Traction Recipe - simple version

After years of traction problems; Here is what really worked for me.

I installed soft springs (front and rear) and got the surprise of my life. The front flies up and the tires plant, and I have gotten awsome traction on the street as well.
I want to share some stuff here.
First I want to back up what I'm about to say. March-April GSXTRA has an article on page 16 where a GN runs 9's with:
1. Stock rear arms 2. HR bar 3. Standard gas shocks and 4. Soft springs.
After reading that, I got brave enough to share my thoughts on traction.

SHOCKS- Plain low cost gas shocks have worked for many racers I have talked to. Some tried adjustables only to find the old gas shocks worked fine. Faster (500+ HP) cars often need good adjustable shocks to correct problems such as controlling front end rise or rear end seperation; springs too soft, pitch roll, etc. Shock adjustments can be of great help in some chassis tuning situations.
Viking double adjustable shocks...
Best bang for your bucks!

SPRINGS- Soft springs (and shorter springs) are a major ingrediant for a traction recipe. I have avoided the Moroso racing variety because they have a short life. I'm not doing monthly alignments due to constantly falling springs. MOOG springs, however, will settle a little then stabilize for the rest of your lifetime. They made a tremendous difference on my 1967 GS.

FRONT SPRINGS ARE CRITICAL.... Moog 6204 front springs (or 5230 for lightweight cars) are super great for traction and not too tall. Try these, even if you do not change the rear springs.
Also consider Santhuff springs. The 200 lb is similar to moog 5230
and 225 is similar to moog 6204
These hold up for years, moroso will not.

Moog 5379 rear springs will help keep the rear up a little for tire clearance if needed, but are soft enough to definately help traction. Moog CC501 springs are firm and about stock height and have worked well for some racers. Moog 6321 springs are soft and about stock height. Moog 5401 springs are lower and may work if the tires clear. Don't try to use the bigger tires only to loose traction & stability by jacking the rear up higher for clearance.
If you plan on using dropped lower "lift bars" like Southside style, go with the MOOG CC501 for better results.

FRONT A-ARM BUSHINGS....Global West Del-a-lum bushings will allow smooth free movement of the front end yet hold lateral movement rock steady. These bushings complement the use of the soft springs stored energy and will survive years longer than factory style bushings. Get some OFFSET upper bars to press the new upper bushings onto. This gives better alignment for the front end, and safer handling.
NOTE: New original rubber bushings locked down my front end when tightened to specs. I had to remove my brand new set of rubbers and install Global West to free up my front end. Poly bushings are even worse! You can use these squeezed type bushings with the bolts loosened, but risk pounding out the bolt holes. GW bushings hold a firm tight alignment, allow free up-down movement, and never wear out.

FRONT SWAY BAR- If traction is not satisfactory yet, some guys remove the front sway bar. Handling may suffer on turns but some guys say their car still will handle reasonably well on the street if an HR bar is on the rear.

AIR BAGS- These are good for keeping the body from rubbing big tires. But jacking the rear end up will also cause the rear control arms to angle upward. If the front of the lower arms are higher than 1.75" above the rear of the arm, this may hurt traction, cause brake hop and wheel hop. For performance, air bags are mostly used to help preload the right rear tire better for the launch. Some guys don't like preloaded right air bags because they jack the car out of shape and become less managable when on the brakes hard.
Air bags are normally removed as a traction device if an anti-roll bar is used, but especially when traction bars (no-hops or lift bars) are used.

BRACES- Trailing Arm Braces/Control Arm Braces/Frame Braces, will protect your rear cross member from major damage.... http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=73629 .... good insurance against crossmember destruction and crashing into the retaining wall. "DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT'EM"... see thread above.

ANTI-ROLL BAR- An HR bar can save spending excess money on traction bars, air bags and expensive racing shocks, etc. One guy got great traction with an open rear end! Try these before throwing $ at other equipment. www.hrpartsnstuff.com (soft springs and HR bar are priority). For those of us with less than 500 HP, the cheaper way to go is a Hellwig 1 1/8" adjustable #55864 (1964-67) or #55868 (1968-72)... Shop for prices (Amazon, etc.)

REAR CONTROL ARMS/TRAILING ARMS- Stock control arms are often OK for performance, but the lowers must be boxed. Too much stress and twisting can make the bushings work loose. Also, the factory swaybars actually add stress these arms. (HR bar connects to frame and axle, not control arms)
The best aftermarket control arms will have a flexable bushing or bearing on one end. This helps provide good articulation rather than binding which is a common complaint on heavy built arms with standard poly bushings. HR Parts n Stuff has a special flexable poly bushing to solve this. We have often been told to get the lower control arms level, but that is difficult due to tire clearance and finding springs low enough. Level lower arms are a plus for handling/cornering/rally racing.

