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Want to Try Drag Radials Again What Suspension Upgrades?

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D

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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
I know this sounds corny. I have had great luck with my Hoosier Quick Time Pro's 28X11.50-15's and my 29X9.0-15 slicks. But I wanna try a Drag Radial again, just because they drive so well on the street and I won't have to load my tires and jack in the trunk, and jack up my car when I get to the track. I just blow off the M/T ET Drag Radials as if they are regular BF Goodrich Radial T/A's.

My suspension is more or less stock
Front Suspension consists of:
Moog 6 Cylinder front coils
Comp Engineering 3 way adjustable shocks set @ 90/10
Front sway bar

Rear Suspension consists of:
Moroso Rear Trick Coils
Stock Rear Control Arms with Rubber Bushings
Lakewood Traction Action Bars
Rear Sway Bar

So how do I get it to hook?
Will I benefit from Aftermarket Control Arms, Lift Bars, No Hops bars?
How bout an Anti-Roll Bar from HR Parts?
Will Rear Drag Shocks Help?

Dave


 
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#5 · (Edited)
When you figure this out, you tell me. On another hand, I have had two runs where it hooked (1.62 and 1.64) - and have only been running Friday Night Street Nights, so maybe a prepped track will be more consistent.

Here's what I have:

Front:
5390's (338 rate), cut 1/2 coil. Soon to be repalced with 5372's (283 rate)
Lakewood 70/30 shocks
Stock Front swaybar (read recently about shimming the mount brackets out with a washer for less tension on the bar. I did that, no track times, but the bar does swivel with less tension),

Rear:
Moroso Drag Coils
KYB (White) Shocks
UMI Relocation Brackets on upper hole
UMI UCA's
Hotchkis lowers
Factory Sway Bar

I do thnk I am on the verge of more consistency. Think the KYB's are too firm to let the rear separate. Have a set of stock replacement shocks to try. Combined with the lower rate front springs, think it may work better. My setup is limited to using the upper hole in the UMI brackets unless I change the control arms to the UMI arms with the staggered sway bar mount holes. For now, I think the biggest drawback has been the suspension is just too firm. Getting the impression, firm tire = soft suspension, soft tire = firm suspension.
 
C

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#7 ·
The only rear suspension mods I have are tubular control arms and an AB in the rt. rear.
Maybe as a test - you could unhook the front swaybar to find out if front lift will help ?
What happened last time you tried them ?
 
J

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1,015 Posts
#8 ·
Dave, I'm by no means an expert on this but from my recent research the Lakewood bars have a really short IC which causes the suspension to hit the tires hard. Radials do not like to be hit hard, if they spin at the initial hit they don't recover well.

I recently changed from lakewood no hop bars to Jegs lift bars. Anti squat with the No-Hops was 197% and with the lift bars is 150%. At a recent track day my car was much more consistent with 4 of 6 passes in the 1.6x 60' range all with M/T Street Radials. My next step is to switch over to the same Hooiser tire you're currently using (bias ply) as Hooiser told me they are much more forgiving under various track conditions and suspension set ups.

How much rear suspension seperation do you get at launch?
 
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D

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Discussion Starter · #10 ·
HMMNN I am beginning to think the floor jack and tires in the trunk maybe the answer. I have the Lakewood traction bars on there because since I have the stock rubber bushings and control arms this car will wheel hop and the bar stop that.

Dave
 
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Discussion Starter · #11 ·
creeper72 said:
The only rear suspension mods I have are tubular control arms and an AB in the rt. rear.
Maybe as a test - you could unhook the front swaybar to find out if front lift will help ?
What happened last time you tried them ?
Click to expand...
I just got lazy before I went to the track, in the pictures it lifts not too bad with the sway bar in there.
When I tried the Drag Radials last time, I leave at approx 1500 rpms, they spun the entire 60ft. My 60ft with the bias tires is 1.63-1.65 with the Drag Radials it was 1.8*

Dave
 
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162 Posts
#14 ·
Dick Miller ...uppers adjustable -3 degrees pinion...strange double adjust shocks ..set soft compression ..tight rebound ...150 lb 12" coilover springs in the stock location . MT
295 drag radials @ 15.5 psi...1.4149 60 ft 10.6550 @123.29
468 chevy
12.to 1 TRWs
merlin VR heads comp cam XR292R
4.30 gr T 400 w brake through the exhaust ..street driven
 
A

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#15 ·
You can see in your launch pictures you already need an arb. The shocks need to be stiff compression and soft extension if you have the double adjustable.
 
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