In reply to porschenut :
A "perfect" suspension would allow the ends of the panhard bar to move equal amounts, but in opposite directions, as the car rolls, thereby keeping the roll center stationary. But the axle end won't move much, aside from tire sidewall deflection, so the car end does all the moving. When you turn one direction it goes up and turn the other way, it goes down. So the roll center was going in different directions, depending which way the car turned. It would certainly be noticeable. A stiffer suspension in roll negates that effect to some extent, or one that doesn't roll at all. I suspect your Opel was fairly softly sprung, or needed bigger sway bars to keep it from rolling.
When a panhard is installed [ 2001 lowered track /street tacoma ] would it be attached to the frame on the drivers side or passenger side ?
In reply to porschenut :
On the Opel GTs I've seen, the axle end of the Panhard rod is pretty far inboard, like maybe halfway between the differential and the outboard end of the axle, if not even closer to the diff than the outboard end.
Packaging constraints don't always allow it, but a longer Panhard rod is better, ideally as long as possible to minimize the arc it moves in, and minimize the disparity between right and left turns. If the car is equipped with a shorter one from the factory, probably not worth trying to change it.
If one is adding one to a car that doesn't already have one...go long, and make sure it isn't too angled up/down to make it most effective.
footinmouth said:
When a panhard is installed [ 2001 lowered track /street tacoma ] would it be attached to the frame on the drivers side or passenger side ?
I don't know the details of the '01 Tacoma's suspension, but either side can work in theory, it will affect which way the rear suspension will be biased. There's no right or wrong side for it to be on unless it's a circle-track car that only has to turn one way.
Thinking about the biasing question a bit more, assuming you want a car set up for unbiased cornering, I'd set the Panhard bar to improve the car's cornering toward the passenger side since most cars naturally tend to turn better toward the driver's side because it's heavier. This way the Panhard bar should work to neutralize the cornering bias rather than increase what bias it already has. So for a LHD car you'd put the mounting point for the Panhard bar to the chassis on the left so that the bar improves cornering to the right more.
In reply to GameboyRMH :
That is what I heard from many people who know more than me . My tacoma has alot of room for a bar to go from one side to the other ,Thanks!!
In reply to GameboyRMH :
Solid axle cars also lift the left rear on engine braking and lift the right on acceleration, so handling is always going to be biased one way anyway. Worrying about Panhard direction is shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic 
Shorter gears are always better for a solid axle. It reduces the driveshaft torque required for a given forward acceleration, minimizing the issue with lifting the right rear wheel. And this is why big engines kinda suck because if you need to run gears in the 5:1 range for handling reasons anyway, may as well have an engine that can rev
Pete. (l33t FS) said:
Racingsnake said:
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
That Ford Econobox set up sounds interesting. Did they retain shackles on the rear mount of the springs or do something different? How is the front of the spring held up?
Technically the body holds the spring down
https://www.doublegmotorsport.com/rsprep/prepindex.html
It's 5.9 in the rear suspension PDF.
also exact measurements for making a 4 link, which was copied by many other manufacturers.
I love the gearbox section. Make the transmission a 2 minute swap by leaving the input shaft on the bellhousing, and two bolts accessible from inside the car!
This is all well over 50 years old at this point and amazing to see what was done back in the day. And Ford was essentially freely giving this information out so privateers could run and be successful too.
Interesting stuff, thanks for the link
GameboyRMH said:
Thinking about the biasing question a bit more, assuming you want a car set up for unbiased cornering, I'd set the Panhard bar to improve the car's cornering toward the passenger side since most cars naturally tend to turn better toward the driver's side because it's heavier. This way the Panhard bar should work to neutralize the cornering bias rather than increase what bias it already has. So for a LHD car you'd put the mounting point for the Panhard bar to the chassis on the left so that the bar improves cornering to the right more.
I seem to remember reading something about the Sunoco Camaro that Mark Donohue ran in Trans Am saying that if mounted in a certain way the panhard rod worked better than a watts linkage because the slight sideways movement of the axle could be used to advantage. Unfortunately I can't remember the details or where I read it... Sound familiar to anyone else?
Pete. (l33t FS) said:
Racingsnake said:
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
That Ford Econobox set up sounds interesting. Did they retain shackles on the rear mount of the springs or do something different? How is the front of the spring held up?
Technically the body holds the spring down
https://www.doublegmotorsport.com/rsprep/prepindex.html
It's 5.9 in the rear suspension PDF.
also exact measurements for making a 4 link, which was copied by many other manufacturers.
I love the gearbox section. Make the transmission a 2 minute swap by leaving the input shaft on the bellhousing, and two bolts accessible from inside the car!
This is all well over 50 years old at this point and amazing to see what was done back in the day. And Ford was essentially freely giving this information out so privateers could run and be successful too.
Good info there...Thanks for sharing that link
