My understanding is most of the leaf's spring rate is in the portion behind the axle. The Hellwig product you posted helps with axle wrap more so than increasing spring rate.
Which front sway bar? Hotchkis 67-72 a body bar? With rubber bushings? How tight are the end links?
You should consider swapping to a ball joint style sway bar end link. Really helped with the lean on mine. Doesn't change your roll rates, just brings the sway bar in sooner.
I agree with upping your spring rates as well. Which you are doing. May just need to buy new leaf springs though.
I have the 73+ Hotchkis bar with urethane bushings
What kind of chassis stiffening has been done to the car? Looks like it has a cage, which obviously helps a bunch. But call me crazy, it almost looks like chassis compliance is adding into some of that roll when the pic is blown up, like the bottom of the door is kicking out.
I agree, roll bar and subframe connectors may not be enough with this much tire/G's
Re: 67 Valiant budget built to race 2015
[Re: Tomswheels]
#1822383 05/09/1512:14 AM05/09/1512:14 AM
Hey Tom! Great job so far this year. I was looking at your pics, and wondered if you are running A-body shackles, and rubber or urethane bushings on them? Seems like a bit of side to side movement on the rear. I run B-body shackles and urethane bushings on mine to minimize this. Rick
Re: 67 Valiant budget built to race 2015
[Re: norcal-fjo]
#1827757 05/16/1511:01 AM05/16/1511:01 AM
Hey Tom! Great job so far this year. I was looking at your pics, and wondered if you are running A-body shackles, and rubber or urethane bushings on them? Seems like a bit of side to side movement on the rear. I run B-body shackles and urethane bushings on mine to minimize this. Rick
Thanks Rick, I have Hotchkis shackles with Urethane, I'm not sure if there is a way to tighten them up. Have you been Autocrossing the Dart lately?
Last edited by Tomswheels; 05/16/1501:54 PM.
Re: 67 Valiant budget built to race 2015
[Re: Tomswheels]
#1827761 05/16/1511:06 AM05/16/1511:06 AM
Our next San Diego SCCA event was on the fast side of Qualcomm, and it was a good course, all the top CAM-T guys were there, including a very quick 427 LS powered Ridetech 68 Camaro that the week before finished 4th in class at the Vegas Optima... Always fun to have high dollar/proven fast visitors come down to our house...
Last edited by Tomswheels; 05/16/1512:28 PM.
Re: 67 Valiant budget built to race 2015
[Re: Tomswheels]
#1827839 05/16/1501:38 PM05/16/1501:38 PM
The Valiant had the new Wilwood Dynalite calipers and Córdoba 11.75 rotors for the first time, and they felt pretty good, not a lot of heavy braking zones this time so it's hard to give a full evaluation. I also ran the front 275/35/18 Bridgestone RE-71R on an 18x10 inch wheel instead of my 285/35 Hankook V2s this time, since the Hankooks seem to be going away. The Bridgestones felt great, but the Hankooks on the rear felt loose. A lot of my competitors said their cars felt loose as well so some of it may have been the track, lots of off-camber turns, tough for muscle cars. My co-driver did really well and finished 3rd in a tough field, and we kept the interloper Camaro in 4th so he wouldn't think we were easy targets compared to the Optima crowd. I narrowly held off the newly Hotchkissed 66 Mustang for the win...
Re: 67 Valiant budget built to race 2015
[Re: Tomswheels]
#1827906 05/16/1504:15 PM05/16/1504:15 PM
You can run a Watt's link or even a panhard on a leaf car.
I have a panhard bar on my AMX. Works great. Doesn't upset anything, some people have said that it would on a leaf spring car.
So how much will either help rear roll?
Rear roll is controlled by spring rate, and anti-sway bar rate, with properly matched shocks. With the tire air-pressure, side wall height and stiffness having some effect, which also works with the shocks. The panhard bar, and Watts links are mostly for side to side control, neither has any real up and down control of the vehicle. Keeping the car's center-line and rearend's center-line in line.
Tom
"Everyone should believe in something; I believe I'll go fishing."
-Henry David Thoreau
Men and fish are alike. They both get into trouble when they open their mouths
author unknown
Re: 67 Valiant budget built to race 2015
[Re: 72Swinger]
#1827971 05/16/1506:03 PM05/16/1506:03 PM
Rear roll is controlled by spring rate, and anti-sway bar rate, with properly matched shocks. With the tire air-pressure, side wall height and stiffness having some effect, which also works with the shocks. The panhard bar, and Watts links are mostly for side to side control, neither has any real up and down control of the vehicle. Keeping the car's center-line and rearend's center-line in line.
By feel I didn't think I was having a problem with side control, and Im not sure if the lean in general is being caused more by the front or the rear. Does anyone know if there are front or rear sway bars out there that will reduce roll more than the Hotchkis 73+ kit?
Re: 67 Valiant budget built to race 2015
[Re: Tomswheels]
#1827984 05/16/1506:39 PM05/16/1506:39 PM
Maybe put some stuff like soft wax glued to the inside of the fender lips. Then measure the space between the tire and wax. Then take a lap or 2. Then measure the gap to see how much wax is rubbed off. That should tell you how much the rearend is moving to each side.
Or maybe have someone with a good movie/vid camera that can stand on each side of the course, and can take a vid of the rear tires as you go around the corners. Then watch the vid to see if you can tell how far the car's rearend/fender lips is moving side to side in relation to the tires/rearend. A good enough camera so you can watch it in really slow motion and still have a sharp picture.
From the 2 pictures in your last reply, I'd say the rearend is moving 2" side to side, maybe.
Tom
"Everyone should believe in something; I believe I'll go fishing."
-Henry David Thoreau
Men and fish are alike. They both get into trouble when they open their mouths
author unknown
Re: 67 Valiant budget built to race 2015
[Re: amxautox]
#1828006 05/16/1507:18 PM05/16/1507:18 PM
Maybe put some stuff like soft wax glued to the inside of the fender lips. Then measure the space between the tire and wax. Then take a lap or 2. Then measure the gap to see how much wax is rubbed off. That should tell you how much the rearend is moving to each side.
Or maybe have someone with a good movie/vid camera that can stand on each side of the course, and can take a vid of the rear tires as you go around the corners. Then watch the vid to see if you can tell how far the car's rearend/fender lips is moving side to side in relation to the tires/rearend. A good enough camera so you can watch it in really slow motion and still have a sharp picture.
From the 2 pictures in your last reply, I'd say the rearend is moving 2" side to side, maybe.
Go Pro or XD mini cam....
My rear sway bar is disconnected so that is what looks like is flopping around back there. But you can see the distance the sway bar arm separates from the dog bone link. Seems like about 3/8" to 1/2"