Well main question: Will removing the front swaybar do much for et? I have a 1le bar with poly endlinks. I am worried that it will get erratic at high speeds. Should i remove the bar or leave it on. What type of time savings am I looking at and will i be able to control it during the 1/4?

I know the rest is covered on a daily basis and i been reading up but this is what i plan to do:

Im going to the track for 1st time this weekend and want to do all that I can to get the best time possible. I just got the basic bolt ons.

So far: Removing rear seat, spare, jack, rear interior panels, and anything i can get out quickly for more weight saving.

1/2 tank of gas or less on 93

Cutout open

Rear tires to 20-25 psi, front tires 35 or more psi.

Launch 1st time easy, 2nd time maybe torque up.

 

removed mine many miles ago - no ill effects 1/4 mile or highway driving. i don't take fast on/off ramps, that's a no no but if you drive sensibly you'll be fine.

1/8 tank of gas - fumes if possible. take the passenger seat out if all you're looking for is best et numbers.

footbrake the car about 1200rpm and basically roll into it from almost off idle. wheelspin will hurt you, you'll have to play with the launch for a while till you find what the car likes.

ps - sorry about the lack of capitalization, my left shift key is broken and i suck at using the right one

 

remove it. it will help weight transfer quite a bit.

 

What differences will you be able to feel on the street?

 

Just take it slower on off ramps and stuff. The sway bar basically only helps prevent body roll in street driving. I took mine off years ago with very little impact on street driving. Now after I went to skinnies and removed the front bumper support I had to really slow down in the curves but with regular tires and the front bumper intact you should be fine.

 

I wouldnt do any high speed lane changes on the interstate. Thats the only issue I've seen, just a lag in the steering response but i assume its to be expected.

 

You can leave your front sway bar in and still hook good. I don't have a 1LE bar, its whatever came on the car standard in 1995, but I use poly end links...I like being able to handle on the street when necessary. I've been able to go 1.55-1.57 60's consistently on 255 50 R16 M/T Drag Radials with both sway bars in place, with a fairly simple suspension set up which includes stock springs/shocks and the usual bolt ons from Spohn/Hotchkis...I'm not saying that removing your sway bar won't help your launch, but I wanted to set the car up to 60' well and to be able to take a curve or two without crapping my pants...

--Alan

 

I took mine off about 2 weeks ago to run, and have yet to put it back in. I doesn't affect me much that it's off. like the above have said, just take it easier on on ramps. I probably won't even bolt it back on until after the wineter since I never know when I'm heading to the track.

Ryan

 

is there any way to get the handling back without the sway bar? im having to remove mine to make room for my alternator and power steering pump because i cannot put them anywhere else, my 3" downpipes are in the way...so i dont have a choice but to remove it, but i still want a decent handling car...are there any other options?

 

I would recommend inflating ALL your tires to ~35 psi ... trust me. I've been at the track and dropped my rear tires from ~30 psi down to ~25 psi, and to about ~22 psi, with either NO effect or if anything, NEGATIVE results. I am talking about STREET TIRES here. This issue has been discussed before, and unless anyone else totally disagrees, the problem with deflating street tires is they will actually "cup" in the middle and there won't be even pressure applied across the width of the tire. By increasing the tire pressure, the pressure on the sidewalls will help keep the surface of the tires flat, and keep even contact to the ground. Also, once you've hooked up and you're travelling down the track, no different than why you're pumping up the fronts, there will also be less rolling resistance with the rears.

Maybe you think I'm nuts, but I have gotten several ~2.1 - 2.3 60' times with 2.73's and even 3.73's, on street tires, with pressures between ~25 - 30 psi. Last year with 4.10's, I cut a 1.92 60' time on my STREET TIRES inflated to ~35 psi.

And if you're at the track and you think you need to let out some air, then you've always got that option (it's easier than adding air if you don't have a compressor available ).

 

I am gonna agree with you about the 35 psi. That is what I normally run and I did discuss it on the board and got recommendations to do 35 psi.

I decided not to deflate them immediately try a few runs with 35 psi and near the end i dropped it a ton to 23 and i was spinning worse. So yeah I am gonna agree, thanks for the tip man.

 

The amount of "cupping" varies from tire to tire based on manufacturer, sidewall construction, sidewall height, width of rim compared to the width of tire, and the amount of weight transfer from front to back. The chances of two cars with different wheels/tires having identical results with identical traction conditions and identical rpm launches is slim.

I have generally found that about 28 pounds on the stock tires on the stock rims softened up the sidewalls a bit for the launch wiothout cupping the stock tires. There is more to losing traction than cupping...

Too much air will raise the tread off the pavement. This will give you a smaller contact patch and with stiffer sidewalls there is less flex on the launch which also increases your odds of tire spin.

The only way to really tell is trial and error in a clean paved area and examine the tire marks left from launches until you find the "perfect" balance of rubber evenly across the surface.

However this is a whole lot of work for a few launches on a street night when the traction probably sucks to start with.

It only took me two times at the strip in 1998 when I started racing to purchase a set of drag radials.

 

Dead on

 

I removed mine about 2 years ago. I took out the brackets a week later cause its never going back in. Its not anywhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be. I run skinnies during the summer so I don,t take turns fast anyway, but its true that the lighter the car gets the scarier it feels without the front swaybar. Its not unsafe in my opinion and as long as your keep in mind its gone and don,t try to swerve 3 lanes over off an on ramp you will be fine.

 

No one has posted a before and after ET though. A sway bay weighs about what 30 pounds? So there should be .030 sec reduction just from the weight difference. But, what about 60' improvement due to better weight transfer, tire plant, etc. Maybe I'll do the test next season if no one else has done it.

Steve