need traction HELP!

[91camaroracer]

well after the crazy contraption i explained in the drivetrain post, the car has way too much power and i cant grip for my life, so please help me out i was looking at the lakewood traction bars but i heard they arent so good, so please help me out if possible. :?

[radialtireking]

Have you done any suspension work yet? Is the car lowered? What kind of tires do you have? Also remember the pavement is cold right now. Not the best for traction. What are your intended uses for the car. Drag race,road race,street,all of the above? The torque arm suspension on these cars are awesome and will hook on anything with some tuning.

Give some more details and I'll point you in the right direction. My car has been 1.32 60' on drag radials with basic bolt ons.

[91camaroracer]

well its going to be mostly used for a street car, and the only thing that i have done to it now suspension wise is a street adj pan hard bar and im going to get an edelbrock adj tourqe arm. but any other suggestions would be helpful

[Pampered-Z]

What type and size are you running?

[84HOtransam]

well after the crazy contraption i explained in the drivetrain post, the car has way too much power and i cant grip for my life, so please help me out i was looking at the lakewood traction bars but i heard they arent so good, so please help me out if possible. :?

the traction bars worked ok for me..i have a set i only used for 5000 miles.. $50 bucks takes them..even if you decide against the using the traction bar part the lakewood lcas are nice

[91camaroracer]

not sure about what type or size yet...suggestions would be helpful though... :help:

[camaro2you]

dont get the edelbrock torque arms they are known to snap in half. chev86camaro350 if ya wanna talk or stop by to see the work i got to mine since ur like ten mins from me.

[Pampered-Z]

not sure about what type or size yet...suggestions would be helpful though... :help:

Well the first thing I would do to improve traction is go to a wider tire, and something more sticky.

I think the 3rd gens were 225/235 tires, IROCs where wider, 265 maybe?
So either IROC, 4th gen or after market rims woudl help. If the car is street drive allot then stay with a street tire. If you only drive the car on weekends or not a daily driver then look at drag radials. I use Nitto DRs. They hook better the a regular street tire, and last about 8-10K miles.

[Tru2Chevy]

Stock tires can range from a 195/70/14 to a 245/50/16.

Good tires will help, but there is no replacement for a good suspension under the car as well. I'll also say to skip the Edelbrock Torque arm....lots of horor stories out there about that one. Go with a BMR or UMI, both quality pieces. A set of tubular LCAs with poly bushings should be the first thing you install, and relocation brackets for the LCAs would help even more.

- Justin

[Injuneer]

I'll throw in an unpaid advertisement for the Spohn Performance parts. I run many of them, and George Baxter used many of them on his 8.60-second (1.30 60-ft) 30th SS convertible. Steve Spohn's own car is a 3rd Gen, so he knows them as well as anybody.

Components to consider include:
-tubular LCA's
-LCA relocation brackets (major traction improvement on my car)
-tubular panhard rod
-adjustable torque arm
-springs and shocks selected based on how you use the car

I'm sure there are some other 3rd Gen specific items for the front end, and I'll leave those to someone else.

http://members.aol.com/InjuneerZZ/images/Photos/Susp.jpg

[91camaroracer]

what do u guys think of these tires they are nitto 555r DR's.

[Tru2Chevy]

Nittos are good if you dont' want to swap from street tires to regular drag radials. They will wear fast on the street though. I think you would do better with a real set of DRs like BFGs or MT Drag Radials.

- Justin

[Ian]

I thought I heard that the MT DR's got banned from a certain racing class becuase they were to sticky. is that true?

[NJSPEEDER]

as of right now all the major sanctioning bodies are still allowing the M/T DR's in all radial classes.
the top cars in most classes have switched to the m/t's from what i am seeing. still waiting to see what the goodyear radial will be like once it hits the mass market. it is supposed to be equal in grip to the m/t and $10 or so cheaper per tire.

[ins0mnia24]

I need to do the same for my car this spring. All the additional work i have had done on my car makes the rear end jerk violently on a roll to W.O.T. i have been pricing UMI suspension upgrades LCA's and their subframe connector that mount to their tunnel brace look really good and it says you can even jack up your car , If you get anything from them post the after results i would like hear how you made out so i can go from there with my car.

[91camaroracer]

all the stuff im getting is from spohn, from what i understand their products work quite well, so i will check it out and see how it goes.

[camaroracer1992]

spohns stuff is top quality
and the better part is
my father is now the primary steel supplier for SPOHN!!!

[91camaroracer]

spohns stuff is top quality
and the better part is
my father is now the primary steel supplier for SPOHN!!!

well... let me know if anything happens to fall off the truck.. :wink:

[Slow Z]

My suspension is all stock just have the sway bars off and some DOT slicks so far its been 1.56 60fts. I do a burnout until I see smoke, roll forward, and launch off idle on spray my convertor will flash to like 4500RPM and the car takes off straight as can be. Your average 11-13 second f-body doesn't need anything special to hook just some tires

[camaro2you]

well... let me know if anything happens to fall off the truck.. :wink:

:stupid:

[89 Trans Am WS6]

I thought I heard that the MT DR's got banned from a certain racing class becuase they were to sticky. is that true?


No silly your thinking of NJFBOA events :D just ****in with ya.. :p


Also id avoid the crossbrace and just get a safety loop..

