Setting up Cal Tracs

[Scott P3274]

The Nova weighs 3400 with me in it. The front has QA1 single adjustable stocker star R serise shocks with moroso trick springs. The rear has landrum mono leafs with cal tracks and new QA1 duble adjustable stocker stars. The engine made 568hp and 533 torque on the dyno. The trans is a TH 350 and has a 8' 5000 stall converter. The rear is a 12 bolt with 4.56 gears. I am running 29.5 x 9" M/T slicks and they have 16psi in them. The cal traks have two flats of pre load in the passenger side and 0 pre load in the drivers side. The bar is in the lower hole.
Foot braking the car at 2800 nets pretty consistent 1.44 60ft times and has run a best of 6.67 at 101.50 in the 1/8th. (10.58 at 125 in the 1/4) It has only hooked once on the trans brake and it went 1.39 60ft and 6.65/10.54 in the quarter. (With an almost bumper dragging wheel stand.)
Before I will need wheelie bars, I need it to conssistently hook with the trans brake. I will test tonight if possible with some softer extension/slightly softer compression and keep adjusting until it consistently hooks. The shock instructions for the rear suggest 0-4 clicks on extension and 12-16 clicks on compression. I have ignored that so far but will try it tonight.
I will also try Ian's suggestions as needed.
I greatly appreciate all the feedback and hope anyone reading this will continue to share success stories and recommendations. Hopefully I will get this worked out sooner than later.
THANK YOU ALL!!

[Scott P3274]

I set the rear shocks at 50/50 and the front shocks back to 90/10. Foot braking is fine. I won the race last Wed night with consistent 1.46 60ft times. It was spinning a little but consistently. (typical for the Wed night conditions at the local track) This weekend, I will have a chance to run on a much better prepped track. I'm hoping to make adjustments with the shocks to get the trans break to work. I will not have many test runs to work with though. I plan to leave the compression at 9 (18 total clicks) and soften the extension (also set at 9 now) a couple clicks at a time to see if it works out. Anyone have any additional suggestions?

Thanks,
Scott

[Scott P3274]

I tried the shocks at 9 clicks on extension and 7 clicks on compression this past weekend and it worked out pretty well, foot breaking. I had a best of 1.42 60ft and pretty consistent 1.43 to 1.45 60ft times after that good one. I also had a friend of mine watch the car leave. He said the slicks were wadding up quite a bit and suggested adding air. I went up from 16 to 17psi on Saturday and up to 18 on Sunday. It was pretty good so I'll add another pound at a time until it starts spinning again and then drop it back.
I'll keep updating when I get back to testing with the trans brake.
Scott

[Troy Henderson]

The June 28th National Dragster has a good shock article starting on pg 144..

Has anybody running a stickshift experimented with running preload in both bars? Have you seen any benefits? When I scaled my car, the corner weights started balancing out when I did this.

[Dirk Olson]

Guys,

I have been reading all of your entries, all excellent advice. This car has a transbrake, knowing that, how it reacts will be much like a stick car. There are a ton of factors to consider. We all know that every car is differant and one must find that sweet spot. Launch RPM will be critical. Weight placment in the car also plays an important part. Converter also plays an important role, How loose is it and how much run at it, will change how the bcar leaves. I agree with Troy for this application double adjustables are desired. Afcos are spendy and there are others out there. Buy the best you can afford. I can tell this, I question the Landrum springs I had a set when I first started racing my B/S car. First pass bent them, sent them back they gave me a new and improved, first pass bent them again. I then cut the front half off and used them to support the front half of the stock spring worked great. I have replaced them with Caltracks.

Dirk

[40Coupe]

I run a 275 M/T Pro radial tire on my 67 Camaro. Basic combination, 468 BBC, 3-speed, 5700-6000 RPM flash depending on tune and DA, 4.10's, 3300+ lbs

Below are some basic suspension and tuning settings I've used based on conditions.

Marginal track surface, early summer air pulling power and adding ballast. 1.35 60 foot

Rear AFCO DA's set full stiff/full stiff
200 lb split monos out back
Caltracs set with slight gap with driver weight and no ballast, top hole
120 lbs ballast in trunk
Tires set at 17 lbs hot
Front AFCO BNC DA's set full loose ext, full stiff comp
180 lb Santhuff's up front + 1" of spacers
5.5" travel
Leaving off the transbrake and two-step set at 2500
-15 degrees Launch Retard in the Power Grid for 1.5 seconds

On a killer track, fall DA, no ballast, car setup to run and leave as hard as possible. 1.27 60 foot

Rear AFCO DA's set 1/2 to 3/4 turn off of full stiff ext. /full stiff comp.,
200 lb split monos out back
Caltracs set with slight gap with driver weight and no ballast, top hole
No ballast in trunk
Tires set at 18-20 lbs hot
Front AFCO BNC DA's set anywhere from 5-10 clicks off full stiff ext, full stiff comp
180 lb Santhuff's up front + 1" of spacers
4.5" travel (1" taken out with limiters)
Leaving off the footbrake at 1800 RPM.
+4 degrees added at launch in the Power Grid to 6500 RPM in low gear

[bdixon]

this is for troy give me a call on your wheelie bars thanks B Dixon 605-999-9220 thks