Thread: short car..with watts link.......

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i been following and reading maddog's q & a here on what to do for a rear suspension on his topolino...i have a watts link from speedway, and a narrowed olds rear (old style) that has everything for watts link already welded to it,,and i like the "different from norm" that running a watts link setup will add....rear end looks to have been setup for a 4 link, the brackets are about 8" spread on mounting hole centers...oh yeah, i'm as short for space as Jim probably is in the rear to the seat department..drive shaft will be around 18"-24"....looked at the 32" ladder bars, but am building my car about the same as maddog is...a trip down the strip every so often, but with lots of cruisin the hi-ways in mind (as in state to state driving)....question is how well will the car drive with a watts and 32" ladder bars???no way they can be run into the center.....under the frame...or beside it(is that possible???)looking for tips, thanks...........

First thing is to consider where the car will spend the majority of its time. If it will be used 99% of the time on the road, then build it 99% road friendly with compliant connections rather than harsh steel-to-steel connections like Heim ends at the bar/frame connection. I like using OEM-type rubber control arm bushings on a car that will be operated mainly on the street in order to better control NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) and to allow some compliance in negotiating driveways and such where a ladder bar will bind up with solid mounts and possibly break or bend components.

As has been cussed and discussed on this board many times, I much prefer a Watt's Link to a Panhard bar. I you set it up properly, it should work very well for you.

Tech and I are from the same school on the Watts linkage. It's the best way to keep the rear end centered in the car.

On a short wheelbase car, like 100" or less, I really prefer an unequal length 4 bar setup over the ladder bars. Makes for a bit more adjustability in the suspension, and with the inherent quick handling of a short wheelbase car IMO it's important to make the car handle good and go straight so you don't have to be doing a lot of correcting when you drive it....and as Tech stated, the heim joints aren't the right answer for street use...