I'm thinking shocks... Tighten the extension on the left rear and tighten the compression on the right. The input of the drive shaft into the rear end is the cause of what you are seeing. The torque reaction is driving the left rear into the ground and lifting the right, ( remember Newtons third law of motion). Any way this is what the shocks are for. If this car does not have adjustable shocks, see if auto parts store gas charged shock on the left rear helps it. Stand the rear shocks up more vertical. BTW preload on the right rear, will fix this, (an air bag in the right rear spring was used on coil sprung GM cars for ever) a sway bar will too. Typically I would start with shocks, then preload, then add a sway bar. The real reason to fix this is to get both tires to plant evenly, as is they are not, keep an eye on the 60' times as you work on it, use a log book. Craig
Having seen your car run many times at Thompson, I'd have to agree it appears to pivot on the launch more than twist up. Making it more rigid is by no means a bad idea. Being so light, and short though I doubt you are getting much distortion forward of the rear suspension. I'd also have to agree with adding an adjustable track link setup and maybe playing with the floaters as was said before. What type of times and power are you running now? The car is bad ass, probably my favorite from the Gas meets just because it's not another Willy's or 55 Chevy. (Sorry Don )
A drag racing air bag on the passenger side only and preload it. It will counteract the twisting. It's done a lot in class racing and has great results even on non-connected frame rail chassis it gets rid of the lift one wheel only launches.
im only running 11.40 at 117 mph.but that will change next year when i put the new engine in it this winter{406 indy head and intake roller cam and 12.5-1 comp.it should dyno out at almost 600 hp.}i deff.am going to put a rear link in it to try and stop the twisting and also do some changing of the trans and pinion angle.
the pass window stainless was cut flush with the top of the door when i got it.i put some small brackets on it to hold it in place{obviously it wont at the top end}so instead of pushing it back in after every race i just left it popped out.the last time i was at thompson i made 20 passes and the last 3 i put a small bungie cord on the top and it worked.this winter i have alot of small changes to make and the door glass is one of them.
im going to put a anti roll bar and probabley some rollers on the springs first and see what happens.if that doesnt fix it im not sure if im going to put an extra spring in the pass.side or an air bag.i dont think the air bag will look good so im favoring the spring.thanks.
You have to get that rearend off the springs so that it operates independantly, Competition Engineering# C2033 floater will fix that right up. Go to thier website and read what it does. Once you have that puppy in place then you can add an antiroll bar. I'd be willing to wager that if you put a floor jack under the spring pad and raised the car at that point you'll hear a bunch of creaking and groaning because of the binding between the spring and traction bar. The floater will let the housing rotate on the spring pad so they operate independant. When you get that freed up then you'll be able to experiment and play with a bunch of different suspension devices. The best solution would be coilover shocks if they are acceptable to that type of racing and get rid of the springs.
its fine to run coilovers but i just dont want to put them in the back.i had floaters in my hornet and the only thing i didnt like about them was they are very noisey but i guess i wont be able to hear them.
The problem with anti-sway anti-roll bars is they REACT to the problem that is already under way killing a lot of time that detracts from your launch. Using an air bag on passenger side only or extra leaf or any method you chose to utilize that preloads that side and or makes that side harder to compress PREVENTS or mitigates the problem from happening in the first place saving valuable time by not having to correct a problem already in motion.
i just found out that the people who wanted to buy my house cant get financed{and i just put 3 grand in it}so im not sure now what i can do this year.i already spent over a grand for the motor and intake now it might have to wait.i have a set of airbags from my s10 that i might put on it{o dollars}and i think i can build a anti roll bar.hopefully someone buys my old house so i can do the things that i need to and want to!!the sad thing is all i want for my house is 50,000 and its app. for 114,500.also someone offered me 102,000 2 years ago and i didnt take it because i was remodeling my new house.man does this economy suck.i dont know why im typing this here i just have to vent!oh and my unemployment is going to run out the first week of january.i have only been on it for 36 weeks but since i wont run out before the end of the year i dont get any of the extensions{isnt life grand}oh well life will go on.
So you are open to "all suggestions" (post #88) but you don't want to use an airbag because it "won't look good" or use housing floaters because "they're very noisy". Hmmm.
i will do what ever it takes to make my car hook straight and hard!!!and as of now the best and cheepest!!
[FONT="]Drag Racing Leaf-Spring Rear Suspensions[/FONT] http://www.wallaceracing.com/leafspringtraction.htm This is taken from H-O Racing's High Output newsletter -Jan. 1975 Thanks to the Wallace Racing Web Site. John has lots of good info on his site. David
put the car on a set of weight scales to see where your wheel weights are - get the rear wheels even side to side - don't worry about the front wheel weights - they can be off a lot on a drag car & still dirve good
When you put the new motor in with more power it's only going to aggrevate the situation making it worse. You might consider a pair of Cal Trac bars. There's no bind, and you still have pre-load adjustment. It also won't look any different than it looks now. Pre-loading with a spring or air bag adjustment is just a band-aid fix. The mechanical adjustment of a suspension link has far more influence on chassis pre-load. It's also more consistent.
Not a good idea to have the static weight of the rear axle the same on both sides. The forces working on the chassis are not equally distributed on both sides so equal weight will mean one wheel (normally the drivers side) spins easier than the other.
i have and the and they are within 10lbs of eachother.there is almost 900lbs on the front and the rest on the back.full of gas it wieghs 2237lbs.
i agree.i think im going to try and get a top bar in it to make it a true ladderbar setup.one of the problems it i dont have much room at the top so im going to have to be pretty ing.with the bends to make it fit.are cal tracs just like slapper bars?
hey OPEL...you didn't post pics. of your fram, but i aree the fram is twisting. looks to me like you need more cross bracing in the fram. and some corner braces would help. hell man turn it into a tank. she not going to feel the weight. please post pics. of your fram. call me POP...or the old FART!
yeah aint that a bitch.i know a guy from my suns football team that has been on it for over a year and now he will get the 20 week extension because his will end in the last week in december.so he has till june to find something.i work in new comstruction and jan.isnt a good time to find work.
there are a couple of pics.of the front frame.it is 2x4 thickwall box.it runs from the front to the rear crossmember{just behind where the front seats are supp.to be}the box frame is only about 5.5 feet long{wheelbase is 92"}the front has 2x4 box,the motor is solidly mounted{about 2feet back}2"dom tubing about 20" then rear crossmember.there is also 1 1/4 dom tubing running parallel to the front{about 3 1/2 ft}then the rest back is 2".rear is basically stock opel.i really dont think that it is twisting.i can jack it up in the front and corner and either the whole front comes up or the whole side comes up dep.on where i jack it up from.here are some pics.i think these will show the frame.
Take a good look at a properly set up Mopar SS leaf system and the answer is there. You need to ad some stiffness to the passengers side spring. I have helped a Chevy I guy with this on a 10 sec car. nusally f doenst take a hole lot. I would add first an extra 3/4 length leaf and see what happens. usually one will make a significan difference but you need to set it for each car. There may always be a bit more drivers side air or i should say I always got it under control and didnt worry about beyod that butthere probably is no real reason why it cant be made almost perfect. I raced leaf spring cars my whole life till I built the Sr Dragster. They work great. I have a video of my last run in my leaf spring car if you want an idea. Don
i think im going to start with a set of rear floaters.and put a upper bar and make it a true ladderbar set up.this way i know the rear axle is not twisting and changing the pinion angle.then all i have to do if it still pulls the wheels up uneven then i will go wiyh a anti roll bar.
does anyone have a pic.of a set of floaters on there car?what keeps the rear located,just the ladderbar?
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