3 link on 65 ford

Stewart Way · 03-23-2013, 10:51 PM

I am doing a little work for a buddy on a 65 Galaxie that is not a S or SS car but hopefully someone with 4 link experience can help. This car will be about 4400lb race ready with a 521 BBF. will be a 12 flat car. It needs to remain as close to stock on the suspension as possible. The factory has a 3 link with coil springs and a panhard bar. Has 2-22.5" lower bars and 1-10.5" upper right bar. I am looking at adding a second bar on the upper left. Using the existing brackets and holes and setting the bars at zero degree on the bottom bar and 14 degree front down on the top bar the rear housing sits too far up in the car (too low). My option is to lower the front of each bar and raise the back of each around 1.5". That will raise the back of the car (lower the housing)around 3" which is what it needs. But if I do that the lower bars mount about 3.75" below the cl of the housing and the upper would mount 6.25" above the cl.
My question is, is it OK to have the bottom bars so close to the cl of the housing and the top so far away? This is opposite of the Dana and the 9" I have in the shop. Both are alot shorter on the top bracket than the bottom.
The other oddity is that the bottom bars are about 39" apart while the tops will be about 18".
I don't see a reason that either of these dimensions will be a problem, but I did want to see if anyone had ever done anything like this on an old Ford or had any experience with either wide vs narrow bar mounts or the short bottom, long top mount.
Any thoughts?

tj310 · 03-25-2013, 08:11 AM

I know you said you want to keep it as close to stock looking as possible but. The way it is done on full size 65 Chevys with a similar looking 4 link is to bolt on brackets at the housing that lower the lower control arm mounting point a couple of inches. This is a bolt on modification that is accepted in stock. ---Trevor

Stewart Way · 03-25-2013, 05:10 PM

Trevor
My problem is the opposite. I need to move the rear of the bars up. I can do this with additional holes in the existing bracket. But that puts me opposite of the normal 4link setup. My lower bar will be a lot closer to the axle centerline than the top bar which is backwards from normal. My concern is this change in geometry might have an adverse affect on the working of the setup. Or is the distance of the bars from the axle centerline of no concern as long as you can get the instant center or what ever it is now called in the right place?

03-23-2013, 10:51 PM	#1
Stewart Way Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Atlanta Posts: 476 Likes: 20 Liked 70 Times in 22 Posts	3 link on 65 ford I am doing a little work for a buddy on a 65 Galaxie that is not a S or SS car but hopefully someone with 4 link experience can help. This car will be about 4400lb race ready with a 521 BBF. will be a 12 flat car. It needs to remain as close to stock on the suspension as possible. The factory has a 3 link with coil springs and a panhard bar. Has 2-22.5" lower bars and 1-10.5" upper right bar. I am looking at adding a second bar on the upper left. Using the existing brackets and holes and setting the bars at zero degree on the bottom bar and 14 degree front down on the top bar the rear housing sits too far up in the car (too low). My option is to lower the front of each bar and raise the back of each around 1.5". That will raise the back of the car (lower the housing)around 3" which is what it needs. But if I do that the lower bars mount about 3.75" below the cl of the housing and the upper would mount 6.25" above the cl. My question is, is it OK to have the bottom bars so close to the cl of the housing and the top so far away? This is opposite of the Dana and the 9" I have in the shop. Both are alot shorter on the top bracket than the bottom. The other oddity is that the bottom bars are about 39" apart while the tops will be about 18". I don't see a reason that either of these dimensions will be a problem, but I did want to see if anyone had ever done anything like this on an old Ford or had any experience with either wide vs narrow bar mounts or the short bottom, long top mount. Any thoughts? __________________ Stewart Way 2424 SS

03-25-2013, 08:11 AM	#2
tj310 Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Dresden On. Canada Posts: 460 Likes: 0 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: 3 link on 65 ford I know you said you want to keep it as close to stock looking as possible but. The way it is done on full size 65 Chevys with a similar looking 4 link is to bolt on brackets at the housing that lower the lower control arm mounting point a couple of inches. This is a bolt on modification that is accepted in stock. ---Trevor

03-25-2013, 05:10 PM	#3
Stewart Way Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Atlanta Posts: 476 Likes: 20 Liked 70 Times in 22 Posts	Re: 3 link on 65 ford Trevor My problem is the opposite. I need to move the rear of the bars up. I can do this with additional holes in the existing bracket. But that puts me opposite of the normal 4link setup. My lower bar will be a lot closer to the axle centerline than the top bar which is backwards from normal. My concern is this change in geometry might have an adverse affect on the working of the setup. Or is the distance of the bars from the axle centerline of no concern as long as you can get the instant center or what ever it is now called in the right place? __________________ Stewart Way 2424 SS