Its a good investment in safety and hell you may be required to have it someday depending on how far you take your car.

[primo]

What gains can you get by using the spohn torque arms?, I need a safety loop and I see that they have a safety loop included.

[Injuneer]

The front mount on the Spohn takes the load off the tailshaft of the tranny. Its pushing up on the floorpan instead. The pinion angle is adjustable... probably not a big issue for moderate power levels, but becomes more important when you start pushing 500+HP to the rear wheels. Its a bit stronger than the stock piece. I've seen one take a 3,525# 30th SS convertible to a 1.30-sec 60-ft, on the way to a 8.60/160+ mph pass. And it can incorporate one or two DS loops.

On the other hand, their are people out there who have managed to get into the 10's with a stock torque arm.

[Savage_Messiah]

30th SS convertible to a 1.30-sec 60-ft, on the way to a 8.60/160+ mph pass.


Pleeeeeease tell me you have pics/video

[NJSPEEDER]

spohn stuff is great, tends to be very heavy. check out UMI and BMR as well. remember, chromoly is your friends and rod ends don't ride as bad as many seem to think. :)

[Tru2Chevy]

Pleeeeeease tell me you have pics/video

You have already seen them. It's Baxter's old car. The videos are still hosted on hideout, last time I checked.

- Justin

[Savage_Messiah]

ahhhhh :D

[Injuneer]

The Baxter video on the Hideout is an old one, of the 9.04-sec pass. This is a newer one.....

http://www.injuneer.com/images/Videos/GeorgeBax%20876.WMV

Ignore the lack of quality.... it was the first pass the car made with a new engine, and I was supposed to be focusing on the rear suspension. We didn't expect it to run quite that fast.

Here's another one from the PRO/Edelbrock Xtreme Street event at Atco:

http://www.injuneer.com/images/Videos/AtcoPRORd1.WMV

[jrsfast84]

Injuneer, I sent you a p/m about George's car, well did he run a Under the rear Anti-roll bar, if so from who(Wolfe's) , i'm looking to get one. thanks John Newman (84 White t/a). JR1.

[Injuneer]

George used a Wolfe bar.

http://www.injuneer.com/images/photos/GeorgeB/DCP03868a.jpg

http://www.injuneer.com/images/photos/GeorgeB/DCP03870a.jpg

[jrsfast84]

Thanks Fred, I'm going to be ordering that real soon, how's everything going and how's George doing. JR1.

[jrsfast84]

George used a Wolfe bar.

http://www.injuneer.com/images/photos/GeorgeB/DCP03868a.jpg

http://www.injuneer.com/images/photos/GeorgeB/DCP03870a.jpg
Fred, don't mean to bother you, why on Georges car, does the panhard bar in a lower postion on the drivers side, i was thinking about that, and maybe to clear for the wheelie bars. or was it for the set-up of the car. Plus i see that he removed the trackbar above the panhard bar, i thought about doing that too.Thanks. JR1.

[IROCdan330]

The panhard bar is always lower on the drivers side? thats the design of that type of rear suspension.

All of my aftermarket suspension stuff is spohn. My LCAs, and panhard are both chromoly. the relocation brackets are nice, ive got them too.

I dont know if they were mentioned, but SFCs are key if you want to hook, i think at least. My car would slide the ass end somethin fierce, now that I have them...it will stay straight. My next piece will be a torque arm, just waiting for everyhting else to stop f-ing up so i can buy one.

tires will be key. a sticky tire may kill your rear a tad fast if that turns out to be the weak link. on street tires with moderate throttle ive cut a 2.1 60, which blows...but im interested to see what it can be with a sticky tire. ive heard all sorts of good things about M/T et streets...i like their design as well.

[radialtireking]

I'm curious about the panhard bar myself. I feel it should be level with the vehicle sitting at ride height. The farther you get away from level the more the rear will move to the side when the suspension moves. Not a real big deal on a drag car but important on somehting built to corner.

Remember JR you can't remove that bar! Everything will bend under the car.:laugh:

[jrsfast84]

I think i'm going to make a lowering bracket for the panhard bar and try it, i already removed the track bar, sway bar and put on my Strange Double Adj. rear shocks, now i'm going to be ordering a Wolfes Under the rear sway bar, and then the car itself is done, just need to get the motor refreshed and a little more head work and i'm going testing. My stuff won't bend, Hell, i only do 300ft. wheelies, ****s not bent yet!!!!!!! Thanks. JR1.

[98tadriver]

My suspension is all stock just have the sway bars off and some DOT slicks so far its been 1.56 60fts. I do a burnout until I see smoke, roll forward, and launch off idle on spray my convertor will flash to like 4500RPM and the car takes off straight as can be. Your average 11-13 second f-body doesn't need anything special to hook just some tires


I agree, i had some ET streets on my 3rd gen, and all it did was HOOK, and this was on the street!!!


http://thumbs.streetfire.net/C7592278-1308-47C7-B906-1B1B54061647.jpg (http://videos.streetfire.net/video/C7592278-1308-47C7-B906-1B1B54061647.htm)Click here to see Video (http://videos.streetfire.net/video/C7592278-1308-47C7-B906-1B1B54061647.htm)