panhard bar

[pyburn12]

Whats everyones thoughts on the panhard bar for a pinto......getting ready to sandblast and want to make sure I get everything on before hand. Should it mount from the drivers side...passengers side....or does it really need one??? Not enough room for a watts link. HELP!!!!

[MarkL]

I asked this question about a year ago. The concensus was that there was no concensus. This topic was also covered on the Production bulletin board recently. Again, no concensus. I guess what I would do is crawl under a car that is successful and uses a panhard bar, and copy what they are using. The only alternative is to cobble up a system that will mount from either side and test...test...test.....test.......test...

[Joe Craven]

You may or not need one, depends on the car setup and springs. I race 2 Capris, one in ITA and one in ITB. The ITA car handles pretty well, rear end is reasonably controlled under cornering and braking and I don't think a bar would help much if at all.

My ITB car is another story. I was getting axle hop and side to side sway. I think the springs weren't as robust as the ones in the ITA car. I recently installed some custom locating links which have dramatically improved the axle location at a cost of about 30 lbs. Better springs would be a better solution but I'm cheap and don't want to have to test and dial in a new setup.

Joe Craven
83 ITB GTI
71 ITB Capri
72 ITA Capri

[bill f]

I raced a B Sedan car in the '70's with leaf springs...Pinto, by the way...with race tires. Then an ITB Pinto with DOT tires in the '90's.

If the bushing material is stiff, and the rubber insulators are removed from the axle/spring interface, the leaf springs will control the side to side motion very well.

I'm of the opinion that Panhard rods are best avoided. They have the potential to change the roll dynamics from left hand corners to right hand corners as a result of the placement of the axle pivot. The roll center remains at the middle of the car, but the actual pivot point is different from left to right.

Watts links are more efficient at the cost of greater complexity.

Good racing.

Bill

[Pinto42]

I used to run a panhard bar to the right side. Took it off after several unexplained spins. I agree with Bill if the front eye material is hard (I use aluminum)and the rubber is removed then the rearend should stay put.

Joe, what happened to you on sunday???

[Joe Craven]

I decided to retire from SCCA racing. Here is the link where I mentioned it.
http://forum.improvedtouring.com/it/Forum8...TML/000169.html

My only regret is that I know the Ford can go much faster, second or more per lap easily. One of the things I didn't mention is that these new fast tires are so darn expensive. My tires are at the end of life with 8 heat cycles and if I want to go faster, I need to buy a set each weekend just like my competitors. I've spent way too much as it is which is a big part of my concern. I'm still going to keep driving with NASA since the required Toyos last 6 mos to a year per set.