Front end rise

[STR001]

I have a 87 Camaro stocker that I recently finished. I tested it at the track yesterday. When launching the front end will lift the front wheels about 2 foot off the ground. The front end will recoil and then almost fully extend a second time. The frontend will stay raised up during the entire run. It has Lakewood 90/10 front struts. 50/50 rear. Moroso trick springs 220 lb. rate with 1/2 coil cut. Travel is about 4". Is this a strut or spring issue? Or a combination of both? Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated. Jason

[tj310]

I believe I went with the 70/30 Lakewoods and stock springs cut 1/2 coil ,our seems to settle down nicely. ---Trevor

[FED 387]

possibly also look into 4 cylinder Gen III front springs stock length to start with then maybe cut a little off as you experiment to see where you are going, along with adjustable steel limiters in place of the rubber bumpers on the lower control arms--- those 90-10s are not letting the front come back down consequently the high ride height down track---remember shocks do not determine the ride height of the vehicle the SPRINGS do so I would be looking into what ever you can to lower the static ride height to begin with---FED387

[Sean Marconette]

How loose is the front end without the springs? If it's binding while extended that could be an issue. Strut adjustment on my car makes a huge difference on how fast the front end comes up and down. How much weight is on the front end makes a difference too. The weight bias and the ability of the strut to control your specific combination may be outside of the non adjustable struts.

What happens if you raise the front end off the ground with a floor jack like its launching and then drop it. Does the strut react quick or does it keep the front end up?

What's the backend of the car doing during a launch? That may be influencing the front end as well.

Sean

[KEN BUGAJ]

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[STR001]

Thanks for the great feedback guys.


FED387- you are exactly right. I don't feel that the 90/10 shocks are letting the front end come back down. As Sean suggested, I jacked the front end up and let it come back down. However, the front end doesn't seem to drop quickly. I have the lower control arms loose so they wouldn't bind up. I do think I probably need to cut another 1/2 coil off the springs to bring the front end down some more. Trevor- I used to run a V6 spring with the 90/10 struts and the front end used to stay raised up during the full run also. Which is the reason that I switched to a trick spring. What do most stock eliminator guys use for struts? Also is tie downs legal in stock eliminator class? Jason

[Sean Marconette]

QA1's SA on mine and AFCO DA on the rear. Its not legal to tie down the front in stock.

Sean

[tj310]

Don't think your supposed to run tie downs in stock but we put a pair of chains on to limit travel for testing . Didn't matter much ---Trevor

[FED 387]

Check the control arm bushings too -- make sure you can pivot them without the springs and shocks with about 5 POUNDS resistance-----open em up in the bore so that there is almost no resistance when they pivot--- also cut a minute amount off the snubber on the upper arms too ----if it helps cut a little more off--- keep doing this until you see no more improvement then leave em alone---your problem it seems is after the front end has risen it is not coming back down---- now you will hafta figure why its not coming down something is keeping it up WHAT???-- FED 387

[HandOverFist]

Take the shocks loose and look for any change, but I'm betting on some bind elsewhere.