Drag Shock questions ?

[DRAGRACERRON]

hey guys i am haveing trouble hooking my car up this year at the track had to add weight to get any type of hook. I run a 1979 Pontiac sunbird with a 525 hp 406 small block car runs high 10.90 in 1/4 on good air days and 6.90s 1/8 mile again on good air days . My question is it seems i am allways on hte edge of traction and my 60 foot times are kind of slow 1.64 adverage best is a 1.56. I am looking to get better traction what kind of shock are the fast guys here runing at the track ? i see Jegs offer some Lakewood 90/10 drag shocks for front but nothing for back. I am running stock shocks all 4 corners and stock torque arm and front sway bar. I am runing the front sway bar loose and front shocks loose meaning nuts back off to help weight tranfer. Has anyone found a magic way to get these h-bodys to hook ?? Any advice is appreciated i am tired of spining. if you want to see my car log on to OXFORDDRAGWAY.COM

[DRAGRACERRON]

HERES A LINK I HOPE WORKS http://www.oxforddragway.com/

[DRAGRACERRON]

LOOK UNDER 2009 PHOT GALLARIES WEEK OF 7-25-09 I AM THE ONLY RED SUNBIRD .LOl my name is Ron Childs

[72 SS PNL]

what all have you done to the rear suspension ?

[spencerforhire]

Firstly, I'm VERY impressed that you put a stock suspension H-body into the 10's!! I have a couple of things you can try, none of which involve front shocks; air bags(with separate fill) in the rear coils, an adjustable mount at the front of the torque arm and/or drop the mounting point of the lower control arms where they attach to the rear end. These cars have horrible rear suspension geometry; anything you can do to improve the "instant center" will result in better traction.

[DRAGRACERRON]

yes in deed it has ben a strugle to get the car into the 10.90s on stock h- body stuff. But what else can we do no company makes anything for us .LOL I know what your saying with air bags system but has anyone actually tried it on a fast h-body with stock suspension ? if so how where you 60s ? What preasure did you run in each bag ? My torque arm is stock but ben reinforced as i have broke it in hte past a few times from car twisting on lauunch. LOl I am runing stock shocks on all 4 corners but run the front shocks stopers very loose and front sway bar very loose allso. I have to keep 180 pounds of led in hte trunk and fres rubbber on hte car to hook now. Does anyone have a secreat combo for me ? LOL I was hopeing to here from guys who found a few tricks. Any help is much appreciated

[Fasterthansome]

[DRAGRACERRON]

Cool thanks for posting the picture that is a old picture from last year i was skinnier. LOl I ordered some Competion enginering adjustible shocks and i just removed front sway bar. I ordered new tires to. So hopefully i will get car back in the 1.59 shot times . As of lately ben 1.66 adveradge. Spin city LOlahhaahahahah

[speedphreake]

Can you give more info on your setup? What control arms? Stock front torque arm mount? tire size? gearing? The more info you can give, the better help you will get. There are alot of cars out there running decent 60' times with stock shocks.

[v8astregt]

I installed the Summit brand drag shocks up front last year and love the difference down the track. I'm only a mid-12 car, but now the front of my car lifts up and stays up and plants the rear tires hard. Off the line is not my issue now... time to tear into the engine again! We'll see if I keep traction with 100 more hp, but we'll see when the time comes.

[Fasterthansome]

Cool thanks for posting the picture that is a old picture from last year i was skinnier. LOl I ordered some Competion enginering adjustible shocks and i just removed front sway bar. I ordered new tires to. So hopefully i will get car back in the 1.59 shot times . As of lately ben 1.66 adveradge. Spin city LOlahhaahahahah

Shocks on 90/10 will help . Sway bar removal will help and ANY other weight you can get off the nose will help. I have tried my lower control arms at 3 different locations and run them in the factory location now.
What tires are you using and what tire pressure? I would guess an 8" rim? Does your car still have rear sway bar?

