I'm sure you all remember what Traction bars and Traction Ladders are.... So, is it possible to put these on a thirdgen with the ground clearance we have, and if so, will it really help on the street any???
what are your opinions??

 

Moving to suspension board.

 

Thirdgens don't have leaf springs.

 

some firebird/camaro specific traction bars are available. Not sure on quality or anything however.

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You don't need them on these cars.

The torque arm does the same basic job as ladder bars. If you want to improve traction as you would with ladder bars just replace your stock torque arm with a better aftermarket piece, preferably one that is a little shorter than stock.

You don't need traction bars because you have no leaf springs to twist up. You can get the same body lifting tire planting force on your F body with a set of rear control arm relocation brackets.


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Tracy /AKA IROCKZ4me
'86 IROC-Z Camaro
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EFI Performance Club on Yahoo

 

ok cool... I learned something... I didn't know that they were only used for leaf spring vehicles... thanks...
cool

 

While traction bars are for specificaly leafspring cars. ladderbars are not. With a true ladder bar set up you use coil springs (usually coilovers), and the ladder bars replace the control arms. There are some "hybrid" ladder bar systems that work in conjuntion with control arms or leafsprings though. That is basicaly how the torque arm works on these cars.

 

there are plenty of ladder bar and traction bars for the older A body cars that use the 4 link coil setup, but the 3rd gen really just doesnt have the ground clearance or was really designed to be a drag car, hence the lack of real ballz out performance parts for them,.

 

LOL, I never noticed any lack of "real ballz out performance parts" for these cars. Last time I was at a national drag event you could not swing a dead cat without hitting a third gen Fbody.
Any "real ballz out" part you can think of is available for 3rd gen Fbodies. I've seen dozens upon dozens(in fact hundreds) of them tubbed, back halved, four linked, ladderbarred, etc.
If there are any "real ballz out performance parts" that you need and can't find for a third gen F body, just let me know what it is, and I'll tell you where you can find it!

Interestingly you don't really have to go that far to be pretty dang quick in one.
At the GMHTP event in Bristol a year ago, I had the pleasure of Seeing Tom Guelich's '86 Z28 (Also Tory Hess' Formula) run in the MTI Real Street Challenge.
Tom was running a naturally asperated small block chevy. His suspension is based on the stock 86 F body design.
He was running a stock length torque arm, I think by Summers Brothers, but I'm not sure. He made an adjustable front mount for it out of a B&M th700r to th350 conversion kit.
He was running Hotchkis control arms and panhard bar.
He was running an 11/16" rear sway bar that was shortened a little and had shorter endlinks for preload. He had Koni Shocks. Also an airbag in the coil springs. He was running 30" x 10.5" Hoosier slicks. All of this was bolted to a Summers Bros 12 bolt rear end.
This is a full body, full interior car.
His race weight is 3630 pounds.
He did a little weight redistributing, air bag tuning, and adjustment of the front torque arm mount.

Back then, he was running a best 60 foot time of 1.34.
Quarter ETs were 9.82 @ 137 MPH.
Not to bad for a car with the stock suspension design that was not "really designed to be a drag car"


He was talking about adding a turbo setup. If he has, or for that matter if he has just done some more "tweaking" I'd hate to imagine how quick it is now.

Can you say "ballz out"?
I thought you could!


[This message has been edited by IROCKZ4me (edited December 09, 2001).]