Mounting Wheelie Bars

Is it better to weld the wheelie bars to the rear end or use some sort of mounting system. I have a set that came with the car but they appear to have to be welded on. If welded at what degree/angle should they be. As always thanks.

can you post a picture of what you have

whatbumper wrote:can you post a picture of what you have

X2
There are many different basic styles of wheelie bars out there, and even more different ways to mount them.

I can send you some pics, not good with this computer stuff to post pics.

These are the pics he sent me.

If you decide to use em, be careful when you load/unload it from the trailer....

sorry, we really don't have any experience with that style.  maybe some of the others chime in.


We only build and tune with the full tubular design.

you'll need to cut that driver side bracket to fit on the housing by the shock but looks like the other one may work.4-link cars normaly run them lower,mine are 6-6.5 high.my old ladder bar deal liked them all the way up at the bumper.if the car dont "need" them dont worry with them.they are a PIA to load the car and work around.these are a weldup kit from RJ.....

this is my old setup.i put the bars outside the shocks cuz it was easy.lol

Yup that wheelie bar set is the old style bars with the aluminum plates as the "bottom bars". The spring section on the top bars should have a double threaded sleeve assembly under the spring. The sleeve's internal threads & "T-bar" adjust the wheel height off the ground, the sleeve's external threads & threaded spring seat adjust the spring's pressure. The amount of threads the T-bar has will determine how big/small the height adjustment range will be.

If you don't want to mess with all the extra cutting/trimming on the driver side bracket to fit the housing you can easily make the set wider so both brackets will sit on the housing tubes. Just make a new/wider wheel bracket center bar so that the housing brackets will sit outside the rear shocks instead of inside.    

As for loading & unloading a car with wheelie bars IMO regardless of type/style of bar used you need to remove the pull-pins so you can strap the wheelie bars up high away from the ground before loading/unloading a race car (especially with real long bars). The momentary weight loading they see during a launch is a lot different than the heavier static weight loading they can see if left down during loading/unloading a car.


What is the bolted strap/webbing material wrapped around the housing tubes for? I'm guessing it's to limit the travel on what looks like the lower cost Art Morrison coilovers that use the OEM 3-way adjustable inserts.

Bought the car like this with those straps, if they are not needed I can remove them any other suggestions you have based on the pics.

79Puller wrote:Bought the car like this with those straps, if they are not needed I can remove them any other suggestions you have based on the pics.

IMO if the rear shocks are in fact the Art Morrison 3-way fake coilovers,  I would think about swapping them out at some point for real "drag race" use coilovers. You might get lucky & they might get the job done OK, or they might be totally useless depending on how much power you have to work with.


As for figuring the angle to weld the wheelie bar brackets to the housing it can be done a few different ways.

1st method.........
To find the total height adjustment range they have remove the center bar between the two w/bars & take one of them & adjust it's T-bar in as far as you can while still being able to get the top bar's pull-pin back in the wheel bracket. Then take the other w/bar & adjust it's T-bar out as far as you can (but not too far, leave some thread engagement inside) while still being able to get the top bar's pull-pin back in the wheel bracket. Then lay one w/bar on it's side, and the other w/bar on top of the 1st lining up both housing brackets at the same angle. The resulting distance mismatch between both w/bar wheels is the aprox height adjustment range the set has. If they have a lot of height adjustment (around 6" or more) you could mock-up the w/bars (while the T-bars are adjusted out) with the wheel clearance about 2" to 3" off the ground. Then tack the housing brackets to the rear end. If they don't have much height adjustment (around 6" or less) you could mock-up the w/bars (again while the T-bars are adjusted out) with the wheel clearance about 3" to 4" off the ground. Then tack the housing brackets to the rear end.


2nd method..........
Adjust the T-bars so they have about 1/2 their thread showing. Then mock-up the w/bars with a wheel clearance about 4" to 5" off the ground. Then tack the housing brackets to the rear end.


3rd method.........  
Adjust the T-bars so that the w/bar's bottom aluminum bars have no up/down curve or bow in them and they are as straight/flat as possible. If doing this also has the T-bars showing about 1/2 their threads, then mock-up the w/bars with a wheel clearance around 4" to 5" off the ground. Then tack the housing brackets to the rear end.