Back on that suspension bandwagon...rear transverse springs

[Roothawg]

I was doing some surfing on the web and found that Posies is selling a tranverse leaf, with lowered cars in mind.
Has anyone tried to run a transverse leaf on the rear with anything other than a banjo? I had one on the T but it rode like a lumber wagon.

Just wondering what would happen if ya flog it? Does it tend to have a lot of body roll?

[Tman]

I am building mine with a planished "T" spring. One of our local has one on his 34 and says its too soft. I am in a lighter car with one less leaf. Jakes yellow coupe has the same setup. I have no clue how mine will be.

I need to go look at Posies site again..........never saw that one.

[daddylama]

'vettes have a transverse leafspring in the back... they take a good flogging...
ElC has some pics in another post with a torque arm setup with transverse leaf...
im doing a similar one in my '55 plymouth (with a torque arm), and the car is being built to handle...

all depends on the spring rate, and the suspension geometry/design...

[Unkl Ian]

Sway bars,front and rear,will take care of body roll.I think C9 recomended a transverse rear leaf over coilovers because you can get more suspension travel.'40 Ford front spring sounds familiar. [ QUOTE ]
I had one on the T but it rode like a lumber wagon.


[/ QUOTE ] If your springs are too stiff,it doesn't matter what type they are.

[C9]

Unkl is right, cept it's a 40 Ford rear spring pack with SoCal main leaf.
The 2nd leaf of the 40 spring pack is too long as well.

Aside from the additional travel, nice thing about leaf springs is you can add a leaf, re-arch the existing leafs or make up a batch of new leafs if you're near a spring shop.

In fact, if you could get the right width leaf spring I see no reason why you couldn't cut those down to work with a SoCal main leaf - which I understand SoCal does not sell separately nowadays.
Regardless, any spring shop ought to be able to knock out a short main leaf for you.

Height adjustment with shims and the like is easily done as well.

I know you guys are gonna get tired of seeing this pic, but, for those who haven't seen it, here's what I did on the 31.

Note that the lower shock mounts are coilover brackets.
The upper shock mount is a crush tube.
The whole setup is exactly like a coilover car requires.
Just in case I have a change of mind ... not that I've ever done that....

[Unkl Ian]

[ QUOTE ]
I know you guys are gonna get tired of seeing this pic, but,

[/ QUOTE ] I never get tired of seeing nice work.

[AnimalAin]

My 41 pickup has a transverse leaf with some leaves removed, and tube shocks. Uses an older SAC ladder bar setup with urethane bushings at the front. Installed a panard bar to stop tire scrub in the turns. Works entirely satisfactorily, although it still rides like a truck.....

[lowsquire]

just wondering-with a slightly triangulated four bar,and transverse leaf holding it up,how much side to side movement could i expect in use?an inch? more? guess it also depends on the stiffness of bushings used.any thoughts?

[MIKE-3137]

Jumpin in here C9, others, I ended up with a Posies '40 spring with reversed eyes, to the tune of $240.00, since Socal quit doing just the main leaf. Havent put the rear crossmember in yet (presently getting the 37 ready for this Cruisin the Coast thing) but looks like I may have to remove a few leafs (leaves?) before its over with. Puts me nearly a grand over what I thought the rolling 32 frame would cost, and aint done yet.

[C9]

[ QUOTE ]
how much side to side movement could i expect in use?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know, but, on my 32 with coilovers I have had the panhard unbolted and rocked the car from side to side at the back and the four bars want to hit the frame going one way or hit the tires going the other.

The 31 with it's transverse rear spring shouldn't be as bad as the 32, but I still think the panhard is a worthwhile investment.
Money or time-wise.
On the front, the panhard adds a lot to the steering stability on corners.
Seems the same would be true for the rear.

It's my understanding you don't want to use a triangulated four bar on the street.
(Unless you're talking about the four bar setups that have the lower bars parallel to the frame centerline and the upper bars angled out from the rear axle where they connect close to the diff and splay outward to the frame.)

If you're talking about triangulation like the drag race cars use, you'll be better off with parallel four bars.
Parallel as viewed from the side like in the pic below.

The only thing that happens here is the rear end of the car squats down on accelleration a little bit, but as long as you're not lighting up the tires from every stoplight it's not a problem.

If it turned into a problem on the 31, I have brackets up front and in the rear that allow for drag racing type adjustments.
Which makes sense as the 31's rear is controlled by a Chris Alston Chassisworks 4 link setup.

[lowsquire]

C9, sorry i should have explained that better,using split bones as the lower links,bushed at both ends,and uppers angled from close to the diff centre out to the rails.not built yet,just drawn up.if i can fit a panhard rod in i probably will use one,but will be fenderless so rubbing on corners not an issue.thanks for the explanation though.

[C9]

You shouldn't need a panhard if you're running the angled upper bars.

They take care of keeping the rear end centered.

In fact, I wonder why the weight conscious drag racing troops haven't caught on to the angled 4 bar/4 link setup and do away with the weight of the track locater bar.

I don't like track locater bars anyway.
They put all the side stresses directly onto the front Heims.
An angled pair of upper bars would do away with that and you'd get rid of a few pounds of unneccessary weight.

I would guess that tuning for strip use wouldn't be any more trouble than the 4 links already are.

[Roothawg]

Thanks guys....that's a lot of info to absorb.

[36-3window]

i used the complete So-Cal rear setup in the last 32 i built.this was with their cross spring and ladder bars all mounted on a 9" rear.....the car rides and handles like a dream

[Roothawg]

But So-Cal doesn't make them anymore. Is that right?

[36-3window]

they have the complete rear spring and suspension package

[HotRodMicky]

I have just added panhard rods front+rear and good tube shocks to my 40 and it handles perfect.no body roll at all
(Dropped I-Beam + long shackles in rear).
Michael

[C9]

I've seen that good looking triangulated long rear radius rod setup - as shown in the pic - at my friends muffler shop when he had a 32 roadster in there for muffs.
The last bit on getting the car on the road.

I was struck at the time at how little room there is for a decently sized muffler.
They ended up sticking some short little glasspacks under it, but I bet that got old in a hurry.

I know that some here on the board preach loud exhaust sounds, but the simple truth is a totally open system on a stock engined car makes it sound broken.
Even with somewhat noisy muffs you can temper the sound with your throttle foot.
Not to mention it helps if you can show the gendarmes a muffler after they pull you over.

Fwiw - with the 4 bars on the outside of the 32 there's room underneath for the battery in front of the rear axle, the electric fuel pump setup with heat shields et al on the other side in front of the rear axle as well as the mufflers.
It is tough getting a Turbo-Muff or 2 chamber Flowmaster under the car, it's a tight fit, but either one of those muffs is more desirable than a 12" or so glasspack.
And a longer glasspack - 24" to probably 32" - will fit.
All of the above tucked up under the car.
I don't like exhaust systems that hang down low.
Sometimes you have no choice, but if there is room underneath and the exh system is hanging down it's just a sign of laziness on the part of the muffler shop.

In fact, if I had the room I'd run the three chamber Flowmasters on the 32.
I think I can get them on the 31.

I do have a pair of three chamber Flowmasters on my 02 Ford pickup with 5.4 liter engine along with a true dual system and they sound great.
Reminds me very much of the longer and sweet sounding glasspacks from back in the day.

[av8]

Jay -- Have you seen Flowmaster's new street-rod muffler? It's about half the size of their basic muffler and looks very much like a skinny CAT. I've yet to hear what they sound like.