Question for the big wheelstand guys
 

Question for the big wheelstand guys?Other than a normal nut and bolt examination and a suspension check, what other types of things do you look at on a regular basis? I have been hanging the wheels pretty high recently and I don?t want to overlook anything during my weekly maintenance. I have been looking at ball joints, upper and lower a-arms, engine and accessory bolts etc. Any other suggestions?

Wanna see some pictures?
http://public.fotki.com/JoeGrippo/

Wheels, we bent a set a couple of years ago.


Stephen Johnson #2162
Horace Johnson #2167
SS/D 427 Ford Fairlane NHRA-IHRA
Ex-Jim Van Cleve

Stephen 2162
Horace2167

Make sure your snubbers are up to par, When I started getting big air this year ,I put a set of heavy duty urethane snubbers on the control arms. .... keep an eye on the front shocks too. ... They don't like getting bottomed out. ..... Tom

ON My Firebird it was bad about tearing the inner fenderwells out when it came down, so i cut the very tops of them out and it stopped that problem, but it is also bad on front end alignment by coming down so hard, need to keep the compression on the shocks pretty stiff and of coarse the wheelie bars have saved my mutt quite a few times and even with them sometimes it is pretty violate!

woodro josey
I miss Buster Couch and Lex Dudas.

If I can ask,,What have you guys done to help yank the wheels up higher?? A few years ago if a Stocker could get the tires off the ground they were doing great. Now it seems that alot or most of the guys are in need of wheelie bars. I can get mine about a foot in the air but thats it. Most of the time less. But my suspension isnt very fancy. Moroso front springs with Lakewood 90-10 and the back are multi-leaf with lakewood traction bars and Comp. engineering rear. Got any ideas on changes for me?? Tim Barrett H/SA 1925

Tim,
what kind of car do you have?

how quick do you 60ft now?

Brian,,, Tim has a 69 Camaro. You can see the car launching on Autoimagery.com.
Danny Durham

hahaha...I GOT to see that "vair getting "big air." !
I love your car - don't get me wrong. but "big air"?

I miss step.

You missed the Man after the Gold., not Gould. .... I'd like to see Tom's Corvair get some air!. .... Tom Goldman

"If I can ask,,What have you guys done to help yank the wheels up higher?? "

I don't mean to be fllipant with my response, but just simply more hp being applied to the ground is causing the big wheelstands.

It seems on a stocker, once your et dips into the 10 second range, the ability for the big wheelstand is possible. It is the car trying to accelerate that causes the wheelstand. If you bolted the rear tires to the ground, i don't think you could lift the front wheels off the ground (it's been a long time since I calculated it).

On our 'cuda, we were breaking in a new engine in March at Bowling Greene, Ky. The previous year it was running roughly low 11's at the time. The first time I made a real pass in the car, it got so high I had the sensation of falling over backwards in a chair and luckly shifted from 1st to 3rd to bring it down without crashing it. This was way before stockers were allowed wheelie bars. We changed the front shocks and did not have any issues after that. The car would've went roughly a 10.80 pass if I remember correctly.



Chris Hill
Spec 125 Light

chris,
thats not entirely true, the front suspension has alot to do with it.
brian

You can take the front shocks off (or drain the oil completely out) and not wheel stand. Our v-6 pick-up for example won't wheelstand at all, reguardless of the front end spriings adn shocks. The front and rear suspension have an effect, but on a scale of 1-10, maybe a 6. Applied HP is a 10 in causing the wheelstand.

Chris Hill
Spec 125 Light

Doh!
hahaha....

I miss step.

I'm not talking about 6 cylinders......we're talking about a car that already wheelies and he's looking for more wheelstand.

I dont know what springs shocks or rear suspension you've tried in your car, but i've tried quite a few in mine, and have gone from barely picking the wheels up off the ground to doing 1' wheelies in my low 11 second car.....entirely with chassis adjustments.

Great thread. It's funny that i have gone 1.37 60ft in a 3370 lb 67 camaro and only pull the wheels a foot. I run a single adj. front shock full loose, rear glass springs and rancho/caltrac. Man if i could get my car to get off the ground i could probly go 9.80's. It just won't get up on the tire.

camaroracer, try moving your front leaf spring mounting point up about 2 inchs higher in the car. Joe.

3" X pipe and more pinion angle. Hold ON!!! http://www.classracer.com/html/happy.gif

Daran - Tina
2057 SS/MA
2050 K/SA

>> I'd like to see Tom's Corvair get some air!. ....

Actually, Tom's Corvair has been known to daylight the front tires! Gotta love having the engine in the back... It's sweet.



Michael Beard
<u>Staging Light Graphic Design & Printing</u>
Duck Tape/Loctite Racing
H - I - J/CM '80 Volare 360 Magnum

Click on "Racers Photos" top of this page

Tom Gould

Sheesh... I think that thing leaves nicer than my Volare does sometimes!

http://www.classracer.com/pics/Tom_Gould.jpg

Now THAT is what Stock eliminator is about. It doesn't get much cooler. BTW, Tom, I told my dad about your R/U... he remembered seeing the car at Maple Grove years ago. He said congrats!



