Thread: One way to make simple traction bars for a Studebaker

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I shared this over on the Studebaker Drivers Club page, thought folks here might like it too. Might have application for other cars too. These clearly are not for a hard core racer, but should work well for street car.

Credit for design of these goes to Dan McDonald of Arizona. I saw them on his gorgeous orange custom '53 Studebaker at the 2010 International Studebaker Meet in Glendale. He was gracious enough to take some detail pictures and send them to me. I have been collecting pieces since then and finally got around to building my own set:

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I was fortunate to come across some free steel in a trash can as one of the vendors tore down his display at Hot August Nights. The bridge steel on the left is 5/16ths and pieces on the right are 1/4. I found the threaded (swaged) tubing and rod ends at Carl's Racing Products (Stock Car Products From Carls Performance Products - Stock Car, Circle Track and Oval Track Parts For Late Models, Hobby Stocks, Street Stock and Mini Stocks). They are actually used as tie rods for stock cars so should be plenty strong for my application. I got those plus the tabs for the front mount for $60 plus shipping.

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Fabrication was actually very simple. I used a sawzall, a grinder and drill press to cut and drill the steel, quality blades and cutting oil really helps.

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I have long u-bolts from previously removed lowering blocks. I measured carefully to make sure the rear mount did not hang lower than the wheel rim.

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I recently purchased a Lincoln Mig welder and this was the first real project I used it on. Because of the thickness of the steel, I used flux core to weld the tabs onto the plate for the front mounts. My welds are not as pretty as I would like, but I have good penetration and they are plenty strong. Once I had the mounts completed, I attached the tubing and clamped them to the frame where it starts to kick up right behind the front spring mount. I had carefully measured the width of the frame to determine hole location before drilling the plates. I then used the holes in the plates as a guide to drill though the frame. This was the least enjoyable part of this project as I was laying on my back under the car to do it. I stopped several times to sharpen my drill bit which made the going so much better.

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Once everything was fitted, I took it all off and painted it flat black. After installation I took the car for a short spin. In initial testing, wheel hop is completely eliminated. The ride is not adversely affected as far as I can tell from the brief test drive. The tubes are adjustable and I may play with that to see if traction can be improved further.

Pat