So I bought a 3.23 Limited Slip rear about 3-5 months ago to replace the 3.08 open diff that is in it now. I don't have a lot of power (yet) but the plan is to build the car in sections. Anyway my rear springs have gotten to detestable state and seeing as they need replacing really badly, I figured it was time to do the rear. The original idea was to bolt in the rear with stock hardware... but then I found Founder's Preformance, and plans changed. Now I have a set of their fully adjustable rear control arms, and panhard bar. My issue comes in that I don't fully understand the geometry of the rear. I read the stickies, and they helped a lot, but I was hoping to get a little more info. If your going to ask why I got adjustable arms and don't know how to use them... I figured it would give me the most options down the line. Any tips, tricks, and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all in advance.

 

The panhard bar will allow you to center the rearend left to right. When a car is lowered the geometry changes and it becomes off center, the adjustable panhard rod allows you to correct this. Simply adjust your panhard rod to center the rear, you may have to use a straight edge on your tire and measure where it is compared to the fender lip on both sides. I measure it at ride height then raise the car to take the weight off the rear end, then make an adjustment and measure again.

The adjustable LCA's allow you to center the tires to the front and rear. These especially come in handy when you are running big tires and need every bit of clearance possible. They also allow you to square the rear tires with the front, you want the distance between the center of the front and rear tires the same on both sides to keep the car from wanting to pull to one side. I would set these to the stock length to start and fine tune from there if needed. Once you get this done you may want to take your car to an alignment shop and get a full 4 wheel alignment done to get everything aligned more precise.

Hope that info helps!

 

the length of the stock PHB will never change (it's not adj). so when you lower your rear (lowering springs) the PHB will force the rear end off-set to the left (driver side). you can shorten the adjust PHB to put the rear back to the center.

In other words... your differential is no longer in the middle if you lower your car (it's slightly to the left). You want it in the middle so that the drive shaft lines up right.

The LCA's allow you to center your wheels in the well (most ppl dont need them).

 

Thanks for the input. Most people won't need them... but I may. Ha ha. I may not be trained as well as some others, but I love working on my car. Was just curious how much each adjusted what. I had a decent idea, but I wanted to make sure I was on the right track. Ha. Either way the LCAs are a major upgrade from thirty year old stock steel and bushings. Ha ha. And seeing as I could have a whole set from Founders for about the same price as an adjustable panhard elsewhere. The quality of these pieces is very nice upfront. I really can't wait to get them under my car. A few more this's and that's and I'll be throwing it under there. Maybe this weekend or the next.

 

heck the founders LCA + PHB package cost less than replacing the bushings on the stock LCA's + PHB. Go for it!