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Pinion snubbers....
Posted: Mon May 21, 07 1:32 am
by RobTwin
I know the jury's out as to whether they do any good, but as we bought one last year, thought it about time we looked to see how/if it fitted, as we were under the car anyway.
Offering it up to the carrier, it looks like the part of the snubber that's meant to contact the floor pan, will only do so with 1/2 of its diameter. I'm not talking about its height, but its position front to rear. Imagine looking at the side of the car, it looks like it will be too far to the rear to contact where it should.
We're not 100% sure of this yet, as the car was still up on axle stands and sitting the wrong height to start adjusting it, but before we get round to looking at it again, I was just wondering if anyone knows if the 741 carrier (like ours) has the same pinion snubber mounting holes as the beefier 489/742 ? Would this make a difference? The carrier only seems to have 2 tapped holes for the snubber to attach to, whereas the snubber has 4 clearance holes, presumably to mount 4x bolts?
The snubber is this adjustable type (small pic, I know, but you get the jist). Maybe the old style would fit better?
Posted: Mon May 21, 07 2:22 am
by Anonymous
Rob , bin it mate , no good , get yerself a set of monos with Caltracs.
Won't transfer the power to the tarmac.
Better off clampin the springs between axle & front hanger.
Posted: Mon May 21, 07 8:43 am
by RobTwin
Thanks for the advice Ad, but that doesnt quite fit in with what we're after with the car - ie trying to keep it stock(ish).
Anyway from what I've heard about Caltracs they're ok on the strip but aren't made for a car that'll do 99% of its miles on the road. I got enough problems with me teeth, without having my filling shaken out too
Clamping the springs may be an option, but having read some discussion on other forums suggesting snubbers work for some people and not for others, I thought it worth trying out as we already have one.
Posted: Mon May 21, 07 8:51 am
by Dave-R
Correctly adjusted they work very well indeed on cars very much faster than mine or Adams.
Drop the car on the floor before deciding if it is going to contact the floor corrctly or not. It would be strange if it didn't.
Ob the track adjust it to withing a quarter inch of the floor. But don't forget to lower it when on the street.
Posted: Mon May 21, 07 12:02 pm
by MrNorm
Rob, there isn't any difference between the 741/2/489 in snubber fitting. I guess it could be down to production tolerances in the sheetmetal, or the leafspring mounting point. FWIW I tried two different snubbers on mine (the MP one and the AM one you have) and both were too high on their min setting - not the same problem you have but another example of where one size did not fit all
I'm probably going to end up modifying the stock one.......
Posted: Mon May 21, 07 1:33 pm
by RobTwin
Thanks Dave & Gav
We will of course let the car settle on the ground, and will wait until it has been driven after coming off the axle stands (which it now has) before looking at the height.
Perhaps the floor pan of the earlier b-bods is different to the later ones - we could check by trying it on the Satellite

but it did look to be far enough away from the expected contact area to get us concerned. We used one of the older types on the Satellite some years ago without any probs... can't say how well it worked, but it did fit!
Posted: Mon May 21, 07 3:11 pm
by Dave-R
I had to shorten the MP one.
The floor should be re-enforced at the contact point anyway if you use one of these in anger.
Posted: Mon May 21, 07 6:42 pm
by Anonymous
Bob (knightcharger) was using one @ the Pod , had it set 1" from the floor , was getting tooooo much spin , done better times without it.

Posted: Mon May 21, 07 8:00 pm
by Dave-R
Well of course he didn't do well. You are supposed to have it a quarter inch from the floor on the track. That is why it is adjustable!
1 inch is a hell of a lot of axle twist.
Posted: Mon May 21, 07 8:02 pm
by Kev
Adam68 wrote:Bob (knightcharger) was using one @ the Pod , had it set 1" from the floor , was getting tooooo much spin , done better times without it.

Was that 1" with him in the car or out?

Posted: Mon May 21, 07 8:18 pm
by MrNorm
Dave wrote:The floor should be re-enforced at the contact point anyway if you use one of these in anger.
Agreed! Fortunately that was one of the things I remembered to do before the respray!!
Posted: Mon May 21, 07 9:44 pm
by Anonymous
Posted: Mon May 21, 07 10:10 pm
by Dave-R
Of course some of us have real muscle cars that came with that area re-enforced from the factory.......

Posted: Mon May 21, 07 11:26 pm
by Kev

And mine's a For-Dor

Posted: Tue May 22, 07 11:58 am
by MrNorm
Dave wrote:Of course some of us have real muscle cars that came with that area re-enforced from the factory.......

....yes that's right - mine was also reinforced from the factory but I added some extra beef
