Hey, as it currently stands my car cant hook at all and am looking to set up the suspension for better launches at the track. Car has a fairly heavly modded motor and am going to be sprayin a 150 shot, T56 with a 9" and 4.11s. Heres my current set up:

Stock shocks/struts front and rear.
Intrax lowering springs front and rear (need to go)
Stock panhard bar.
Spohn torque arm
Spohn LCAs with weld in brackets
M/T Sportmans 26x10.5x15

The car is my daily driver so im not sure about running 90/10s up front..Are they really bad on the street? Dont really care how it rides I just wanna hook up. So far my best 60ft has been a terrible 2.1 and im lookin to get into the 1.7s and 1.6s. Any insight would be greatly appricated thanks.

 

I run 90/10 struts and like any major modification you will have a reaquiantence time with the car to get used to the new handling characteristics, as with any major mod. Also running moroso trick front springs, and no front sway bar. I could tell no difference in hadnling after removinig sway bar, and after I installed the front end parts listed along with the 50/50 rear shock and air bags in each spring it did handle differently from the previous stock parts, but not anything I'd call scarey-just dont expect to win any auto cross events with this set-up.

Make the change of struts/shocks and add the air bags-preload pass bag to 30psi and leave driver side at 5 psi this will help reduce body roll and tendency to unload one tire more than the other. Also if you dont hve a rear sway bar...get one this also aids in a even launch.

Get rid of the short tire, I personally dont think you'll ever get it to hook with your combination much less trying to juice out of the hole...step upto a 28" minimum. You've got some ponies on tap, low gearing and need all the contact area you can get. Remeber you put more rubber on the ground going tall than wider-increased roll out. not to mention you'll probably have to grabat least 5 gears to keep rpm's in check by the finish line in your current set-up if you stick it from the word go, the taller tires will help tone down big end rpm quite a bit.

Do these mods and your going to be waay further ahead and will probably start taxing clutch's

 

The first thing you really need to do, in my humble opinion, is to get some appropriate tires on that thing. until you have capable tires you will find it nearly impossible to quantify the results of any other suspension changes you may make.

For shocks, spend the extra bucks and get some adjustables ones for the front so you can easily convert from track to street. I have 90-10's on the front and it isn't pretty when I am not at the track. I have become accustomed to it so it is ok for me but I would not recommend it to anyone else. 90-10's, drag springs, skinnies... The combination basically makes me drive like a 1970's boat with tall 70 series radials and as long as I do that I can be perfectly safe. However I basically have a drag car that I manage to drive on the street as opposed to a street car that I race at the track.

Get som ET Streets, or ET Street Radials first. Go to the track when it is properly prepped. Then go looking at suspension mods if you need them.

The first thing is good tires. The next thing is weight transfer. The next thing, if necessary, is controlling the weight transfer. You already have the rear and clutch so go for it and report back.

 

Great catch tntub, my brief look at his tire brainfarted me. Get rid of those sportsman's, those are IMO a garbage tire and one that was never truely meant to be on a race track, compound is just too hard for any realistic shot of traction with anything bigger than a 4 cyl in your car I've seen 4 cars I can easily recall try the sportsman's and none of them hooked up no matter what the air pressure. might be nice for a show car or random street toy, but has no place on any race track.

When you get/borrow a set of real tires I dont think I'd even bother going on a test and tune, most tracks have any track prep since all the street cars drag up sand/dirt and water to the starting line so it's not worth the track to waste VHT when all it does is hold the sand. I know our track it's cheaper to enter and race in trophie class than it is to enter a T&T, and you get 100% race day track prep...if you dont hook on a race day, there is no way you'll hook at a typical T&T-this I can promise you. Without 100% traction all the time (per tires) your pizzing into the wind with any and all mods you try since nothing can be set in stone as working or not working since car is going to react differently everytime you leave the starting line....GET TIRES!!!

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Im working on getting a pair of M/T ET Drag radials 275/60-15 hopefully soon along with some sub frame connectors and the shocks/springs you guys recomended.

 

Depending on your ET and whether you race at an NHRA track or not, you may need a bar of some kind... A six point welded bar might stiffen the frame up enough so you don't need the subframes. That is what I did and it has worked out just fine without having to add any extra weight.

 

I believe the rule around here is anything quicker than a 11.50 requires you to have a roll bar. Im really trying to aviod that so I might only run a 100 shot. Where can you get adj. front drag shocks for a third gen? Thanks guys.

 

One other thing since you mentioned future tire choice...while it will be alot better than what your currently using, with your current set-up dont expect much more than wher your at now. Drag radials work fine for low horse power cars and stock type suspension, but in order to make a DR work takes ALOT of very fine chasis tuning to stick them since there is no grey area due to sidewalls not absorbing the hit....they will either work or not work..period. A bias ply slick allows far less than perfect suspension/chasis set-ups to get by because the tire itself is helping to absorb some of the energy.

DR is better than your sportsman's, but given current suspension you have it's not going to cure any problems. I've seen first hand how these tires react in everyday racing and in every case the guys went back to bais ply. the radials were not as consistant due to problems hooking up the same 100% of the time. In one case a freind was normally 1.64-1.68 with the bais ply, got the M/T DR's and dropped to a best of 1.79and every pass would vary from the high 1.7x to mid 1.9x on a stock suspended 3rd gen which I believe to be a very good platform for drag racing suspension wise.

