I'm getting my car ready for it's second outing to the track on July 10 and wanted a few suggestions. First of all the best time I've gotten out of it is:

60 1.618
330 4.775
1/8 7.461
MPH 90.89
1000 9.802
1/4 11.795
MPH 113.23

Shifting at 5500
Staged at 160 degrees

My best 60 foot to date is an 1.608. I'm on a serious budget so I cannot spend a ton of money on a fancy suspension. Anybody that was close to the line said that it wasn't spinning at all, which I found kind of hard to believe but the pictures do show the left front off the ground a few inches, so it wasn't spinning a lot. The suspension under it now is bone stock with the original shocks all the way around, original boxed lower control arms, and stock uppers. The only thing I did was remove the front swaybar. I've got 4-500 to spend before the next heads up race so I had a few things I was thinking about.

Would a set of SSM Lift bars and an air bag in the spring help? It was only pulling the left front and squatting the rear of the car a lot. I've got a pic if someone can post it.

Are my shocks being so old on the rear hurting me? If so what kind should I buy on a budget.

On another subject when I staged the car it was at 160 degrees instead of 180. The best pass before was an 11.87. Is there a chance if will run better with a 160 stat in it instead of a 180?

Next question, I really thought it would mph higher. Is my low shift point hurting me in your opinion? I've been shifting at 5500. If so what would you try shifting at?

I really thought a 1.608 was a decent 60 foot for stock suspension, so what will help this even more. Whats the most cost effective way to bring this down lower?

Any other thoughts and suggestions are much appreciated, I know a lot of you don't like 496's, but its not doing bad so far, and did a whole lot better than I thought the first time out. Thanks in advance I have to go work my second job so it'll be a few hours before I can get back on here.

Thanks, Matt

I just found a couple pics of it launching on the internet from that race, maybe it can give a better idea of how it's launching right now!

http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v299/PonyGirlPhotography/Vamp%20Racing%20-%20-%20-%20%20June%205th/?action=view&current=DSC_0106_demo.jpg

http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v299/PonyGirlPhotography/Vamp%20Racing%20-%20-%20-%20%20June%205th/?action=view&current=DSC_0126_demo.jpg

Koni "Street" adjustable shocks. Not cheap, but work.
Take a glace under a Stock Eliminator car, and in many cases you'll find these shocks.

you can see them working well in this pictures (http://www.davemilcarek.net/031304/pages/3-13-R5%20023.htm)

On a stock weight, nose heavy, small tire car a Drag shock wont work as well as the street adjustable shocks

When my webpage is back up, i'll post a few pictures of stockers with those shocks.

Sorry for the stupidity but are you talking about front/rear or both. What do you think of the 60's are they pretty good for stock suspension?

Matt

Matt,

First off, nice pics and a real nice looking car. Your ET's are very good too. Looking at your MPH and ETs I would say you must have been very close to dead hooking in those passes. Now having said that, your pictures also reveal some wasted motion in the suspension likely do to worn out springs/shocks and a lack of no-hop/lift bars in the rear. First off, you want to keep your car from twisting the frame as doing so will limit the traction applied to the drivers side rear. This can be done by preloading the rear passenger side with an air bag or adjustable upper control arms. I've found a rear sway bar will help to some extent as well. Next, your car appears to be squating in the rear quite a bit. This means that the tires are not being firmly planted in the ground as the suspension is absorbing some of the torque on the initial launch. Once you get the weight off the front of the car (i.e., pull the tires) the rest is completely up to the rear suspension. You're left front is coming up indicating that you are transfering weight to the rear. The trick is to limit the squating by relocating instant center so that the rear body separates from the chassis. You don't want too much separation, rather just enought to plant the tires firmly. Again, I don't think based on your incremental times that the car was spinning much. However it is possible that you would pick up a couple hundreths in 60' by a more controlled suspension both front and rear. The picture below is of my car launching with a 1.46 60' with bolt on suspenstion parts (no hop bars, adjustable uppers, air bags, 1.125" rear sway bar and a good adjustable shock front and rear).

http://www.carolinadragway.com/photos/funnycarfoxhunt04/bg_dsc_5108.html

You want to get your rear suspension to separate as you can see mine is doing in the picture. However I should point out that in this picture I'm getting TOO much rear separation. I'm able to resolve this by valving the rear shocks a little stiffer. My car should 60' 1.44-1.45 next time out.

