four link vs ladder bar

[katostud]

im looking to do a rear suspenson and rear subframe in my 76 vega hatch back in the future and was wondering whats the best way to go ladder bar set up or four link set up? im gonna be using it as a street strip car and running a juiced up small block. probally more on the street. i want it to be able to hook both places. any info you could give me would help out a bunch

[greg72]

A quality Ladder bar rear suspension is more than adequate for the street. 4- link for the street would be over-kill and the infinite adjustablity a 4 link provides can lead to unnecessary (for the street) set up headaches.

Also there are many quick ladder bar h-bodies running at the track . As well as 4 link cars. If you are familiar enough with setting them up, then 4 link may be the way to go , otherwise stick with a ladder bar rear and their inherent ease of set up ....comparatively speaking.

Of course this is just my opinion. I am confident you will get just as many responses that recommend a 4 link for your application. And everyone will be right - as they are both proven rear suspensions. Go with whichever set up you are most comfortable with.... in the end it is going to be your car

[ColinOpseth]

imho, the torque arm is perfectly fine. It helps to plant the rear wheels, although it can be a bit hard on transmission mounts.

Why don't you shorten a Spohn torque arm? It's adjustable and you get the best of both worlds.

Later,
Colin

[DEMON Precision]

imho, the torque arm is perfectly fine. It helps to plant the rear wheels, although it can be a bit hard on transmission mounts.

Why don't you shorten a Spohn torque arm? It's adjustable and you get the best of both worlds.

Later,
Colin

he is planning on minitubbing his vega as well so lower mounts would have to be redone as well , so it would be the same amount of work required to stick with a torquearm as installing ladderbars , i myself am running ladderbars . i chatted with a few chassis builders who have built vegas and they told me the wheelbase is too!! short for a 4 link and a ladderbar is the best route , i bought my stuff from chassis engineering in FL and then bought my coilover kit from autofab racecars in MD .

S&W Racecars still sells their H-body rearframe kit that is designed for ladderbars , it comes with detailed instructions ( there might be some scanned copy,s on this site somewhere ) this kit will safe alot of headaches that i,m encountering by doing my own one off design .

[Kenova]

I would say stick with the torque arm too. You could buy what is referred to as a chassis mount torque arm for an F-body. The front of the arm mounts to a small crossmember that is bolted to the floor. This will take all of the stress off of the transmission. You could also fabricate a crossmember to accept both the torque arm and transmission. It would be easy to come up with an arrangement that would tie the crossmember into the subframe connectors.
For the lower arms I would use F-body arms mounted to a custom crossmember and brackets on the rear end. The arms are longer than the H-body's, but are available in a wide variety of configurations.
If another rear end is in the budget, a Ford 9" or Chev 12 bolt can be bought with provisions for bolting up an F-body torque arm. Getting one in a made-to-order length won't be a problem.
As for the amount of fabrication, it is probably the same regardless of which type of suspension you choose. The only problem I have with ladder bars is what they do to the handling. They basically turn your rear end into a massively huge sway bar. This could really make driving it on the street a PITA, unless of course you don't have to turn corners.
Ken

[NixVegaGT]

I'm with the 3-link camp for streetablility. The problem is you'd loose the ablility to fine tune the rear for launch. Six o' one, I guess... I guess it depends on how you want it to perform on the street. Some guys don't care how difficult it is to handle in a real world situation.

It's kinda like the interior set up too. Some guys really hate loud interior noise. I relish in it. What are you willing to put up with? Right?

[ColinOpseth]

Nicolas,
There are plenty of guys running their 3rd/4th generation F-Bodies deep into the 10s with a torque arm rear-end. It's more than adjustable.

Get an adjustable torque arm so you can preload the rear. Steve Spohn at Spohn.net sells them all day long!

[Fasterthansome]

[NixVegaGT]

I'm with you, Collin, I'd use the torque arm too. But if you're trying to split hairs you need to be able to adjust launch bias to keep the car straight to reduce correction. You can gain a couple tenths that way. You can only do that with a four link.

All that said, that torque arm is HOT!... Did you make that? COOL. Is it a chassis mounted system? If it was me, like I said before, I'd go with the 3-link. It's a good compromise for traction and I think it totally improves road performance. SO if you're planning on driving it anywhere else I'd seriously consider it.

Some guys like the complications of daily driving a car that is hard to drive though... Seriously...

[katostud]

yeah im gonna be driving it on the street. ill be on the street more then the strip. so id like it to hook up on the street. but when i go to the track i want it to hook there as well

[Fasterthansome]

I'm with you, Collin, I'd use the torque arm too. But if you're trying to split hairs you need to be able to adjust launch bias to keep the car straight to reduce correction. You can gain a couple tenths that way. You can only do that with a four link.

All that said, that torque arm is HOT!... Did you make that? COOL. Is it a chassis mounted system?

Yeah I made it last winter. 1 1/4 moly tube and it mounts to a bolt in tubular crossmember. Imade some adjustable moly LCA's too.
I also made an adjustable anti roll bar that I can preload to help keep it straight.

[2lucke4u]

Nice arm Faster,

I would go with the stock style setup,it is factory proven on over a million cars,,the h-bodys,camaros,firebirds,and in a way some of the corvettes,ours is only slighly modified to fit up to a nine inch and has proven very track/street worthy, there's that 2 cents again,,,
Charles

[katostud]

what do you mean? i should keep my stock suspension and modify the car to fit bigger tires?

[2lucke4u]

Kato
How big a tire are you looking to go to,cars at the strip run in the 8's with a 10 inch tire,the guys on the site will chime in with the biggest tire that will fit in a semi stock vega wheel well,I have 10 inches under my car now,check out the pictures in the garage,with a mild 383 and a 175 shot 9's will be in our future this year,the only thing holding me back is trying to keep it streetable,if it was'nt for that,I would put a 600+ lift cam in it and have to go to a full cage,I use stock lca's,and a modified stock torque arm ,this car will go to the post office and pick up a gallon of milk on the way home,,,,whats your goal,,a daily driver,strip only,auto cross,,,,,define your goal,setup a plan and go for it,,,this forum will save you money,,we have tried just about everything,,just ask before you spend,,,
charles

[Fasterthansome]

With stock suspension and torque arm and 26x9.5 hoosier QTP deep in the 9's is no problem. 8's are possible but not that easy.