 

Well the only thing that is shying me away from an all out bias ply slick is that the car would be driven a decent amount on the street with wutever tire i choose. I see what your saying that I will need more suspension work to make a DR work however thats what im planning on getting out of this post. (shocks/springs, etc). Thanks.

 

I drive my car all the time on the street, actually use it to do estimating for my business once in awhile and since I got it 5 years ago, it's had nothing BUT DOT slicks on it

Be warned your going to have to drop a pretty penny on serious parts-not your run of the mill strut/shocks to get the most from the DR. Look at it like this, spend upwards of $2-3K and ALOT of track tuning to get the car to work consistantly with DR's and by work consistantly I mean not moving more than .01 all day long on any given pass, or get a cheaper suspension upgrade for $5-600 and use bias ply on an extra set of rims you can throw on when you know your're going to the track or plan on racing. I will never be convinced on DR's for consistant performance, even the big guns that run them with mega buck cars have trouble hooking them up and their budgets are typically more than most make in a yrs time not to mention they're ramping in their timing and using traction control on the newer ignition systems in order to make these DR's "work". Make any of the DR guys you read about run a straight up igniton system like most of us are used to and I'll bet any amount they dont have a snowballs chance at hooking those monster. Just the way it is unfortunately.

but you now know the full story walking into it and what to expect at least you pay shipping and i got 5 sets of stickies in the basement I'll send to you, last 3 sets I sent out were $27/each for shipping. I'm getting ready to start my basement remodel and they'll go in the garbage otherwise since they're no good to me...all only 1 month of runs on them.

 

What size DR's? I have always wanted to try a pair but didn't want to cut into my tire allotment with MT just to try something new when I know my current combo works........

I run ET Streets, 28" and can hook all day on anything resembling a decent surface. The simple thing is to mount a separate set of race only tires on some rims and call it good. You don't want to be driving around on race tires anyway. Despite what some will say, drag radials all have reduced tread depth and are designed for a dry surface so getting caught in the rain is simply not a good thing. Plus, soft tread compounds wear faster than normal street tires and why wear them out when it is a simple task to change them out either at the track (I carry them with me), or just use them on good weather track days and drive up and back on them?

I had trouble getting my old BFG's to hook consistently which is why I switched to ET Streets.

I have a buddy who runs the MT Drag Radials on his Z06 with stock suspension and he can hook high 1.6's all day long on a decent track but if he gets out of the groove he is toast, plus he has been racing for forty years so he more experience than most of us.

 

I really appriciate all the input guys. Hey IHI wut kind and wut size stickies do you have? Are they DOT street legal or full out slicks. Id be very interested in a few sets of them. Thanks.

 

I've got 3 sets of Hoosier quick time pro DOT slicks 28x11.5's and 2 sets of M/T full slicks 29.5x9 these are actually wider than the Hoosiers?? Kinda the 10.5 class mentality I guess, acll it a 9" tire but make it with 11.7" section width?? why cant M/T list actual size instead of these odd ball numbers??

Also have 1 set of M/T 100% rubber inner tubes I will sell for $50 plus shipping fits upto a 29.5" tire...if running any M/T, tubes are a must since sidewalls are so thin they will bleed air over time if no tube is used, plus they make the tires less affected by sunshine when car is parked between rounds.

...I've never liked M/T's, I gave them 2 chances with these sets and burnout requirments are almost nothing-see smoke and burnout was too long, but they just did not provide a consistant showing from what I was used to with the Hooisers over the years. Sounds crazy but always been killer on the tree, soon as I bolted on the first set of M/T's they started varying .005-.01 per pass. After the second set and fighting the tree went back to the Hoosiers and my R/T window tightened right back up, seems M/T were more affected by ambient temps than the Hooiser were, we've had alot of guys switch from being die hard M/T fans to Hooisers and wonder why they never switched sooner...more consistant 60's and R/T's and quite a few actually picked up a lil bit in the 60's and ET's. Sounds hard to believe, but us Hoosier guys always got to stand tall and say "I told ya so" when our buddies finally gave them a shot LOL!!

All only have a month of racing and street driving on them, I will hand pick matched sets that are the best first and widdle down to the worst set being sold last. If these tires are to be mounted on a competition car that will race for money, do not buy. Reason I go through a set a month is sidewalls get weak and seems once I got over a month of runs (I averaged 120-130 passes a month) the 60's would start to move around on me, but for the average joe who does'nt mind 60's moving .01-.02 in a day they will work perfectly, but I used them up for serious competition already and do not recommend these if chasing points when high entries/payouts are on the line. These are not junk, but I'm very pickey about tires and want you to know exactly what I have so you dont feel short changed even though they're "free" and your only paying shipping.

Josh

 

I don't want to hi-jack the thread but to get this info sorted out for the newbie that want's to take thier z-28 daily driver to the track thursday nights, you guys are recomending Bias-ply tires (Hoosiers) and not the M/T DR's? Correct?

I believe the next question is which shocks would be the replacements over stock?

Oh yea I want a set of those tires for thursday night!!!!

 

Wow! 120-130 passes a month! With four weekends per month, that would be about 32 passes each weekend. I raced two to three, one day races each month last summer and I'm not sure I ran 130 passes all season. How well does your car hold-up over the season?