Looking for info like,do the bars have to be parallel, what's the best bellcrank length, what angle is allowed for the bellcrank or does it have to be vertical??? etc. How much better is it than a panhard bar?
i dont know if this will help but ford put the watts link on the crown vics for years. this would be the latest body style. i know the police cars have them. i have replaced a few for worn bushings, (it comes with the bars and center pivot) maybe you can find one in a bone yard or try your local ford dealer so you can get some measurements. just a thought. Dave
As long as the mounts on the chassis are the same height apart as the bellcrank and the links are the same length, it'll work fine. The bars don't have to be parallel...they won't be as the suspension travels up and down anyway.
I've played with it a bit on cardboard and with pieces of rod as links. The links do have to be the same length and there are some geometric requirements, but I haven't nailed down yet how many variations I can do and still get it to work. The arcs of the links need to be complementary to each other in such a way that the center mount of the bell crank travels vertically. I've tried a whole bunch of setups that looked like they should work, but the center mount of the bell crank does crazy things, for sure doesn't go vertically..... Here's one explanation on wikipedia.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watt's_linkage They do work well though when properly setup. For my gasser build I just went with a panhard bar, made it as long as I could fit between the tires to keep the arc pretty flat, it seems to work just fine. <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">
The Watts Link is the only system that holds the rear end centered at all times, Unlike a panhard bar which moves the rear end slightly (depending on length) side to side. Also with a Watts Link the roll center stays consistent. As stated the important part is that the distance between the ends of your center link are equal and that that same spacing is used for your end links. Additionally the links need to be the same length for a perfect Watts. Some Sprint cars will use unequal length to rear steer the car, definitely not for a street car or road racer. Bell crank or center link length isn't too critical in a street car. If it is too short the rear can go off center at extreme ends of travel. See this animation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Watts_linkage.gif As you can see parallel isn't important. Conventional wisdom says the center link should be vertical and the links parallel to the ground, but that appears to be aesthetics as much as anything. That does give the most range of movement in both bump and rebound.
The Jalopy Journal
