Panhard Help

[Poopy]

I've spent most of this morning searching here, corner-carvers (who won't let me register....) trying to find the basic guidlines for panhards. The car is a 62 Nova, the suspension is truck arm, and from the pics I've seen, and what I could gather, is that the panhard should be as long as possible, close to the centerline of the axle, and adjustable height wise like the one in the attachment below. Am I close?

[MrQuick]

yep your on it. Theres was a debate on which side the axle mount should be. Think it was 55% right and 45% left. The right works for me. Remember the roll center will be where the center of the bar is. Don't go too far below axle center line.

[Mean 69]

Where you establish the roll center height, which with a PHB is really close to the verrtical height above ground (though not exactly), is going to depend upon the type of rear suspension you have. In your case, with the Truck Arm setup, the roll "axis" is defined by the rear roll center (defined by the PHB), and the forward lateral restraint point height, which in your case is the forward mounting point of the Truck Arms. My guess is that the height of the T/A mounts is of the order of 8-10" above ground at ride height, and in order to prevent a roll-oversteer condition, you don't want the PHB height to be a whole lot lower than this. In fact, a RRCH of around 8" is pretty darned low in and of itself, using this as a low and having adjustment higher of another 4" or so will give you some nice room for tuning.

The unit you have pictured is a Maier Racing PHB, used on early Mustangs. Because they use leaf springs, and therfore have a really solid lateral restraint, the demands on the PHB (laterally) are probably not going to be nearly as high as they would be on a typical link/T-A suspension (I can hear Norm grunting as I write this...). Regardless, the PHB is going to see the Lion's share of lateral loading, so it needs to be very, very strong if you plan on using stick tires and really getting after things.

Mark

[Poopy]

Awesome info guys! Thanks! I realize the PHB is going to take quite a load, so the bar I have is 3/8 wall DOM thats been tapped on each end, its pretty heavy duty stuff.

Thanks again.


Rob

[Marcus SC&C]

That pretty well covers it. If you can run a brace from the bottom of the frame mount to the opposite frame rail (you may have to kick the frame end back slightly on the rail to cleap the PHB itself) and run a tube between the rails above the PHB. That`ll give you a nice rigid triangular structure. There are some very nice adj. PHB mounts available from the different racer parts catalogs which will save you a lot of time. They`re pretty cheap too. :) You want fine adjustment on at least one side to make the bar perfectly level at ride height. Marcus SC&C