What is the best tryed and true setup for these cars? I was thinking tubular with LCAs with relocators, tubular panard bar, aftermarket torque arm, all adjustable. 50/50 shocks. 90/10 struts with Moroso trick springs up front. Also what is the biggest slick someone is running without tubbing?

 

everything in sig.

what power level or honest et's are you expecting to run? HONESTLY, LOL, that will affect TQ arm descion.

 

11-13 second car. stock.

faster... what Mr. IHI said.

 

The stock torque arm system but with aftermarket parts will work fine for most people. I have ladder bars because I installed a junkyard 9" housing and it was the easiest way to eliminate the torque arm.

You can't really "tub" a third gen without doing a complete back half since the sheet metal frame rails are right at the inner fenders. The best you can do is modify the inner fenders for a bit more clearance.

IHI uses a DOT slick. The measurement is different. DOT tire width is measured across the tire section. Tread will be less. Slicks width measurments are across the tread. Section width will be more.

I ran 28x9 with no problems. I'm now up to a 30x10.5 but have a bunch of inner fender modifications to get them to fit. 10" rims with 5.5" backspace work the best.

 

Good point on the slick measures. Hoosiers full slick I've run their 28x10 with no problem, but inner wheel well massaging is necessary.

M/T full slick I ran 29.5x9 and these were wider than any of the Hoosiers I ran both DOT and full slick. The M/T rubbed like crazy at race psi going around corners and left the polished metal to prove it.

 

definitely look into the guys over at BMR fabrication. all the really fast stock style suspension guys are running their stuff.

 

The engine that is being built right now is a 406, 11.7 to 1 comp, stock crank, powder coated rods. The cam is solid lifter 252,260 duration at 050, 536 554 lift, heads are cast iron 220 intake runner with 2.08, 1.60 valves, Holley strip dominator intake. dont know about carb yet but most likely will be a 800 cfm holley. trans is a turbo 350 with a 3000 stall converter. I dont know the horspower yet but im am hoping to dip into the 11s. dont want to run faster then 11.5 then i have to start adding things.

 

i would think that if the car is setup properly, it should run MUCH faster than that with that much motor.

here is what i'm running to give you an idea of what's possible:

solid motor mounts
stock torque arm with poly bushing
stock lca's that i boxed w/ stock rubber bushings
lca relocation brackets
spohn NON-adjustable panhard rod(would've used the stock one but it was bent)
stock v6 springs all the way around with 1 coil cut off each corner
275/60/15 MT ET Street Radials

this combo netted me 1.75 60's with my 305 and ran 13.0's. hopefully my new combo will be in the VERY low 12's or high 11's.

i don't plan to change anything in my suspension either. if anything, i'll have a buddy of mine make me some adj. lca's....that's it for now though.

 

Your stall is too low for optimum, look into a 45-5000 stall to maximize combination so it all works together. What gear and how tall of a tire are you going to run?

regardless, once proper tune is achieved you'll be in the high 11's no problem, but your 11.5 mark that your trying to avoid will be the likely et range you'll be in..once you get the rest of the combination to work together better. Either way invest in either air bags for a cheap band aid fix to help simmer down body roll on the leave-it wont eliminate it, but will help, or get a heavy duty race built anti roll bar ouot back to completely stop body roll.

 

What brand heads are you going to use? My friend runs an 10.8:1 400 with Vortecs and Comp's XS282. Its been 11.60's @ 113mph on motor with a 3.42 gear, 26" tall drag radials, and a 4000 stall. His car is also an honest 3500lbs.

You dont have to buy big 230cc heads and a huge cam to run the times you want. It'd be easily achieved with less expensive parts.

 

The heads are pro something I cant remember the full name. They come from a place in portland oregon. they are cheap. the cam is one we have laying around. I might go smaller. the stall is 3000 because it will be on the street a lot. The rear end is another issue. Most likely I will get a 9 bolt for now. 3.73 gears. when it goes to the track I will use 28 x 9 slicks. does BMR have a website? where is a good place to get a heavy duty race built anti roll bar? My last car (70 nova)ran 10.70 with a 427 small roller cam 11.1 comp. stock heads with a 3000 converter but had 4.56 gears and was 2900 lbs. I am hoping this engine will be around the same power.

 

www.bmrfabrication.com

they have an anti-rollbar.

 

That is a very mis matched combination, so if your basing everything off that convertor, your going to have to get a smaller cam, something in the 23?/24? @ 0.50, otherwise your wasting a bunch of power. Dont think for a minute a higher 10" stall is not streetable, I used to run a 3500 stall and now this 4600 stall and both are no worse on the street than a stocker and build no excess heat-in town tranny temps for mine are 120*

You will frag the 9 bolt, just a matter of when so I personally would not stick a bunch of money into it since it's destine for the scrap heap. There have been some lucky ones on here having them live for a bit, but if the motor you putting together will be what it sounds like, you will implode that diff. Anyways, the 3.73 gear and 28" tall tire will cause excessive convertor slippage since overall gear ratio is a bit on the low side. If your sticking with the 3.73's I would typically recommend a 26" tire, but with your power output your going to be taxing the limits of traction. Keeping with a long torque arm will help since the chasis will absorb some of the hit, but that's still alot to ask from such a short tire.

Am assuming the heads are Pro-Topline? These heads will work good for the engine and cam you have listed.

Just my 2 cents on your combination, but you will be leaving alot on the table as it sits and not realizing the true potential of the car until it's sorted out. And just because you have things optimized does not mean it will not be street worthy. Other than terrible gas milage, mine was everybit as easy to drive on the street as a regular car...my very timid wife can vouge for that. Your investing alot of time and effort thus far, dont skimp on yourself now...follow through since the engine sounds like a good combination-just get everything behind it organized to utilize it

 

What do you guys think about the setup from SouthSide Engineering? I CANNOT get traction with this setup to save my life.

Bolt on L98 (232whp and 311lb-ft, its untuned, gimme a break.)
Pro-Built Street/Strip 700R4 with Corvette Converter
3.42 Posi with boxed LCA's with Relocation brackets (I've played with the adjustments, made almost no difference.)
Stock Torque arm with bushing.
Alston SFC's
KYB GR2 rear shocks and stock springs
265/50/15 BFG Radial GT's

If I slam the gas off the line (for example) the car will boil the tires off in first and second gear till I shift into 3rd. The best I can launch it will get traction in middle of second gear. I will softly burn the tires up until that point.

In some street races, the lack of traction I have will put me a car behind going into second, by then, I have to rely on the engine to get me back in the race. At this point, thats not too good of a option being that I dont even have 240whp.

I am starting to build a 400-450whp 383 and I am afraid the car will never have traction for the rest of its life. It seems all I did with all the chassis mods, if reduce wheelhop and still have no actual traction.

Help?

 

vwdave, time to look into way better tires. your combo sounds like it needs some launch help. First off drag radials on the street work well, i'm having luck with the M/T drag radials in 275/60R15. Furthermore if you're looking for track only tires then slicks are really the way to go. IHI recommended hoosiers and i picked up a pair and was pretty happy with them. Furthermore, on the street you can't floor the car until traction is gained. Sometimes shifting into second early will lessen the hit on the tires and allow for quicker traction being gained. I removed the front sway bar and that helped alot as did moving all the weight out of the front as possible. no a/c, no power steering, battery in the back of the car, fiberglass hood, drilled out bumper supports, etc etc. to make the front as light as possible to help weight transfer.