Cal trac /mono leaf results

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@crackedbacked:
Why don't you go to someone else's post and exercise your arrogance there? You may consider that this is why your super model girl friend won't put out for you.Maybe she just likes your really fast car with the goofy wheels, and not you.
Speaking of really fast cars, I have my NHRA license to go much, much faster.Been there, done that. I choose the E.T I am running, because I am right where I want to be.It's all working, I just am looking for a little more consistancy.
Give Frank Nelson, the division 6 Northwest director a call, and he will tell you about our "marginal" track that NHRA just ran the divisional at.
As for 60's, remember we are at 4500'.You got your data mixed up. Those mid 10 second E.T's are at sea level with 60's in the mid 14 teens.
Many people told me over and over a rear engine 62 Ford Econoline with a 440 backwards through a V drive, and headers sticking out the back windows wouldn't work on the street. All it did was motivate me,I made it work, it was in 20 magazines including Hot Rod twice, it was the center spread in a couple of those mags,and I drove it more then 20,000 miles with no issues before I sold it.
Thanks for your help, all people like you do, is motivate me.If that was your plan, it worked....
By the way, post all you want so everyone else can see your arrogance,but I won't you have been blocked!
 
bajavan said:
@crackedback:
Why don't you crawl back into someone else's post and exercise your arrogance there?
They have a name for people like you in Australia...."Wanker"
That is most likely why your super model girl friend won't put out for you.
Thanks for your help, all people like you do, is motivate me.
Click to expand...

How about spending less time calling people names and more figuring out why the car is a 10.40 deal wrapped up in a 11.20 chassis. Glad I motivate you so, with your 40+years of experience this should be a breeze for you. Much like your burned up spark plugs... and you're welcome.

Nice that you don't see/understand the supermodel/goofy comparison.

You got my reason for your issue and you didn't like the answer. You get from me what you give! Please note there is plenty of sarcasm within this post as not to be confusing.
 
They have a name for people like you in Australia...."Wanker"

Actually that's a British term, like tosser, dosser, bollocks and more..


I degress LOL can't we all get along.
 
@w2360duster
I deleted that.Wasn't something I should have said.Sorry you saw it.
Yes, it is a Britsh term, but my Aussie friends use it quite a bit. To them it means "Jerk or Idiot".Not what it really means, which I won't say here.
I need to clearify my statement about the Cal Trac people. Several of my friends and I never got much help from them. Again, they were very, very nice. But their info was very general and and vauge.
I have friends in Oz, that have a 10 second SB 67 Camaro,that spent hours on the phone with them, and could not get them to work.He is now back halfing the car.I know other people that also gave up on them.
With that said, when I talked with John Calvert,I did get some concrete info. He was awesome, and un-like many tech lines, did not talk down to me.Or act as though I was stupid.He asked questions about my car and setup.
That is not to say the other people at Calvert were not good in anyway, they just didn't have any good info, just general information.
As for them working or not. The 1st response I get from people when I ask them about their Cal Tarcs is "how do you like them"? They say they like them. But then when you start talking deeper with them, they start to share that they aren't as happy as they want to be.
The internet is full of blogs on them, that say they are struggeling with them.Or had struggeled with them.
I also found that more people that have them working, are footbraking, not transbraking. Again, that doesn't mean that can't work with a transbrake.
Lastly, I am in no way putting down Cal Trac's, but they aren't just bolt on and point and shoot.Had I know that, I might have made a different choice.
My struggle is the fact that I am racing the Summit series for points. I am 1/2 way through the season, and still testing.
Last year I bolted the car together, and went to the finals in the top 5, went 3 rounds at the finals.Runner upped King of the hill on a double break out.
If these things can work on my car, I will get them to work, and everybody here will be the first to know about it, and what I did.
I do like to get along with eveybody.I treat people the same way they treat me.I try hard to be kind and considerate to eveybody, but I also won't be abused by anybody.Sometimes this websight reminds me of junior high school.(Not you)
Thank goodness for the "de-friend" button LOL
With that said, I won't see any more of the arrogant stuff crackhead has to say, so don't expect any more responses from me.
I plan on spending my time in a more positive direction.
 
