Lakewood Universal Traction Bars

well after going to the track again and spinning out of the box I decided it's definately time to buy some traction bars. I went to the local speed shop and they said that there were two different part numbers for the bars, one specifically for mavericks and one for the universals. my question is, has anyone used the universals and if not do you think that they will fit? also as a side question how hard is it to put in a new electronic distributor (finally switching from points)? thanks
jeri

 

I have one important thing to give as advice to your situation..On your car..as with mine..(Ouch..here we go) ASSUMING you have single trac rear end (ie one wheel spins) traction bars are not going to make you happy... I was told that they were designed to help wheel hop..By keeping the front of the spring straighter, it lessens the whip effect of the front part of the spring. If you have a locker or a limited slip dif., then you need to look into moving wieght to the rear...Hope this helps you out...

 

Now for the other NEWS...Points conversion are WAY simple...you should get Dist., Duraspark II box, and wiring that goes between the 2 from a donor car...Make sure Box has BLUE wire relief. All but 2 of the wires have places to go... This should help to get you there as to the wiring set up....
Geez..almost forgot...The Universals do not hit the sping eye correctly...you can drill a new hole, but I do not think it would be safe...The ones for the Mav are the corect Lenght and will save you from buying a new rear Leafspring...

 

actually i have ran the universal lakewood traction bars with a one legger before and they do work.. work right and fit right thats another story. the car would leave two rubber marks if i layed into it with some cheap tires. you can also help some traction with a pinion subber as well.

as for universal ones they don't fit right. the snubber one the driver side won't touch the eyeleaf springs. or was it the passenger side? well either way one side will not hit up against the leaf eye. thats where is should be. please note this is due to the one off rear shock... er i mean staggered shocks that is the reason for them not fitting right. i think some of the eariler mavericks weren't like this so they might fit.

Get ones that fit right.

good luck

 

Thanks for your suggestions. I think I'm gonna lay out the extra dough and pay for the one's that are guareenteed to fit. Thanks again.
jeri

 

When you fit them, the front rubbers should not be against the springs but an inch or below.
This make them slap harder and work better in addition ride better on the street.

 

I would say slapper bars are OK for low horsepower applications, but if you start making some serious horsepower you will want to start thinking about some Cal Trac bars!!

 

AMEN!

 

I do agree, but can not see that much money coming out of my pocket....I thought I saw something about "Poor Mans Cal-tracs"..Anyone know about this...?

 

what are caltracks?

 

http://www.calvertracing.com/

 

The Caltracs are very good till you hit 9.75 second 1/4's
At this point you lose your traction and have to go with
ladder bars and coil over rear suspension, of course this
is serious power though !

 

I've seen cars go faster then that with cal trac bars......60 foot becomes more of an issue than overall speed and time........

 

Another electronic ignition option is a Petronix kit into your present distributor. Less than $75, installs in about 15 minutes, and you dont have to swap out your present distributor.

 

yeah i seen cars with univeral slaper bars in 9:50's it could be faster maybe if he had ladder bars or some 4 link set up but whos laughing last? the one who sepnt $35 bucks for universal slaper bars or $1500 bucks for a ladder set up (taking in to condieration that you can't weld and have someone else do it)