unequal four link for super stocker

Dragsinger · 04-19-2018, 08:25 PM

Some years ago 3rd gen Camaros and Firebirds were built with short upper four-link bars. Ed Quay and others offered frame rails and other hardware to product those builds.

Question; is there any downside to the short upper bar? Does that design react/operate the same as an equal length four link?

If would be for a small block powered package with an ET range of 9.50's

Alan Roehrich · 04-19-2018, 09:49 PM

They tend to be on the violent side when used with a manual transmission or a transbrake, and a bit less friendly to tune. Footbrake cars that don't have a ton of torque or a lot of gear seem to work well.

Jeff Stout · 04-20-2018, 11:56 AM

Ed Quay built my Monte back in 85 with short upper bars. After a lot of playing with it then having a chance to play with equal 4 link bar car I found that any changes to short upper bar seemed like drastic large swings even though you moved 1 hole or changed ride height. The equal bar car when making the same changed seemed more tune able. The Monte worked well but maybe I didn't have enough knowledge back then to figure out little changes.

Jeff Niceswanger · 04-20-2018, 12:28 PM

We eventually had Kronenbitter cut out our short bar and converted it to long bar. Like the other guys said, short bars are touchy. For a bracket car that never changes anything,they would be dandy. Really no problem hooking them. But changes in ride height along with changes in tire diameter, makes a perfect acting car act stupid. You cant throw 150 lbs ( sometimes more), in and out of them, and not have issues....

Adger Smith · 04-22-2018, 05:36 PM

Larry,
The bars on my car are:
Top - 20" C-C
Bottom 22: C-C
The 4 link bracket on the rear end has an 8 deg forward tilt
off of vertical for the top mount.
You will probably have better luck with that than just a vertical on center
rear end bracket. My car liked it even though it shortened the top bar.
Call me if you want the mount distance off the C/L of the housing
and bar angles.

Larry Merk · 04-23-2018, 11:16 PM

Larry,

Trying to figure out how to adjust our suspension, we found this spreadsheet on the Internet which helped us understand why our car was reacting as it did. It answered a lot of our questions and allowed us to get our car to work pretty good. This same information is available in some of the chassis setup books available.

http://www.patooyee.com/calculators/4BarLinkV3.0c.xls

04-19-2018, 08:25 PM	#1
Dragsinger VIP Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Liberty City [East Texas] Posts: 1,760 Likes: 5 Liked 99 Times in 60 Posts	unequal four link for super stocker Some years ago 3rd gen Camaros and Firebirds were built with short upper four-link bars. Ed Quay and others offered frame rails and other hardware to product those builds. Question; is there any downside to the short upper bar? Does that design react/operate the same as an equal length four link? If would be for a small block powered package with an ET range of 9.50's __________________ Larry Woodfin 471W

04-19-2018, 09:49 PM	#2
Alan Roehrich Veteran Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Murfreesboro TN Posts: 5,105 Likes: 1,561 Liked 1,788 Times in 408 Posts	Re: unequal four link for super stocker They tend to be on the violent side when used with a manual transmission or a transbrake, and a bit less friendly to tune. Footbrake cars that don't have a ton of torque or a lot of gear seem to work well. __________________ Alan Roehrich 212A G/S

04-20-2018, 11:56 AM	#3
Jeff Stout VIP Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: phoenix Posts: 1,486 Likes: 66 Liked 704 Times in 281 Posts	Re: unequal four link for super stocker Ed Quay built my Monte back in 85 with short upper bars. After a lot of playing with it then having a chance to play with equal 4 link bar car I found that any changes to short upper bar seemed like drastic large swings even though you moved 1 hole or changed ride height. The equal bar car when making the same changed seemed more tune able. The Monte worked well but maybe I didn't have enough knowledge back then to figure out little changes.

04-20-2018, 12:28 PM	#4
Jeff Niceswanger Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 890 Likes: 679 Liked 1,019 Times in 367 Posts	Re: unequal four link for super stocker We eventually had Kronenbitter cut out our short bar and converted it to long bar. Like the other guys said, short bars are touchy. For a bracket car that never changes anything,they would be dandy. Really no problem hooking them. But changes in ride height along with changes in tire diameter, makes a perfect acting car act stupid. You cant throw 150 lbs ( sometimes more), in and out of them, and not have issues.... __________________ Jeff Niceswanger 3740 SS

04-22-2018, 05:36 PM	#5
Adger Smith VIP Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Texarkana Ark/TX Posts: 2,446 Likes: 575 Liked 880 Times in 311 Posts	Re: unequal four link for super stocker Larry, The bars on my car are: Top - 20" C-C Bottom 22: C-C The 4 link bracket on the rear end has an 8 deg forward tilt off of vertical for the top mount. You will probably have better luck with that than just a vertical on center rear end bracket. My car liked it even though it shortened the top bar. Call me if you want the mount distance off the C/L of the housing and bar angles. __________________ Adger Smith (Former SS)

04-23-2018, 11:16 PM	#6
Larry Merk Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Kennewick, WA Posts: 212 Likes: 42 Liked 286 Times in 112 Posts	Re: unequal four link for super stocker Larry, Trying to figure out how to adjust our suspension, we found this spreadsheet on the Internet which helped us understand why our car was reacting as it did. It answered a lot of our questions and allowed us to get our car to work pretty good. This same information is available in some of the chassis setup books available. http://www.patooyee.com/calculators/4BarLinkV3.0c.xls __________________ Larry Merk