ADJUSTABLE UPPER ARMS- Adjustable upper arms help with getting pinion angle correct and may improve ET. Once the angles are set, use the right side only to adjust for off tracking to the left or right when launching. Leave the left side to hold he pinion angle secure. Get the special poly flexable bushing, or spherical ends for the front of these arms.
Some racers claim significant ET gains with proper pinion angle settings and others have suffered drivetrain destruction because they didn't set the pinion angle. Minus 2 degrees is ok for most street/strip cars. Don't set pinion angle off the driveshaft. Do it right.... tranny shaft vs pinion shaft.

TRACTION BARS/ CONTROL ARM RELOCATERS- No-Hop (upper) and Southside (lower) "lift" bars are well known but often misunderstood. No hops raise the back of the upper arms to shorten the IC (instant center). Southside "lift" bars have brackets that lower the rear of the lower arms which will shorten the IC as well, but also raise the IC a little. Both of these designs will help load the rear tires during launch. They make the body rise, which pushes the rear tires down.This effect also reduces the need for air bags and an exotic anti roll bar, since the natural pitch roll toward the right rear tire is subdued. These work best on cars that are LOWERED first, and have soft front springs. Chose only ONE style of traction device, upper or lower,not both together.

* No-hops (for upper arms). TA is a good choice of no-hops, as they are shorter than most (2 7/8"), have better angle, and less apt to hit the bottom of the car body (edelbrocks are 3 3/4" & Lakewood 4"+) . Moser and Art Morrison racing rear ends have the "ears" raised (1" & 1.5") on their pumpkins to do this same thing. Art Morrison also has add on no-hops for stock rearends that start at about 2" lift. No-hops are hidden for stock appearing cars. They also provide better leverage angles for hard launches if the car sits low and has soft springs front and rear. High powered cars like lower settings.
* Southside style "lift bars", lower control arms or arm lowering brackets made by UMI (2" or 3" drop choice) and others, will lower your lower arms just like the Southside bars did. This may complicate factory style swaybar location unless you purchase lower arms pre-drilled or modified for that purpose, or you can switch to a far superior anti-sway bar. These are advertised as "for lowered cars", so make sure your original lower control arms were ALREADY level, or near level with the frame before installing these arm dropping brackets. A little upward angle of the LOWERED arms will not hurt traction. Again, soft springs front and back are necessary for best results. For best street handling, use the 2" setting.

NOTE: IF YOU LOWER YOUR CAR OR RELOCATE THE ARMS, HERE ARE 5 THINGS TO DO.
1...RECHEK FRONT WHEEL ALIGHNMENT. 2...CHECK FOR REAR TIRE CLEARANCE, ESPECIALLY AT THE REAR INNER PANELS. 3...For tire clearance: GET SHORTER TIRES OR PURCHASE ADJUSTABLE LOWER CONTROL ARMS TO ALLOW PULLING THE TIRES FOREWARD. (for an added bonus, get "flexable" poly bushings or spherical bearings to avoid binding). 4...RESET PINION ANGLE: Pinion shaft vs tranny shaft (not driveshaft). 5. FRONT YOLK -Make certain the driveshaft yolk is not pulled too far out of the tailshaft as a result of lowering the body and adjusting the pinion angle. Adjustable upper and lower control arms may be needed to push the yolk foreward into the transmition to it's original depth.

TIRES- If you have radials on front, use radials on the rear also. Most racers run too little air and shorten tire life. Burnouts are often overdone as well. I like 26" tires for better gearing, good stance, and better body/wheelwell fit. High HP cars just cut stuff to clear bigger tires. IF LARGE TIRES REQUIRE JACKING UP THE REAR, THIS MAY DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD FOR TRACTION. Just do these traction remedies and do some testing before you decide you need giant tires.

PRIORITIES- Sticky tires, Soft front springs. Then take a look at the rest. HR bar would likely be the next item, if all else is in good shape and safe.

Two things to go fast: GREAT TRACTION & A GREAT CONVERTER.
* HOW FAST IS FAST? *HOW GOOD IS MY TRACTION?.... score your success here.http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=212126...page 2 & 3.

WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO IS GET THE GREATEST TRACTION POSSIBLE... THEN INSTALL A HIGH STALL KICK ASS CONVERTER AND PUT ALL THE TORQUE TO THE TIRES WE POSSIBLY CAN.

 

Nice post Gary! The other part of the equation that gets overlooked is stopping without raising your heartbeat a significant amount (or stopping it all together). These cars are heavy and difficult to stop over 100 MPH. I've seen more than one car off the end of the strip because of inadequate brakes or brake failure of one kind or another. In my opinion stock front disc and rear drum setups are inadequate or barely adequate unless you have a long shutdown area. Most of the big tracks have these because they host national events while the small local tracks don't in most cases. So, be very careful and know where you are and what the shutdown length is and what you have for brakes. Peace, Mike D.

