Need road race suspension advice Please!

[Saleen_Cobra]

I bought an '84 Mustang with a road race tuned suspension that I just dont quite understand. It has Global west tubular lower control arms, and trac-linc (bolts around the axle housing on one end and ties to the frame on the other). Global West says on thier website that these parts are to be used with stock upper arms and bushings and no panhard bar, and that you can remove the quad shocks.

The orignal owner says that when he installed them, Global West told him to ditch the upper control arms. He also added a Saleen panhard bar, and left the quad shocks on. He said the upper control arms would cause the axle to bind when under load.

I guess the trac-linc controls fore-aft movement and the panhard controls side to side movement. Is it safe to drive without upper arms? Who should I believe?

Ive emailed Global West and got no reply. I bought this car for street use, and would like it to be both drag and road race capable. Any suggestions on what to do?

 

[Saleen_Cobra]

???

 

[fox racer]

i guess the tracc link is that torque arm lookin thing? if so, that takes over the duty's of the upper control arms in the sense of the rear moving upward (affecting pinion angle). then the panhard bar centers the rear, and prevents side to side movement. when both of these are used together, upper controll arms are useless, as they do no good, but they can bind under race conditions. so it helps to remove them.
now, have both a drag setup and road race setup is a little farfetched. Road race suspensions lowers the car, stiffer suspension and prevents gopod weight transer. not good for drag racing. drag racing suspensions deal with transering all the weight to the rear tires, going in a straight line and allowing the front of the car to rise. this setup BLOWS in corners. so its like sop extremes of the spectrum... i think its pretty difficult to have a good drag/road race car.

 

[Saleen_Cobra]

Thanks for the reply.

I was just kind of going for a middle of the road street car. My town has both a road race track, and a drag race track. It would be cool to be able to do both with the same car successfully.

I guess my only question now is, will I hurt anything if I do drag race with the suspension thats on there. Most likely just fun racing on street tires, no slicks. What about with drag radials?

 

[Michael Yount]

You shouldn't hurt anything drag racing it with that suspension. I assume it still has LOWER control arms, right? Here's how the pieces work -- the lower control arms control vertical (actually - it will move in an arc, not strictly vertical) motion of the axle; the torque arm will control the torque reaction of the axle (wind up); and the Panhard rod will control lateral motion of the axle. That set up is quite common on other vehicles -- F bodies, Aerostar Vans, and most late model rear drive Volvo sedans and wagons. The torque arm and Panhard rod are much more effective at controlling torque reactions and lateral motion than the angled upper control arms were.