took the three hour haul to our "local" track, I went to find out how the spohn t/a and drop boxes hook the bfg`s drag radials....needless to say the big engine with the little tires was more than fun trying to launch but after getting on the tires in 2nd and 3rd the car went 11.49 @ 120. this is all I could pedal the car too, even leaving at half throttle was a complete disaster....the drag radials have worked fine on the street but I was completley shocked that they were worse at the track. The tires almost felt like donut spares after ten runs or so at 12 psi. there were plenty of cars that were hanging tires so the track after a while was not that bad..sixty times are still in the high 1.6`s After dropping a boat load of $ into the suspension...(tube k-member, a-arms, coil-overs,adjustable shocks t/a and everything else..still the same sixty`s but defintley 1/2 sec better et`s and 2 more mph`s on motor . Next time I`m hoping to have a little more serious of a tire under the car.

 

I bet u smoked that Vette .

 

Get some real slicks so you can utilize the soft sidewall, then hang onto your hat

The more I see the drag radials and talk to the guys running them, the bigger advocate I'm becoming for guys not to get them-for maximum and consistent effort that is. They're still better than a "real street tire" at the track

 

12 psi was probably way too low. DRs require more pressure than "slicks".

The new MT DOT radials look promising. Size selection and availability are issues, though.

 

What are the specs on the motor? Nice times .

 

i agree.. i'll repost what i posted before:

 

Yes! I thought I`d try with these at least, last time out I ran fairly well with `em but had a completely different engine in the car. This engine just needs alot more tire than the 16`s have, I was thinking going to a 15 inch wheel with a 28x11.5 et street..I`m not sure it`ll fit with out jacking up the car though.


Yes, I think your right I used to run 16psi in them and they were more consistant then, I read alot of posts and people having luck with the lower pressure. No squirm or wiggle was noitcable at the big end though, as far as radials, I think I`m done with those, at least at the track.


Specs are this

454 2 bolt bored .100 over w/ K/B hyper`s 10.2/1 compression
1/16 childs&albert Z Gap rings
heavy beam early rods w/ wavelock bolts
stock cast crank turned
cloyes hex adjust billet chain&gears
camshaft is an solid roller comp extreme energy 248/254 with 660/666
Cyl heads are early merlin sqr port 310`s w2.19/1.88
harland sharp rollers 1.7
edelbrock rpm/ demon 850

it`s a nice docile street engine..no kidding, it has enough vacuam for the brakes and idles at 750 in drive with no loading of the plugs...and runs on 89 octane with no complaints


heres some more pictures at car domain

 

Those nasty times, You smoked the vette

 

Well put Mr Dude.

A freind of mine came upto our track which has excellent hook on race day-always has. I was getting my usual 60' and my buddy had a set of the new M/T radials bolted on. He said he was a full .1 slower in the 60' than usual and his 60' times varied greatly. When he is using his M/T ET street slicks he's in the 1.6 range pulling the front tires a bit. That day he was 1.7-1.8, it lost that much off the line and was that inconsitent!!!

They look nice, but for anything with power that you dont have tospend hrs and hrs tuning the suspension I'll take regular bais ply thank you

On a side note, his wife did say how easy the rubber was to clean off the cars 1/4's after a pass with the radial slicks. She said the rubber brushed off like ash, so that's about the only plus I can see. I'll take my forever self made undercoating though

 

If it doesn't stick to your quarter panels, it surely isn't going to stick to the track.

I've actually been looking into getting a pair of the new radial slicks (wrinklewall) from Hoosier for my car (32x14 size). The Hoosier rep told me to hold off on getting a set, at least for now, because they are still playing around with compounds and cord patterns, based on input from the stock/super stock racers.

Get some dedicated drag slicks greezemonkey - you won't regret it. I go to Ubly quite often myself, and it usually hooks quite well for me.

 

I run in two classes that require DOT tires and one that allows slicks. I like to keep one database, so I don't want to be switching back & forth between DOTs & slicks (tried that last year - the DR's were always slower off the line in less consistent than the ET Drags). When the ET Drags finally wore out last year, I went with Hoosier Quicktime Pro DOTs, which gave me the same 60's as the ET Drags did. And one database for all three classes.

I'm only trapping 95-97 MPH, so the bias tires with radial fronts isn't too big a deal. However, in 2002 (the first year I ran the ET Drags), the car ran 5 MPH faster in Topeka than it did up here. The difference in handling with the bias/radial mix with just a 5 MPH increase was amazing - to say nothing about a little scary. If I make it to Topeka this year, it will be interesting to see how the Hoosiers act, because they do seem a little better than the Drags even here.

For street driven cars, switching 4 tires at the track is a lot more hassle than just switching from street rears to slicks (I barely have room to put all my track junk in the car as it is, let alone try to get a pair of ET Fronts in there, too - I suppose I could give up the pit bike, though). So, if somebody gets a DOT radial "slick" to work as well as today's bias DOT "slick", it'll be a happy day.

 

I ran a 28 x 10.5 x 15 no problme. I am trying to squeze a 30 x 10.5 W tire in there. But yeah our cars can actually fit alot of tire for the stock wheel wells.

 

I bought some MT 29.5 x 10.5's drags and I'm going to squeeze them in. I already have some sheetmetal work done. The bump stops have been cut off. The sheetmetal around the outside of the springs has been cut off and a new thin piece welded back in for a smoother look. The front inside of the wheel wells below the floor level have been cut off. The spare tire dent has been hammered back into the car.

They didn't have any 29.9 x 10.5W in stock or I would have bought them and tried to force them under the fenders. Those would be a very tight fit. I don't know how much clearance I'll have with the 29.9 x 10.5 until I get them mounted. I currently have GoodYear 29 x 10 with no problems with my current sheetmetal changes but it's getting close.

