Thread: first post, traction problems

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hey guys ( and gals im sure) this is my first post, just have a question about traction bars/;adder bars? and the new adjustable upper and lower control arms, my cars a 71 el camino ( ported polished big block, 2-18" primary headers, 2200 stall, 12 bolt w/373's, coil overs and air lift air spring bags in the rear) i have a nasty traction / wheel hop problem, i realy dont want to go with the standard old traction bars, i was kind of looking into the ladder bars but a buddy of mine tol dme about the adjustable lower and upper control arms, my question is has anyone used these, if so whats your take on them,

thanks

They have adjustable ladder bars. I don't know about the other thing you mentioned but check out www.chassisengineering.com they have the stage one kit there that would be like something that your looking for.
Hope this helped and good luck.

I had a 71 camino and never had a wheel hop problem with the stock suspension set up. That stock 4 link set up is actually a pretty good set up for drag racing. Is it possible that those air bags are contributing to your problem? Might be something to look at.

Stay away . . . totally away from ladder bars.

Tech is right on. With a few mods, your rear suspension is one of the best. I replaced the bushings on my 68 GTO after I rebuilt the motor to RA IV specs and installed 4.11 gears. With 8" slicks, it hooked up and went. No hop - just dig and go.

If you want the EXPENSIVE answer, Hotchkiss makes some replacements that are killer. Probably not necessary unless you have mega horsepower.

http://www.hotchkis.net/cgi-bin/EDCs...&link=products

Bracket raced a '67 GTO 2 or 3 decades ago, had ladder bars and stock coils, 6 cyl Tempest front coils. Went in the mid 12's with no traction problems. Can't remember who made the bars, they attached to the same point as the lower arms, maybe Lakewood's?? Don't remember.

thanks for the info , ill order a control arm bushing kit, after looking at the bushings you are very right... they are definitly shot. by what you guys said i should be ok with this suspension, my car will run in the 13.0-13.3 range with the problem im having if it hooks i would expect high 12's so i wont be pushing any barriers for the stock suspension. would letting all of the air out of those bags tell me if they are contributing to the problem? or with a rebuilt suspension will they help ( ive been told to just keep air in the passenger side bag to compensate for the motor torking the rear end on that side). another question, right now the wheels on the car are those old mag style 5 oval holed ones, ive never really cared for them i want to go with ralleys or the cragar s/s in a 15x5 or 6 in the front and a 15x 8 in the rear, theres a 70 el camino running around in my town that has 295's stuffed in the rear on the standard ralley wheels, they are definitly wider than 8's though.. how would i fit those under the rear? oh ya one more suspension question while im at it, i want to lowe the car while keeping a rake, what springs are reccomended? if i let the air out of the bags in the back it gets pretty low but i dotn want to do that if they might help later on with traction, but if they will hinder it either way ill keep them deflated and just get some nice front springs.. sorry for the newbie run on questioning.. attached is a pic of my car, thanks for the help guys

oh ya, that pic is one the guy i bought it from took.. ive since tinted the windows and ditched the tips in favor of turn downs

If I remember correctly you should not take all of the air out of your airbags, it will ruin them. I think there is a minimum pressure to avoid damage. Follow the old diagnostic rule of only changing one thing at a time. Fix the bushings first, and re-evaluate. With the right wheel and offset you should be able to fit a 10 inch wide tire inside the wheelwell without a problem. You can also box the trailing arms to reduce twist if that appears to be a problem after the replacement bushings.

To lower the front I suggest dropped spindles rather than the 6 cylinder springs. The 6 springs work great on the dragstrip but will definitely adversely affect handling on the street. There are a lot of customs suspensions available for the Chevelle/El Camino platform is you search around. It depends on what you want to achieve, track only performance or all around handling.

Nice looking truck! Good luck with it.

Pat

theres a little sticker by the air valve for the bags that says 5 psi min 35 psi max so after i re do the rear end ill run a second line so each bag has its own valve for independant adjustment then ill be able to lowert the rear of the car with the bags and get drop spindles for the front to achieve the look i want. will the drop spindles give me problems at the track because of the lack of travel compared to the drag style springs ( or 6 banger springs) that allow the front to come up transfering weight to the rear? this questions not really drag related could be if we met at the track though..lol.. are there many northern/central cal members on this board.. i;e enough to have a meet?

Jay,

Richard is definitely putting you on the right track, we were thinking a like (again!) but he with much better details.

I live in Marysville, about 40 miles North of Sacramento. I would love to meet up with some CHR members. We could pick an event to attend together, or just do our own private cruise. It's getting near the rainey season now, maybe we should plan something for late spring. Isn't there a big swap meet down in Turlock?

Pat

great info!. man im glad i found a site where rodders know what they are talking about.. theres too many out there with a broad base of limited knowledge members.. which isnt a bad thing untill they start talking like and believing they DO have all the answers. Pat, there sure is some big swap meets here, this past sunday was a decent one day event, i found a few goodies including a set of power 98 chevy truck buckets that are spotless! they fit well in the elk after a few bracket mods.. theres a BIG one on may 5th, usually alo tlarger than the winter ones, theres a 2 day one too but i cant recall the date. im into 94-96 b-bodys too, that club is called the region of doom, we have meets at restaurants monthly per region and also mod-days where we meet at guys houses and do stuff to our cars.. a few dyno days too. what ive always wanted to do was get a club together to meet at the track ( sac raceway or other drag strip) and have a bar-b-que and run cars all day.. ive tried a bunch of times but still cant think many things more fun than cool people, cars, racing and FOOD all in one spot..lol. meeting at an event would be cool too. we could corral our cars together and do basically the same thing with less tire smoke