Thread: mild dragster alterd rear susp

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What would be a effective rear susp to put in a light tru track et alterd style car with no tire limitation. would a solid set up be just as effective and suitable as opposed to going to either a 4 link or some other type?
it would not be handling any more than 500 hp and hopefully no more than 2000 lbs

You know, I've wondered about that too, whether or not a solidly mounted setup is still legal, or if you have to have suspension on the rear. My altered was solid, but I bet the rules have changed. I also only had rear brakes operated by a hand brake, like the old dragsters. Is that legal anymore, or do you have to have 4 wheel brakes in the altereds?

Don

i havent looked at the book yet or not will have to dig it out from the tool box
were just starting to look at frame lengths and susp setups for our little project and as we are not tire size restricted hooking up a mild engine should be pretty easy as opposed to heavyer closed fendered car.

My old dragster was solid, nothing to tune on the chassis but the tire pressure..... Ran 7.90 class with it, most times it was consistent as a bracket car, even ran a few gambler's races with it.

With the shorter wheelbase altered chassis, I would go with a 4 link or ladder bars in the back. Mainly because there is not a big long chassis to flex and absorb some of the irregularites in the track surface. The usual bump coming off the concrete launch pad and on to the black top can sometimes be big enough to bounce the back tires off the track on a solid short wheelbase car. Not fun to be out about 100 ft. and spin the rear tires cuz they were momentarily off the ground. Even less fun if only 1 tire unhooks with solid suspension and the car makes a hard turn!!!! A little suspension on the rear will absorb these irregularities and keep the tires hooked.

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i just checked the book rear axle can be rigid if car weighs less than 2350 and 100 inch w/b or longer

I was thinking about this altered you are planning. A while back I read an article about a similar drag car, called the "Tuna Tank." (I didn't get the name either ) Anyway, it was an old time Fiat drag car, solid rear, I beam front end, mild big block Chevy, etc. The article was about how they dragged it out of long term storage, freshened it up a little, and hit the strip. It ran mid 9's. That's why I am saying with the light weight you are proposing a semi-built big block should get you in the 10's, if you are geared and tired right. One nice thing about a solid rear is that you don't have to fool around with suspension adjustments at all. You just play with tire pressure and what you get is what you get.

Don

were trying to keep it as simple and clean as possible. ive found a vw beatle front end assy already and its in amazingly good shape. i kind of like it cause the whole simple steering susp package thing.
were planning on a longer wheelbase 120 to 130 inches not a stubby with a low profile frame
ive gone fast in a jeep dont like it
i am going to have to have someone help me figure out a roll cage for the thing as i am looking in the rulebook and its got me kind of stumped re what kind of cage i need, i think the street roadster is the one but not shure.
i cant see this think breaking into the 9s and would be surprises to do anything under 11s. remember it is going to be a mild big block.

Keep the frame weight low..... Before you do the actual constuction, you may want to plot out the roll center and instant center. Also get your center of gravity low as possible. Another consideration in a solid rear car is engine height and angle.... The VW front is an unknown quanity to me, but do you really want to run in the 9's (your guess), 140+ mph on a front end engineered for a 60 mph car????

dave my guess is quite a bit slower at 11 seconds i could not see this doing a 9 second pass. i keep stessing a mild big block and i mean mild.
i think the vw front end has been proven to be pretty good and durable,heck they race beatles too and some of those are stink fast.
the idea of this is to make a very reliable et car

Originally Posted by canadianal

dave my guess is quite a bit slower at 11 seconds i could not see this doing a 9 second pass. i keep stessing a mild big block and i mean mild.
i think the vw front end has been proven to be pretty good and durable,heck they race beatles too and some of those are stink fast.
the idea of this is to make a very reliable et car

not only that, most of them pull the wheels up and come back down fine, without loosing control. pretty good for a light duty front end

Originally Posted by Matt167

not only that, most of them pull the wheels up and come back down fine, without loosing control. pretty good for a light duty front end

Not a lot of drag races are won with the wheels in the air...... The best motion on a drag car is forwards, not skyward!!!!! Wheelies only look kewl, they do very little to lower the ET or add to consistency... You wanna be a crowd pleaser, or a good racer??

If VW on other such front ends, there would be more of them on the track, and fewer struts or A-Arm set ups..... Take a look at what the competitive and consistent cars run, if there were a better system to be running, I imagine they would have it........

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Not a lot of drag races are won with the wheels in the air...... The best motion on a drag car is forwards, not skyward!!!!! Wheelies only look kewl, they do very little to lower the ET or add to consistency... You wanna be a crowd pleaser, or a good racer??

If VW on other such front ends, there would be more of them on the track, and fewer struts or A-Arm set ups..... Take a look at what the competitive and consistent cars run, if there were a better system to be running, I imagine they would have it........

I know wheelies actully loose races, I was just giving an example that the beetles that do pull the wheels up, don't loose control from doing so. the front end takes it very well. Castor angle could be adjusted positive more to help this tho.

That's all well and good. Now show me some fast and consistent altereds, Street Roadsters, Super Comp, Super Gas, or Quick 8 cars running it....... I seriously doubt a VW front end is equal to a Strut front on an altered of any kind.... About the only competive car I ever saw on a drag strip that used a VW front axle assembly was a Karmen Ghia with a Porsche engine.....

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

That's all well and good. Now show me some fast and consistent altereds, Street Roadsters, Super Comp, Super Gas, or Quick 8 cars running it....... I seriously doubt a VW front end is equal to a Strut front on an altered of any kind.... About the only competive car I ever saw on a drag strip that used a VW front axle assembly was a Karmen Ghia with a Porsche engine.....

I don't know of any running a VW front end, just thought it might work ok, as Canadianal said he only wanted to run 11s. I know there are beetles that run that, seemed like it could work, but probably the tried and true strut type suspension would be best.