I Have A 1948 Anglia Gasser With A Bbc And Par. Leaf Springs And Speedway Axle. I Have Been Battling A "duck Walk" In The Rear (like A Severe Body Roll) After Making Countless Rear Shock Mods. I Began Thinking The Front Springs May Have Been The Cause. I Installed A Set Of Coil Overs With 110# Springs In Place Of My Std Shocks And My Problem Went Away. (I WAS ABLE TO MAKE A 6.46 @ 108MPH 1/8 MILE PASS AND LIVE TO TELL ABOUT IT) I Believe The Par. Leaf Springs Are/were Not Heavy Enough And I Also Believe I Further Added To The Problem By Having The Springs De-arched (flattened) To Lower The Ride Height. Anyway, I Would Like To Keep The Tube Axle, Keep The Coil Overs And Eliminate The Parr Leaf Springs And Add 4 Bars And A Panard Bar. IF I DO THIS I WILL ALSO BE ABLE TO RELOCATE THE AXLE A LITTLE FARTHER FORWARD TO GET ABOUT 98" WHEEL BASE Any One Have Any Pics Of This Or Info.? Anyone Know If This Will Work Well For Drag Racing?
Judging from the weight the coilover went in the rear? and the leaf springs were still attached?yes/no? Short answer is yes, kinda. You are speaking of a 4link suspension with coil over shocks and that is a very common drag race suspension. You don't use panhard bar with 4link. Competition Engineering has a rear frame kit that replaces everything behind the drivers' seat and will have everuthing you need to bolt a 4link with diagonal link (locate sthe rear and works way better than panhard bar). Best check with your gasser association to see if that suspension is legal - may be too modern. Yes, you can get whatever wheelbase you want. Figure a new rear housing into your calculations as well, there is a lot of bracketry that'll need to be welded to the housing and the housing ends should be the last things to be welded to the housing. let me know if you need design/parts etc help - i have done dozens of these 'back-halfs'
oj, I think he's referring to the front axle. I don't see any reason a 4 bar set up wouldn't work, been done on a lot of drag cars. Look for pics of drag cars from the 70's, just before straight axles disappeared from the scene. I think you'll find quite a few 4-bar, coil over set ups.
I had a 48 with leafs and a tube axle and it would walk all ove the road, street car with small block and turbo 350. A friend and I took the front sway bar off of a 70's or early 80's Corolla (it was only about 1/2" thick but did the trick) and cold bent it to the narrower mount on the anglia frame and fabed up a couple of mounts to go onto the axle and had it point forward to the frame rails, since set up with rack and pinion mounted behind the axle. Drove it from Dallas to Tulsa for a mini nats back in the 80's and those roads were not the greatest and it went stright and true even in the rain. But with high horsepower you may need the 4 bar. This car ran mid to low 13's at Greenvalley. nothing special street 327.
THANKS GUYS. To clairify, I am talking 4 link, with panard bar and coil overs in the front to eliminate the par. leaf springs. The rear is all set and works fine with a ladder bar coil over set-up. I have searched high and low looking for info. and pictures but can't find very much. I did see a shot of one of the two lane black top cars with that set-up. Any other input/help would be welcome
On my altered wheelbase Chevy II, I have a Speedway 4" drop tube axle and a pair of stiff Speedway leaf springs. Coil-overs and ladder bars in the back. Best e.t. of 10.09 at 126 mph in the quarter mile. The car hooks well on 10.5" slicks. I'd recommend keeping the parallel leaf springs in the front. Maybe add a leaf to each side to stiffen them?
Check out this anglia build.4 bar front setup with coilovers.Solid 9 second car. Lot of pictures too... http://landysperformance.com/angliabuildpage.htm Steve
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