65 With Versailles Rear and Traction Master Bars

[tx65coupe]

I have a 65 Mustang coupe with a Lincoln Versailles 9 inch rear axle. I am going to install the Traction Master bars on it. The U bolts are larger than the factory ones. Can you tell me what needs to be done in order to accomodate these traction bars? Is there a different rear mounting plate available? I thought about elongating the holes that are in the mounting plate, but I'm not sure if that is a good idea or not. Also that plate is pretty thick and I don't know if I even have a way to do that.

Here is a link to the bars I am talking about.

65-66 REAR TRACTION BAR KIT

Is anyone running these? I am curious about the fact that it seems like if the suspension travels the bars and their mounting points dont allow for any necessary give. Is this going to be an issue? I don't want to stress the rear subframe.

 

[htwheelz67]

probably use a die grinder or sell the traction masters and get cal tracs instead, they are adjustable and work way better than traction masters, they have thier own lower plate with shock mounts and there is no welding required.

 

[Bullitt]

I had the same setup (on a 67) and took off the traction masters.

They'll bind on you in hard corners and basically act like an infinitely stiff sway bar. Performance in a straight line is ok, never could get the carb right, but the car would cut a 2.0 60ft every single run using DRs or street tires.

 

[tx65coupe]

So, should I abandon these and go for the cal tracs? I am on a budget and I already have the traction masters. I got them for less than 100 bucks. The cal tracs are nearly 350 dollars. Thats really out of my price range. I have already spend a ton of money on my Stang. I might be able to go that route later on.

I figured that the traction masters would be a decent setup, seeing as how they were they style that was used on Shelby Mustangs. Are they really going to be extremely problematic? Can they cause damage to the car? When they bind what part of the car is being stressed?

 

[Bullitt]

Binding isn't so much the issue on the stressing the car, it's where you mount the front plates.

Mine (whether from installer error or not) ended up on the floor pans. One side ripped out eventually and the other buckled the floor pan. You absolutely MUST mount then to subframe connectors. If you do that, stress probably isn't an issue, but getting them installed at the right angle might be.

How fast is the car? Do you have serious wheel hop? I would think the better option would be try and sell them and run a stiffer spring. You could also get a spring shop to put an extra half-leaf at the front of your springs which will in effect lessen wheel hop.

 

[dennis112]

The Caltracs are a total bolt on and they also offer some adjustment so you can tune them to your car. And they flat out work at the strip. If you car is going to see much dragstrip duty, then you will want Caltracs.

I would suggest doing what others suggested. Sell the traction masters and save you $$ until you can afford a better traction device. Until then you could clamp the front of your leaf springs together, which is an old drag racer's trick.

 

[tx65coupe]

That sucks about your floor pans!

Currently my car does not run. It is undergoing an I6 to V8 conversion.

The crate motor that is going in the car is going to put out between 350 to 400 hp. I have subframe connectors that need to be installed. My friend had a 68 Mustang with only about 275 hp and it had severe axle hop. So, I figured that mine will do the same thing if not worse than his.

My car isn't going to see alot of strip time. It will make its way to the track every once in a while. Its mainly just going to be a nice driver.

I thought about trying to do something similar to what the 1st Gen Lightnings have. Its sort of a half leaf that acts as a traction bar. They call it a snubber.

 

[htwheelz67]

many things depend on if you will have axle hop, my vert never has, I've had a 289, a 351w and now a 408, it still has the orig 8" and sagged leafs but has always had koni shocks, but I will be installing a new 9" with 3.50 trac loc so things may change but I will be installing flex a form leafs and cal tracs when I do the swap.

 

[Rapid]

How about if he put a panhard rod on as well? That would eliminate the bind from side to side movement and make it handle better in the turns.

 

[blown65]

we have those on the shelby and they are ok, he does 1.7 60's with them on a 11.45 121mph 67 gt350. I do like the caltracs a lot better however.

 

[tx65coupe]

Can I run a panhard bar with my sway bars? The caltracs do look like a nice unit.

 

[Rapid]

I have not looked at all the possibilities. There are several out there and one may work with the sway bar you have. Some mount on top of the axle so that type should clear. I am going to try this setup. I have an addco rear bar that is located on top of the axle and am looking at the Maier set up because it is located behind the axle. When you start stuffing all this metal back there you need to also look at your exhaust. Nothing is easy. It should control wheel hop and locate the axle without causing the bind. I think it is probably the least expensive way to get the job done.

 

[tx65coupe]

My front and rear sway bar kit is also Addco. Are you running any traction bars or just the panhard bar?

Good point about the exhaust. Its a good thing that mine isn't finished yet, so it doesn't have exhaust yet. I was thinking about using the prebent 2.5 inch tailpipes from Flowmaster. They have mandrel bends, so I thought they would be a good choice. I may just have an exhaust shop install tailpipes on it after I get it running.

 

[Rapid]

Right now I just have the sway bar. I look again at the Maier sight and if I had it to do over I would go with their rear springs, and their panhard. That would eliminate the need for the traction bars. I still may do that. They put extra stifness in front of the axle on their springs to preven axle windup.

 

[tx65coupe]

Thats cool. I haven't looked at their products before. I would consider the rear springs, but I already have new springs under my Stang.