Springs

Discussion in 'Race 400/430/455' started by BuickRacer69, Dec 13, 2016.

  1. BuickRacer69

    BuickRacer69 1320, Mark of the Beast

    Hello Buick Friends.

    I am working on the suspension of my Dads 69 Skylark and was wondering if any of you stock suspension Buick racers could give me some spring advice. Currently he has a set of stock springs on the front and I know he needs something better because the car does not pick the front end up enough. Currently it has about 4 inches of front end travel and I have heard to make a small tire car work you need at least 6 inches. It has done a best of a 1.55 60ft, but it is pretty sensitive to track conditions and I would like to make it more of a bracket car so I need it to be consistent.

    I have read that some of you guys use Mogo springs on the front instead of a drag spring because the drag springs wear out so fast, and that is something I would be more interested in because it is also a street car. I would also be interested in spring advice on the back of the car as well and if you have any good shock suggestions. The back currently has a 3 way adjustable CE shock and the front is stock. I plan on putting a decent adjustable shock on the front and installing an anti roll bar instead of the stock rear sway bar that is in place.

    Thanks for any and all suggestions.

    Gary
     
  2. Todd69GS

    Todd69GS Silver Level contributor

    I would recommend a set of Santhuff springs in the front. They will give the car the stance and transfer it needs. They will need some info on the car though. Front end weight, desired ride height etc.
    As far as shocks go even a single adjustable would do the trick and be better than say a 90/10 drag shock.
    We've ran Moroso springs in the rear without issue but definitely stay away from trick springs in the front if you can. They just don't last very long.
     
  3. hugger

    hugger Well-Known Member

    Moog 5230's and Viking doubles at all four corners, stock 455 replacement moogs in the back, spohn anti roll which I do not recommend go with a HR bar. My car throws the front up too fast rite now I will need to stiffen them up more than likely but moving the weight is effortless. The 5230's area a chore to get in tho I had to cut 1.5 coil off matter of fact
     
  4. BuickRacer69

    BuickRacer69 1320, Mark of the Beast

    I have heard good things about the Mogo 5230, do you guys have a link to a shock that you think would be good for the front? This is a street strip deal so I do not want to break the bank. Just something that will work and get the job done.
     
  5. BuickRacer69

    BuickRacer69 1320, Mark of the Beast

    Also thanks for the advice, I appreciate it!
     
  6. Todd69GS

    Todd69GS Silver Level contributor

    Shocks are related to budget. There are decent drag type shocks that you can get away with and they are inexpensive. If the budget allows maybe a qa1 or viking single adjustable would work well. I've heard good things about the vikings and they are ex qa1 guys that ventured out on their own.
     
  7. hugger

    hugger Well-Known Member

    Viking are only available in Double Adjustable but are priced very competitively, the have the Warrior andctge Crusader line , the Crusader can react quicker.
     
  8. Jeff Hart

    Jeff Hart Platinum Level Contributor

    Hey Gary, I am not familiar with your combination but the first thing I did notice was your best 60ft time of 1.55, what power level and or times do you run? This hasnt been addressed and it makes a huge difference in what you should be running for shocks and springs. Unless your car is deep in the 10 second range you can get away with some pretty basic and cheap/stock stuff for consistency. No need for high dollar shocks and or different springs.
     
  9. Todd69GS

    Todd69GS Silver Level contributor

    Good point Jeff. I just assume everyone is always chasing faster. Lol
     
  10. BuickRacer69

    BuickRacer69 1320, Mark of the Beast

    As far as power I would guess maybe 500-550? It is a pump gas 464 with ported Iron heads and solid flat tappet cam, it has gone lots of 11.20 and in good air it has gone 11.05. It is still a street car that we race some, the problem is that due to traction issues it is not always very consistent. My car is a 12.00 never spins, so I bracket race it all the time and the goal is to make my Dads car a decent bracket car so we can start racing it more.

    I think the Mogo spring and a QA1 single adjustable shock on the front will make a huge difference, but I wanted to ask some of the people who have already been there and done it before I spend money.
     
  11. hugger

    hugger Well-Known Member

    Why not pull some timing and adjust shift point to slow it to 12.00s?
     
