Drag Strip Suspension Ready!

[BigPinoyHunk]

ok, i'm slowly learning on how to get the good times at the track. but i'm now getting into setting up the suspension. however i need a happy medium with a street car and a drag car. currently i have the i guess is useless 620 springs up front. they ride really well around town with the big pig 460 and i have minimal nose dive under hard braking.

some guys are putting 6cyl springs with the weight of a 460 so the ride height is good and still has the suspension travel upfront. i'm not quite understanding the suspension travel up front thing. but all i'm getting is guy go with springs that actually need to be compressed alot like factory and not like my 620 springs that barely need to be compressed because it has so many less coils.

so there goes with the whole spring thing (i'd still like to have a 1 inch lowered stance) people always talk about adjustable shocks. and the shocks being really stiff up front i think. why would you need adjustable shocks?

in the rear i have 5 leaf springs with the factory spaghetti 1/2 swaybar (might be removing to fit a fatter wheel). i'm utilizing subframe connectors. i have some competition engineering slapper bars on order and should be here tomorrow.

 

[73mach1429]

The idea for the is to use soft front springs and 90/10 valving in the front to allow for weight transfer. However, with a heavy engine in the front, it not very good in the street. Before you go changing suspension around to much, why not get a set of D.O.T. drag tires, and run the traction bars to see what you have then?

 

[BigPinoyHunk]

The idea for the is to use soft front springs and 90/10 valving in the front to allow for weight transfer. However, with a heavy engine in the front, it not very good in the street. Before you go changing suspension around to much, why not get a set of D.O.T. drag tires, and run the traction bars to see what you have then?

What is that 90/10 shock setting? How is a front shock to help launch? There ought to be a happy medium spring for both.

I am in the process in getting my wheels widened. I Plan on a 11 inch wide wheel with a 315-35-17 but I also though about a 325-45-17'for the 28 inch height.

My traction bars should be here tomorrow night to install after work!!!

On the spring part, I though stock 351c spring would be ok. They would give me the super tall height n settle a little more for the extra 150lbs upfront!!!

 

[73mach1429]

The whole idea is to let the front end extend quickly on a launch so that body weight is transferred to the rear for extra traction. The weight biasing is mostly upfront, especially with the big block. If you want to launch hard, leave the 17's at home. A 15" tire has more sidewall and will flex more. Good for the drags, bad for cornering. You want the tire to "wind up" and absorb the shock of the sudden power, so it can grip as much as possible. Imagine you are towing someone out of ditch. The 15" tire is like a tow strap and the 17" tire is like a chain. The sidewall of the 17 can't absorb the shock as well so it breaks loose easier. And by transferring weight to the back is like when people put sand bags in the back of their car/truck to get more weight on the back for better traction. A perfect setup would extend the front shocks but not lift the front off the ground as that wastes power. At the same time, you want the rear to squat to plant the rear tires.

Get some subframe connectors, good traction bars and some 26x10.x15 Mickey Thompson DOT slicks and shave a ton of time off your 60' time. From the sound of whats in your engine you should be running around 13.0 or less.

 

[BigPinoyHunk]

The whole idea is to let the front end extend quickly on a launch so that body weight is transferred to the rear for extra traction. The weight biasing is mostly upfront, especially with the big block. If you want to launch hard, leave the 17's at home. A 15" tire has more sidewall and will flex more. Good for the drags, bad for cornering. You want the tire to "wind up" and absorb the shock of the sudden power, so it can grip as much as possible. Imagine you are towing someone out of ditch. The 15" tire is like a tow strap and the 17" tire is like a chain. The sidewall of the 17 can't absorb the shock as well so it breaks loose easier. And by transferring weight to the back is like when people put sand bags in the back of their car/truck to get more weight on the back for better traction. A perfect setup would extend the front shocks but not lift the front off the ground as that wastes power. At the same time, you want the rear to squat to plant the rear tires.

Get some subframe connectors, good traction bars and some 26x10.x15 Mickey Thompson DOT slicks and shave a ton of time off your 60' time. From the sound of whats in your engine you should be running around 13.0 or less.

i have no choice but to fun 17's up front and 16's in the rear at minimum. i have cobra brakes!!! i do believe racemasters have 28 inch drag radials that'll fit my 11 inch wide rim.

 

[73vertproject]

The whole idea is to let the front end extend quickly on a launch so that body weight is transferred to the rear for extra traction. The weight biasing is mostly upfront, especially with the big block. If you want to launch hard, leave the 17's at home. A 15" tire has more sidewall and will flex more. Good for the drags, bad for cornering. You want the tire to "wind up" and absorb the shock of the sudden power, so it can grip as much as possible. Imagine you are towing someone out of ditch. The 15" tire is like a tow strap and the 17" tire is like a chain. The sidewall of the 17 can't absorb the shock as well so it breaks loose easier. And by transferring weight to the back is like when people put sand bags in the back of their car/truck to get more weight on the back for better traction. A perfect setup would extend the front shocks but not lift the front off the ground as that wastes power. At the same time, you want the rear to squat to plant the rear tires.

