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Hurmeez' 1977 Mk2 Escort Estate


Hurmeez

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It'll work, I'd done a 3 link setup with Panhard in my stockcar.

Watts link would be nicer for you though, keeps the axle central alot more than a panhard - panhards move in a arc - moves closer/further from the guard through travel..

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I see what you mean. My setup would basically be the same as yours other than having two top bars rather than your single one. Regarding the Watt's link versus the Panhard bar, we learned it physics at school last year that when you're describing an arc of 10 degrees or less then the line is so close to it that it can be mathematically considered a straight line. If the Panhard rod is 700mm, which would be about right for the axle width, with a 125mm suspension travel, which would be about what I'm looking at, then using some trigonometry I can work out that the arc described by the Panhard would be 10.2 degrees. That also means the total deflection of the axle will be 3mm maximum over the whole travel. Ultimately there is far more than 3mm of deflection in the sidewall of the tires during heavy cornering so I think that the added complication of the Watt's link over the Panhard isn't actually worth the relatively minute amount of deflection it might avoid, so if I do go down the four-link route I think the Panhard bar is the best option. It makes sense in an application with more travel, like in a lifted 4WD, to use the Watt's link because the deflection would increase an awful lot, but I don't think the relatively small travel of a lowered road car like mine warrants it. All that said though I might have completely missed something so feel free to correct anything I might have cocked up.

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The standard viva setup is just four link with the top links angled. Works well but for full on racing etc you can add a panhard (I think @vivaspeed has done a such.. Or even converted to 5 link in order to have an English axle?)

@CUL8R does your system involve a torque  tube then?

The Chevette (t car) system works really well and leaves the area under the seat untouched. But finding strong axles..... 

 

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Chevette Has a Torque Tube yes, which effectively makes it a poor mans 3 link - by Default it controls the pinion angle throughout the arc of travel and at the same forward mounting point as the trailing arms so everything works within the same plain.

 

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As far as I know you are allowed to weld the pad on just nothing on the arm itself. I think the idea is that if the pad breaks off you can still push on the arm somewhat, but if the whole arm snaps or bends then you and all 50 of your horsepowers go a screaming 30kmh up the ass of a particularly grumpy Kev at the lights in his lifted Colorado. 

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First time round I cut and shut a brake arm, adding bracing to the back. It would never fail. You'd break a leg before it would break. But yeah...not legal. 

Next time round I made a whole new arm. This I believe you are allowed to do. One piece, 8mm thick steel with the only welding being to the pad and around the bush. Again- stronger than the original item and it would never fail. It looked completely stock so it was not even looked at.

Some pedal boxes imported from the UK wont pass here due to the arms being made from 6mm steel. Even though they are stronger than the orignal items they replace they still dont meet NZ cert requirements.  I have seen them and they do flex.  So yeah- pays to check this out.

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From what I've read it's a perfectly workable suspension design for the street or light driving but where it tends to fall down is hard launches and burnouts etc. Because of the way the axle wants to twist under acceleration it will be lifted up into the belly of the car and away from the road surface. This means you'll lose traction and potentially still have axle tramp/wheel hop when you drop the clutch, both things I was trying to get rid of by thinking about a link system in the first place. 

So all in all, it works, it's just not worth the effort for what I'd get in my application in my opinion. 

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Really? Is that all it takes? I've read that tramp bars only really increase the frequency of the tramping rather than getting rid of it properly but I suppose you'd know far more about it than me. I have been looking into a CalTrac style of thing though. They look like a good bolt-on solution without many drawbacks other than the fact that I'd have to build my own version because they don't make one for an Escort. I feel like if I was going to go to the effort of putting in anti tramp bars then I might as well go the whole hog and four link it with fairly short top arms.

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The wagons and the vans are worse for tramping than the sedans.. anti tramp bars have been used for years in old school cars and are very simple design.( just to stop the twist of the leaf spring).

There are a few different ways to go but it can be done 8n a very simple way.. all I did with mine was use the bottom bracket that the u bolts go threw and the shock mounts to. I welder 40x40 box section to that that was on a slight uphill to the leaf spring mount.( think it stopped about 50mm from it) and I screwed a rubber door stop to that. (With about 10mm between it and the spring)

Just so under load it slapped against the spring and stopped the twist.

Worked perfectly and it's amazing the difference. 

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Ah, gotcha I was thinking of something different then. I was thinking this: ebay24302.jpg

And you were meaning this right? maxresdefault.jpg

The CalTracs are basically the same as what you've got but with a bell crank that pushes down on the part of the spring that is bending up during the wrap, rather than a free-swinging arm slapping away.maxresdefault.jpg

 micwgj.jpg

The crank pivots around the front spring mount and gives you the advantages of both looking cooler (in my opinion), and eliminating the noise and fatigue of having the bar hitting the underside of the spring. 

I might use a spare set of spring hangers to begin with, and make a temporary setup like you said to see if I'm willing to put up with it, before possibly going to a full-on CalTrac style setup later on.  

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That's the idea mate. Will.work well.

I have looked into all.manner of rear setup in the past.   Even 6 linked my van with turrets for upright coil overs.

And then you look at tarmac rally cars and some of the best cats in the day ran 140lb single leaf spring with adjustable failover shock and a whatts link..

It can be very easy to over complicate a simple setup. ( as I type that I realise I still do that lol) could have just slapped the falcon motor in my mk3 and been done with it..........but nah. Make more work for myself haha)

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