Need Help Finding a Starting Point

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MidTexCuda

MidTexCuda

Ancient Member
Joined
May 23, 2004
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Deep in the heart of Texas
I went to the track for the first time in more than 5 years with a new mill and front end only to be let down by what i think the car should run. I only made 1/8 mile passes to access the conditions of the breaks and if the car hooked straight.
My question is- If a person like myself having very limited track experince wanted to know the best way to set up my chassic to establish a baseline what would it be? example: tire preasure, wheel-e-bar height, shock settings, and even how much flash to put on the verter if any. My biggest issues is I dont want to start changing a buch of things and get myself futher away from where i need to be and then start tuning the enigine.

What I have 1968 Barracuda
2790lb car w/me
500 wedge (good heads- big roller-13 to 1
727 5000stall on a break
Tubbed big tires, 4.56 and spool-- Ladder bars
All four corners have Afco doubles and the proper springs.
Car has not been four corner weighed

first two passes were wheels up (not sure how fast but carried about 20' spotter said)
car tried to go a little left rear first but straightend quick
60' time- 1.40 and 1.41
1/8 time 6.41 and 6.43 at 110mph

I expected lower times but dont know where to start. Please help.
 
MidTexCuda said:
I went to the track for the first time in more than 5 years with a new mill and front end only to be let down by what i think the car should run. I only made 1/8 mile passes to access the conditions of the breaks and if the car hooked straight.
My question is- If a person like myself having very limited track experince wanted to know the best way to set up my chassic to establish a baseline what would it be? example: tire preasure, wheel-e-bar height, shock settings, and even how much flash to put on the verter if any. My biggest issues is I dont want to start changing a buch of things and get myself futher away from where i need to be and then start tuning the enigine.

What I have 1968 Barracuda
2790lb car w/me
500 wedge (good heads- big roller-13 to 1
727 5000stall on a break
Tubbed big tires, 4.56 and spool-- Ladder bars
All four corners have Afco doubles and the proper springs.
Car has not been four corner weighed

first two passes were wheels up (not sure how fast but carried about 20' spotter said)
car tried to go a little left rear first but straightend quick
60' time- 1.40 and 1.41
1/8 time 6.41 and 6.43 at 110mph

I expected lower times but dont know where to start. Please help.
Click to expand...
Hi i am a new member, but i have a tubbed 73 duster.416 sb.According to your 1/8 mile times car should run 9.90 to 10.05 in the 1/4, 60 ft times should be 1.25 to 1.30. car obviously hooks hard(carried the wheels) I would try gear ratios and tire pressures, suspension sounds pretty close.ONLY OTHER THOUGHT IS TO GET RID OF SOME WEIGHT. sorry hard to say how much suspension adj. would help at this point. engine dyno"d? tune it to the max. mike
 
MidTexCuda said:
I went to the track for the first time in more than 5 years with a new mill and front end only to be let down by what i think the car should run. I only made 1/8 mile passes to access the conditions of the breaks and if the car hooked straight.
My question is- If a person like myself having very limited track experince wanted to know the best way to set up my chassic to establish a baseline what would it be? example: tire preasure, wheel-e-bar height, shock settings, and even how much flash to put on the verter if any. My biggest issues is I dont want to start changing a buch of things and get myself futher away from where i need to be and then start tuning the enigine.

What I have 1968 Barracuda
2790lb car w/me
500 wedge (good heads- big roller-13 to 1
727 5000stall on a break
Tubbed big tires, 4.56 and spool-- Ladder bars
All four corners have Afco doubles and the proper springs.
Car has not been four corner weighed

first two passes were wheels up (not sure how fast but carried about 20' spotter said)
car tried to go a little left rear first but straightend quick
60' time- 1.40 and 1.41
1/8 time 6.41 and 6.43 at 110mph

I expected lower times but dont know where to start. Please help.
Click to expand...

i think u are only supposed to see 6 ft of paint on the launch from the wheelie bars.
as for making a baseline just drive the car to get used to it. get really consistent, take a laptop with u and make notes for how much u adjusted tire psi and what not. just do one thing at a time!
 
I guess I was looking for something more along the lines of tire psi for a 32/14.5/15 slick- how low is to low? how high to set my wheelie bars to start? and whether or not to adjust the front shocks first or rear in order to start dailing in weight transfer?
I can not cut weight on the car any more without HUGE bucks for modist weight losses maybe only about 100lb left to cut.
I am looking for low to mid 9's and there is no reason the car cant do it, my weight is low enough and i have the power and parts to make it happen just need some insite. I am really new to this and need help.
 
you might try 7lbs in the slicks. you could start at ten and keep going down until it starts to sway on the top end. i've found that this starts to happen at 5lbs and my hotrod with the same big tires you have settled in at 7lbs. make sure you ladder bars are set up neutral and the front and rear springs are the same length, front the same, rear the same. i think the wheelie bars are supposed to be 3" off the ground. sounds like you have the shocks real close with carrying the front for 20'. how far were the fronts off the ground?
 
slower pass with 10lbs
Faster pass with 9 lbs. Both pressures felt like the car was spinning. Just wanted to make sure I didn't lower the air to low.
Wheelie bars at 2.25 and on them fast.
Ladder bars set neutral
Spotter said tires up about 9 to 12 inches

Kind of weird when you run an eighth then coast the rest in third to a 12.0 at 55 mph.
 
I would say try reading the burnout pattern as a starting point. That will give you the basic cold pressure, and you can adjust from there. Get some clean asfault or concrete and mildly launch the car to get the tires to spin (no burnout). Look for the darkest patches in the marks. Middle dark or narower footprint than the tire tread width is too much pressure. Dark edges and full with is not enough. If you have tubes, it will be easier to over-inflate. You also need to scale the car with you and fuel in it. Especially if it goes left and you have ladder bars.
 
You might try slicks in 7 pound. You start with ten and going down until it begins to sway at the top end of the purchase. I found that it starts at pound 6 to get the same great tire you are settled in 7 £ with my hotrod. To make sure you set the ladder bars are neutral and are the same length front and rear springs, front only, rear only. As you stroke 20" front to take off with the real. How far off the ground were fronts?Listen
Read phonetically
 
plam said:
You might try slicks in 7 pound. You start with ten and going down until it begins to sway at the top end of the purchase. I found that it starts at pound 6 to get the same great tire you are settled in 7 £ with my hotrod. To make sure you set the ladder bars are neutral and are the same length front and rear springs, front only, rear only. As you stroke 20" front to take off with the real. How far off the ground were fronts?Listen
Read phonetically
Click to expand...

what's this all about?
 
The best thing that you can do when trying to set up a car like you have is start at the basics. Get the car weighted using a scale under each wheel with you in the car ready to race. Get these weights within tolerances and everything else falls into place after that. When I bought my car that I have now The fastest I had ever been was a 7.00 car in the 1/8 mile, when I made my first run I went 5.91, with a 1.21 60ft time. I found out that a lot of things have to be the same each to make the car do what needs to done. After I got the car weights set, the rest came fairly easy to make adjustments. I hope this helps.
 
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