I promised you all an update, so here we go:
Well this is what worked for me on our track, and my friend with a similar combo, except his is a B body Coronet...We both have transbrakes, but his is a 727, mine is a 'glide
Both cars appox. 3350 LBS
Rancho 9 way rear shocks on soft #1
Cal Tracs @ 1/4 turn pre-load (adjusted with your weight in the car)
Bars in bottom hole.
Cal Trac mono leafs
B. B. 600 H.P. (dyno'd)@ the engine
Leaving at 3500 on the chip with a 5500 JW 8" converter
Tires at 10 PSI
6"+ front end travel with Rancho 90/10 shocks.
6 Cyl. T Bars
Frame connectors
We both lost .040 reaction time and 2 teeth's E.T.With this softer leaving setup.But in S/P it doesn't really matter to me,as long as I qualify.
Both cars are far more consistant in the 60 foots, and overall.
I came to the personal conclusion that Cal Tracs work better on a Footbrake car then a transbrake car.They don't do well shocking the tires.
So before you start throwing nasty remarks at me,this is completely my opinion. It is not to bad mouth Cal Tracs in anyway. They are a quality product at a fair price and they do give you traction.You will get the best tech support if you talk to John Calvert direct. The others techs are very nice and try to be helpful.
But I would not personally recommend them for a transbrake car.Again, if they work for you on your transbrake car, that is awesome.Hats off to you.
Please read me clearly. I am not saying they can't work on a transbrake car. I think a transbrake car and a leaf spring car are an oxymoron.
This is based on my own experience period.
And lastly a quote from John Calvert."What ever adjustment you do to your chassis, I don't want to see big wheelies". I take that to mean, big wheelies don't nessarily mean they are working.But those are his words not mine, you can think what you want.I realize some Super Stock cars work good doing big wheelies.I personally don't care about big wheelies, as long as the car is working correctly and consistantly.
I hope this post saves you a lot of grief.
 
Chris,
I have read your posts and totally agree with your conclusion. I also have a 68 Dart, 3250 lbs, 700 hp, Transbrake, Caltracs with Mono's, Rancho 9 ways....Spent all last season struggling with porposing, Hitting the rear tires to hard and Unpredictable launches with Spinning.
Followed all the recommended charts, talked to Calvert and listened to all the suggestions by the chassis guys. On a really well prepared track my best 60' was a 1.36 Most of the time it would 60 in the 1.39 - 1.46 range.
I dumped the Rancho 9 way shocks for a pair of AFCO Double Adjustables and replaced the rear spring hangers with sliders. Resulting in a much more consistant and predictable launch. My new best has been a 1.33 on a very well prepared track. Most of the time this season it 60s in the 1.38 - 1.41 range.
While the impovement was measurable it still is not consistant enough for me and I know I am leaving alot of ET back at the 60. Also, these are footbrake numbers. If I use the transbrake it just blows the tires off. So....Ladder bars and a back half are in my future.
My Set-up:
*Lower hole, 2 full turns preload, 90/10 Calvert Frt Shocks, AFCO DA 18 clicks from full stiff extension, 16 clicks from full stiff compression.
Phoenix 29.5x11.5 Rear Slick w/tubes. 10.5 psi.

Good Luck with your ride.:headbang:
 

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Gotta throw my 2 cents in here. I have found a lot of A body guys are in the same boat as bajavan and mcduff356. You buy the Calvert system, put it on, go racing and it don't work like you hoped. Car is probably hopping or porposing. Hits the tire too hard, then unloads the rear. Car probably works OK on a well prepped track, but not so well on a marginal track or less.
This is because the Caltrac system doesn't do anything to the instant center. In an Abody (or any leafspring car for that matter ) the instant center is the spring eye. The 20" front spring segment is the shortest out there, whick puts the IC too far back and too high. If the car's rear ride height is raised it aggravates the problem. Conversely lowering the car helps. The real solution is to run GM 25" length springs. This probably means moving the springs in to the frame rail and forward locating the spring boxes. This becomes a whole lotta fab work for a "bolt in" suspension setup. The other thing about Caltracs is that the guys that have them working good will tell you to run double adjustable shocks on all 4 corners. Those shocks are phuckin crazy expensive.
So once you've bought your Caltrac setup, your DA shocks, and moved your springs inboard you got an expensive suspension that almost works as good as a ladderbar. This really begs the question, why run leaf springs if you don't have to ?

