Just a simple question, or so it seems...

If you were building an extreeme/outlaw radial car from scratch and there was no weight penalty for the ladderbars with stock frame rails intact or is the stock style stuff on par?

 

MAN THIS IS GONNA BE A GOOD ONE-


ive been wondering the same thing- due to rules most classes dont allow it - that is why stock suspension is used

 

Well, I would say these days a thought out Stock Suspension car is on par with a ladder bar. Did you catch the word thought out!! But a lot of Outlaw Drag Radial classes today do not allow ladder bars.

 

Now days I don't think the ladder bar gives you any advantage in adjustability and has far more disadvantages in regards to rules. With the adjustability of Dave Z's rear setup, I'd say there's no real need for ladder bars.

 

Thanks Shane!

One more thought is to have both, every 25.5 stock suspension car, with the exception of 1 that I have built in the last 4 years has ben able to run both ladder bars and stock suspension!

And now the way we are doing Timmy's car, Chris' car and Billls car, we're hoping to push the envelope on stock suspension!

 

Most of the west coast stuff allows ladderbars is why I ask, I'm in AZ so I doubt I'll be making it to the big -O- or any of the other east coast stuff.

I had thought about setting it up able to do both, but one of the big benefits in my eye of going to the ladderbars is being able to set the car up a lot lower and still have the suspension do it's job compared to the stock style system. Wouldn't the upper torque boxes get in the way of that, or do you make the upper boxes removable?

I actually plan to run a true 10.5 type class for local stuff and run big radials at events like the SCSN and hopefully the ocasional PSCA or WCHRA race.

 

Ever thought about a 4-Link setup?

 

Well, an aftermarket 4 link wouldn't be legal anywhere he wanted to run it.

 

oh im subscribing, but i allready know the answer im wanting out of all this
i'm in limbo with leaf springs though, so you allready have an advantage over me with the stock 4 link stangs have.

 

Leaf Springs with Caltracks seem to be working WELL on some of the True 10.5 cars around Texas.

 

artis houston just went 7.90 on a little 275 mt with leafs and caltracs

 

My bad. Im not up on all the requirements for different classes.

 

If you're talking about a Mustang, if you got something like the S-Box for the UCAs and Dave's "instant center brackets" for the LCAs, you could set your ride height anywhere you wanted it and still be able to set your suspension up perfect. You would end up with pretty much all the adjustability of a 4 link but still have "stock suspension".

 

I think this is a great question!
I agree with Tims86-9.80. I would prefer the stock style 4-link set up over ladder bars but it depends on the car and the tuner. DR cars usually have a lot of weight on the rear to help with traction and ladder bars will hit the tires so much harder than a 4-link set up it could be more difficult to keep the the tires loaded. A 4-link will soften the hit more and may allow the power to be dialed in better for a smoother hit/launch w/o unloading the tires. But this depends on power, type of power adder, tires, suspension, etc. More than likely by the end of a race season anyone running in an outlaw class would know what their car wanted in the way of suspension adjustments.

KS

 

I'm leaning towards a BBF turbo combo, actually thinking of doing a rearmount like Murillo's car. something along the lines of a 532" A460 with GT47-88's and a TH210 or glide. It'll need enough power to run 190+ at 3500lbs, may go with a big smallblock but haven't decided yet and think the BBF will be cheaper to make the power I need.

So it sounds like a lot of you guys think that the stock style may work BETTER than the Ladderbars?

 

well i may just have to test it out and if i cant get them working then move on to another suspension type. i guess it wont hurt to try it out.

i was thinking of a torque arm setup, but is that legal to convert a non ta car to a ta setup?

 

the mustang is a factory 4 link...doesn't get anybetter then that