[mviker]

I know Rare makes a nice set of tubular control arms for our 62's (I have them on my car) but I haven't seen any upper rears that are adjustable for pinion angle. There was some posting about having some made up, but nothing out there just for our cars.

I found a site that makes them for Impalas and they appear to look like they might work on our Pontiacs also. I thought I'd post a link and ask if any of you have seen these and what you might think about them working on our cars. Just going from the pics, it does look like they may work. Any opinions? I'd like to have the ability to adjust pinion angle as I have some wheelhop issues.

http://www.umiperformance.com/catalo...products_id=59

Thanks,

Kevin

[63-63]

PMT fabrication

[mviker]

63-63,

I checked out PMT Fabrication's website and see they also make the adjustable uppers for Impalas. Have you used them on your car? If so, What do you think? I noticed the ones for 59-64 have a slight curve to them, same as the site I mentioned, but the uppers on my 62 are straight, that's why I linked to the 65 uppers. They seem to be the same from what I can tell. I don't know if there's any difference in the bushing sizes or not. would you have info on that?

D'oh!
Hold the phone..I found their Pontiac stuff. Completely missed that the first time. Thanks for the link!

http://www.pmtfabrication.com/Produc...onneville.aspx


Thanks,

Kevin

[mviker]

Just a heads up to anyone else that might be looking for rear control arms for their big cars. I spoke with Mark at PMT and he's got the hookup for 61-64 cars, probably others. He makes tubular control arms that are standard or adjustable. Might be worth talking to him if you're looking for this kind of thing. He's going to hook me up with a pair of uppers that can be adjusted while on the car. Just what I was looking for.

He makes complete sets also...uppers and lowers. Similar to what Ram Air is doing, but adjustable.

Thanks to 63-63 for pointing me to them!

http://www.pmtfabrication.com/Produc...onneville.aspx

[hurryinhoosier62]

That's really not a bad price. I know where to get mine!

[mviker]

Hurry,

The guy I spoke with, Mark, says he can make 'em in any configuration you might want. Standard, adjustable, double adjustable, with the heim (sp?) joints, custom lengths, and so on.

I'm getting the double adjustable, so they can be tweaked while on the car, and with graphite bushings. Can't wait for them to show up. I only bought the uppers though. I have a set of the Ram Air tubular arms on the car currently. Going to leave the lowers on and replace the uppers with the ones from these guys.

I'll probably be on here asking about pinion angle adjustment once they're on. :P

[Engine-Ear]

Kevin, please add pics to this thread as you go...I think others (including ME!) would benefit from pics to support the above posts.

I didn't realize that the '61 - '64 rear suspension design was hop-prone in a drag setting...

[mviker]

Will do, Matt. Not sure when though. I have a list of projects I want to tackle before the convention this year, but I will get some shots up when the time comes.

As for the hop, I have a 2" lift all around the car. From what I've read, that throws the suspension geometry out of alignment and causes the wheelhop problem. The car drives great, but it's starts bouncing all over the place if I stomp on it. Not good. I've been wanting to solve it ever since I got the car on the road. Tried the Ram Air Restoration control arm set thinking it would help. It improved the car a lot, but didn't solve the hop. Tried an airbag setup also to no avail, so I'm hoping the adjustable upper control arms will do the trick. Apparently, when the car is lifted like mine, the uppers pull the top of the axle inwards, throwing the line between the trans and the rear out of kilter. By adding the adjustable uppers and lengthening them a bit, that should push the rear back into it's proper alignment. At least that's my understanding from reading up on 4 link setups and pinion angle. There are a few good posts here on the subject. Will try linking to a few when I get the time.

Cars with suspensions that haven't been raised shouldn't have this issue, or so it appears.

Kevin

[Engine-Ear]

Hey that description was very helpful - thanks!

[hurryinhoosier62]

Matt,

From what I understand, most autos that use the four link, coil spring rear suspension
have that problems. On A and G bodies, you can install "hop-stop" bars. These things just may be the greatest thing since sliced bread for B bodies like ours.

[mviker]

My reading up so far says the uppers are shorter, so they deflect the rear inwards more when height is raised. Those no hop bars correct the geometry on the A & G bodies, but they don't make 'em for our B bodies, at least that I'm aware of.

Right now, the best we can hope for are the adjustable control arms. I talked for a while with Brad at Fabcraft. He mentioned he had some thoughts on making a bracket to bolt or weld onto the upper mounts on the rear that would accomplish something similar. Might be pretty expensive though. Not sure if he's pursuing it or not.

[Engine-Ear]

Interesting info... so, is the 'hop-stop' bar the same as a 'panhard' bar?

[mviker]

Matt,

No, Hop stops are a different beast. They bolt to the upper control arm location on the rear and you attach the control arms to them. They alter the suspension geometry. I attached a pic of the kit. Not exactly sure how they are installed though. Unfortunately, I haven't seen a set for our older cars, at least 62's. I've also read that they can bottom out over bumps and dent the underside of the car, but this is just me reading other posts here.

I've read other posts that allude to bad suspension ie worn bushings, bad shocks can cause wheelhop, but all that stuff is relatively new on my car, so I can't attribute the hop to that in my case. I'm really hoping the adjustable uppers will help solve this issue for me. I'd rather not make any radical alterations if at all possible. There are folks out there with cars my ride height that do just fine, so I know I can do it also.

Here are the anti hop bars.

http://www.jegs.com/i/QA1/122/5213/10002/-1

Kevin

[mviker]

I found a pic of the hop stop bars installed. Shows how they go on. Won't work on the 62's.