You must have the Aussie diff, then...

 

alcohol and smoking funny stuff will make you see things differently.

 

Then I need to stop smoking and drinking cuz I think I see a WackyRacer!

 

yeah so far just about everything on my car passed tech but turned out to be assembled wrong or not at all!

they forgot the big gland nut that holds the strut cartridge to the shock tube! among other things, and it passed tech, and did a few track days!

 

My car sits 23" from the grond to the wheel well in the rear an 22.5 in the front, and It's maybe a 1/4" off. After your drop your car losen all of your rear suspension componets. All 4 laterall arms and all 5 watts nuts. Then put the front wheels on blocks and set the rear axle on jack stands. The car has to be on it's full weight before you tighten up any of the rear links. This is how you do a rear end "allignment." If you don't do it this way after you lower your car things will be off.

 

have 3 first gens, and all of them have the rear driver side sticking out farther out then the passanger side. Canadian models. Stock springs, wondering now if it would balance out with a driver in a car.

 

Was thinking that too... maybe the stock setup is centered when the car is loaded; 2 people, full tank.

 

Well I honestly can't say, because I installed full poly bushings in the rear end at the same time so that's the difference I noticed. The bracket shouldn't be a noticeable change. It's only purpose is to put the watts link bracket studs in double shear, because they have been known to break off during hard cornering in racing. I don't race much, 1 autox so far, but since I got the poly back there I figured it was good insurance. Mine broke off when I was trying to get the watts links off the bracket, so I had to replace the studs with nuts and bolts. Works fine. The bushings made a HUGE diference though. Quieter and smoother on the highway, takes the bumps better, and of course, rotates like it should. The car is actually just a little tailhappy now. No big deal, it's nothing I can't catch, but I wouldn't want to let just any person hop in and drive it. Liable to see it wrapped around a telephone pole.

 

but you trusted me to take it out for a drive! Whats wrong with you Chris :P

 

I'm running on Racing Beat springs, poly watts bushings, stock trailing link bushings. The passenger side wheel is about 1/4 inch closer to the fender than the driver's side. So it's 1/8 inch off center.

 

If you buy jim Suskos book , you can call him and he will tell you ....... I bought the book but am sworn to secrecy

 

marketing propaganda! now i will go and buy his book

 

What's the secret there? It's a weld-on part with adjustable links so you center it for the ride height that you will be using. Panhard rods DO shift the rear end laterally with vertical motion. So it doesn't stay centered with compression/unloading.

 

A watts link shouldn't shift the car horizantally with and vertical motion, no matter how poorly it's set up. You guys need to properly adjust your rear ends to fix the problem... It's just that easy! A panhard is fully adjustible and will works wonders on our cars, the only thing I don't like about panhard bars is that they literally center the axle and arc through vertical motion. So your car literally rolls 1/4" one way or another. how you set it up depends on which side gets that laterall movement. That's why I p[lan on doing a custome watts link in the long run.
watts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J4xkHuP7QY

panhard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQUW0-IEecA RC truck, but same damn thing. You can see the nasty arc.
good panhard site:
http://www.afcoracing.com/tech_pages/panhard.shtml

 

so would you rather have the panhard or a properly built watts

 

was that a serious question? a watts is better than a panhard in every way. I'd really like a mumford, but that's out of the question. lol.

 

Lol, I feel weird, mine is like a little bit towards the drivers side. I guess I'm the odd man out.

 

lol i was just kinna confused by your post. thanks for the clarification.

 

Wow. I just re-read my post, and it was pretty retarded. I was a t work. It's hard to post cohearently there without getting in trouble for, "looking at your car crap agian" What I ment was that a pan hard will help recenter the axle and you have an adjustible roll center which is better than what we got from Mazda. But, A panhard bar moves in an arc as the suspension moves up and down. Making your car handel better on left or right turns depending on how you set it up. With a properly set up watts you don't have that. The axle stays perfectly centered nomatter where the suspension moves around. The only problem is designing it and figureing out where to mount it. Panhards are very simple and easy to package. Look at mumford links they are the best way to locate a solid axle, but they're big expensive and hard to install, but you could put the roll center below ground if you wanted to. lol!

 

i think that that is normal, i have it too, theoreticaly with our watts links, with just the driver in the car, they should balance out, same way when you jack up your rear end off the ground, it shifts to the drivers side.

 

The g-force panhard bar will fix this. And lower the rear roll center so the car handles more consistantly and is easier to control.

The tri-link fixes the pinion angle problem when you lower the car, and solves the short, angled upper links from binding since you replace them with one long link.

The heim joints are noisy and have to be replaced every 1-2 years on a street car. But there are poly joints on the market that can be used instead. If you can find ones that fit the tube and bracket. Mini-truck and offroad truck shops/websites sell those predominantly.

 

so we should probably find a place that sells them and then sticky it.

 

watts > panhard, but the panhard is easier to package, and if you set it up right it will be in a part of its arc where it doesnt make much difference

 

I'd love to see Respeed do a centered watt's link and 3rd link set-up. Panhard is a step backwards IMO.

 

I won't do a panhard simply cause NASCAR uses one. Yuck, we might as well buy a Holley 4 barrel and put on a restrictor plate and cover out cars in duct tape.
Hyper4mance Industries has a watts link in end phases of development. Testing will begin by end of the year. Production run by 3rd quarter 2010.