My Car, 1986 T/A, 406 sbc, Vortec heads, Comp 268xe cam, Edelbrock tes and cat back, built 700r4, 2400 converter, Strange 12 bolt with 3.73 gears, Eibach prokit, Kyb shocks and struts, Spohn torque arm, lca and panhard bar, Bmr bolt in lca relocater brackets, Comp Eng. subframe connecters, Bfg drag radials on GTA wheels. The car is a daily driver with atc that gets a little track time. It has run a best of 12.8 @ 109, with a 2.0 60 foot time. The elevation here is 2400 feet. I have the pinion angle set at -1 degree and the control arms in the middle hole which has them level. If I run the drag radials @ the recommended 18 psi I get a lot of wheel spin. I tried lowering the pressure to 16-14 psi, but started to get severe wheel hop. I can't get the 60 foot times down under 2.0 seconds due to these problems. Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

Welcome to my issue to my last outing at the track.

 

Try suspension adjustments. That's the purpose of having adjustable suspension. With your setup, the only adjustments you have are LCA settings. Try the upper and lower hole to see if the wheel hop goes away. You might try increasing the pinion angle a couple more degrees also but I doubt that will affect wheel hop.

 

I get tons of wheel hop as soon as the tires begin to hook. My setup is basically stock 85 iroc suspension but I'm still figuring out how to control it.

 

Please help I have the same situation as Blackbmagic...... I figure the suspension is stock, and tired too.... My motor is 406 sbc, Dart heads, and I just got this car. It needs a lot of work, and the FIRST thing I want to make sure of is being able to drive it without breaking something. I am scared something is going to break.

Can anyone tell me the first thing to change? Perhaps torsion arm bushings?
Other than torsion arm bushings, would it be the torsion arm itself?
I also was guessing to change the shocks, the trailing arms to aftermarket.

I'm a rookie please help.

 

At minimum i would get somone new or used adjustable lower control arms and adjustable torque arm, that way the rear can be centered in the wheel well and you can adjust pinion to the desired setting, i run -1.5 on my car, it is perfect at the track and OK on the street, i could try more neg pinion on the street but i dont think it would help, last but not least, the lower control arm relocation brackets, they are about 50$ new from founders or wherever you want to get them if you cannot get them used, these were my best investment thanks to the guys here, the rear of my car no longer squats on launch, the front just comes up.

This way all the stock components, worn or not, are not there to flex and not allow adjustability, seen many a cracked and busted stock torque arms from making power.

 

lower control arm relocation brackets and lower control arms are at the top of the list, that'll help a ton, torque arm after that

 

I had this problem for a while on my RS. I switched everything out (Adjustable LCA's, torque arm, panhard, LCA reloc brackets..) Finally I switched from my edelbrock drag shocks to KYB AGX adjustables and the problem went away (Only on the 2 stiffest settings, If I go softer the problem comes back.)

 

Thanks for the response. After I posted, I read some more and found the Lakewood control arms... that's what I'll get first. I was reading a post where a few guys said the pinion angle is NOT what causes the wheel hop.... I am not saying whose right or wrong because I don't know.

Do I have to buy adjustable control arms, or will it help to just buy the tubular Lakewood control arms? It's half the price.... but if you really think the adjustment is what I need, that's what I'll do. I would rather break a torsion arm than this transmissions tail or the rear end, etc.

 

the adjustment is just to make sure you get the wheels centered in the wheel wells and perfectly square with the chassis. the lakewood ones will be fine if you're not running really tall tires

 

Shocks, don't ignore the shocks!!!!! Most of the shocks I've seen at the drags are not drag shocks, just some parts store shock. There is sooooooooo much tuneability in a good pair of shocks, like AFCO, my personal favorite!!! New project is getting the double adjustables with reservoir and will be mounted on the front of the differential housing.... On one of our 3rd Gen cars still at stock weight it wouldn't be an issue, but the good shocks can also be run inverted to cut down on unsprung weight. Sometimes it takes more then a collection of bolt ons to realize the full performance potential of a car!!!!!

