My signature 3rd gen drag car's rake looked like a duck from the rear - on my original stock v8 springs and CE 3 way adjustables on 29.5 x 10.5 x 15 on a Moser 9 inch 3rd gen rear

had hook up issues with front end bouncing as car tried to squat

everyone told me to do something about the rake and check rear end completely for binding in rear end

I sorted out what I think was binding - now dealing with the rake

I recently swapped to Strange mustang single adjustables with the clevis mount fab welded in the stock location and a pair of "blue something brand???" circle track 150lb springs that were recommended to me by a 10.5 racer

They are 1 inch shorter than the stock v8 springs - and clearly much easier to compress -

The rake is perfect now - car looks completely different

However a good push downwards on the rear of the car and the rear fender hits the tires - they are just in line with the lip which has already been cut and reflared twice

I haven't tried any inserts - so the spring is sitting flush in the body mount

Should I put back in the original stock rubber insert on the spring??

can the Strange shocks be adjusted to increase tension on compression??

If so , should I do both as a start??

 

pics would help, but sounds like you have the car very low, those slicks will also grow 1.5" in diameter possibly as well. Girls squat, race cars should never squat at the launch, your LCA angle is wrong if that is the case.

 

car needs a mini tub, correct backspacing, or smaller tires. and lca angle adjustment

 

what back spacing do you have and how wide is your wheels

 

15 x 10 - 5.5BS Weld draglites

They have been on the car for over a year - last pass is in you tube vid in sig -

since video crash event - been reworking the rear end set up

so its the double swap to strange shocks and the lower softer springs that now has the car too low at the back

I really was initially wondering if trying to support the car by puttin the stock top rubber insulator (thats the word) back on these softer rear springs will alter in a negative way the dynamics of the spring and its rating ??

perhaps making the car respond unpredictably than if the spring was directly intsalled against the body ??

 

the thing is, is that if you fix the lca angle, it won't squat at all, and you're quest will be moot

 

The springs only need to hold the car up at ride height. Heavy and soft springs can be adjusted to the same ride height. If they're too heavy, they'll be too stiff to allow the shocks to do their job. The suspension has to move. You're not corner carving where a stiff suspension is required. Allow the suspension to move and control the movement with shock settings.

If the suspension is set up properly, when the car launches, you want the shocks to extend as the diff is being driven down. A stiff compression setting will slow down how fast they'll allow the diff to move back up into the body.

If you're launching and the back of the car is squatting, the diff is moving up into the body, the shocks are compressing and the tires are moving away from the ground which can produce too much wheel spin.

You want to drive the tires into the ground hard enough that it won't go into tire shake. This is done with suspension setting but the shock extension needs to be loose.

If set up properly, the tires shouldn't go up into the fenders at any time during a 1/4 mile run. They should be driven down then return to roughly the same ride height. If you can push down on the car and the fenders hit the tires, you're either going to need rims with a different backspace or get the saw out and start trimming the fenders.

Stiffen up the compression on the shocks.
Raise the rear ride height. How it "looks" doesn't mean it's going to work properly.

 

your front end never comes up much either because there is far too much rake in the car, raise the nose up several inches while you're at it. Do you have relocation brackets on the rear end? If so what hole are they in? Those slicks look huge on the rims and stick out quite a bit.

 

what e.t. are you running i dont think you need a tire that big maybe i diffrent tire in the back and lca relocators try something like a 28x10.5x15 or a 29x9x15 m&h slick this rim on a 15x8 sits at 28.5 tall and 10'' wide i think the sec width is 11.5.. just a diffrent idea to the tire rubbing issue.

 

It's hard to get a 29.5x10.5 up under a Camaro that's not mini tubbed and it fit and look right. The 28x10.5 will hold more power than you think. Guys down here are going 1.18-1.19 60' on 28x10.5 stiff walls. I run the 28 stiff walls with a 9" rim 5" back spacing. stock springs. Picture courtesy of the Walters @ dragstory.com Here's a Camaro from around here on 28x10.5's.. small block, single plate kit. 1.19 60' stock suspension.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jez51foOJ44

 

if i rememeber correctly, he's running on a glorified back alley that's been converted to a drag strip, where they don't really prep much at all. he's going to have to spend some money on some real suspension i think to make it all work on a smaller tire.

edit: hehe..."The Walter's at DragStory"...haha, my mom took that picture of you i think. anthony got some vid of you btw, it's on his facebook if your friends with him. your car does a lot of bouncing in the first 60'. car is lookin' great dude!

