Can someone help us out with this? For Tyler's 70 race car. Stock type suspension. I have heard we need to take out the rubber bumpers, and put some sort of limiter in. We need to know how to do this. Pictures would be great if you have them. Thanks.
I have been told the same thing but have not done anything about it. My buddy runs a vett and the local guru's told him the same thing so he has drilled a hole in the upper and lower control arms and bolted a short length of chain between them. :idea2: o No:
I have limiters on my stock control arms in my gsx race car. it's a back half car with mini tubs ladder bar susp. I used the limiters both when the car had a stock type rear susp and also the ladder bar setup and it makes a big difference in tuning. I'll try and take a couple pics. How I did it is; Take out the rubber limiter. Drill out the upper control arm to accept a 5/8 bolt to pass through. The hole should be positioned so the head of the bolt contacts the frame when at its limit. Then weld a 5/8 nut to the top of the arm over the hole. Screw the bolt in from the bottom of the arm, use another nut to lock it in after the adjustments and adjust away! Hope that helps... Guy
That helps a lot Guy. Now I can understand how it has been done. Another question or two though. Why take out the rubber limiter? Do you get more travel with the limiter or do you set it up for less? Do you put any pad or anything, and do you set both sides to same height?
Guy, I would love to see some pics of your setup when you have time. My buddies chain setup works but is kind of well......chevy....lol.
You take out the stock limiter just in case you need more travel. In my case when I had the stock susp type rear, the car hooked better with the limiter set out more than stock. With the ladder bar rear, I didn't need as much front end travel. I'm thinking with a stock type susp car it usually needs more travel. I know on my Reynolds car...when I took it apart to restore it, Jim Bell cut the stock limiter to give it more travel...thinking that was the way they did it back then. kinda old school now. (i put those cut ones back in for a more correct restoration) I did not put a rubber pad on the bolt head, can't notice any noise without one. I always set both sides the same....but I never did test stager adjustments... hmmm I wonder if that would have taken out some of the "steering" I had to do during launches with the stock rear end setup. with the ladder bar setup, it's almost a boring ride down the drag strip...
Well, now that I see how grungy my race car looks in these pics...I gues I will be spending some time cleaning One thing. I have the nut welded on the underside of the arm. I suppose if you weld it from the top it would hold... Tried taking a pic from underside...but it's kinda hidden up there. looks better from the top sideou:
Usually with this setup you see the bolt sticking up out of the nut (longer bolt) to leave room for adjustment. But after all the testing and moving around the height of the limiter I ended up with what I like And then put a shorter bolt in.
I always cut the stock snubbers down to about 3/8" thick or less before putting them in. In my case it's so the springs will be easier to put in because the upper control arms will swing down farther. Most of the cars I work on aren't going to need it for front end travel but it would work for that also. Basically it will allow the upper arms to travel nearly all the way down but won't it metal on metal if they do. What the heck, it's free :grin:
I have never done this on a "A" body car but I bet there just like an "G" body car. I removed the rubber bumper out of the upper "A" arm and drilled a hole through the center of where the bumper was (the hole will be at a slight angle) with the car setting on the ground then welded the nut on to the top of the "A" arm. I then used about a 8" long bolt or all-thread rod and then spun another like nut (so you can use it as a jam nut against the welded nut) on it and screwed it into the welded nut and down to where it will contact the metal pad below the upper "A" arm. I kept the bolt head on the top where I could adjust it with a wrench and when I used all-thread I used a hand saw to cut a slot in the top of it so I could use a common screw driver to adjust it. I don't know why you want to do this but I did because I'm a old guy and when my reaction times were late I could dial less frontend lift into the car and make the car leave quicker and improve my reaction times. I also always ran inner fender wells on my cars and the adjustment bolts/all-thread cleared everything after alittle trimming. If you go this route be sure and use bolts/all-thread that are the same length so you can measure them to ensure they are adjusted the same length if you desire a change at the track. Good luck.
Tyler, I have a set on The Maggot. Was pretty straight forward installation but I too,run inner fenders on my car and have some trimming to do as well.With your car not having inners,you should be fine. I may remove mine temporarily so I can dial in the rear suspension first and get it set before I attempt the frone end part.
Thanks again. Now we know what to do. Pictures were great, and cost will be nice and low. One more question Guy, is that a engine hold down you have welded to the frame? If so, where does it attach to the engine?
I originally did it this way untill the ladderbar setup where it pretty much hooked on every track condition. Found what it liked best then used a shorter bolt where it liked the longest limit (if that makes sense) so I still have ajustment the other way without having the bolt stick out as much.
heres the pic. I made a custom bracket out of aluminum which bolts to the head in two places. And is adjustable.
