I got my 455 in a few months ago, and now that its broken in, I want to start setting up the suspension to race. Currently, I have 10 bolt with 3.73's and an Auburn Posi and 275/50/15 Nitto NT-555R's. The car hooks OK, but if it loses grip, I get insane wheel hop. My brother was watching it and he said my axle is moving from side to side. I bought a kit from OPG to box my lower control arms, and I have a set of Energy Suspension rear bushings to replace the mushy factory pieces. I am also installing a 200-4R w/ a 2800 stall converter which will probably help compound the problem. I am hoping for 1.6 60' times, is this feasable with this setup. I make 425 lbs. ft. at the wheels at 2400 rpm, so it should hit hard. Are there any suspension tricks that I should try to get even better traction? I also want my car to handle well in the twisties, so I don't want to do a drag race only suspension. Thanks for any help!
check to see if the car is square by measuring distances between all four wheels and front right to left rear and front left to right rear. you may have a twisted or bent control arm or control arm mounting point. also install two air bags with separate air lines. put 5 lbs in left bag and 20 in right bag. let out air in right bag two lbs at a time until car launches straight. dkm
I think your car is more potent than mine for sure, but after talking with some people about my dismal 60 foot times (just spin anywhere in first gear no matter how easy I feed the power on) I bought a set of the edlebrock no hop traction bars. These are the ones that bolt to your rear diff using the old bushing holes (if I could get the damn things out!!LOL) and then your upper arms bolt to the new bushings which are quite a bit higher..this helps your instant center location for better traction, and the bars sit against the front of your diff to prevent it from rotating down as you load it up....I like it because they sit on the front of the diff case and can't be seen from behind, only thing I don't like is once installed you have to drill a small 1/4" hole though the webs on your diff, I believe this is to preven them from spreading, the actual force is taken by the face of the diff on the face of the bar. I plan on getting them installed, and then doing an evaluation of the BPG section....current best 60 foot on street tires is 2.65. Will add the bars, then may add drag radials depending on how much it improves. Driver might need some improvement too. Stay away for the lakewood bars, they are garbage. TA sells some too, but they are 179.00, Summit sells the edelbrock ones for 119.00, p/n 5213. check them out. Just a thought. later Tim
