Hey guys -- I have a '32 with P&J radius rods and coilovers in the back. The shop that built my rolling chassis added a panhard bar from the top of the Ford 8" case to the right frame rail, basically from the center of the car over to the side. A few weeks ago a buddy who's been telling me what's wrong with my cars for sixty (!) years crawled under and told me it would be more effective if it were longer, like attached near the hub or the radius rod bracket on the opposite side. I've been driving it around town for a few years and haven't noticed any particular problem, but I respect his opinion since he has had a lot more experience than I do in setting up cars to handle better. I do like to be able to lean on it a little bit coming out of a turn. Any ideas? Fearless
I had a P&Js bar as you describe, bolted to the far side of the third member (9"). Worked fine. I'm guessing that P&Js is not known for building crap.
It's a give and take ,as stated above the longer the panhard the smaller the arc but the short one you have is effective with a limited travel of a hot rod ...the reason they are made the way they are ,is to be able to run exhaust up and over the axle
With radius rods and coilovers you should be just fine as long as the axle doesn't hit anything during travel. You'll be getting a tiny amount of rear steer effect but if you think about what that equates to in terms of steering input it's negligible. I used to have an OT Mgb gt v8 that regularly ate the rear axle mounting rubbers. I knew it was time to tighten them / change them when I came off throttle and the car would change direction. As long as you don't notice the steering effect then I don't think you have a problem.
So, is Mr Experience offering to do the job of setting it up to handle better? If not...tell him to take a hike. He IS correct...but unless you're driving it like you stole it all the time or you are personally finding a handling issue in driving the car normally, it isn't worth tearing it down.
Thanks, guys... I figured about like everybody says. (BTW, P&J did not do the rolling chassis.) So I'm not particularly interested in trying to fix something that ain't broke -- yet. Thanks for the input. Fearless