Get some subframe connectors, good traction bars and some 26x10.x15 Mickey Thompson DOT slicks and shave a ton of time off your 60' time. From the sound of whats in your engine you should be running around 13.0 or less.

:goodpost:

Great information!

 

[BigPinoyHunk]

The whole idea is to let the front end extend quickly on a launch so that body weight is transferred to the rear for extra traction. The weight biasing is mostly upfront, especially with the big block. If you want to launch hard, leave the 17's at home. A 15" tire has more sidewall and will flex more. Good for the drags, bad for cornering. You want the tire to "wind up" and absorb the shock of the sudden power, so it can grip as much as possible. Imagine you are towing someone out of ditch. The 15" tire is like a tow strap and the 17" tire is like a chain. The sidewall of the 17 can't absorb the shock as well so it breaks loose easier. And by transferring weight to the back is like when people put sand bags in the back of their car/truck to get more weight on the back for better traction. A perfect setup would extend the front shocks but not lift the front off the ground as that wastes power. At the same time, you want the rear to squat to plant the rear tires.

Get some subframe connectors, good traction bars and some 26x10.x15 Mickey Thompson DOT slicks and shave a ton of time off your 60' time. From the sound of whats in your engine you should be running around 13.0 or less.

subframe connectors are on the car when it was in the bodyshop. the traction bars are here and it looks like there is some kind of bar thats welded on the side of it. it looks like it replaces the shock plate completely.

gonna work getting the rear wheels shipped out today and then install the subframe connectors after work.

 

[73mach1429]

I have the Comp Engineering bars on my Mach and yes, they replace the shock plate. I don't remember any bar welded to the side? I will go out in the garage and double check.

What about a second set of rear rims with a full on slick? Not sure what your tech inspect at the track would want there but at New England Dragway, you would need a driveshaft loop also. You would also need snell approved helmet when you break into the 13s.

If you want to drive to the track and run it without changing rims, DOT drag tires are the the only way to go. Street tires will just not cut it at all with that kind of torque. I know with mine, even with the traction bars, the BF Goodrich radial T/As can even keep traction at 30mph when I mash the throttle. They are terrible! I know that the Mickey Thompson's work well and I have heard good things about the Nittos.

 

[BigPinoyHunk]

I have the Comp Engineering bars on my Mach and yes, they replace the shock plate. I don't remember any bar welded to the side? I will go out in the garage and double check.

What about a second set of rear rims with a full on slick? Not sure what your tech inspect at the track would want there but at New England Dragway, you would need a driveshaft loop also. You would also need snell approved helmet when you break into the 13s.

If you want to drive to the track and run it without changing rims, DOT drag tires are the the only way to go. Street tires will just not cut it at all with that kind of torque. I know with mine, even with the traction bars, the BF Goodrich radial T/As can even keep traction at 30mph when I mash the throttle. They are terrible! I know that the Mickey Thompson's work well and I have heard good things about the Nittos.

yes it looks like a regular traction bar but then on the side it looks like there is a bar that would replace the shock mount. please double check for me cuz i'll be install them soon enough.

i thought about a second set of rear wheels but my rear wheels are in no other size. so i decided just to widen my current wheels to 17x11 and just use a drag radial. but i could of just ran a similar wheel with a slick only tire. though, i don't know what kind of damage i could do with my motor. i have a new 3 inch dia driveshaft with all new spicer u-joints. then i do have a rebuilt 3rd member then into aftermarket 31 spline axles. i am not sure where the weak link is there but i am not sure if i want to find out with a slick. a full slick tire would definitely tell me where its at if i had enough power though. with the trans though, i have the 600 series so i'm a little ways until i hit 600tq/hp so i should be ok. but i'm going to reinstall the 275/40/17 on the 11wide rim and see how much more clearance i got for a tire thats 2 inches taller. if something will fit taller then, the 325-45-17 might be in my future from M&H racemasters tire. other companies have the regular 275-40-17 or 315-35-17 that'll fit my 11 wide wheel. there is however a 275-50-17 tire but its much narrower than my 275-40-17 tire . i like having the fatter stance. there isn't much choices when it comes to 17's though besides a full slick.

it looks like you and i have alot of the same things in common.


in a week or so i am going to purchase the adjustable shocks for the drag strip and i can adjust back to street set up. however, i'm hoping that when you adjust the fronts, you can just unbolt the shock tower mount and then compress the shock down into the tower and adjust it there. but hopefully my hand fits in the hole though.

i am thinking on the rears i'll have to completely unbolt the shock from the traction bar and then compress by hand/arms then adjust it.

 

[73mach1429]

Depending on the brand, you should not have to remove anything to adjust them. KYB AGX rear shocks have an adjustment knob on the bottom tube for easy adjustment and if I remember correctly, the old school red Konis for the fronts abjust at the top.

Other than the driveshaft loop, make sure you have the good clamps for the u-joints. I ripped a joint right out of the rear yoke on my '69 on the day I first took it out with the motor I built for it. I ripped the nut off and u shaped part just straightened out. Only about a mile walk home but it still was not cool.

 

[tplusa72]

IF your going to the track you will need a helemet and a drivedshaft safety loop. with the motor you have I would go with standard front springs rather than 6 cly or the 620