This shows how I angled the wheelie bars inward and attached them to the rear housing brace. Notice the lower bars attach to the factory Competition Engineering Magnum 4-link brackets. Nice
The first thing I did was cut the bottom bars to length to give me a 54-inch length from axle centerline to wheelie bar centerline. I temporarily used masking tape to secure the weld in clevises to the tubes. Then I assembled the upper bars according to the directions and set them aside. I had previously spent quite a bit of time making sure the car was level and the rear housing was centered in the chassis. Next, I installed the lower bars onto the built-in wheelie bar mounts on the inner Magnum 4-link brackets. Wow, is that handy?! Then I supported the rear of the bars under the wheel mounts with jack stands. I leveled the bars with my trusty digital angle finder and measured in an “X” across front to rear of both bars to make sure they were parallel.
As stated before I am looking at the bars as a last line of defense on keeping Muscrate shiny side up so I decided to keep the wheels about seven inches off the ground. I then spent quite a bit of time arguing with myself about where to mount the upper bars on the housing.
It’s a gift.
The Comp Engineering Magnum brackets do have a upper mount built in also but because my coil-overs mount at a slight inward angle the mount tabs are blocked from use. The debate I was having was to either mount the bars to the outside of the coilovers so that the upper bars would be angling slightly out at the front or mount them to the inside of the coilovers which would have the bars angling quite a bit inward towards the front. After much deliberation I decided to go the more difficult way -- I know, hard to believe -- and mount them inside the coilovers. I not only liked the “look” better but felt they would have more mechanical leverage to be able to hold the bars straight under load. Basically, they make a better triangle than if they were mounted outside. As we all know triangles are what it’s all about on a racecar suspension and cage. I then made some tabs from a couple extra brackets I had lying around and continued cutting and trial fitting until I was satisfied. The upper tabs are welded to the housing brace that runs the length of the housing. That was the easy part.