suspension mods for good weight transfer

[Waco84GN]

Hi guys: I would like suggestions for suspension modifications to inprove my sixty
foot times. I currently have a air bag on right rear. The springs had been changed when I bought the car.The springs may be the cargo springs; not sure. The suspension seems very stiff. The car also has poly bushings in all locations. body mounts-sway bar bushings & end links-front and rear control arms. The car also has the x-brace behind the rear seat. I had the car at bowling green last week ; and a 1.90 sixty foot was the best. This was with bfg drag radials. Anything over 6 lbs. of boost, and the car would spin.I am able to build approx. 10 lbs of boost with the foot brake; but I can only use about six. I would really appreciate knowing what most people are using to help these turbo cars hookup.
Thanks Jerry Berger

 

[johnplogii]

I'm by far no expert but I would start cy removing the ft sway bar & put some new slicks on it.

 

[SGRIM]

Yeah some different tires with low air pressure with the mods you got should be yielding better than a 1.90.... How much pressure in air bag? What shocks do you have?

 

[turbofish38]

Okay, I have to ask the obvious stupid question. What was your ET and MPH? 1.90s are good for car without traction. You mention boost and spinning tires. Get the tires to hook and you'll see better 60 footers.

 

[Waco84GN]

Tire pressure and ETs

The tire pressure was set down to around 17-18 psi on the BFG Drag radials. The pressure on the air bag on the passenger side was set to around 15 psi on the 1.9 pass. I had the pressure set higher on the bag earlier during the day but was getting 2.1 60' so I decided to change stuff to see if it would help.

The 1.9' was with the car not spinning the wheels. Anything above 6 psi and you let go of the footbrake and the car would just roast the tires. I think it is a combination of needing slicks and the car just not transferring weight to the rear axle.

The et on the 1.9' pass was 12.992 @ 104

Thanks for any help

Jerry Berger

 

[Waco84GN]

ttt

ttt

 

[BOOSTBROTHER]

This worked for me it may not work for you or anyone else but, I had 1.75 60' all the time so here goes.

1. I put 25 psi in my BFG DR that is not a misprint I said put some air in them.

2. When I got my BFG DR I was told not to do a big burnout just a "clean spin" so that's what I did and when I took off I went sideways. After that pass I started to get them nice and hot and they started to work much better.

 

[ChavoLC2]

Weight transfer

I bought our GN from the widow of a Gentleman that bracket raced the modified STOCK car since 88, he actually won Pro Bracket series here in Albuquerque(1 mile high altitude) in 1994. Going thru old paper work he had 90/10 shocks and different springs for the front. No front sway bar. Pinion angle set car also has a pinion snubber, "No hop bars", airbags, tried the Southside bars as everybody else did( not worth the money) took em off and put the stockers back on. He always ran 26"slicks screwed to rims no drag radials. 60 ft going thru old time slips early 90's were consistantly 1.7's . Before these mods late 80's they was 1.9-2.0. Maybe Not the greatest 60'times but gives you a little idea on how suspension setup may knock off a tenth or two. No horsepower increase just suspension modification. If you can knock off a couple tenths 60ft. with suspension modification that would be great.

Hope this helps a little as I'm no expert and I'm still learning..The way he had the car setup wasn't to be the FASTEST but was setup to be CONSISTANT. He used to say 65-70% bracket racing is won coming out of the Hole . You said you have adjustable control arms upper and lowers, you should get your pinion angle set or at least see if your on. Go with Slicks they should knock off some time as well at least 3 tenths.

 

[BOOSTBROTHER]

You don't need to go to slicks just yet the BFG DR will get you down to 1.75 or even better try my way it does cost any money you have all the stuff. I do have 90/10 front and 70/30 rear shocks and I have air bags on both sides but you should be able to get 1.90 all the time aand maybe 1.80-1.70 if the track is good.

Try going around the water and then back-in to the box. Tires that have tread will throw water in to the wheel wells and it drips out when you take off. It doesn't take much to make you spin.

You can get one air bag pretty cheap I put 20lbs in the driver side and 10lbs in the pass side.

