I want my car to be much lower and Im starting to think a panhard bar is the way to go. Unless its possible to get shorter control arms for the stock setup. How much would that be to have made.

Anyhoo, how does a panhard perform VS a watts link.

Wheelhop: increase/decrease
Acceleration traction: increase/decrease
Ride: Better/Worse
strength: Better/worse
Cornering: this must be better or all the autoX guys wouldnt use it.

also, Im considering switching from 205/50/r15s to 195/45/15 to reduce the sidewall and get the car lower.


how much narrower are 195s? This is a turbo car so traction is important.

and whats the link to the site that sells the panhard setup?

 

I run a panhard bar on the street and it is great. It makes noise when I back out of my driveway, but other than that I do not hear it. Here is a link to a high quality panhard bar - http://www.gforceengineering.net/products.htm

 

iw ill be running g-force's panhard bar and tri link setup fairly soon (less than a month).. i can let you know what i think of it at that point.

 

Me too. I already bought everything from g-force. I'm just waiting for mazdatrix to have time, as they will be putting it on. I also got the spherical bushings and turn-in spacers for the front. I can hardly wait!

What spring rates you guys running? I'm going with 350/250 F/R.

 

350/175 (if i remember correctly.. i am getting them from someone else, and so donot remember exactly).

 

-I've never heard anything about wheel hop.
-Acceleration traction off the line would probably be effected more so by the new spring rates that usually get installed at the same time as the panhard...The stiffer you go, the less weight gets transfered to the rear which decreases traction.
-Ride will probably be harsher again due to spring rates, but probably less likely to bottom out.
-I dunno about strength.
-Cornering is much improved, you are able to use the spring rates instead of the binding watts, much more predictable they say.

I would stay with 205's. If you do go with 195's do the 195/50's not the 45's.

 

How does a panhard bar work anyway vs the Watts link? Whats the tri link for as well? I dont understand it all .

~T.J.

 

riffraff & FD Racer

Guys.... please take some pictures of your tri-link setups and post them here. g-force's web site is really quite unclear. And of course give us all the details on your new handling capabilities.

 

mode on

Ok, anyone who has the inside poop on G-force's stuff, please remember Jim S. has worked long and hard on this stuff and you are bound by gentlemens agreement not to divulge details of it. He has certainly earned the right to make a living helping 1st gen racers handle with the best of them. I am sold as a lifetime customer


mode off

If you want the best handling 1st gen PERIOD! spend the $75 and get his book. I personally dont reccomend all his stuff for the street. I drove my IT car for a week and retired it from street duties. But on the track, my car handles like nothing else.

Good basic explanation of a panhard rod
http://www.artmorrison.com/F_TechLocateRear.htm

 

How difficult will it be to install?

How much welding is involved?

 

g forces stuff is exspensive

Ground control sells a panhard bar kit for $120

 

here is the ground control page for rx7s
http://www.ground-control.com/gcrx7cat.htm

panhard for 160

do I need to get a tri link to lower the car further




what is qrong with a 195/45

I think out cars look best when they are really low.

Also, nobody told me how much narrower the 195s are

 

the only problem that you would have with the 195/45 is that the total height (side wall plus rim) will be less, and so your spedo will be off..

 

yea and "get rich quick" books really work too as long as you sign up for "their" distributorship.

I'm sure he knows his stuff but I would think if he wanted to sell "hardware" then he might want to at least "try" to sell the benefits of his wares on his web site. I dunno, it seems like a strange sales strategy to me. But I suppose if his stuff doesn't work for street then I guess the strategy might work for the racers.

 

the speedo being off doesnt matter. Im making my own aluminum dash with autometer guages. There speedos are adjustable, its really easy to set them

 

my seven is a daily driver.. and i will be runing the trilink and panhard bar .. i donot think that it creats any real problems with street driving.

i can understand him not wanting people to scan the book and distribute it. but i am sure that if you call, that he will give you most of the information that you are looking for.

 

Exactly, I am trying to compare their coil-over kit to Ground Controls, to see which one to buy myself for Christmas, and I can't tell what is included in their kit, without calling. A little more information on their web-site would be pretty helpful. I am sure their products are great. But, I am also looking to get the most bang for my buck, and I don't know how much bang they give.

 

the coil over kit (as far as i know) is the same..
g-force more or less specializes in first gens, while ground control produces coil overs for numerious cars.. take that how ever you want to... but you will be happy with either one.

 

Okay, im going to go panhard with ground control coilovers in the front and deadcoils in the rear.

that should get me as low as I want.

now, what are the benifits of setting up a tri-link setup.

Remember, this is a streetcar with a 300 hp Turbo II swap in progress. Minimal to no drag use and some track use. Is it worth getting.

 

That is the exact setup I plan on doing, well minus the turbo.

 

gets rid of the two part watts link. helps fix the geometry problems with the car... (i donot really know that much about it though.. ).. i think that it helps in hard conering..

 

the panhard gets rid of the watts.

the trilink gets changes the control arm setup.

right???


I just want to get the car lower, but handling is very important.

 

No, the panhard and the trilink together get rid of the watts.

 

Hey, StreetRacer,
Ground Control may advertise their Panhard bar for $160, but I am not sure they still make them. I called a couple of times and they told me they just have not had time to make them in more than a year.

G-Forces stuff is great and does not break. That is a concern with 300 hp turbo engine. His book is also well worth the money. I know it saved me more than $75 in errors.

best of luck!

 

anything other than the coil over setup, and i would definatly go through g-force.. just because he specializes in the first gen geometry and suspension setup.

also. on a side note.. i have already purchased the entire suspension setup that i am going to (including the panhard bar and tri link setup) but i am still going to buy his suspension book when i get my next pay check. by that point i will have been driving on the new setup for a couple weeks, but want to know why it changed what it did.