Thread: Squirrely 57 Chev

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Have a 57 chev with bb, about 600 hp without nitro on.
I do not drag this car. I've had it tubbed, running 22 inch
by 32 mickeys on rear, with small 5.5 in on front. I got it
out yesterday ran it to about 7500 rpm in first gear (400 Turbo)
and the front end really got squirrely on me. I recently put
a one piece fiberglass front on it. Could this be a front end
alignment problem? The tub work was done by a pro. it has
a 4 link coil over sub frame, with 9 in ford 350 pos.
any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated.
rdobbs

Could just be the power pulling the wheels allmost off the ground . Guy i work with was describing a situation just like that said his 440 cuda would skid the front wheels under hard excelleration .

this is nothing new to me all the car i have had will do this not so much the front end but power .first off what m/t do you have how much air are you running in them? how wide are the front tires i will not run any thing with 3 inch front rims on the street. i have had cars get squirrely on top of hi gear .you do have to be a bit squirrely to drive them .i do not think you ever had a big block car? you should not have to run it up that hi in first gear. big blocks like to be short shifted in 1to2 gear .the best setup on the rear will not hook if the rear tires are to hard and watch out for man hole covers they will throw the car way side ways .if you hit one under full power off the start. due on the side of the road if you drive at night will do that to. i had car that push past 600hp they are a hand full to drive .you need to have it all together when you light one off on the street

What was done to the front suspension? The big and little tire combination is squirrely on the street....Probably why the trend is going away from Pro Street and more to Pro Touring with some emphasis (finally) being put on making a performance car handle and stop, not just accelerate!

Anyway, to your question. I can see no way the addition of a 'glass front end would have any effect on the front suspension.

I would suggest putting the car on a 4 wheel laser alignment rack and see if the car is straight and square and if the alignment is set correctly. Hopefully the shop that did the tubbing put some attention and upgrades to the front suspension, too. If not, learn to live with squirrely or get some front suspension that is up to keeping a hi horse car straight on the road!!!!!

Having too little caster in the front end alignment will cause a car to not track well. Dave's suggestion to have a quality alignment is a good one and that is where I would start.

Pat

well your front end parts should be all in good shape. BUT anyone knows you drive the car with the back tires any way ? that is to say when it all hooks up and on the back tires IT IS ON and you pour more fire to it( dave you do know this) and the front end will just be hanging. if it never climes up on the rear tires you will just be making donuts

The fat tires on the rear have about 20lb air pressure. the front
tires are mickeys 5.5 in 6 ply with about 40 lb psi. I'm thinking
front suspension. Had to put blocks in between springs to keep
the hooker headers from draging. when tubbed the car sits about
1 inch lower in front on drivers side. I have not had the front end re
aligned, possibly this could be some of the problems. I also noticed
a bit of wobbling when I tried to stop it. yes, this is my first big block,
always ran sb strokers in past.
rdobbs

You mean something like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2tk8X8tZok

Be very careful.

Kitz

I hope not. this guy is lucky to be alive.
rdobbs

Originally Posted by rdobbs

The fat tires on the rear have about 20lb air pressure. the front
tires are mickeys 5.5 in 6 ply with about 40 lb psi. I'm thinking
front suspension. Had to put blocks in between springs to keep
the hooker headers from draging. when tubbed the car sits about
1 inch lower in front on drivers side. I have not had the front end re
aligned, possibly this could be some of the problems. I also noticed
a bit of wobbling when I tried to stop it. yes, this is my first big block,
always ran sb strokers in past.
rdobbs

Just the usual case of lots of horsepower and lousy handling.... The front suspension is critical to proper and safe handling, and probably the most overlooked area in a build....

The old Tri-Five's run on ball bearing wheel bearings, wasn't a good setup in '55 when they were built. Those front springs that are now 50 years old and fatigued were made for either a small block or a six cylinder, not a big block. There are any number of companies making quality components, good A-Arms, disc brakes, coilovers, or a number of other options up to and including rack and pinion steering.

The spacer in the springs trick never was a good one. You will probably have to do some rebuilding on your headers to keep them from dragging, not just raise the front end higher...

IMO high horsepower engines is just one part of the buildup of a high performance car. Don't want to sound like I'm picking on you, many others are guilty of the same mistake thinking horsepower is the only thing that counts. I've seen a lot of fast cars jump curbs, go sideways and flop on the top, and lose a lot of races just because they don't handle well because of poor suspension....

Some upgrades are in order for that front end, probably going to take a lot more then an alignment to make the car realize it's full potential.

Originally Posted by rdobbs

The fat tires on the rear have about 20lb air pressure. the front
tires are mickeys 5.5 in 6 ply with about 40 lb psi. I'm thinking
front suspension. Had to put blocks in between springs to keep
the hooker headers from draging. when tubbed the car sits about
1 inch lower in front on drivers side. I have not had the front end re
aligned, possibly this could be some of the problems. I also noticed
a bit of wobbling when I tried to stop it. yes, this is my first big block,
always ran sb strokers in past.
rdobbs

Without being too judgmental, your front end setup is an accident waiting to happen. I highlighted the few (?) things that struck me in your descriiption. Realignment is NOT your only problem. Listen to Dave, and give that front end some attention. Good springs . . . A-arms . . . bushings . . . etc., etc., etc . . . In addition to a marginal setup, something sounds loose to me.

As to the "UTUBE" video stream...

I'm a older hot rodder but the video brought to mind a car built in our Rod Club 50 years ago. A member decided to marry a Caddy engine and a MG roadster. All advice was disregarded and he went full speed ahead even to putting bubbles in the side hood panels to fit the V-8. The torque twisted the frame something fierce and made the car uncontrollable. The few who rode with him came back "white-faced" and soon he was riding alone.

The video seems to show driver error in that he grabbed third and tried to drive out of the slide that the car had gotten into. He feathered to get control and tried to save the run too soon. Also I couldn't see him steer into the slide to regain control. The wheels look straight just before the death roll started.

I'm happy to report the rod club is still in existance today!

well hi cg and the back of the 55 bouncing down the track did not help. i would say the front end 55 work fine ?. the car or truck should have all great front end parts not it looks good ??or looks ok ???parts in it. BUT if the back end will not hook then $hit will happen. the back of the car has to work the tires have to hook up on the surface you plan to run on. where is the power going and were is the biggest tires at ? the back end . hi CG will make bad things happen. that and a $hitty track rod for the back end. a panhard bar is much better track rod is not the way to go on any thing you have to drive out of a bad deal .any thing that can not take a turn at hi speed you will never save it .over 25 years of this i know first hand. has far as your front end ? who knows? could it need some work ? maybe but i would drive your car with a shoe box front end on it then a A bone with a strait front axle in the front with 600 have been there and done that

yeah, that guy's burnout is a real clue to why the wreck happened. Rear end is definitely pushing left. I'm not mechanically educated enough to say why it was, but any fool should know that you can't compensate for
$hit like that just by turning into it.

uuummmm....nope! His "turning into it" is what caused his demise. Smart man would have shut it down and saved the run for another day. His whole lower setup was wrong from the get go. Did you see him launch the thing? I have no idea why he's alive because I'm sure he has had other stability problems besides this one.