 

MIKE,
You are so right.
Go Power and Stop Power should match.

Ceramic break shoes are awsome. All stock drums, no problem.
Hammer down!

 

Great stuff!

 

Great info Gary, thanks for sharing!
I've heard that poly upper control arm bushings may bind...are rod ends a better choice?
I'm looking at a UMI kit with boxed lowers/poly bushings, adjustable uppers with rod ends or their 'Roto-joint' with ball/socket using Delrin inserts.
It's just a street car that sees some track use....

 

I wish I had not used the spherical rod ends. They are really super sensitive to the slightest adjustment. Turn the adjustment nut one flat and it affects the left/right pull at launch.

I would now choose the new super poly that www.hrpartsnstuff.com has designed. I would use that flexable bushing on the FRONT only, of BOTH the upper and lower arms. That would provide the movement needed for the arms to avoid binding. ..... HR sells them just as I'm describing & UMI has a "roto-joint" option for the front bushing like HR.
The REAR bushings are not as critical and can be just standard poly bushings.



Edited 10/11/2010...special front joints.

 

This should be made a sticky!

 

Great post..........I agree, this should be a sticky..........

 

gary need some advise...my combination is stiff rear springs..air shocks umi bars stock front shocks and springs...bought the 5379 rears and trailing arm braces....car pulls 1.90 60 ft times just wondering if i should keep the air shocks ??? if not which rears would you recommend since I'm having a problem with interference with tires 275-60-15

 

I did not address the AIR SHOCKS on page one to start this thread.
I tried them for tire clearance years ago. I got rid of them due to severe wheel hop issues and never again considered them to have any value for performance use.

I went to AIR BAGS and found that the large air capacity offered much smoother control.
Now I'm getting my car to perform without the use of air bags by using a little preload on the upper adjustable arms. I tighten the right arm just to the point before the car launches crooked.
If you use an anti-sway bar you can adjust it snug on the right side also.

TIRES......
I gave up trying to use the largest tire I can fit on the rear and fight tire rub.
I want my car to sit low and simply use what will fit inside the fenders.
Yesterday at Bowling Green, Ky, GS nationals, I watched "BUQUICK"s 12.10-12.30's GS dead hook with 235/60-15 MT radials with 8" tread on 6" stock steel wheels.
Stock original GS springs, swaybars, rubber bushings and controls arms, cheap shocks and........ MICKEY THOMPSONS' SMALLEST ET DRAG RADIAL.
Gary Steele's 67 GS.... is stock, stock and stock. However the old coil springs sit low and gives him the bite he needs. Dead hooks over and over and over.....
LOW body and SOFT springs can do miracles.

 

When I plotted all my rear suspension points into a 4-link software it quickly became apparant that the lower the factory suspension is the better the anti-squat and instant center becomes.

 

When I plotted all my rear suspension points into a 4-link software it quickly became apparant that the lower the factory suspension is the better the anti-squat and instant center becomes......d7cook

YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT, d7cook!
There are many cars that could put Moog 5230 springs on front and 5401springs on the rear and use a little 8" or 9" tread MT ET Street radial and fly off the line.

Mistake no.1-
Use big wide tire and raise the rear for clearance... Nooooo!
(We are talking 12-11 sec street stock type cars here.
Thats most of us, right?)

Rocker panels 8.5-9" off the ground with 26" tires front and rear is a good starting point.
Front coil can be cut 1/2 coil or so if needed. Rear coils can be heated around bottom coil but not always successful.

 

Attached is my car plotted out stock and plotted out lowered 1". Even lowered it's still not ideal but much better than stock. If I lowered the front of the upper control arms a 1/2" or the back of the lower arms 1" I'd get the anti-squat where it should be. Less than 100% anti-squat sucks the rearend up, over 100% pushes the rearend down. There's always a lot of debate about where the instant center point should be but the reality is it should be where the car works best and every car is different.

 

Per Gary's request here is one with level control arms. IC may be a little far back for 9 or 10.5 slicks. It may hit the tire too hard.

67's back may have different length control arms than 68/up.

Remember these examples are me measuring with a tape measure off my garage floor. My numbers may be off a little.

Has anyone ever measured (or can measure for me) how much the TA no hop bars move the control arm mount on the rearend housing?

 

Will those Moog 5401 rear springs fit a `65? I've got Hotchkis springs and Monroe Sensa-trac shocks. I also have a `70 rearend but I don't think that makes any difference, just that the springs ony have a pigtail on one end for the `65. I have managed some 1.82-1.86 60fts with a small block but it's hit or miss whether it bites or not, mostly miss. Wondering if the Moog springs might help. I remove the front sway bar and put 90/10's up front whenever I go to the track.