 

So I ordered Lakewood drag shocks 40301 for less than 50 bucks, and the Lakewood control arms: $119 from streetsideauto.com...... and I figured why not throw in the torque arm bushings for 15 bucks. See how this helps.... I don't want to go nuts spending money yet, if it gets it to stop the wheel hop, then I'll buy street legal slicks. I want to run the car at Milan Dragway.... we can use these street legal slicks, they have a few lines in the tire, but it's a slick tire. I'll let ya know how it goes.
Thanks for the responses.

 

lakewood traction action lift/control bars totaly fixed my wheel hop problem.

 

 

HEY so I went to a swap meet and scored a deal.
$100 for Random Technologies Adjustable Torqure Arm.
$180 for Harwood Fiberglass Show Series bolt on hood. Never been on a car.
(These Michigan cars with the rust underneath, makes for some serious grunt work loosening the rear suspension bolts!!! Can you say blowtorch/penetrating oil?

I'm stoked. I want to get to the dragstrip Wednesday, it's Sunday night. I have to get this pinion angle correct. They sell a Johnson Angle finder at Home Depot. I don't exactly know how to use it. (I just read an awesome post on thirdgen.org all about pinion angle).
All I can say for sure, is that the rear end rotates the opposite direction as the wheels turn, when the car launches. So I need to have the pinion pointing down about what, THREE DEGREES??? Maybe FOUR degrees?

All that stuff about the transmission angle, and the crankshaft, I won't worry about that right now. I will get all these parts in there and have some kind of negative angle so when the axle twists on launch, the driveshaft is somewhat in line with the dif. (Is that right?)

I hope so. Man, things keep changing fast! I had this red RS and was going to build it with a mild 350, now all of a sudden I have all this going. That's what happens when someone throws a deal at you, like a 406 Z28 all beat up, but still strong. That's what I'm working with. See you fellas around.

 

oh and if you want a stock torque arm bushing, you can have it for free if you pay the shipping, lol. I'm gonna burn rubber. Haven't had a musclecar since 1996, an 84Z28 with 350/manual trans/3.43 limited slip. It ran 14.3. I expect to go low 13's in this car. I'll post results maybe a video.

 

One more post. I was out the other day, with the wheel hop problem still going. But you know what I was punching it around corners and it was drifting so smooth, I learned to just launch with the wheel cocked a little, and I was having a good time, I could draw a letter S every time. This car is bad aZZ.

 

I just got a rearend out of a 96 z28 3.23 posi, new moog iroc springs, new shocks, new bushings and i noticed only with a friend ridding with me i wheel hop, and by myself its nonthing but spins from a standstill i weigh 180 pounds my brother about the same? Maybe weight transfer has something to do with this embarresing wheeel hop. But i'm happy with this rearend! posi is kickass .

When i had my one wheel peel 2.73 i never wheel hopped, with my upgrades i have 17" 275s on the back steel CragerSS, which brings up the question did thirdgens wheel hop from the factory with posi? was this a flaw in the system? From now on i will just modulate the throttle.

 

start at -1* (negative one degree) and adjust from there. autos don't need near as much pinion angle as a stick would

 

Fixed my Wheel hop problem When i put my posi rearend in i forgot to tighten the right shock lower mount bolt, and the shock must have spun the nut right off. The body was bouncing off nothing but rear spring on the passenger side.

 

Still working on wheel hop problems. I set the Pinion angle to -1.5 and dropped the lcas to the bottom hole of the relocation brackets. Drag radials at 18 psi. I made three passes without wheel hop, but on the fourth and fifth passes I got minor wheel hop. 60 foot times dropped to 1.8. Not great, but still a big improvement. I'm considering KYB adjustable drag shocks to help plant the tires. Anybody have experience with these on a daily driver?

 

All my problems went away with a simple bushing change. Stock rubbers went bye bye to make room for some poly bushings. I'm still running some unknown shocks and struts, for all I know, they could be the originals.

 

Need some help bad, I have a 89 rs and my read end just went from wheel hop. I have adjustable lca on the way, I'm going to get new bushings for my traction bar, and my torque bar, problem is I can't even get the damn thing off to replace the bushings. Is there an easier way to do so ? And is there anything else I should put new bushings on while I have the rear end out?

 

Also what's your guys opinion on using rustoleum paint on my rear end and suspension parts?