 

I'm very pleased with the performance of these M/T 29.5x9 slicks, first time M/T user and they're holding the 4200 chip at the light and look alot better tucked in the wheel well than the Hoosiers I ran for years that stuck out some. Just need more gear now again....looking for 4.56 with 31 spline full spool 9" 3rd member.

 

Hey Stephen 87 IROC & IHI, If one of you ever have a chance to snap a picture of the wheel well mods you did, please post it...I`d really like to see the spring bump stop one Stephen 87 IROC did, but any images would be helpful. I`m sure the hammer tub job is effective, but after looking at the well a nice sectioning at the front inner corner looks like it would be fairly simple...instead of going ape nuts on it with a hammer. Keeping the tire in the well is important to me I want to keep the car looking fairly stock from a distance and would actually like it a little lower than factory... the pro stock look

 

Next time I rotate slicks I'll see what I can do. Mines nothing special, I thihk Stephens would be the one to get since his is a little more involved with the metal replacement.

 

sounds good thanks..I was thinking something like this would work

 

LOL, I thought EVERYBODY had at least ONE of those in the garage?!! You dont?...what a loser

I'll attach a shot of the 29.5 x 9 tire so you can see how that looks, then I'll attach the shot of what I cut and beat. Is'nt much and not the prettiest, but get's 'er done.

 

here's the cut and beat pic. Once I get time to build my own garage which will probably be never-I own a small construction company yet pay to have stuff done at my own house??!! Classic case of "what's your time worth" I guess, I'm going to pull all the stuff back out so I can tiddy up, was under the gun to get this back on the track so did'nt get to get as involved as I normally like.

 

oops did it again

 

That doesn`t look that bad! That section in the front of the well near the inside, I assume there`s nothing behind that metal so it gives to the hammer fairly easily or is it more involved than that? Did you have to roll the lip of the quarter too? I hope to hang a tire or two one day like your car does IHI Thanks for the picture

 

The front of the inner well area is easily bendable with a BFH. I still get some rubbing when I drive around on the street at race track psi from tire deflection and if I'm looking at my car right, I think I'd have to literally cut into the cars rear floor board area and patch in new metal to gain any more clearance. Where the bumstop used to be, I can still taek more metal out, and will probably do as Stephen did by just cutting that entire section out and welding new flat metal back in for a smoother finished look, with these taller tires and the section width that bump stop area becomes an issue too. The old Hoosiers would have marks on the inner sidewall from where it would rub occasinally, but again this was at track psi in the rear tires.

Last season when I was running the Hoosier 28x11.5 DOT slicks and NO air bags I had the problem of the fender lip cutting into the thread section of the tire. This year WITH air bags I did'nt have that issue and now that I switched to the 29.5x9 slick the tire is acutally inside the wheel well when it comes down so no rubbing issue even if I deflated the bags, plus imo it looks better now too with the tire filling up more of the wheel well and actually haveing the treaded are fully under the fender.

 

arent 28x11.50 ET Streets about the same size as 28x10.50 ET Drags? If so, mine fit with only a little bit of hammering to the front of the wheelwells. They also tuck perfectly underneath the car. 15x8 rim with 5.5" backspacing.

 

IHI, your garage is too clean. I can actually see the floor. It's amazing I can even move around in mine.

I don't have any current pictures of my inner fender modifications. Here are a couple that I used for reference. I can't remember who's car this is.



My bump stop modification looks very similar. The front inner corner on mine hasn't been cut out like this. You can see the weld across the section where it's welded to the floor. That's as far down as my inner fender goes. On the passenger side I had to fill the gap to the inside because I cut a bit too much out. I also cut more out towards the outer fender more like in IHI's picture. The ideal sheet metal work would be to make the inner fenders a square corner. You would then have between the inside of the outer fender to the inside of the inner fender/frame to work with and not have to worry about the radius corner at the front. Sort of a mini tub for third gens.

 

LOL, wish it was my garage and I wish I had a garage, I just supply all the tools and misc. stuff that everybody but me seems to use??!!. Bought this new house and no outbuilds and been busy with construction this year so of course everybody gets work but my house...especially racing every weekend, after the rain quit of course. Heck I had to pay to have my own roof done, it's been that bad At least business has been good enough to allow it though. Cant wait for the yr off racing next season.

Finally got to the big show tonight, been in 1 -1/4 final, and semi's for all the other points races this year, but tonight I finally moved on and then ran off the dail, lost my alternator-bolted snapped off in head before 1st time run, and severe round robin all night so I was pulling dials outta my butt trying to stay alive with ever draining battery problem...too much electrical stuff on these cars anymore 11.16 on a 11.11 just dont cut it down here, even with my .521 light still got beat by .03

Very good pictures with what can/should be done for the drag racing themed cars here though. I smell mork work once I get my own place-buddies selling his house and leaving me out in the cold

 

I gotta question for both yas... Why did you have to cut off the bumpstop? The sidewall of my tire hits the bumpstop only when the suspension isn't loaded. With the car on the ground it doesnt interfere with anything.... or even come close.

 

In my case my rear end/rim and backspacing/section width of the tire all came into play that it was rubbing. Not bad, but still rubbbing and I personally would'nt wanna take the chance of having a tire cut at over 120mph. I dont need em, never jumped the car ever so never used them, dead weight that gave me a minor rub issue so I 86'em.

With mine the biggest issure of rub is with the front inside of the wheel well and one of the projects will be to do as the picture above has done for a smooth clean look and while i'm at it, explore the quicky "mini tub" idea as Stpehen has suggested. That way I can get a tall and wider tire with possible crazy sbc, or radical bbc in the future and have a chance at traction.