The Cal-look Lounge

Some ladder bars for "dummies" questions..
How do i decide what is the correct length of the ladder bars for my car? 78" wheelbase, and hmm... around 1300lbs weight maybe.
Are the RLR bars what i should get, or are there other options?

Any other information on positioning etc is also welcome. I need to learn  :)

And any suggestions for coilovers?

Mount the gearbox 1st.measure from the axle forward to the main hoop in the cage,thats your ladder bar length,give or take,you need a good solid mount at the front and the traditional way is to run 2 tubes across between the cage main hoop and take your brackets off them.As they will be custom length you are better getting them made locally,or at least in the same continent that you live :) not sure where you are in the world but Jim smith does some good bars and I am sure he can do them to whatever length you need,try to mount the coil over on top of or behind the axle,not in front of it and as straight as you can

There are lots of pics out there that should help you

cheers richie   

Thanks man, only thing is that the cage isnt made yet, and when googling around i found various answers regarding ladder bar length and how the car would react...thats why my question popped up  :) But if im good anyway, i will just have the cage made without taking ladderbar length into consideration, then just have them made to the length needed when the cage is done.

Btw, im in Norway.

Take a look at ` NSU Prinz 4 ` build up pics in `In Da Works`  As Richie says, there is no real hard and fast rule when it comes to ladder bar length. 32" is talked about alot, but that just happens to be the distance from the axle centre line to the point most Beetles have thier main hoop mounted???!!! ;) I have very very short bars on mine and it all works fine.

Thanks   Jim

Thanks Jim, i've been following the Prinz thread, great build! And i understand that you are the masterbrain behind the cage and suspension - lookin real good!
I guess i should not worry then. Thanks for your quick replies guys  :)

The main hoop has to be above the drivers head,it is a fixed point effectively,so then with the gearbox fixed you have your maximum length,personally I think you try to make the ladder bars as long as you can,there should be less geometry changes that way, a short bar has a reputation for being more violent,and lots of early chassis cars crashed with short bars,but time has shown this may not have been due to the bar length,but some other design issue

cheers richie

Where are you six gun?

Im in Norway