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Integrate Innovative Steering & Suspension

8:22
33:57
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What Exactly is a TransAm Race Car? Inside Pancho Weaver's Basement Shop - Where Innovation is King

What happens here

Install a unique steering rocker system developed by Pancho, which effectively achieves zero bump steer by faking out the rack-and-pinion. The actual rack-and-pinion is positioned below the engine, and the rocker system transmits steering input to the tie rods, ensuring optimal mechanical grip and predictable steering. For the rear suspension, incorporate a Watts link system. Unlike a Panhard bar that allows some lateral movement, the Watts link uses a pivot and two rods to precisely center the rear end within the chassis, eliminating lateral load movement and maintaining constant geometry during suspension travel. This enhances stability and traction.

Goal: Maximize mechanical grip, eliminate bump steer, and ensure precise rear-end centering.

Tools and materials

  • Rack and Pinion — Part of the steering system, positioned for optimal geometry
  • Rear End Housing Custom fabricated — Base for the rear axle and Watts link installation
  • Tie Rods — Connecting the steering rocker to the uprights
  • Watts Link Rear End Custom fabricated — Precisely centering the rear axle and managing lateral loads

What they say

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we've got a little bit different um a steering system in this car we've got the rack and penion and I told my Engineers when when we designed this car that I wanted more mechanical grip and I wanted a stiffer chassis and I wanted this a few of these criterias that I wanted was trying to make a better a better piece you know and show up with transm and uh that's what we did did this car in CAD it's the first car that we've we've done in CAD so we could check clearances and we could check you know how things are are moving in geometry and these kind of things one of them is the mechanical grip increase was very hard to do and the engineer says look it's not going to happen I said why she said well the Eng engine crank is in the way of the steering and if you get more mechanical grip you're going to have to raise it steering rack and it's going to be in the way it's going to be right in the middle of the crank so I said well you you work on the mechanical grip I'll work on the steering so I came up with this this steering rocker and we have our rack and pinion that hooks here and here and moves these rockers back and forth but yet up here is where we go to the to the upright and that's the actual tie rod so all we're doing was just faking out what the rack seems to be in the car but it's really not it's down underneath the engine Drive which clears that but yet we got the mechanical grip through geometry and we also got zero bump steer so how does raising the rack give you more mechanical grip like what is the function when we got the mechanical grip it it it the rack had had to be higher to achieve that mechanical through through geometry through the where the points are is that classified information is why that works way it do go for the NY gritty and you you just if you don't I won't ask about it if you don't want me to but well and actually you know was I didn't really want to release a lot of the information we are now but um I'm at the end of my program you know I'm checking out this is this car here is possibly my last transm car I'll build uh so I have a signature series thing going on that uh would dedicate to that to that build and to these car these these later cars um which probably won't do anything for future sales or future uh worth of the vehicle but it might you know and I've been doing this for a long time so I figured you know why not just try to pass this on a little bit to the others and some of the things that I've learned uh throughout…

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