Hopefully this gives you some pointers and places to start thinking about where to spend your money. At this point I would be working on the rear suspension if I was you. In my experience the rear suspension setup on an A body car is equally if not more important than the front suspension. You're already getting good weight transfer you just need to control the suspension (i.e., eliminate twist and squat).

my $0.02

Ken,

Thanks for the great reply, and same to you, thats a great looking car. The rear suspension is where I planned on starting to spend my money. Like I said I've got around 500 to spend before the July 10 race, so I thought I might be able to start working on the rear suspension. However, I have to buy a fire jacket, and longer wheel studs and lug nuts out of this also, so bring it down to about 350. I've looked in my Jeg's catalog and have a few ideas, tell me what you think:

A pair of Rear Air Bags 66
Jegster Lift Bars 185

Will this help the body twist some? After that where would you go, rear shocks or rear springs? I don't have a lot of money right now(going to graduate school) and so I can't afford the Koni's, but is there an alternative that will work better than what I have right now, for not a whole lot of money? It seems like a lot of guys run KYB, would that be better in the rear than what I have?

Thanks again,

Matt

The bars and the bag are a good idea. You only need a bag in the right side. If you put both in you can stiffen up the suspension quite a bit. You can save for the Konis and put Summit or Competition Engineering 3 ways in for the time being. They are about the same price as KYBs and will launch better. KYBs are a better choice for street use. BTW, you already have a mighty impressive 60 time for a stock suspension. 2+ seconds would be more normal.

Matt, like Ken Jett said, go with the Lakewood No-Hop bars (jegs $124.00), adjustable upper control arms, and air bags. I like the way the No-Hop bars shorten the intersect point of the control arms and make the tires plant. Then, save up for some good adjustable shocks for front and rear.

As far as body roll, the rear sway bar helps somewhat but if you want to ELIMINATE it and make the car leave level with both wheels up, go with an anti-roll device. I don't know how well the ARD will work for daily street driving, though.

I believe you'll have better results with this setup than the Lift Bars.

Thanks Pat, I'll be saving for the Koni's but was looking at the CE for the time being. At 40 a piece that would maybe help get it down the track a little better. So if these are good 60's is there still a lot of ET left in the car, if I get it to launch better?

Thanks again for all your guys help,

Matt

, go with the Lakewood No-Hop bars (jegs $124.00) Are these like the SSM Lift Bars and the Jegster lift bars?

Thanks for the input

Matt

Matt,the Lakewood No Hops bolt on to the upper control arms,while the Jegster lift bars replace the lower control arms.BTW,nice looking car..reminds me of my old red 70 4 speed car graemlins/thumbsup.gif
And,as everyone has mentioned,very impressive 60 ft. for a stock suspension!
You're on the right track getting the lift bars and the air bags.

Thanks Chris, I thought it cut some decent 60 foots for it's first time. I think I'm heading in the right direction now! I'll probably have to buy the cheap shocks for now though, I'm sure they are better than what I got.

Thanks again,

Matt

I used Lakewood traction bars # 20188 rather effectively. Ypu cam preload the right rear bar. Along with a fat rear sway bar and solid bushings in the fronts of the lower control arms. Poly bushings in the rest. Some cheap gas shocks could help in the rear also.

Also seems like you are being REAL easy on the 496. With decent parts at all, it should go 6500, depending on the cam used. In all of my rat powered cars, 1-2 can shift about 500rpm lower than 2-3.

And I don't think folks here hate 496's....opinions vary, but I've heard lots of favorable comments from folks I KNOW who have used them. Seen more than a few well into the 9's.

Ron

PS...beautiful 70 BTW. Red and black......gotta love that!

Thanks a lot for all of the reply's. Hopefully I can order some of this stuff next week. I'm going to try shifting a little higher too, it's got good parts and is balanced so 62-6300 should be alright. Once again, thanks for the comments and suggestions and I'll update after the next track outing!

Matt

My '65 twists like yours on launch. I had a 1" rear sway bar and no front sway bar. Yesterday I replaced that with a monster 1-3/8" rear sway bar from www.hoenterprises.com (http://www.hoenterprises.com) Could somebody please explain to me why an "anti roll device" is superior to a sway bar for transfering weight from an overloaded right rear tire to the left rear tire?

If anybody here hates 496's I haven't noticed.

My best 60' has been a 1.57, I'm looking for mid 1.4x's after sorting and tuning.

Thomas

Hey bomber question about their
COMPLETE STRONGARM PKG
FOR 64-72 A BODIES
Includes front and rear sway bars,(with hdw. & duragraph bushings) front and rear springs, front duragraph bushings,and rear duragraph bushings.--$790.00+shipping.

Do you anything else about this? are they drop springs or stock height? Thanks (f that 7/8 sway garbage ...lol)

doggy, I have no illusions about carving corners in a car with skinnys out front and E.T. Streets out back. Specifically for drag racing I removed the original front sway bar - I would have no use for H-O's strong arm kit.

Thomas