[72 SS PNL]

sway bar removal is BAD , it allows things to twist to much

reason i asked what you have now for suspension is there is alot of ways to go depending on what you have now

air bag are a must , what you run in each bag will vary depending on what you car needs and what the track needs , same with tire pressures

id add a large rear sway bar , helps reduce the twisting , same with the front , also use the urethane bushings with the greaseable brackets , and either use the next size larger , or sand them for a loose free movement when installed

also get spohn control arms , or weld up the arms to make them stiffer , flexing is a bad thing

[DRAGRACERRON]

Hi guys i understand removeing front sway bar might make car twist but i have to try something. I plan on bringing it with me incase it does twist to much but i want to try this weak 90-10 shocks and swaybar removel this weekend. Now as far as my set up i was runing all stock items period. I did reinforce the torque arm and keep front end loose as i could get it. The tires i run are 27x10.5x15 Mickey thomson E.T street tires i run 14 pounds of air. I had to run less air this week to get any type of hook. I did make sure that my front end is nice and free of binds belive me it is as loose as a goose. LOL Waiting for my new competion enginering shocks to come in this week. I allso ordered new tires. I have to keep fresh new rubber on the car to get any type of hook. My engine makes 532 hp on dyno but i put timeing down to kill some power and i put small carb on to kill power 650 cfm. Best e.t with this combo is 10.97 at 122.58 mph i am pretty sure with draG slicks open exhaust and my big carb car will run 10.80 easy enough. My main problem is trying to get car hooked in street trim even though dot drag tires are great there Not slicks. LOl Thanks for the help so far looks like i am heading right direction i am concerend on body twist without sway bar but i have to try something this week to get weight tranfer so i can hook decent atleast 1.58 would be great. I will let you guys know how i make out.

[speedphreake]

I think your heading in the right direction. You'll want a rear sway/anti roll bar or airbags to control twist. I've never run front sway bars on any of my race cars. I would try a stock rear sway bar or the airbags, I think this will be the cheapest way to go. Next upgrade I would do is an adjustable torque arm and adjustable front mount so you can tune th eunstant center of the car. Other than those, like said I would see what weight you can get off the nose.

[Fasterthansome]

Hi guys i understand removeing front sway bar might make car twist but i have to try something. I plan on bringing it with me incase it does twist to much but i want to try this weak 90-10 shocks and swaybar removel this weekend. Now as far as my set up i was runing all stock items period. I did reinforce the torque arm and keep front end loose as i could get it. The tires i run are 27x10.5x15 Mickey thomson E.T street tires i run 14 pounds of air. I had to run less air this week to get any type of hook. I did make sure that my front end is nice and free of binds belive me it is as loose as a goose. LOL Waiting for my new competion enginering shocks to come in this week. I allso ordered new tires. I have to keep fresh new rubber on the car to get any type of hook. My engine makes 532 hp on dyno but i put timeing down to kill some power and i put small carb on to kill power 650 cfm. Best e.t with this combo is 10.97 at 122.58 mph i am pretty sure with draG slicks open exhaust and my big carb car will run 10.80 easy enough. My main problem is trying to get car hooked in street trim even though dot drag tires are great there Not slicks. LOl Thanks for the help so far looks like i am heading right direction i am concerend on body twist without sway bar but i have to try something this week to get weight tranfer so i can hook decent atleast 1.58 would be great. I will let you guys know how i make out.

Glad to see your ditching the front sway bar, dont need that extra weight. I also run a 27x10.50-15 DOT tire but its a Hoosier QTP, I get more runs out of them before they go away than I did with M/T and my 60's were a bit better. Low 1.4's were the norm.
I usually run 14-15 lbs because it doesnt kill the sidewall as bad and the contact is more even across the tread with the 8" rim its on.
I was runnimng 9.40's with the factory torque arm with some reinforcing and factory lower control arms boxed and mounted in the factory holes. The car had no front and no rear sway bars, I also had no air bags and the car didnt twist.
I was running some Monza traction bars though.
If you can lower the front end a bit with a shorter or preferably softer spring it may help because you will have more front end travel before the car tries to pick up the front suspension weight.
Dont worry about the a arm being close to the snubber if you lower it.
I think you may have to keep some ballast in the trunk. The car is nose heavy so you need the weight to get the bias. I run dual batteries in back plus rear bumper is there and fuel cell is always close to full when I run, and my hatch glass helps also.