Michael Beard
<u>Staging Light Graphic Design & Printing</u>
Duck Tape/Loctite Racing
H - I - J/CM '80 Volare 360 Magnum

Tom,
Give us some data on that 'vair! Awesome car!

NHRA #7494 SS/H
1970 AMC AMX
"Best Appearing" @ NHRA '06 Pacific Sports Nationals
JeffLeeAzRealty@Qwest.net
602-418-9797

Jeff, I ordered the car in the fall of 1965. In 1976 , I built the current 95 HP combo from a short block I got from Bob Shaw(I was originally from Columbus. Ohio and at that time Bob lived near Columbus).

It's pretty much a Pure Stocker. Stock suspension, stock Corvair 4spd, stock Corvair rear (4:11 gears), Weber clutch and flywheel (1973) with Hays disc, Lunati pure stock cam (1976) and TRW .060 pistons.

As a 95/100 combo (factored to 100 after Bob won the Sportsnationals with one in 1975) it's a natural 24 pound car. But, with all the weight I can get out it manages to make the middle of V/S.



Tom Gould

Tom - did you ever run at Dragway 42 back in th' day? I remember two 'vairs that were very impressive, both factory turbo's. One ran low 12's and was Marina blue.

I miss step.

Wasn't me Bruce. One of the cars may have been Dick Griffin out of Lansing Michigan. He had a Black 63 Turbo he called the Black Widow that I believe he got into the high 12.0s on occasion and a 64 Turbo convertible that he won J/S with at the 64 Nationals. He may have had others. Word was Dick never raced anything he couldn't drive to the track.

Tom Gould

Brian, My 60 foot average is around 1.47 to 1.49 with my metric 200. As I said my suspension is basicly original. A friend Barry Parker does some wicked wheel stands and that was with the small block in his car. If I remember he had his good motor out for rebuild and he had an old 350 that went 11.8 or 11.9 in H/SA and still got big air. Not sure what his 60' were but the wheel stands were pretty impressive with the weaker motor. Another good friend, Dave LaBrun started big wheelies with his big block Camaro, when he just got little ones before. Its just nice to see these cars going high like Super Stockers on 9 inch tires. I can get 1 foot with mine sometimes, but I know that there is a combo that would require wheelie bars to keep it off the bumper,,,seems like fun. Tim Barrett 1925 H/SA

The more HP you have THE BIGGER THE WHEELIE.

tim,
email me at speedygoomba@yahoo.com

joe, what if i was building a super stock motor to run in SS/GA with maybe 650 horse. Basically what I'm asking is this good practice for leaf sprung cars period.
Thanks for the info.
David

Well Joe coming from pulling big and far wheelstands many times. The experience I have and will tell you is most important. DON'T LIFT! ! !

If you guys need help making your cars hook! contact me:

[IMaGe]http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c181/SpeedyGoomba/P1010023.jpg[/IMaGe]

[IMaGe]http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c181/SpeedyGoomba/P1010021.jpg[/IMaGe]

WOW, what a beautiful 67. All the best for the 2007 season. [:-happy2-:]

Kevin MacLeod

thanks kevin!

Tim Gould...
There was a guy from the Dayton,O. area by the name of Don Spencer that had a 140 hp Corvair he ran in the late 60's early 70's called the GREEN GRASSHOPPER. That car would almost get air back then. That car was a tough one to trailer.........

76 Racer----- I had a new 140 HP in 65. They were a blast to drive but were not competative in Q/S. Back then, the class included the 55 Chevys with a 4 barrel. We won some and lost some at the tracks in the South but at the end of the season I ordered the current car. On the other hand, I DO have a set of 140 heads around here somewhere. LOL.

Tom Gould

put a manhole cover in the trunk... http://www.classracer.com/html/happy.gif

hell guys even my old U/SA wagon gets em up now with that WOODRO JOSEY power... see autoimagery.com...2007 cajunsportsnats !

anyway with current rules you can move a lot of weight around... anyone done the crossmember cut yet...you can get 30+lbs out to the rear there ?

Greg Hills car doing MONSTER wheelies in E-F /SA in bowling green this weekend

and woodro...with your heart history those wheelies concern me http://www.classracer.com/html/happy.gif

jack mccarthy

Hey Jack, it's the excitement of the wheelies, get the Heart to pumping and flushing out the arteries!!!!!!!lol

woodro josey
I miss Buster Couch and Lex Dudas.

Hell Woodro, after Saturday, your arteries and heart should be good for DECADES. Congrats again you crusty old fart.

Alan Roehrich


Bring "AA" classes to NHRA Stock Eliminator!

Jack with the crossmember cut, are you allowed to replace it with round tubing?

Brian, yes on the round tubing!

woodro josey
I miss Buster Couch and Lex Dudas.

Alan, that 69 was pretty impressive with some very nice wheelies too!

woodro josey
I miss Buster Couch and Lex Dudas.