 

It's because I had the front end totally tied down trying to cut a light there. I was barely fast enough for 6.50 so I didn't have the luxury of rolling in some to get a better react. I saw the video on facebook. I probably need some new front struts but not sure which ones to go with. I've had these on there forever from it's street days. I was thinking of the lakewood 90/10's so that it will keep the car loaded up on the travel limiters better after the launch? The track was so sticky down there it wasn't going to spin so I only had about 1/4" travel in the front and could still only get a .429 shallow.

 

oh wow....i got ya. i picked up a set of 90/10's for mine and it's really helped keep the car planted and not bouncing.

my wife and i were supposed to go to that race, but i had a test right before it, and two tests right after it, so i had to stay home. i was looking to run the 7.50 index, even though i'd have to slow the car down like .70

 

I talked to your parents for a minute in the motor home when I met up with Anthony. Maybe you can make it up to Brainerd on the first of April for the Battle of the states. The last race in October was a good turn out. I should have some 90/10's on by then.

 

what classes is there going to be? my car run's 6.8x/9x's. can i hook on a drag radial up there?

 

Outlaw Limited Street $7500 to win Over $10,000 in State bonus prizes
Super Street 275 vs 28.5 $ 4500 to win
Rules posted at www.limitedstreet.com

Index Classes
Door cars only, No throttle stops
5.30 $2500 to win ,over 32 cars $4000 to win
6.0 $2000 to win , over 32 cars $4000 to win
7.0 $1500 to win, over 32 cars $4000 to win

I can't say how the drag radials will work up here. I know the track will be prepped really well like last race, so I don't think you'll have a problem.

 

hmmm...it's the weekend after a 10.90 index race i'm going to so it may be hard to get away for it.

 

I think your dad is going to be up here covering the race if I heard correctly.

 

that is correct...unfortunately, my class schedule only allows me to work friday-sunday, so in order to take a whole weekend off would be tough on the wallet, lol.

 

Thanks guys - I think I am getting it now - just make sure the ride height will accommodate ride height and at least plus some clearance for tire growth and then work on the shocks lca angle pinion angle to let the car do what its supposed to do at launch

I have relocation brackets by the way - and I am in the lowest hole right now

I think these springs while shorter are much softer than the stock springs so I expect them not to interfere with the shocks doing their job

We only just bolted up to see how the ride height looked - still have to re-set and adjust LCA's length, Pinion angle with Jegs adjustable torque arm and the adjustable panhard bar

Once we get the car jacked up and measured - I will post up some pics and video

Thanks again

 

Put the stock or even some aftermarket poly spacers back in the top. That will gain you a little ride height w/o disturbing the spring rate, thus should get the body a little more clearance from the tires - Pending the current front ride height you may need to bump it some to keep the car fairly level.

On stock suspension stuff I try to keep the front and rear of the rocker box within 1/2" of each other from the ground. Any more and it's going to fight you for a chassis tune-up and consistency.

 

Thanks - this is the type of real world info I am looking for - can you just explain a little more clearly what is the "rocker box"

I am just looking about setting the height front and back

 

The rocker panel of the car, underneath the doors. Measure to the body right against the pinch welds; check the height at the front of the door close to the front wheel well, and at the back close to the rear wheel well.

Adding spacers above or below the spring does not alter the spring rate in any way. It's the same thing as running the adjusters up on coil-overs.

 

Judging from his video, his nose is 3" lower than the rears, and a large part of his traction problems. When mine was 1.25" different due to the weight of this iron block I had a ton of traction problems last year, now the ride height is even and I can't wait to get out there and hook coming out of a car wash again

 

^ I can't watch the video. 99% of the time that I'm on-line is while at work and our thin clients don't do well with anything flash player.

 

OK - just want to update on a fab I came up with to get the clearance on the rear tires and did a few passes on Sunday in a street cars battle

I added 2 stock rubber isolators per side on the rear springs - yes a pair

I fabbed the second pair by peeling the formed rubber cup off the insert metal saucer that it was bonded too (thats the part that sits and slots into the top of the spring and really makes the whole isolator rigid and maintains its height when compressed)

Took a hacksaw blade to trim the sides of the rubber cup portion so that it sits into the complete rubber isolator and the result was an additional 5/8 inch + the fixed height of a complete rubber isolator

Then I tie-strapped the whole "assembly" to the spring and installed

ended up with 2 back to back passes on motor - not bad for a first day back

1.566 60ft. - 6.850 @ 101.112 1/8th - 10.811 @ 110.29

1.507 60ft. - 6.786 @ 101.35 1/8th - 10.737 @ 113.64 (lifting before stripe)



PS - the second pair that I fabbed was an old pair - well worn and the cup rusted - there is no way I could have gotten the rubber off a good newish pair - the bonding agent is very very strong

 

current pic of the car - since we lowered car to change the rake and then added the rubber isolators to get clearance