I know its lame to have a picture of a picture, but I couldn't get this in digital format so I'm basically doing the best I can. I went to the local 1/8 mile track yesterday (Saturday 10/14) and made about 10 passes for the first time with the T56 in the car. I've been driving it on the street all summer without a problem, and I always had a few doubts as to how well the trans would hold up to a hard launch. Fortunately, I had no problems with anything on the car. I drove it about 35 miles to the track, made 10 passes, and drove home on a tank of good' ol pump gas. My best yesterday was a 7.65@92 on a 1.72 60' time, I know it looks like it is hooking good here but as soon as the front end came down the car unloaded the rear tires and I had to pedal the gas a bit to keep it going. Also, due to the aftermarket hydraulic throwout bearing I cannot shift without letting off the gas, (granny style) in turn killing my mph and ET. It was a great day to learn, hopefully I can get the suspension tuned and get a good, solid pass next spring.

I have a Ford 9" rear with 4.11's, a stock T56, and a Weir bellhousing with Mcloed 11" clutch and pressure plate. The engine is a 10.6:1 383 with a Comp XR288 hydraulic roller and a Demon 750 on a Performer RPM Air-Gap.



I love the T56, I was the only stick car at the track the entire day. I sure did get a lot of comments from the old guys about the old 4-speed days.

 

calculates to roughly an 11.85 1/4 mile time probably around 117-118mph. Is it possible you have too much air in the rear tires? They look stiff considering the front is off the ground. 12psi cold is a good starting point. Are your front shocks bad? They might be causing the car to bounce when it comes back down also which upsets the car like you describe. What else is done to the suspension? LCA brackets? You think you need front shock travel limiters? Good pic!

 

I was thinking shocks instantly, too when you said the nose came down and unloaded the rear tires. Drag shocks work wonder for that exact situation. Stock shocks or "handling" shocks will do that. A set of 90/10 front drag shocks work like magic to fix that. First time you launch it's like "how is the front of my car hanging in mid air this long?"

I can't recall having clutch problems like that with my hydro-clutch 94 Formula. I power-shifted 1-2 and 2-3 with the accelerator flat on the floor (2-3 requires a different grip on the shifter to do the awkward z-bend through the gate without your hand slipping off). I did hear that they changed the hydrauilcs on 98-up LS-1 cars which seemed to be more likely to have a problem like you described, though. Not sure what year you swiped your trans and hydraulics from.

 

Thanks for the input about the drag struts, I kinda figured I might have to go with those for the front to really make it work. I do have a stock rear suspension setup, save for V6 springs, homemade boxed LCA's, and a Spohn adjustable TQ arm and crossmember. Right now the pinion angle is 3 degrees down. The front has stock Z28 springs, and of course I disconnected the sway bar.

Tire pressure in the pic you see was about 14 lbs, however I did lower it to 12 and no difference on the 60' or ET was noticed.

Damon, as for the clutch hydraulics, I have a 1" bore Tilton master cylinder activating a hydraulic TB. Its all part of the Weir setup with allowed me to use a standard external balance flywheel and 11" 26-spline clutch. The problem is after shifting, the fluid doesn't flow back into the master cylinder fast enough to allow the clutch to fully engage. Not noticeable under normal operation until you try to speed shift. I'm probably gonna have to re-work the entire hydraulic setup this winter and find the restriction in the line (I have various fittings and adapters) to make it engage faster.

 

nice

 

That sounds very similar to what some of the LS-1 guys had a problem with on their stock clutch hydraulic system. Going from rapidly aging memory on this one.... I believe they found a built-in restriction somewhere in the line or where the line fits onto the master or slave cylinder- it was necked-down intentionally at the factory for unknown reasons. Also from memory, the fix was drilling out the restriction to a larger size. Poof, problem solved.

Maybe something similar going on with your system?

 

Nice pic!

Sounds like it runs pretty good,it'll run even better w/ that front suspension issue worked out. Good luck man and congrads!