Me too! I have stock springs with a leaf added, worn out shocks and no bars. Never a hint of wheel hop on street radials, slicks or drag radials. It has been 1.58 in 60' on the slicks and drag radials.
Yep, yet another good lesson on drag racing your classic. If you are determined enough (or crazy enough ) to want to race hard using a manual transmission and sticky slicks--be prepared to break things because it will eventually happen. For me, the fun factor far outweighs the aggravation. I just try to build it better each time.
If my car was a stick car when I got it, it would still have a stick. There is something about a manual trans in an old pony car. It just seems like old muscle/pony cars were intended to have 4 speeds.
Wanted to bring this back to the top, since the season is here. 1) Cutting the 6cyl springs was a bad idea. Gives more travel, but slows the rise of the front down too much. Still cutting good 60's because of more power, but it should be way faster. Probably fine to cut though until your getting into the 10's. Then they will start to hurt you cut IMO. I'm also adding the Calvert Strut rods, I can see how they will help. Should have some pics after this weekend. Last thing on my list is UCA and LCA. Mine are either orig or really really old. lol Gotta wait a while though on those, running out of fun funds. Pic of the strut rods Got new springs going in too.
I didn't read through the whole thing but I will add this; when you get to the track uncap your headers. In some cases it can make a big enough difference.
The thread that never dies...... I like it. Gets me back to look around and see what everyone is up to. I am still trying to figure out what to build next. Been very busy with getting ready for the kart racing season, I have one of my 6 year old twins racing and between that and work it leves no time for my racing/gearhead "hobby"
Since this has been brought to the top again, I'll add a few more suspension findings that I learned from experimentation. Stick cars work best with a bias slick at the track. For a stick car that uses slicks, consider one with a stiff side wall. This keeps the side walls from breaking down so fast due to the hard hits and the slightly harder compound make the tread surface last longer. An example of this from MT is an ET Drag Slick-- 26x10x15S Unfortunately stiff walls are not available in every size but they are certainly worth the few extra bucks over a traditional bias slick. If you run Caltracs with a stick car, run the bar in the lower hole (softer hit) and add some preload. More preload also equals a softer hit. These suggestions can help lessen wheel spin off the line which allows you to try a higher launch RPM. This tip will work on any car--If you still can't get traction, try adding a 40-50lb bag of sand against the tail light panel. This action alone made a huge difference in how my car hooked. Cheap and easy to try. It can have its negative repercussions though as the added traction can also lead to increased parts breakage (in my case 2 tranny input shafts and a 31 spline differential in 3 consecutive weeks.) After properly beefing them up, I am very happy with the results and just may try another bag before the end of the year. With the above mods, my hard hitting 500hp 393w street stick car runs very consistent 1.57-1.63 60'ers week after week on our crappy, rarely prepped track. With further tuning I hope to get into the high 1.4 to low 1.5 second range this year. A mechanical throttle stop can add to the consistency of a run. Great for bracket racing if you can shift consistently. I also found it very useful when I got bounced for not having a roll bar (and rightly so.) I now dialed a 11.5 and with the stop in position I can be within a couple of hundredths of that each run. Roller front spring perch and a proper front end alignment will help keep the car from wandering on the upper end of the track. It should help transfer weight at the line, but in my case the car still hits too hard to see the benefit.
..some info on the CalTracks. No measures, but some facts/info about the idea behind Calverts design. Patent US5354092
...info/facts about the Monoleaf, from the same source: Patent US20020105117 This link might be useful to search for all kinds of "aftermarket" car stuff: Patent Searching and Inventing Resources
...a couple of other types of traction bars (again, same source): Patent US6386565 Patent US20070085293
