Sheets & Giggles

Rat Rods Rule

Help Support Rat Rods Rule:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I now have to mount the front of the ladder bars. My plan is to make a strut to replace the shock and set the ride height .. the shock is 16" with 5" of travel so I think the strut should be about 13 1/2" to 14" long. I can then set the bars so that the lower bar is parallel to the ground in the middle hole. The front brackets for the ladder bars have 3 holes for adjustment so by setting the middle hole as level I can adjust the bars to be front down or front up using the other holes. From what I've read this will allow me to adjust how it hits the tires on the launch.

What do you guys think of this plan? I sure could use some feedback here. How do you go about setting up this type of suspension?
 
Well, right or wrong I went ahead with my plan for the ladder bar mounts. I also shortened, retapped and fitted the panhard bar today. It all needs to be finish welded but I want to make sure I don't have to change anything before I do that. Trying to decide if I should start on motor and transmission mounts or start on the roll cage structure next.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0183.jpg
    IMG_0183.jpg
    97.8 KB
  • IMG_0182.jpg
    IMG_0182.jpg
    89.6 KB
  • IMG_0184.jpg
    IMG_0184.jpg
    108.6 KB
Looks like the Panhard bar will hit the rear end housing with very little movement. I'm sure you have checked that out though.
A drag racing friend of mine suggests aiming the lower bar of the ladder bars at the front spindle line, for starters. That should be pretty close to level to a little bit up.
You are moving along quickly and will probably have the cage and the motor/trans mounts done in a week. My preference would be to get an engine and trans in place to see how much leg room you have. That could dictate how high you have to sit which could affect roll cage height. Will the Altered be at the Meltdown Drags?
 
I double checked the clearance for the panhard rod .. it hits the housing at the same time as the axle tubes hit the frame so I don't see this as a major problem. There is about 1/4" clearance between the axle tubes and the frame when the shocks are installed in the fully bottomed position which, hopefully, they will never see in use.

Bob, I'm hoping to have it finished for Meltdown and will have it there if all goes according to plan.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0190.jpg
    IMG_0190.jpg
    94.9 KB
  • IMG_0191.jpg
    IMG_0191.jpg
    77.6 KB
Last edited:
Did some trimming on the body to clear the suspension and was able to roll it out of the corner and get a good look at how it sits. The front will drop a couple of inches once the motor and trans are in, the rear is on struts to mimic the ride height, but other than that, here's the look. Wheelbase turned out to be 106".

Friday and Saturday I'll start fitting the engine and transmission but then Monday its back to my regular job and things will start to slow down. Still, I think I made pretty good progress over the holidays. :)
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0198.jpg
    IMG_0198.jpg
    94 KB
  • IMG_0205.jpg
    IMG_0205.jpg
    82.2 KB
  • IMG_0207.jpg
    IMG_0207.jpg
    92.2 KB
Last edited:
Couple of shots from the other side. Totally pumped to be able to roll it around the shop. I'm having SO MUCH FUN!!!
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0194.jpg
    IMG_0194.jpg
    126.3 KB
  • IMG_0201.jpg
    IMG_0201.jpg
    116.9 KB
Got the engine and transmission mocked in place today. Wondering if I should lower them an inch or two or leave them where they are?
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0208.jpg
    IMG_0208.jpg
    100.9 KB
  • IMG_0209.jpg
    IMG_0209.jpg
    121.1 KB
  • IMG_0210.jpg
    IMG_0210.jpg
    81.6 KB
  • IMG_0211.jpg
    IMG_0211.jpg
    100.3 KB
VROOM! VROOM! I guess this pose is mandatory at this stage. Could have sat there for hours dreaming of what this will be. :D :D
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0215.jpg
    IMG_0215.jpg
    99.7 KB
Thanks for the comments.

Here are some more mockup pictures from today. I added some pieces just to make sure I had distributor and oil pan clearance. I think I will leave the motor where it is. The headers are not what I'm going to use but I threw them on to see how they would fit .. I would need to change the angle of the header plates by only a few degrees to make them work.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0218.jpg
    IMG_0218.jpg
    98.2 KB
  • IMG_0224.jpg
    IMG_0224.jpg
    117.6 KB
  • IMG_0220.jpg
    IMG_0220.jpg
    111.4 KB
  • IMG_0223.jpg
    IMG_0223.jpg
    98.4 KB
Came as a surprise to me but there is a 3 week wait to get DOM tubing around here. That slows me down a bunch as I have to wait for my order to arrive .. 2 sticks of 1 5/8, 1 each of 1 3/8 and 1 1/8 to do the roll cage and trans mount, etc. Hope I ordered enough.

Anyway, I did get a little bit done. Fabbed up some pieces to brace the rear axle. I'll clean up the axle housing and weld them in when I pull the axle to weld all the other brackets. Still have to add mounts for a wheelie bar.

Not as fancy as some I've seen, but a lot cheaper. :)
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0225.jpg
    IMG_0225.jpg
    88.4 KB
  • IMG_0226.jpg
    IMG_0226.jpg
    90.1 KB
  • IMG_0227.jpg
    IMG_0227.jpg
    88.8 KB
  • IMG_0228.jpg
    IMG_0228.jpg
    85.5 KB
  • IMG_0229.jpg
    IMG_0229.jpg
    68.3 KB
Here are a couple of (bad) pictures of the Bantam I had back in '95. The car was wrecked when the steering wheel came off at 145 mph - the reason I will NOT have a quick detach wheel in my cars now.
 

Attachments

  • 483435_10200889968836522_2088874057_n.jpg
    483435_10200889968836522_2088874057_n.jpg
    22.9 KB
  • 644206_10200889969036527_2143817092_n.jpg
    644206_10200889969036527_2143817092_n.jpg
    26.4 KB
Yes, you don't want to pull up on the wheel in case it isn't locked down.

The latest work on the rear end bracing and suspesion is nice.
 
This weekend I decided to try my hand at fiberglass repair. I had a deck lid but it was so badly warped that fitting it proved impossible for me. It turned out ok but I might have done it a little differently had I known at the beginning what I now know at the end. Anyway, what's done is done. Now I have to figure out how to attach the turtle deck to the body. I have some ideas but I am open to any suggestions.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0202.jpg
    IMG_0202.jpg
    85 KB
  • IMG_0231.jpg
    IMG_0231.jpg
    65.3 KB
  • IMG_0230.jpg
    IMG_0230.jpg
    102.9 KB
  • IMG_0232.jpg
    IMG_0232.jpg
    82.1 KB
  • IMG_0234.jpg
    IMG_0234.jpg
    69.5 KB
  • IMG_0235.jpg
    IMG_0235.jpg
    70.8 KB
  • IMG_0236.jpg
    IMG_0236.jpg
    79.1 KB
sc.....looks to me like you've done this before.......looks good
we used to use a 3-M product to glue vette panels together
don't remember the # sorry maybe local supplier can advise...
 

Latest posts

Back
Top