Traction Bars

front brackets are welded on.

Z. Ray

 

The original Shelby installed Traction Master under ride traction bars had a "cast iron" brkt which was bolted to the lower spring plate with the factory U bolts. The original brackets only have 3 legs and are comonly looked at and thought broken. They were originaly painted with a bronze colored paint. All of the later produced TM units and the repros are a fabracated welded steel brkt . The front bracket of the traction bar is welded to the uni body frame on top of a special shaped piece of steel angle iron reinforcement to help strengthen the surrounding area.

 

Bob,
Since that applies to the under rides, was the 65 over ride the same color when it was welded, and to be concours correct would the area where it was welded to the axle housing be a distorted color as well, or did they spay over the weld? (There was too much grime under 17 to tell what color it was)

Mike

 

The 65 override brkts were completly different in shape and made of bare steel. When installed the place on the rear end housing was scuffed down to bare metal -the brket welded on and then the area was spray painted a semi gloss black so no rusting would occur. When they did that they also hacked off the rebound bumpers that were welded on the unibody above the override brkts and spray painted that area as well. The inside bracket was welded and spray painted too. I hope this helps in answering your question.

 

So to get mine right, the ends should be sprayed over and the rest of the bracket should be plain steel.
Thanks.

Mike

 

The brkts came as bare steel the round tubed bars were already painted . The brkets came bare steel because they had to be welded first.After welding "ANY" part of the brkt or housing that was bare steel was covered with semi gloss spray paint so it would not rust and I am sure any burnt paint etc. was covered up during the paint touch up as well. The round tubed bars only had to be bolted on so they were already painted the semigloss black. I hope I this make sense?

 

Yes, that makes sense - I am just picturing them doing it, I'm sure it was not what we expect on concours cars!
Thanks!

Mike

 

Oh yes it is !!!!

Judged a Div I at SAAC this year. Wanted to hung the builder after I saw the burnt paint under the spare tie hold down (65 Shelby) on the floor (undercarriage) of the car.

Kind of like finding my first 66 concours car without the rear brake adjustment holes being punched out and plugged with the numbered ruibber plugs

It was just great to see someone doing things right.... right after that I had to ask why he didn't reproduce the same effect on the Mustang rear end bumper mounts that were cut off. Hopefully the next car I see from him will have both.

 

Tommy ,it shoulds like it was replaced at some time with ether the later TM unit or if you say it is rough - I could see someone makeing it up from scratch out of steel if they didn't know were to find one .

 

Hi, Snakepit,
I had a pair of backing plates for the wide rear drums that still had the metal "knockouts" in them.. What is that all about??
I needed them to use in a functioning car so I reluctantly knocked them out and stuck in rubber plugs.
jimbo

 

The 65 and 66 Shelby's with the 2 1/2 inch rear brakes had the shoes preadjusted but had a knock out cut in the backing plate that had to be knocked out the first time a brake change was needed and the brakes adjusted. To try and represent a restored car as it was delivered from the dealer the knockouts should be in the backing plate. The knock outs are a little known concours detail. It is hard and time consuming to replicate the unknocked out backing plates.

 

Hi guys,
My 65 has shaved of heads on the traction bar bolts and are very thin.
There was a Service Bulletin from Shelby American to replace the
bolts to the shaved ones to avoid the bolt head to hit the frame
when the car hit big bumps or when you had a heavy load in your
trunk like a mother-in-Law or something.
/Texas Swede

 

Bob is correct (though the practice started in 66) The assembly plant and the dealers were suppose to use the brake drum calipers to adjust the shoes to the drum but it was much easier to punch out the plus. SO no you don't need to knock them out... you just choose to

Evidence of this is the ones we continue to find on driven cars (not very often but they are still out there) I knocked out tons of these in the 70's while working at a gas station doing brakes.


Have only seen one show car so far with this little detail. Put a smile on my face.... something I always suggest attempting (can not hurt one bit to have a happy judge) when I talk to someone about their restoration. I know I mentioned it to your guys.

 

just thought you would all be interested in a pic of my 67 shelby with 1967 dealer installed traction bars. The front of the bars are welded. (messy welds)To much dirt and grime to tell what color.
Jim

 

Hi,
My 67, #1317 also has the Traction Masters. Was there when I bought
it in 1977. Don't know if they are dealer or earlier owner installed.
Cool thing on a 67.
/Texas Swede

 

In regards to Jim's 67 Shelby traction bars in the pictures. I can tell from the shape of the brkt that the traction bars are the later style available starting in the early 70's.If some were installed on the car in 1967 then they were changed out sometime in the past probably when the air shocks were installed. It looks like they will need to be replaced again because someone has lifted the car up by the bars. Traction Master is still in business and has a website. I will post some pictures of what the assembly line type bottom TM plate should look like when I get home from work. If they were installed by the dealer when the car was new and you had the provenece to support that mod then the mod should be allowed in concours competition. The burden of proof is on the owner in this type of issue. If concours is not the intention then it doesn't make a difference if you have proof or not. It is a good upgrade that is needed if you are going to do burn outs and spirited driving.