Beeman

i'd like to lose some weight off of the frt. of the car. What k member and A arms seem to work the best on a drag car? I'd like solid bushings or heim joints on the a arms to keep the frt. end loose. What coilover kit have you used/ what weight springs?
i currently have a factory k-Member and A arms with solid bushings. Using moros trick frt. springs with 90/10 struts. frt travels nice and carries the wheels on a good track. I have aftermarket strut plates with bearings, factory strut plates cracked all of the rubber out. I'd like to stay with stock steering for now. I have solid motor mounts on the stock k member.

AlkyIROC

I run a PA Racing crossmember and a-arms. Poly bushings and Moroso BBC trick springs. Koni SPA1 struts. I use a front and rear motor plate so no side mounts on the k-member.

The factory crossmember isn't as heavy as it looks. I changed mine mainly for clearance since I dropped my engine down as low as I could. I can't remove the oil pan without dropping the steering center link.

My front end carries too well. I normally have the struts cranked up full tight and use travel limiters to reduce the amount the front end will rise before the wheels get pulled off the ground during competition. During open T&T, I loosen everything up and can pull sky high wheelies.

Beeman

I'd like more clearance for headers and the diaper. I've thought about motor plates but don't have a lot of horsepower. I was wondering weight difference if changing to coilovers. the moroso springs work well but coilovers would clean up the bottom more. Don't really want poly bushings.

AlkyIROC

Although some people use coil overs in a third gen for drag racing, I don't think the sheetmetal around the top of the strut mounts is strong enough especially for my car when the front end comes down. Probably wouldn't be a problem if you had a full cage with under hood tubes to tie the strut towers into the cage. The area right on top of the struts mounts is heavy steel but that's all supported by sheet metal. If you used front coil overs, all the front weight of the car needs to be supported by that.

The aftermarket springs between the a-arms and frame rail is more than strong enough.

My BBC has 2-14" primary tube headers. A couple of tubes are dented to go around suspension components and I can't remove the tiny starter without removing the header. I also had to relocate my steering shaft up and away from the engine to clear the header tubes.

As for a diaper, I tried to put one on my car and had no room because of the large header tubes. The tubular k-member wasn't a problem but there was no way I could fit the diaper between the headers and the block/starter. It was easier to fabricate a belly pan and I've tested it already when I put a rod through the oil pan.

Beeman

Good point about the weight. I do have a full cage and plan to tie the strut towers to the cage at the back and the fram horns at the frt. I have the heavy steel strut mounts with bearings.
I bought a DRE diaper and it fits my SBC nice. The header tubes are tight to the block but it slides between them and has Kevlar panels.

rb85TA

PA Racing & UMI Performance for k member AJE has a billet strut coil over spindle setup , that shaves weight off & really clean look.
If I were to change directions on my build to a drag car... that's what I would do.
Jmo