Thread: first time out 9.89@144

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howdy guys we took out the nova for the first time thurs. 60ft 1.52, 1/8 mile et 6.338@113, 1/4 9.89@144. are there any suspension guru's around here?? i'm far from a suspension guy to many yrs building engines to learn a dam thing about it. the car is loading well and then about 30ft out it unloads and hazes the tire for 100ft. the rear is caltrac, two way strange in the back, 315/60 15 drag radials. the fronts are single adjust qa1 coilovers. the front travel is only 2.5" of upward travel. i had to take out about 200hp before the car would even go 9.8s. i got lucky with my car with the same setup it will 60ft 1.20s. any ideas or thoughts???? thanks

I assume you have 2.5 of travel from ride height in the suspention from travel limiters....?
If so ,you have the extra ponies to let the front come up and it may not unload on you as much at 30 ft...........maybe?
What exactly is it doing when it unloads ...........is the rear coming up,or is the front still on the initial fall from launch?
Some video would be great for some of the guys that do this all the time{theres lots here that know about this} ,I have very little exsperiance in this area.

Sounds like a rowdy motor in a stock type chassis,I have seen this set up before and it all comes down to traction.Dial the 200 hp back in and try 400 lbs over the rear axle
I like the unorthadox stuff,how about 300 lbs of unsprung weight on the rear itself.....

denny how much lift??? the 2.5" is all it will fall if you pick up the front with a jack.. i can't real detune the engine much more the timing is at 28deg. i could try the helium lol. i took video but it's shit and the pics don't show it at launch very well. i'm thinking the frontend is the problem. shawnlee the front comes off the ground as soon as the trans brake is released and comes right back down then it unloads. front shock adjustments did nothing the back stays pretty level at launch.

motor made 1000hp at full timing 38degs and at 28 it has 700ish. on the nos system it made 1300hp. i have to make that kind of power to stay with the big boys in drag radail class.

Who's transbrake? some do not dump exhausting reverse fast enough to
shock the tires. Put the HP back in and make those tires work. The suspension can't be diagnosed if the application is not tranferring the whole effort. I think what the guys are querying about is how much total travel in the front and rates of compression and unload built into the front end. Can you dig a bit deeper for more specs?

you think leave it and put the screws to it???? the only thing i realy know about suspension is the faster you go the stiffer it should be. you do make sense thuo we were trying to work up to it we were only leaving at 3800 and the engine don't make power intill 4500-4700.

Definatly tune the suspention at the power level you need to run to be competetive.

here a pic of the ride height at the line

I am no exspert ,but I would try to get the rear end down some,thats awful tall or looks that way from the pic.
It may be fine once you let her eat with the full power?

hipster pro billet trans brake nitro.. the front end only goes up 2.5" from ride height. so i'm taking this as hit the shit out of the tires before i make any changes??? it was the cars first time out and taking it alittle easy on it. but you guy make total sense with hitting it with everything to see what it will do. this is way i hired skinnykidracecars to setup my car!!!!!!!!!!

shawn it's all the way down in the back!!!! it would hit any lower. there 30" tall drag radials 11" wide. were trying two run to classes the over one we can run 29.5x10.5w which are the same size as the drag radials.

The way it looks set up in the pic ,it needs to carry the front wheels about 10 inches off the ground to get all the possible traction.
Kinda like this.................but not as extreme
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/b...330168b5bb.htm



Gets me all worked up when I see this vid.All I can say is hold on ,you may be in for the same ride...!!!

Is 2.5" lift where it's limited or where the launch creates it's best point? How long are the rear bars and what is the instant center? Have you adjusted pressure in the slicks and tried raising the stall launch on the brake? Spring rates in rear and front will help us. If you get lucky to have a four corner scale used to adjust the corner weight, it would help establish a baseline for "carrying" the the car through at least the 110' mark to get a better feel for where to tune it for launch, carry through, rollout, and second gear "settle" so this thing won't lose an ounce of "pull" through thte run.

nitro the front isn't limited thats all it will go up before the tires start lifting. with a jack the car will only go up 2.5" from the front spindle to the ground before the tire comes off the ground. the rear is stock with caltrac the front has 350# springs. no slicks drag radials and the pressure is 15psi doesn't do any better lower. we got to 3800 on the launch and ran out of track time. the engine is a 555cid. the same combo goes 1.26 60ft in my car and runs 8.30s