wheelbase vs wheelie bar length

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MalibuRacing Junkie
Jan 1, 2005
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whats the best way to decide what length bar to use? Doing a little research and from what I can see is 60"-85" unsprung. But how does wheelbase come into play with deciding length?
for something of a stock suspended outlaw 10.5 car
 

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MalibuRacing Junkie
May 21, 2003
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Westminster, MD
I'm no expert on ths subject at all, but have been looking into wheelie bars myself.

From what I have seen WB length isn't as much related to wheelbase as it is how quick the car is and how hard it can hit the WB's.

If you look around, the really quick cars tend to have quite long WB's. I'm told this is so they are more flexible and offer a softer hit when the car comes up on the bars. This helps to keep them from blowing the tires off when the bars hit.

If and when I do bars, they'll either be the 60" versions from Bickel, Quartermax, Autofab, or the S&W's (which are 54"). All of which are solid bars except for the S&W's which are spring loaded. I know several cars in this area which run similar times to mine and they all seem to work quite well with the S&W's.

EDIT: I'm thinking of taking the approach similar to NHRA Stock & S/S in which the WB's are set fairly high to simply keep the car off the bumper, yet the front end come up for proper weight transfer on the small tires. In my situation I don't need any bars in the summer as the air quality kills enough power the front end won't come up very high. it's the spring and fall that bumper draggers become a concern.
 

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MalibuRacing Junkie
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Jan 1, 2005
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it's very interesting reading..
from what I gather the longer the bar the softer it hits and has a less likely chance of unloading the tires. It's all in the leverage I suppose. I also hear that wheelbase has a part in what length you'd want to use. I just can't seem to find enough info about them.. kinda a gray area

Now with the longer=better being said why wouldn't everyone run 60"+ bars? I'm thinking of the 72" or 84" bars but that may just look retarded on a car that doesn't look like a prostock. And prostocks I believe run 66" bars.. rules I imagine :?


Todd.. what's your take on AJE's bar design? Kinda cool and strange looking at the same time. Another brand to look at is Tim McAmis's, heard alot of good things on theirs. http://www.timmcamis.com/index.html
 

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MalibuRacing Junkie
May 21, 2003
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Westminster, MD
I'm kinda on the fence about the AJE bars. They remond me of the old C.A.R.S. street race cars from the late 90's which is kinda cool. I do like the look to some degree, but don't think I'd like them on my car.

There used to be a real good article on Pro Car Performance's web site written by one of the owners, patrick Budd. I can't find it here recently. Basically in his opinion the AJE bars didn't do a real good job of keeping the front end down much, but they didn't tend to unload as bad as other bars.

I have a Tim Mcamis catlog here along with some others. His bars look no different than the others. Part of the decision may be some bars are designed for cars with Ford 9" rears with 4 link brackets, etc. These bars don't include any housing brackets which makes installation more difficult on the 3" axle tubes of my 12 bolt.

Of the ones I mentioned, the Bickel, Autofab and S&W bars have axle brackets, but the Quartermax do not.

I myself do not want the bars hanging out too far past the rear bumper. 60" is as long as I will consider for mine....personal preference I suppose. If it's a low slung chassis type car, long bars look fine, but on small tire, stock suspension cars, too long of bars look dorky. I also like the look of 'em set real high. :twisted:
 

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MalibuRacing Junkie
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what I heard about McAmis's is that his is a slip fit/welded design that helps strengthen the bars. I guess alot are just butted and welded.
 

Supe

MalibuRacing Junkie
May 21, 2003
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Charlotte, NC
Most of the RJ/Bickel/high end guys will all slip fit their stuff and plug weld it from the side, whether it be wheelie bars, wishbones, etc. We had two sets of McAmis bars laying around in the shop, one off a rail car, the other for a Top Sportsman car. Nothing special with either of them, but I wasn't terribly keen on the wheels they use on them compared to the ones RJ offers.


I will agree with Todd in that I think how hard the car hits the tire is more of the deciding factor than length, especially with the stock suspension stuff, and even moreso with the drag radials. From what I've seen, the drag radials can be so finnicky on a marginal track, that the best results I've seen were as Todd mentioned - set the bars high enough to keep from going over, not so much as to control the launch. This lets everything work as it should, lets that front end have the slow, controlled rise, and should keep from unloading them.

On the other hand, if you've got a nitrous car leaving on a 10.5w, that front end is going to come up hard and fast, and is probably going to unload once those bars hit the ground.

As a side note, most of our customers running super gas/super street with big tires all run short, unsprung bars to basically keep from seeing the roof, and the slowest of the bunch are in the low 1.30 60 foots.
 

10secBu

MalibuRacing Junkie
May 21, 2003
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Westminster, MD
Found the link somehow for Patrick Budd's wheelie bar tech article.

http://www.procarperformance.com/budds_bits_wheelie_bars.htm
 

Robert1320

Pro Stocker
The guys hit most of this, heck I want to say we have pm about these.

Wheel base has nothing to do with wheelie bars.
Hp and tire size is how you figure wheelie bars.


High hp small tire will need a long bar without horizontial bracing thus allowing the bars to flex and not unload the tires.
A big tired car can use a long stiff bar set-up and the rigid bar actually unload the tire (SLIGHTY) and allow the motor to RPM and not bog.

Bar lengths 60" no need for those, those bolt on spring things show car want a be junk.

Get some 84" to 120" be a man don't be scared!
 

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