Which traction bars to use

[cwc]

I'm real close to getting my 69 l78 nova on the road. I'm curious as to which set of traction bars you guys would suggest. I'm not sure as to what time frame either set was built.i really dig the set with the tails,but like the fact that the black ones use 2 u-bolts plus the j-bolt.

[67 Nova Boy]

Which ones are long enough to reach your spring eye to actually work? Most come up short and the front snubber hits before the spring eye.

Measure from the center of the rear plate {If there, use the center locating hole for the pad} to the center of the longest hole where the front snubber bolts into, then measure from the center of the axle tube to the front spring eye and see what you need to put them in the right place. Mine is about 28" or so on a second gen Nova.

Dave
67 Nova Boy

http://www.how-to-build-hotrods.com/traction-bars.html

[vince]

what a great link alot of useful info there. thanks for that dave.

[cwc]

I'm pretty sure both sets are gonna come up short. The yellow ones are different lengths.they are the same ones on Grady's copo. He has the long one on the passenger side,but when they were on his l78 nova the short one was on passenger side.what is correct?

[ZLP955]

An old-school hot rodder once told me that bars with the rear extension help prevent reverse spring wrap under hard braking, but (if that's correct) not sure if the effects on a street-driven car would be all that noticeable.

[Jetstuff]

I'd run the black, square tube "J' bolt bars... Paint em yellow and buy the repro decals. I looked a long time to find a set of square tube bars for my Mustang. If you're really gonna drive the car hard or race it, the J bolts take a lot of load off the stock U (or T) bolts. It's not too hard to lengthen the bars to get the bumper under the eye, and with a little work, you can make them appear unmodified ...

"An old-school hot rodder once told me that bars with the rear extension help prevent reverse spring wrap under hard braking,"

I think the rear clamp bolt can be used to stiffen the rear half of the spring pack or preload the spring. The front "u" bolt keeps the bar from hitting the street under hard braking (REALLY bad if it happens.....)

[bbbentley]

Regardless of which bar you run, and advice given to extend the snubber under the spring eye, 1st , that front clamp or squared off U bolt serves to keep the bars from diving too much and risking hitting the pavement. So, the tails may look cooler, but may not serve a purpose or be necessary, IMO. 2nd, you may not want to drastically modify either set of bars with extensions for the spring eye. One way to preserve unmodified bars are to Find tubing that slips inside the bars tubing , snug. Use the snubber hole as the means to secure the bar. One way would be to weld a nut (after drilling a hole) on the inside top of the slide in bar. Run a bolt down snubber hole through nut. If there is some rattling because of a little slop in the two bars, inner & outer, wrap some electrical tape around the inner bar to prevent noise. This way you have not permanently altered or welded on your vintage, unmolested set. You will also most likely need to add a vertical spacer to the end of the bar for snubber to get close to the spring eye. These thoughts may be obvious to most on the site, but I felt this was good practical approach that others may benefit?

[WILMASBOYL78]

Don't rule out a set of "Harrell" style spring clamps...I know these worked pretty well and don't have the fitting issues the bars have.

-wilma

[69 Post Sedan]

The top of the snubber should be about 1/4" away from the spring....you don't want it too far away as the traction bar won't work like it should and you don't want it pushing up against the spring either.

A friend of mine told me years ago to not to use traction bars but to just put clamps on the springs and that will also prevent wheel hop but I'm not sure where they go or exactly how it's done.

Kurt

[cwc]

I ended up using the black bars without the tails,they were given to me by a good friend just for this car,so I thought it rightful to use them.another good friend NugeUSA1 whom was needing a set of bars for his 68 L78 camaro and has literally gave me a lot of original and nos parts for nova now has the yellow ones

[cook_dw]

Great choice.. Now let's see & hear a video!!!!