 

The book ...by Dave Morgan- Doorslamers Chassis book...
Says the IC should be at 34" for 11 sec cars' and 36 for 10 sec cars (I assume 32" is ok for 12 sec cars).
The attatchment by d7cook post #15 above, shows the IC is 45" in front of the axle for stock position lower arms that are leveled due to lowered springs with a factory located upper arm.
No-hop Upper traction bars would no doubt shorten that IC. Best used on stock height cars.
Dropped lower arms (Southside or UMI relocators) would do likewise. Best used on lowered cars.
EXAMPLES:
TA no-hops raise the UPPER arms 2 7/8" (my choice here). Edelbrocks are 3 3/4". Lakewoods are 4"( I didn't like these at all).
Art Morrisons use heim joints and have 3 holes starting at about 1 or 1 1/2" and up. These are expensive and the heim joints may not handle lots of street miles but are used on many of the faster cars with factory rear ends
Moser racing rearends uses taller upper mounts 15/16". Strange goes up 1.5" Look closely at their add photo's.
UMI relocators drop LOWER arms 2" or 3" (2 holes), your choice. The 2" hole is best for drag and road handling.
Theoretically these relocatiors, either kind, will work on a car sitting low enough with soft springs to allow the suspension to react correctly on launch. Jacked up cars may not respond as well to these mods.
* Most street strip cars will be fine with just a lowered car and soft springs. Dont expect to eleminate squat.
* For serious street traction, these relocators would be worth trying. Squat can be eleminated and shove the tires down.
* DON'T FORGET THE ANTI-ROLL BAR before you wear your brains out with this IC stuff. This IC stuff is good info for the serious minded racer. But, some of you can satisfy your goals with just an anti-roll bar.

 

Golden Oldie 65
The 64-66 A body rear spring is apparently different. Lowering springs are available and may work fine for the rear.They may not be soft springs, but the rear is not so critical as the front anyway.
Moog 5230 front springs will work on your 65 and I recomend them. They can easily be cut if needed for lowering
On the rear, besides "lowering" springs, the Moog 5231 is a medium rear spring that may be better than what you have now.
Either way you can cut these old style 64-66 springs because one end is tangential. The tip can be heated to bring the last coils back tighter together after the cut if the heat is confined to the area your bending. One guy set his spring in a bucket of water with the last coil exposed for heating and bending. Note: front springs need no heat and shaping; just cut'em.
Hope this helps.


.

 

If lowering the car in the rear changes, or shortens the instant center then is it safe to assume that when you come out of the hole and the car squats in the rear that will also change the instant center to your advantage? With that in mind, would it be more beneficial to lower the car with shorter springs or to install softer, but perhaps taller springs so you can keep the same ride height on the street but get more squat upon takeoff? I've tried no-hops and they did nothing for my traction or 60ft times, and I didn't like the way the car handled on the street with them so I removed them. I understand that circumstances are different between a street car and a race car and it's always more difficult to 'Have your cake and eat it too', but I do drive the car on the street most of the time, I'd just like to have a little better bite when I do go to the track, although swapping a different set of rear springs before heading to the track isn't a big deal. Just wondering what would be the best option. I've also wondered if my Monroe Sensa-trac shocks are too stiff and if I should consider a set of adjustables for the rear.

 

No-hops need the front end to rise first upon acceleration, firm springs and/or shocks will deminish that plan.
No-hops also need to have plenty of down angle on the upper arms. If the car sits too high, traction bars can't function.
Cheap gas shocks can work fairly well on stock stiff GS springs, if the springs sit low. Gary Steele's GS orig stiff but sagging springs with old gas shocks and car sits low. Runs low 12's and dead hooks on MT's smallest 15" radial with about 8" tread! All stock suspension.
As to soft rear springs, a little squat can help the suspension work from stock height car.
A soft spring on a lowered car: I would use air bags with spacers so the bag holds less air and comes on strong when squeezed, but not raise the car. Bags with no spacers will push your car back up. Keep your stance, but don't hit bottom.

 

About the change in IC at launch...
Yes, when the rear squats a little, the IC can improve.
If your rocker panel sits 9" off the ground with a 26" tire, for example, the lower arms will be at a slight angle up from level. Soft springs front and rear will allow a little rear squat and still get great bite off the line. At launch, the rear arms drop a little at their front connection and improves IC.
Summary:
We hear that the rear control arms should be level with the frame (some say level with the ground). Hard to find springs to do this. You may have to go to coilovers,
If the lower rear arms are within 1" to 1.60" up at their front mount, ...with good front end rise... and a little rear end squat, you should still get some good bite.