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Say you have an older late 60's RWD car (think Camaro, Nova) that had leaf springs in the rear, but the typical front independent suspension up front. Would it be possible to set a car like this up to handle the twisties? And if so, how?
I took my 1968 Volvo 1800 and made vast improvements. It was rear wheel drive on 4 coils. I replaced the coils with progressive coils that were 2" lower in height. Replaced the front ant-sway bar with one twice as thick, added one to the rear axle. Original bar up front was 5/8" thick, the end product was 1 1/8" front and 5/8" rear. I also changed out the panhard bar in the back. Changed all suspension rubber to urethane. Curves I had to take at 40 mph I could now take at 70+ mph.
Yes, all that need be done is find and add the proper sway bar.
That's why manufacturers simply added sway bars to their 60's tech cars rather than spend many millions on developing multi-link and all the other improvements modern suspensions benefit from. Also why when high end customizers do their resto-rod conversions they don't bother with coil-overs, and just leave those leaf springs in there, since the only thing necessary to make a car handle extremely well is a sway bar.
Say you have an older late 60's RWD car (think Camaro, Nova) that had leaf springs in the rear, but the typical front independent suspension up front. Would it be possible to set a car like this up to handle the twisties? And if so, how?
yes you can make a leaf spring car handle extremely well. the biggest problem with leaf springs is spring wrap, both under braking and acceleration, and that is what causes the handling problems, not the lack of a proper anti-roll bar.
if you control the spring wrap, you improve handling substantially. one way to do it it use a floating housing mount for the rear end, and then add some form of traction bar that mounts solidly to the rear end housing. this does two things, it allows the rear end housing to float on the leaf springs so that you maintain a proper pinion angle, and it allows the leaf springs to be just leaf springs and control the suspension movement. if you use a torque arm like the fox body mustangs use, and you are good to go.
Btter ;yes. Eqaul to a fuly indepoendent suspernsion ;no. Swaybar help but what they do is to lower the other side as one die is surpresssed by cornig forces keep the vehicle falter. Its also used in indendent suspensions for the same reason.Its always most useful o a very smooth surface as it actually limiuts supension to a degree.
People will say what they want when it come to the Corvette's pushrod engine and craptastic plastic interior, but there is no denying its athletic handling prowess, leaf springs and all.
♪♫♪♪♫♫♪♥, I was actually referring to the older 60's cars that used an independent front suspension with a solid rear axle rear suspension that was supported by two leaf springs on each side of the car that secured the solid rear axle to the frame rails.
The Corvette you have pictured has a double wishbone rear suspension that uses a single transversely mounted leaf spring for an anti roll effect. Not the same question I was implying.
Say you have an older late 60's RWD car (think Camaro, Nova) that had leaf springs in the rear, but the typical front independent suspension up front. Would it be possible to set a car like this up to handle the twisties? And if so, how?
The answer is Yes and these guys do a great job with their stable of Vintage Mustang road racers.
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