"stock" suspensions with radials

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"stock" suspensions with radials

#1 Post by ron » Sat May 14, 2005 1:31 am

we find drag radials work best with over 50% weight on rear wheels..(sounds simple , i know)..has anyone had good success with less than 48% on the rear tires?..we build our cars up to set weight back, but i'm looking for numbers on cars that are not purpose built, in an effort to help some poor-boy customers...

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John_Heard
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#2 Post by John_Heard » Sat May 14, 2005 7:13 am

Hey Ron.. was reading a post by Frank Rizzo that works with someone in the NSCA.. He was talking about how they just picked up by switching to a TH400 on a Drag Radial Nova he was working with @ 3600lbs on the M/T tire. Seems like all those guys turn the juice on a little bit out of the hole once they have some weight on the tire... Is that the cure for front heavy cars?? Of course there is the timing retard deals with the MSD boxes but more expensive than a time delay.

Craig W. here on this board might be one that would have some good input.. He races on a 26x8.5 tire, basically no motor limits. Talk about something hard to hook LOL.

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#3 Post by Craig W. » Sat May 14, 2005 10:33 am

What some of the guys have seen with the 26x8.5" slick is that you need to get the car up on the rear tires before engaging the nitrous, but don't wait too long or it'll blow them off. I've been running a .1 sec delay with pretty good results.

These are mostly cars that started out as street/strip cars and have gradually gotten faster and faster. Definitely not purpose built. The class record right now is a 5.79 in the 1/8th. Two cars have run that. One was a early 90s Mustang and the other a late 80s Camaro. Last year's champion was a '72 Nova and he ran 6.0s fairly consistently.

I don't have any weight bias data just yet, but my chassis guys are going to 4-corner scale it for me when I get it all together and at full weight.
Craig Watson
2QuickNovas Racing
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DOTracer
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weight percentage

#4 Post by DOTracer » Tue May 24, 2005 11:19 pm

Mine isn't a super fast drag radial car running low 10's on motor, but it is kinda nose heavy :wink: . It's an iron headed bbc that has 55.3% on the front and 44.7% on the rear...total weight just under 3600 lbs.

Normally aspirated 454, th400, 8" ATI, 12 bolt w/4.10's, 275/60 M/T drag radial on a 9.5" rim, full exhaust out the back, bolt-on upgrades to the stock GM coil spring suspension (79 Malibu). I launch at 1800 rpm off the footbrake and it's all time best 60' wa a 1.415 this past weekend with typical times being in the 1.43-1.45 range. It's a new engine combination that's being tweaked and the 275/60's were a new variable at the same time. I ran a 325/50-15 BFG drag radial last season with a smaller 414 ci pump gas bbc.

My next goal is to replace the non-adjustable shocks with something better and adjustable to further tune the suspension velocity & reaction. Just gotta decide which shock to use on the front (will do rears later).

hth
Todd

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#5 Post by John_Heard » Wed May 25, 2005 8:29 am

Hi Todd - welcome to the site! Glad to have ya here.

I switched from Koni SPA-1's this year to Strange Double Adjustable coil overs, I have yet to try them out. From what I've heard they are one of the few shocks that you can slow down enough, the other brand that was highly recommended was Santhuff. David Lemmond on this site is a dealer (http://www.davidlemmond.com) and can get you set up for a good price.

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#6 Post by jones_performance » Thu Jun 30, 2005 3:50 pm

we've had great succes with the goodyear 30x9 drag radial slick on our super stocker. we have approx 45% on the rear. on a couple other cars we need to try a radial since the car is spending way to much time wadding up a normal slick. the new et drag radial from m/t is apparently very quick, there are cars running well into the 8's in the PSCA with this tire.

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