info on caltracs and tire?

[Geerhead55]

Dan Fletcher told us at Phoenix a few years back, when asked about the Cal-Tracs, to put the driver in the car, so the weight is right, and then snug the bars up tight. We asked about any preload, if at all, or side to side, and he said he didn't bother. I'm sure others have had different experiences with the bars, so chime in and let us know, please.
Danny Durham

[rod]

i was talking with a friend yesterday. troy has a '71 nova with a very nice 406 bracket motor. he bought the cal-trac bars and 4 shocks. he set the bars like the tech guy told him. he started off with the front shocks at 1. and after each pass, moved them up one number. at 3 he felt a change by 5 [where he stopped] he knocked his 60 foot time from 1.89 to 1.52 and the ET from 12.08 to 11.41.
that my friend is good money invested for a very great return. we should all be so lucky.
rod in AZ

[bigdaddy4026]

i really want to thank you guys for all the imput! it is really apriciated!
i'm 90% positive in going with the caltrac system, the car will be for my son sooner or later! but the sooner i get it finished the more time i get to run it!lol
a friend of mine gave me a set of old 30x9 to try on the rims that came with the car. as you can see the offset is wrong well now i have to find the right size wheels!!

[Run to Rund]

The tire will be about .3" narrower per side (a total of about .6" decrease in section width of each tire) using 8" wheels instead of 10." That can help you with fitment.

[Alan Roehrich]

If you're looking for the car to be smooth and controllable, I suggest CalTracs bars, their split mono leaf spring, and their shocks on the back. On the front, a six cylinder spring, since you have a small block and fiberglass, and Santuff shocks. You need the Global West bushings and upper control arm shaft, and the Moog ball joints, you want the top ball joint to be 1" longer than stock. I'd suggest a set of 48" sprung wheelie bars.

You use the front shocks and bump stops to set how high the car comes up. There's nothing inherently dangerous of difficult about the car pulling the front wheels a couple feet off the track, provided you've done all the work and used the right parts. It will be consistent, reliable, it'll go straight, and be easy to drive.

For that engine, by the way, I'd use a 5.14, or better still, a 5.38. The car will work better, and be easier to get a good light out of with more gear. That is especially true for a footbrake bracket car, and even more so for a car that runs 1/8 mile at all.

The Hoosier radial is the tire of choice. It's consistent, does not require a hard burnout, it hooks, and it lasts.

[rustbucket79]

I finally found out how important it was to have front travel in order for the Cal Tracs to work. For years I messed around with rear ballast, hard burnouts, low pass numbers before requiring slick replacement, etc. After chasing traction (again) for a half season, I finally made the effort and cut another full coil of my drag springs, bought 28" front runners so I had ground clearance, and headed out for a friday night street legal. With no track prep, mild burnout, and dead slicks (9x29.5 M/T bias) the car packed the front end nicely. The 60' times were crappy (1.55's) showing the poor tires and track prep, but the consistancy was there. For the last race day, I pulled 90# of ballast out of the trunk that I had been running for seasons, pulled the exhaust off, mounted fresh slicks, and promptly ran a 10.622 with a 1.422 60' time, best the car ever went. This was on a non prepped friday night track. I later improved my times running the equivalent of a mid 10.5 that weekend. (timing system failed, had to run 1/8 mile portatree system) I also ran 3 rounds of elimination back to back within a .006" second grouping.

Wow, sorry about the horn tooting. To sum it up, I went from about 3 inches of front travel and traction issues, to 6 inches of front travel and a very happy setup. I have an inch between new compression stops to the lower control arms.

Some vid of the car the last race day:

[bigdaddy4026]

Originally Posted by Alan Roehrich

Moog ball joints, you want the top ball joint to be 1" longer than stock. .

and where would i find these ball joints i allready have smaller springs but dont have the 5" travel

[et7333]

I use a 9-30 Phoenix slick on a ten inch rim with 4.5 back spacing.I've ran 10.14 at 131 with zero traction issues with a 383 sbc.If you have any questions you can contact me through my email on my web site.

Steve

[SStockDart]

We use Cal Tracs, split leaf, and Calvert shocks on both of our cars. The Cal Tracs on the Dart haven't been adjusted in a couple of years. The only adjusting we do is with the rear shocks. Soft for a marginal track and medium for a sticky track. We use travel stops, bump stops on the front, but we are also using larger tires and do not need the extra travel. Put em on and forget em.....