[ronzoni]

I hope I'm not committing some sort of a sin by starting a new thread for this subject, but I have some pics to post that were requested under the original thread, but may be helpful to others as well without being buried back in the "funnies".

These are of my 68 standard with a ladder bar/ leaf spring setup. The backspacing on my street tires is wrong, too far out, but it's just right with the slicks/ steel wheels.

 

[ronzoni]

Next.

 

[ronzoni]

Last.

Note the spacing between the ladder bars, spin-tech mufflers, and the drive shaft. My exhaust guy did a great job fitting all that stuff in there, I got lucky when I bought the mufflers as I had no idea that space would be so tight.

The spin-tech mufflers really sound good, supposedly flow better than the flowmasters, but you know how all of that stuff works with the sales claims. They are a welded up affair with baffles that kind of swirl the exhaust around.

Ron.

 

[dark7068]

Do you street drive it lots, how does it handle. I just find it strange using ladder bars, those shocks and leafs. Sounds very stiff for a regular street car.


Rick

 

[ronzoni]

The answers are both yes and no. No, I don't drive it as a daily unit, it's a just-for-fun street/strip unit. The other answer is yes, it's very stiff. The little yellow sheet between the leaf and the mount is high-density polyethylene to allow fore/aft movement of the spring inside of the mount. The 4 vertical bolts have a steel bushing that keeps the mount from squeezing down on the spring, this allows for minimal "binding" of this kind of affair. You sure wouldn't want to use ladder bars/leafs without some type of accomodation for this movement of the spring.

If you put the hydraulic jack shown out under the axle just inside the brake drum and jack it up say 4", the other side of the axle will have the opposite tire off of the ground, say 2".

This sort of stiffness is imperitive at the drag strip, but can make life pretty rough for a daily driver.

 

[modifiedmark]

Yeah, Ron I bet that works. The only thing I dont like about it is all that welding on the housing, it can warp the hell out of it.

I myself have welded plenty of brackets on rears myself but was lucky to have a guy nearby that owned a truck garage with a giant lathe that I could use to straighten the housing after welding on it.

Sad thing is the nice old fella died a few years ago and the shop and all its equipment is gone.

The pieces that morrison sells is a bolt on araingment that looks pretty good. but how about just leafs and a set of south side machine lift bars?? mm

 

[ronzoni]

I'm not familiar with that particular piece, Mark. But I have seen some adjustable rubber "bumpers" that attach up in the tunnel and bump against the front of the rear end, the snout between the yoke and the center section. Seems like a short lever arm to counteract a lot of torque, but better than nothing I suppose.

 

[Cougrrcj]

Ronzoni,

The item you describe is called a pinion snubber. They were (are?) big with the Mopar crowd.

My BetaCat leaves the line like a 13.0-second car -- real hard -- but then again the combination of the CJ factory high-stall converter and the non-factory 3.70 gears will do that, LOL. Anyway, since Beta leaves the line so hard, it has a tendancy to wind the rear springs up a bit while squatting down back there as she digs in. The rear end is wrapping up so much that the front of my rearend housing, where the pinion gear is, smacks the floor. The little balancing weights on the driveshaft are scraping on the floorpan/driveshaft tunnel and are wearing through! I corrected my little problem by using a pinion snubber.

Did you ever look at a Ford 9" rearend and see what looks like a plate steel shield on the top of the pinion where the driveshaft yoke is? It bolts on to where the pinion carrier bolts to the center section. It has a small rubber bumper on it. That's Ford's pinion snubber. It is mostly used on pickup trucks. Nobody says you can't use on on your Cougar!

It will keep the rearend from wrapping up as much as BetaCats does and sort of acts like a traction bar. The only thing is, it won't stop wheel hop if your tires start bouncing alterately like traction bars will. But then again, they don't hang down and make the car look dorky either for a street driven car.

 

[modifiedmark]

Thats it my mind is made up, I am going to to this project at some point, so everyone can help me find the right car for this project.

A 69 preferred, but the right 70 would be ok. A standard would be fine, mostly rust free exterior and doors, but a little rust in the trunk or floors would be ok since they are all coming out. Missing motor and trans would be ok too since I have a 460- AOD combo in mind.

If its located in the midwest would also be a plus. mm