Front swaybar installed I was in the high 1.70s. After I drove to the track without it one particular time and there after I was about 1.70 flat. It really helped to get the weight back over the rear tires quickly, thus eliminating intial hook and then spin. It's definately worth a try. John B.
unhooking the sway bar is very good sound age old advise, they make link kits that make it easy to yank when needed.
OK I may of crossed up my offroad info, quick look in summit shows no quick disconect links but a quick google search brings up all kinds of them kits but targeted to offroad. As they also like to disable the swaybar once on the trails. Should be easily adapted, its no different. Just makes it easier to un-do the sway bar when neeeded. Maybe racers don't mind doing it the slow way??? Just don't let the offroad part throw you off, it works the same. Homemade Swaybar Quick Disconnects http://jeep.off-road.com/jeep/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=257851 http://www.google.com/search?client...k+disconnect&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
Here's something to think about. The front A-arm bushings, they have ridges that slow the front end travel and make them "stiffer", if you remove the edges with a grinder it lets the front end move easier. Just my .02 worth.
Hi Dave A fellow NJ guy here. if you cut your spring you will get less travel. I watched the vid. and I dont see excessive twist off the line. Really cool car you set up! Jim
Thanks, I plan on doing this when i redo the front end. If i cut the front springs a little it will lower the car and give the supension more travel before the control arms hit the stops. The car launches pretty good right now but with a low hp car I'm trying to get the most efficient launch possible. Thanks, so far the car has gone faster than i expected.
In 2006 we installed KONI dragshocks on the 72, along with TA No Hopbars and it was a big improvement. The KONI idea is to let the your suspension do the " work", and not to let your nose come up high in the air aka body travel. But let the suspension do the travel and weight transfer. When we installed the KONI dragshocks, the car was sitting much lower then before. The top of the MT dragslicks were now sitting 2 inches more deeper in the wheel well the before. Making removing them and installing more difficult. If you compare launching and whole run shots of our car from before and after the installation, you see a big difference to. First the car would lift the nose high, and start to lift the driverside wheel up just a little. After the KONI dragshock and TA No Hop Bar installation, nose lift was minimal and travel was straight. While the rearend drop was better and maintend during the whole run. Airbag use was only needed on VERY! bad tracks to give it some more oempf in the back. This was with a 2800rpm converter. We will see what this setup does, when our new engine more HP and alu heads etc, and trans arrive and the new 9.5 4000rpm convertor is dropped in. Guess need to test the tires again, if I still can use dragradials or need to step up to full dragslicks or radial slicks. Used M&H radial slicks one weekend on a WWII airfield that was being used as a dragstrip. But was really a gravel road. And was impressed by the results. That even on that kind of surface we could run the car in the 12.6-12.9 ET times. And waisting any car that was lighter then us also that normally were a little faster then us on a good track. One guy I know from the races in his red Barracuda, didn't believe it that he lost when we both made a run, that he tried it 2 more times..and making it 3 strikes in a row that he was looking at the rear end of our Buick. :TU: 2009 will be a Test N Tune year for us to learn to know the new character of the cars new setup. Greetz Robert
w/the nuts backed off on the control arms Any pics on the location of these nuts? already removed the upper bump stops to get more travel Any pics on the location pf these uppers bump stops? Tnx Robert
If you don't want to put the HR bar in, you can run 4 different shocks (don't laugh). RF-90-10 LF-70-30 RR-high pressure gas KYB Gas a just LR- low pressure gas like Monroe or a 50-50 shock You still will need the air bab(s) but won't need to run as much pressure. I've seen cars running alot of pressure in RR air bag pop them and head for the wall. Not good......
Thats why I dont have airbags anymore for quite a while now. I have the HR bar and it does what it was made for pretty good, it goes always straight like a arrow. You can ride the car with hands off the steering wheel now!
Yeah, I thought my car wasn't running right when I first put the HR bar on. So easy to drive it felt like a 12sec car but ran 10.40s. Thought it bogged off the line but the sixty foot was the same....1.42
Rob, are you using no hop bars with the HR bar ? Or did you remove the no hop bars once you installed the Hr bar ? I'm assuming at one time you had no hop bars installed. John B.
IM enjoying this thread since me and Dave have very similar engine combos.but im really impressed on your sixty foots with 3.42 gear my best run was 11.78 @112.0 with 3.73s in my regal..
My best 60foot for now is a 1.56 this is with the HRbar+TA NoHopBars and Koni Dragshocks. Best ET for now is a 10.769 with 28" slicks and 4.56 gears going true the traps at 6800-7000RPM.
No updates on my end. I haven't been to the track this year, to much stuff going on. I hope to get out there before the end of the season.
Since I started racing NHRA/IHRA Stock and Super Stock back in the 90's I've had to really pay attention to all the "little things" with the car since the motor specs are very defined. There is a lot of et in the proper tires, suspension and the transmission/convertor combination. In the "average" strip/street car the top 3 things I see that cause traction problems are worn out front springs, worn/loose suspension pieces and tires/slicks with worn out sidewalls or too low of pressure! In 99% of the slicks the sidewall is worn out far before the tread is gone. Our Chicagoland Chapter held a chassis seminar about 2 years ago where I scaled several cars and went over some of the things I've learned in racing both the Turbo cars and GS's. I'm attaching one of the handouts that I passed out as somewhat of a checklist when going to the track. I am by no means an expert on suspensions but continue to study and try to learn as much as I can. Most races are won or lost in the first 330'. Hope this helps! Tom