  12. hugger

    hugger Well-Known Member

    A msd6al-2 may be a good option so you can program a curve in that take some of the hit away but still give the power on the big end
     
  13. BuickRacer69

    BuickRacer69 1320, Mark of the Beast

    Sorry for the delay, I was out of town for a few days.

    I tried slowing it down to 12.00 and that is much easier said than done. I think I going to follow some of the advice in this thread and buy a set of Mogo 5230 and QA1 single adjustable shocks for the front and see where that gets me. People on Yellow Bullet also seem to think that is a good choice for an A Body.

    Thanks for the advice, hopefully soon we got the car working good and going rounds!
     
  14. hugger

    hugger Well-Known Member

    Go with the Viking shocks, doubles up front will go along way in controlling front end speed of weight transfer
     
  15. capsgs

    capsgs Well-Known Member

    I think Jeff is right on the money..no pun intended. At this power level you can get it to hook consistant without a $600 shock package. You would be better served to pay attention to some fairly inexpensive details rather than throwing money at it for big dollar parts. Loosen up the front end with some good control arm bushings and get the rear end geometry correct and you will be amazed at how well a triangular 4 link suspension can work. Get the back end of the car down so the lower control arms are parallel to the ground and maybe a set of adjustable upper control arms to get the rear end square and pinion angle set. All of these mods will be mostly labor intensive rather than expensive. There is a lot of information on the Web on hooking a GM A body.
     
  16. hugger

    hugger Well-Known Member

    I will say , and I have multiple times b4 , stock stuff will work, I went 1.51 to 1.55 dead hooking at Beech Bend with 100% UNTOUCHED suspension, I'm talking stock bushings that were all tightened down, stock arms, stock sway bars, even had a 1.250 trans am bar up front, Monroe's shocks, replacement GS springs. On 325/50 DR's.....but at my local tracks on test and tune nites I give up going because the car wouldn't just spin but it would o obliterate the tires , but at BG I couldn't make it spin. Crappy tracks require suspension mods
     
  17. Todd69GS

    Todd69GS Silver Level contributor

    We started out with Moroso rear springs and HR rear suspension and anti sway bar. Front was stock bushings and control arms that were loosened up to promote transfer. Front springs were Trick Moroso and shocks were cheap Summit all the way around. Trick springs will work for a while but won't last. Cheap shocks were just that. That being said it all did work. There are some better options that won't break the bank. Single adjustable QA1's are a nice step up that won't kill the wallet too much. I read all the threads on all the different moog spring rates, cutting them for ride height etc when it was time to upgrade. Santhuff took my front end weight and desired ride height and sold me a high energy spring that works perfectly. Again not expensive, just proven parts that bolt in and work.
    I'm not trying to sell you anything but just giving you some food for thought.
    All these parts I mentioned are now bolted on to my buddy's 70 Chevelle with a 496 street motor runs consistently 10.99-11.10 all day. He won the daily driver class at drag week 2 yrs ago along with driving over 3k miles that week.
    On a side note he also has our th400 with the bop bell cut off to fit his chebby. You can imagine the grief I give him about his chevelle having rear end, trans, driveshaft and suspension out of a Buick. Lol
     
  18. BuickRacer69

    BuickRacer69 1320, Mark of the Beast

    The rear end had a set of Hop Stops on it and adjustable upper control arms and a factory rear sway bar, I have a weld in Anti Roll bar that we plan to install over the winter. I think I am going to follow the advice in the thread and get a Mogo front spring and call Viking and QA1 and get a decent shock for the front and back. Hopefully this helps plant the tires.

    My home track is Gateway, and the track prep there is usually decent, but there are 5 1/8 mile tracks within 3 hours and sometimes the track prep is not the greatest. I know with a few changes we could have his car hooking up basically anywhere.

    Thanks for the advice in this thread, hopefully come spring we can have these issues solved.

    Merry Christmas,

    Gary Lewis
     
  19. Gary Bohannon

    Gary Bohannon Well-Known Member

    TODD69GS
    What weight were those Santhuff springs and how did they stand in the Buick.
    I need to decide on 200 or 225 for my 67 GS with aluminum TA heads (1950 lb approx front weight).
     
  20. Todd69GS

    Todd69GS Silver Level contributor

    Gary let me dig out my old notes on our weight and which springs we used. It's been a while but I believe they were 225.
     

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