Again, there are lots of posts on panhard bars and rear suspension theory, so I would suggest doing a search for 'panhard bar' to read more on the subject. Some of the guys on here could go on for days about panhard bars....

 

What can I say that has not been said.Very good work

 

I'm at a loss for words but amazing and awesome run thru my mind at each photo. Unbeleiveable design and craftmanship.

 

Boy that is just awesome work........you got 5 mins to spare, I'll pop round tonight so you can teach me to Tig Weld like that any chance of getting someone to Video you while your Welding to post up here........can't wait to see the rest of your Build.

 

Not a bad idea aristically for the engine and radiator mount but you could have gone down a size in material thickness and still achieved the strength you have built in. What worries me though is the size of the mount bush. Thats very small and unless the owner has his engine balanced and in very good tune constantly the vibrations are going to sent through the car. my last Hemi powered car had the engine bolted solid to the chassis but was vibration free except at idle where all sorts of odd sounds from the engine were sent through the car. It can be real tiring ....
What is always forgotten is that chassis move and twist a lot when a car is driving and the engine is a solid lump that doesn't bend in the same period with the chassis. If there is insufficient insulation you will get sonic periods of vibration ,some of which are not detectable by human ear etc ,which will cause tiring vibrations. That same twisting and bending ,while not like galloping gertie the bridge, can and will cause twisting and bending of things like trans housings and drive shaft joints. Just a thought.


Also,if you are using lots of sanding materials, build a stationary disc sander and belt sander. theres plenty of info on lots of websites right across the www on how to build one at home using old motors etc. I think you could build an effective machine yourself without too much effort.

 

Genius!

Absolutely beautiful craftsmanship, thanks for sharing this build, very inspiring indeed

Grace and peace†

 

Quality to the highest degree

 

Way kool stuff, great welding. Are you tig welding all of this? It looks like it....

 

Your work is stellar. You must be busy all of the time.

 

Quit slacking. Get back on that roadster.

 

This is the singlemost valuable and informative, well illustrated, most descriptive, inspirational, humbling motherfucking post I have ever read on here.
Damn.
DITTO
I wish i was partially that talented

 

Brian, You are absolutely the most talented and creative SOB I have ever met. Fantastic work, not as usual though. You keep raising the bar.

Everytime you share a new build I have to go cut my wrist. Fuck that hurts! You're gonna be the end of me one of these days!

 

Lighten up Fuckwad...........Francis is too good a nick for you.

 

Artist!

 

An outstanding contributor to the industry. Can't wait to see more.

 

Beautiful! Thanks for posting.

 

you hit the nail on the head! Any body can be a critic.

 

Wow, Incredible work! I've been inspired.....

 

I guess I wasn't as clear as I could have been on my question Brian. I would like to see a good picture of the tierod when the chassis is up in the air on jackstands with the wheels turned all the way to the left or right. My concern on mine is whether there will not enough clearance between the spring and tierod during movement. Just wanted a good shot of it from underneath so I could visualize mine. Thanks again for getting back to me. I can't stop thinking about this build. You really messed me up.

 

Yeah Bass you should go online to see how to build a belt sander!!!!

 

Groovy. I feel privileged to have seen these pics. Keep it up.

 

Bass ... that chassis is simply Beautimous (and Mr. Wade has good taste in motors! ) ... thanks for sharing.

 

I'll see if I can get a photo of it for you sometime in the next couple of days, Dale.

I can tell you though, that the centerline of the shackle is 1.5", so that is the farthest down vertically that the spring could ever drop. So if you consider that the OD of the spring eye is 1.215", the farthest the bottom edge of the spring eye could ever get from the centerline of the perch under any circumstance is 2.1075" (half of spring eye + shackle centerlines).

I bent the steering arms on the spindles so that I have 3.250" from the centerline of the spring perch to the top of the tie rod at full lock either direction. So I will still have 1.1425" clearance at full lock if the shackle ever goes full vertical down....but I doubt that it ever would.

Regardless of all the technical mumbo jumbo, the answer is that there is plenty of clearance. Hope that helps...sorry I messed you up!

 

WOW!!! Thanks for sharing in such detail. Inspirational.

 

Thanks man, Glad to hear. I appreciate you taking the time to make this thread. Very inspiring to say the least. I think I am going to try something similiar. I got these PSI batwings(cast)and hairpins that are steel with cast ends. Ever see them? They are cool but I am unsure if the cast batwing will be strong enough to hold the spring pivot . I might have to make a tab off the back of my v-8 60 to do it for the pivots. What is your thought on the strength of the cast batwing and welding the pivot on it. Here's a couple of pics.