Traction Bar Questions

Would a kafer bar do what you want?

IRS or Swing Axle Bruce?

Kafer bar also called a rear truss bar would save the rear mounts  (I'd avoid the red poly mounts and even the solid steel ones).

but you might be talking about a rear engine hanger?

I would avoid the EMPI red/orange poly mounts. I am replacing mine as they are completely gnarled, deformed and in the case of the front one, deteriorated into pieces. Guys who know me know that I don't hot rod my car and I have a camber compensator and a midmount tranny support/brace, so the car is set up right. These mounts lasted about 4 years or 6k miles. Go with the Rhino mounts. Not pretty, but shouldn't let you down. 

I have IRS in the rear. Also "kafer'/"truss" bars and an intermediate tranny support. Non of these stop the wheel hop

Wolfgang...that hanger bar is what I'm after. I'm sure it will eliminate the wheel hop. In order to use one I have to ditch the heater boxes and related parts.  Is that photo you sent of your car ? Did you only use the one bolt on the bottom of your engine to connect that bar ? Is either end of your bar isolated in rubber ?......Bruce

Not mine - regretfully site says custom.

http://www.oldbug.com/deronvk.htm

aircooled posted:

I have IRS in the rear. Also "kafer'/"truss" bars and an intermediate tranny support. Non of these stop the wheel hop

Wolfgang...that hanger bar is what I'm after. I'm sure it will eliminate the wheel hop. In order to use one I have to ditch the heater boxes and related parts.  Is that photo you sent of your car ? Did you only use the one bolt on the bottom of your engine to connect that bar ? Is either end of your bar isolated in rubber ?......Bruce

Both ends will be isolated in rubber, Bruce. Take a look at the left side of the 19th pic down and you'll see a vertical round tube that is welded to a wider, shorter horizontal tube. That tube is suspended from a hanger via round rubber blocks within the tube itself.

I just ordered a pair of parts like this : http://www.racereadyproducts.c...-bushing-assemblies/ to start making up my rear engine mount.

If you google (image) search Autofab universal bushing assembly you'll see many different types that a homebuilt bar could be started with.

A custom engine support bar isn't that hard to fabricate, Bruce. You can do it the traditional VW high perf way with 1 1/4" x1 1/4" square steel tubing (will clear most headers, but I don't know about a sidewinder and muffler) and 3/8 all-thread or custom build something using the mount points at the rear of the case, shaping it so it doesn't hang down.

I thought a good kafer bar and mid mount was supposed to eliminate wheel hop- which ones do you have?

Al...I made my own kafer bar mounting brackets and cross bar then used two vertical bars with heim joints at the ends which attach to the HD horn tranny cradle. Pretty much like you see that's for sale out there. Anyway, I didn't have much faith that the kafer bars and the mid mount would solve the problem. The laws of physics presides  here and and all the "buckling down" on one end of a lever is hard pressed to keep the other end from not moving. Especially with approx. 225 lbs of engine hanging on that free end !  Hence, I will make a bar (athwart car for you folks on the ZEN thread !) mounted at the rear of the engine. Actually....today I was looking at a totally different concept of fabricating a different support that goes directly to the rear of the car and attaches to the rear body support frame. This, hopefully, would eliminate the need to punch up thru  and around the exhaust system to get to the side supports.  It would also give the ground another place to grind on instead of the exhaust headers and/or muffler.  (And I would be able to keep my heater system !)

I do have a A-1 Sidewinder exhaust system. You are on track Al. It interferes with my efforts to mount this bar to the extent that I have to remove the heater boxes and all the related components. Here in Socal that's not a big issue in most instances.

DAVID....Thank you so much for the source info on the rubber bushings n stuff !  Finding various hardware items to use in an original fabrication job is one of the hardest things to get a handle on. Your info just made this task 100% easier !

What did we do before internet ? I shiver and shake my head at the thought !

Al  n David n all.....I will post photo's of my finished product.  At this point I think that this is nearly the only way to surely eliminate "wheel hop"  I forgot to mention that I have a ZF  LSD and it really grabs a hand-full even more when I drop the clutch.

Thanks to you all for your contributions ! That's what is really great about this site and sets it apart from the others out there................Respectfully.........Bruce

Maybe Stan will pipe in here, Bruce, as (iIrc) he made his own rear engine support (with Porsche? rubber mounts; again, iIrc) and you may get an idea or 3 from what he did (which was quite nice).

On my to do list as well.

Let's see your pictures as you build it.