Whenever I race I always spin the tires, even when I go easy on it off the line, as soon as I get near WOT the tires go up in smoke. What rpm should I torque it up to on the launch? At what RPM should I shift into 2nd and 3rd(mods are in my sig)?

 

I know this may seem stupid but do you have an open dif..or a brok posi that is all I can think of. Your car is modded alot but man that is insane power to do that to your tires all the time. That must be a hell of an engine. Alos you should look into spacers and putting 275's on the back. You could do that.

 

My car has the stock 9bolt with posi but the posi is worn out. When I launch in a straight line the car will get sideways which means that both tires are spinning. This car has unbelievable torque in first gear, I can smoke the tires all the way through 1st and into 2nd if I want too, I have even chirped the tires into 3rd before. I think thats damn good for an automatic with a shift kit.

 

Smoking the tires just tells me you have a traction problem. You need better tires to get the power to the ground. A 700 HP car won't even run 12's if it can't hook up.

I ran 26 x 10.5 MT ET Streets on a 3.27 geared 9 bolt for 2 years with no problems. I was cutting 1.7x 60 foot times. The 383 that was powering the car at the time (see blown up pics on the web site) was capable of high 11's.

 

I know I need better tires but I'm not sure if I'm going to go with drag radials because of their short life. I drive 3-5000 mi a summer and I do drive in rain sometimes so I'm leaning towards Nitto's over BFG if I go with drag radials. Slicks are not an option right now because I do mostly street racing and the nearest track is a couple hours away.

 

Spend money on tires and suspension goodies. Dont put another cent into the engine until you can harness the power you've got now. As far as D/R's go Nittos are great. Ive seen LS1's cut 1.60 60'ers on p245/50/16 Nittos at the track.

-Doug

 

If its a daily driver, then you have one set of tires for your normal driving days, then you switch your rims/tires [preferrably lightier rims and DOT slicks] for those days [or nites] that you know your racing.

If you go with GOOD DOT slicks, or slicks, its best to either have them off the car when not in use [get a huge garbage bag to keep them covered] or keep the car up on jack stands if you dont want to swap them with "regular" street tires.

"When I launch in a straight line the car will get sideways which means that both tires are spinning" - hmm.... dunno bout that, my one legger got more sideways than my posi ever has while spinning the tires.

 

How is it possible for your one legger to get more sideways than your posi? Correct me if I'm wrong but don't both tires spin at the same speed with posi and only one tire will spin most of the time with a nonposi rearend, right? How can a one wheel wonder get sideways besides if it's in a skid?

 

I dunno, all the posi's I've ever had kicked out..

-- Joe

 

My new posi (Auburn Race diff) sure doesn't kick the rear-end out. A few weeks ago at the track, I was spinning the tires (Drag Radials) 50-100 feet out and the car was tracking perfectly straight. It was below freezing outside and the track wasn't prepped very well, which is why I couldn't hook up. I used to have a HD Torsen, and that acted like an open diff when doing a burnout and when spinning the tires after a launch, and it always kicked the rear out to one side or the other (mostly to the left side).

 

Hey man, im not lieing and im too new to drag racing to know how to explain it, but my open-diff would kick hard to the left at launch and 2nd/3rd gears, now that i have a posi, i can feel the wheels spin, but does not kick to either side at all. Maybe it was a combo of my week 6 cyl suspension and lack of rear sway bar, i dunno.

 

my open rear kicks to the right

 

I see a classic case of too much torque, and not enough suspensoin mods. Get a set of control arms, a panhard rod, subframe connectors, and some BF goodrich drag radials. If your budget is tight, go with the control arms, about 150 a set, and tires. the rest can come later. Not to flame, but you would have probibly been better off building a 355, and spending the rest on the suspension, but your car your choices. Once you can hook up good, be prepared for some wild acceleration.
To anser your question, for now, you would probibly be better off letting the car shift, because your engine is choked as hell, and won't have the ability to rev very high.

 

92superram

I realize I have too much tourqe for my suspension, but the first thing I'm going to do is SFC's because I have T-tops and there is way too much flex right now, and then a set of Nittos instead of the BFG's because I have to drive in the rain somtimes. What do the control arms and panhard rod do? I do somtimes wish I would have built a 355 instead of my 383 stroker because I could have got some heads, an intake, and a better suspension by now. Thanks for your help.

 

subframe connectors are a must if you have t-tops, the'll help your traction some. they might make you launce straiter too. Stock controll arms flex some, aftermarket ones are thicker and have polyurithane bushings, they really work well at stoping wheel hop. I have trouble spinning my dunlop tires without powerbreaking, but i don't really see the point in waisting expensive rubber. If i drag raced more, i would get a drag launch spring kit and drag radials, but i don't want to sacrifice any of my handling.

 

I love launching next to a car that just sits there and spins. If your car spins the tires hard on the launch then dont spend money on the engine. Spend it on the suspension.