Here are some good reads.
http://www.baselinesuspensions.com/info/Launching_A_Drag_Car.htm

http://www.yellowbullet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=288916
 
I never thought about the longer front... Makes a lot of sense tho.
 
Thanks guys, I also thought of the shorter front spring. I once had a 56 Chev seadan delievery with a 389 pontiac (excuse me, it was before I was Saved! Just kidding I like all cars. My wife has a BB 69 Camaro).
Back in those days in Orange co. we had a place make what we called "lift Bars" in reality they were 2x4 boxed tubing bars welded to the diff.attached to a cross memeber,set up like ladder bars.But no adjustments
These old guys in town could weld them up, and did a super job (especially for like $35.00!), but knew nothing about racing.With that said mine were kind of short, and my car would what I call "stink bug" when it left. But it worked good with street tires,on the street for (excuse me), street racing.So that is what made the short spring thing cross my mind my mind.
I really appricate the support from you all. And to know I wasn't alone.We'll finish out the year, and do the best we can, then make changes needed.
I really like people with intelligence like the last few posts after my last update. This also includes "Flyfish" and some others from before.
It's not like we are all really smart (well not me), it is experience that really helps. And as I said earlier, that is what I was looking for.People that had the same issues, and what they could do, or couldn't do.
 
Still not there, but better. Well prepped track helps, Went to the semi finals @ the bracket bash friday, and lost when the car fell off by 10th, I had a .007 to his .036,but he ran dead on with a zero.No reason the car should have fell off,all the data said it should run the number, and yes, it was all in the 60's
Saturday Summit race we went a couple of rounds, and lost on a break out of 1 1/2 thou. It was to my good friend Darrel Saxby (his Chevelle is the picture used in the NHRA rule book for S/St 2012)We are like 4&2 his favor!.1st round was the best,had a 9 second altered (see pic), .00017 @ the stripe, and it was the tree that did it.We both ran 2 off, but I had him covered by 2 on the tree, so that was the diff.
You can see how cut throat it is, look at the video and look at the lights .This was a TT against my father in law in his altered.
The car doesn't pack the wheels anymore, because I have it so calmed down on the line..But who care's this is as good as it gets for me,and as long as I am going rounds I am happy......I also got to meet my new friend Doug (inkjunky) Thanks for the photo Doug, you can see it is keeping the tires planted pretty good now, at least when it feels like it! Like I said, a well prepped track helps, that is what we had because it was a big race with F/C's and such.
It was hotter then blazes, and the attitude was 5000'!
We'll just finish the season having fun, and make changes from there.


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4r21qjqA2Y&feature=share"]chris white - YouTube[/ame]
 

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With a wing and a prayer, along with a few lucky rounds, here is what happened for the year so far during the Summit series races and the final race. And notice the 3-6 top spots were seperated by 1 round of racing.
I guess it's because I opened the hood for the 1st time this year at the last 2 races. (where we runner upped the week before on a double break out, then won last week) We did it to check my oil, and show off the motor for all the Mopar guys. But then again, all I did was check the oil, and it was full.
But with all that said, I guess we did pretty good with a car that I am told has the wrong setup,is slow, and I am dating a wrong kind of girl.
In all honesty, a better prepped track brought the car around to a 5 hun window, better then the 2 thou swing it had all year, which I had four 1st round losses! By the way, none were lost on any red lights (brag brag) Most were lost because the car wouldn't run the number (can you say in-cosistant Cow Track spinning?)
We'll see what the Summit Series Race Of Champions bring, and King of the Track....More @ the eleven o'clock news!
CLICK HERE, look at Chris White:
http://www.spokanecountyraceway.com/ds-points.html

P.S. 160 lbs of weight in the trunk helped the 60's, but made the reaction times go nuts!


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