The panhard rod was detrimental in the handling of the car on the early year
suspension design. On the early cars, the rear springs ran parallel and the
rod was used to hold the rear axle stationary - to limit the side movement of
the rear axle. The suspension also needed to be softened because the chassis
was flexing too much . This resulted in the axle travel up and down to be
increased. This design caused the panhard rod on hard cornering to pull the
car into a spin out. The design was used for cars up to the BJ7 and early
BJ8- 1964.
On the BJ8 65 and newer design, although chassis rigidity was still a problem
Healey realized by toeing the springs in at the front, the rear end would be
stable eliminating the panhard rod.Due to the fact the chassis problems were
not resolved , soft springs were
still used and as a result the increase
horsepower caused the springs to windup -going into a S pattern. To resolve
this problem the radius arms were installed. Radius arms do not offer any
assistance in the side movement of the rear axle. A better design would have
been a Watts link.
Remember stiffening the suspension on an original chassis will only increase
the bad behaviour of the chassis because it is not rigid. If you replicate the
original design you will not resolve the original problems.
Happy Healeying, Marty www.jule-enterprises.com
--- On Wed, 3/24/10, Steve B. Gerow <steveg@abrazosdata.com> wrote:
From: Steve B. Gerow <steveg@abrazosdata.com>
Subject: [Healeys] BJ8 suspension thoughts
To: "healeys@autox.team.net" <healeys@autox.team.net>
Received: Wednesday, March 24, 2010, 11:54 PM
I always thought it was cheap of BMC to get rid of the panhard rod on the
BJ8.
However, when I installed my BJ8 radius arms on my car, I noticed they're
quite rigid in sideways motion. Since my car has front mounts per Mike
Salter's AHX-12 design which will flex sideways but not other directions, it
still requires the panhard rod.
The front and rear radius arm mounts on the BJ8 are rigid in a sideways
direction, therefore I would assume the BJ8 axle has little tendency to shift
sideways. Ditto the Sprite which has a similar radius arm design.
I wonder if anyone's tried moving the BJ8 axle sideways with the
radius arms
attached but the springs disconnected.
Enquiring minds want to know.
Hey - _who_ has too much time on their hands? Not me.
--
Steve Gerow
BN6
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