I have never unhooked the sway bar on the front some people like it I didn't think that I needed it and I love the way my car drives.

I hope some of this helps.

 

[ChavoLC2]

Weight transfer

You don't need slicks as Boost Brother said. The DR's you have go into the 10's just heat em up like BoostBrother does. This way you find out what suspension mods did for your 60's. Your question was about wt.transfer and the easiest way is with springs and shocks or both. Stock springs are usually stiffer made for handling turning not the 1/4 mile. You want a softer spring upfront if you go that rout .You can get by with just shocks upfront. BoostBrother runs 90/10s up front which is good to know because prior to that one would of thought he's running a stock setup. His shocks/suspension is setup for wt. transfer to those BFGs. Those 90/10 shocks EXTEND QUICKLY allowing the car to pitch the frontend upwards therefore transferring weight to the rear, weighting the rear tire for takeoff. The reason people take off the front swaybar and the battery to the trunk is to lighten the front for quicker lift and wt transfer. The battery in the rear is added weight to help in traction . Try 90/10's upfront and 40/60's in the rear. If you have TOO MUCH COMPRESSION(too soft) in the rear the car will squat too much and UNLOAD the rear tires. Buy adjustable shocks that way you can fine tune to your car's needs. Think Competition Engineering makes a decent adjustable shock for a reasonable price. This beater at the time right before we bought her with a stock turbo(8lb launch,20lbs at WOT)Conley Mag4 chip 32* timing,117 racegas,30lb injectors,ET drags ran low 12's consistantly here at 5200ft. Right before he passed away Mr.Davis busted a 11.97 in Roswell NM but they is at least 1500ft. lower . That was with the new IC and upgraded PST tranny with a TB.

 

[Waco84GN]

Thanks everyone for their replies

I think I'm going with some 90/10 shocks up front and probably some softer springs in the rear. The springs I have in the car right now feel like 3/4 ton truck springs. I think they must be load handling springs or something. The car barely squats at all if you put your knee on the bumper. I have PST bushings on the car throughout and I think the bushings might be being pinched by the mounting flanges. I went back with the factory 85-90 ft/lbs torque rating but I think I might back those off a little and see if it frees the control arms up a little bit.

Again thanks for the reply,

Jerry

 

[yullose]

Bone stock suspension, cheap AutoZone shocks on all 4 corners, front sway bar removed.

1.54 60ft's off the transbrake, using M/T 28x11.5 ET streets.

All the fancy suspension mods in the world won't do a darn bit of good on junk tires.

 

[Boost231]

Bone stock suspension, cheap AutoZone shocks on all 4 corners, front sway bar removed.

1.54 60ft's off the transbrake, using M/T 28x11.5 ET streets.

All the fancy suspension mods in the world won't do a darn bit of good on junk tires.

funny you say that. im running 8 year old autozone special shocks all stock suspension and the front sway bar is still intalled and got a 1.68 60ft of the e-brake, using 8 Year Old M/T 26X10.5 ET Street at that

 

[yullose]

funny you say that. im running 8 year old autozone special shocks all stock suspension and the front sway bar is still intalled and got a 1.68 60ft of the e-brake, using 8 Year Old M/T 26X10.5 ET Street at that

My '86 T-type managed a 1.64 60ft on untouched suspension using MT Drag radials. Factory swaybars, stock bushings, shocks, etc...

In other words...as long as the tires are good-n-sticky, the car can 60ft.

 

[ChavoLC2]

Waco

Try the adjustable shocks up front they will help in weight transfer.

 

[Mr.Spool]

waco84gn,there is some solid advice from the members above!what your seeing is the different styles each has used to acheive results.as you can see some believe in multiple suspension mods,and some less mods.there are lots of reasons for the different styles,but i can tell you that the bfg drag radials can 60ft alot better than where your at.this depends on the converter,tune,track conditions,just to name a few.you can hit the tire harder on a slick than a drag radial.my personal experience is the bfg likes lower air pressure and alot of burn,i have been 1.58 on the bfg with the sway bar in and bolted on a 1lb launch right off the brake,with air bags.your combo will make you or break you,and that will determine how many mods you will need.