I have a 87 bird that I put an lt1 in, had alot of head and intake work done, every imaginary bolt on, 373 gears, 3300 edge stall, shift kit in a 4l60e, all hotchkis suspension, edelbrock torque arm and strut brace, kyb agx shocks/struts, wonder bar, and 275/40/17 bfg g force tires.

Now my problem is I cant hook up around half throttle on the street. I am going to races this week were I can only run street tires, how should I launch?? Should I idel it off the line, should I brake stall it, or should I flash the stall???

And does any one know which shocks and strut settings will give me the most traction?? I was thinking soft up front and mid in the rear?

Thanks!

 

It just takes time. Practice as much as you can as long as you do it safe as possible. If you can figure out how to get it to hook on the street you will have no problem at the track.

 

Well since you are using street tires that makes it definently harder. Do a good burnout to heat your tires up good. Maybe drop the rear tire pressure 5-10 psi under the specified psi on the side of the tire. Dont go any lower than that or you can turn the tire on the wheel. I have read that running the front and rear shocks soft it best. That allows the front to raise and the rear to squat alot easier.

 

What do you mean by "street tires"? Drag radials, at least, are not allowed?

 

By street tires I mean DOT approved. But I dont want to but drag radials because I have a set of slick and skinnys mounted on wheels on the way. This week it is just flashlight drags set up by the township, and I dont want to buy anything special but I want to do good. And the slicks will be used a a local NHRA track.

 

I've found it best to stall up the converter on the line even with a traction limited car. This makes it easier to just roll on the throttle as fast as the tires will take it. If you leave from an idle you have to do some fancy throttle modulation to get the car moving but no break the tires loose and then let back off the throttle as you get into your power band. I can't even get full throttle anywhere in first gear and I have to wait untill after the 1-2 shift to go full throttle or it would just hang up going into second. I've pulled 1.87 60's on 255/50/16 300 tread wear street tires this way. My 60' is why I was able to run high 13's with a motor that would only run 98 mph in the 1/4. Gotta love torque.

Edit: I just realized your from pittsburg, where are they doing the flash light drags??? If I can get my motor in time I might come up.

 

No, no and no… “street radials,” like real street radials will work best at street pressures. I’ve run fastest on tires like Goodyear GSC’s, Gatorbacks, BFG comp TA’s, radial TA’s, Kumho 712’s and 711’s… at pressures between 32 and 36psi.

In that tire size I’ve run low 1.7’s on GSC’s in a car with a manual tranny…

You absolutely do not want the back end of the car to squat, that is a torque reaction of the engine torque trying to twist the axle up on the passenger side/body down, which is the opposite of what you want. When you get it right the back end of the car will actually come up as the axle gets pushed down into the pavement.

FWIW, I think that nitto 555’s are about he best street radials for a performance car that I’ve owned… they handle well, work OK in the rain, and can be quite sticky at the track. FWIW, they are not like normal street tires at the track, I’ve run 275/40/17’s and on a heavy car they hooked best when heated hard and at between 15 and 18 psi, but do not use them on the street at those pressures, they’ll wear out in a few thousand miles. Instead air them up to street tire pressures and you’ll get 20K miles or more out of them.

Otherwise, I’m not sure what tire to suggest. I’ve been pretty unhappy with straight line traction with most street radials in 17’s, the Kumhos suck on the street, well, they pretty much all do… about the best so far are a set of really old (but unused, stored in the basement wrapped in garbage bags so the rubber doesn’t oxidize more then it has to) 285/40/17 Comp TAs that I had stored in my basement that I just mounted on the car.

Yep, secondly, it preloads the drivetrain against the suspension helping prevent breakage.

Yea, I’m wondering where and who’s organizing… I’m probably too far away (at least 3 hours) but still…

 

dont heat up regular street tires, they will spin more... i have et streets and im pulling 1.45 60' times. i have the jegster drag tq arm and lakewood lca no relocation brackets or nothing. i am replacing those et streets with goodyear drags this week, it should hook even better

 

if there is water box present, and u have to roll thru, then just do a small burnout to clear the tires and carry it thru the starting line to pick up vht and clear excess water.. nothing major at all

then stall it up some, and go easy off the line, walk into throttle, maintaining traction

i had my mostly stock L98 hook well on 16x8 street tires.. 2800 stall with 3.27 gears. i have been 1.88 60 foot on those tires. been 1.89 with 2.77 gears on those tires as well. mainly i average around 1.93-1.94 but know i had some more left in it.

just gotta practice and find that fine line between traction and spin. converter will help u launch better as u can have more control with ur power.

 

I agree that over heating a true street tire is pointless. It won't hook any harder. Softer compound tires(like dr's, slicks, some auto-x like the 555's) will require a larger burn out to bring them up to temp, but standard street tires just need to be brushed off. - As Orr89RocZ stated, avoid the water box if possible. Street tiers are designed to pick-up water and disperse it for better control in the rain - picking up water and carrying it to the line with you will gain you nothing, and it pisses somelike like me off when I have to go after you....... - LEAVE YOU PRESSURE ALONE! - if you're at the proper pressure(tires wearing evenly) then lowering your pressure will just reduce your contact patch, thus costing you traction. Radials won't squat like slicks, so lower pressure won't help any, only hurt. - As 83 Crossfire TA siad, the back does not squat on launch, although it sometimes appears that way due to the front end rise. The back actually rises due to the rear being pushed towards the ground, thus creating more traction. To soft of a shock in the back and the rear will rebound off the tires and break traction. I also agree on brake torqueing against the converter. This method will give you much more control over wheel speed coming out of the whole, thus more control over traction.

- I've gone a best of 1.66 on nitto DR 315/35/17's. Consistent 1.69-1.66, all with a 5 speed. It takes suspension work and practice to get there, but it can be had.

 

street radials will get greasy when you get them hot, so don't burnout, just spin them over to clean them up.
you will probably have to pedal the car out of the hole if the tires can't hook.

 

ALL tires get greasy if you get them too hot, street tires, slicks, drag radials… whatever. That doesn’t mean don’t do a burnout, that means figure out how hot is “hot” and stick with what works for that tire. I’ve never run across a tire that isn’t better without a second or 2 making smoke in 2nd gear, even cheap street radials, and I’ve never run across even a cheap street radial that wasn’t capable of at least 1.7 60’s with everything else setup right.

 

i have experienced my best 60 foots with slightly less pressure in the rear tires than what i normally run on the street. but i agree, dont take too much air out if you do take some out. on the street i usually run 30 psi. i ran 25 at the track. hooked good.

 

I agree that some burnout is nec. but John Forcin' on street tires just wastes other driver's time. - Unless on slicks or highly oriented drag type tires, avoid the water box. I also agree that some air down may be ok...I run my dr's at 25 all the time. They wear even there, and hook well. The fronts I run at around 30-32. I drive around the water, back up to get square, bring her up to about 3500, drop the clutch(in 1st gear), 2nd, 3rd, 4th(fyi, I don't use the clutch to shift), stop before crosing the line, stage and go. I hold the brake in low gear, release as I shift 2nd.