Spool on the street ?

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273

273

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Im looking to make my car able to drag autox and daily (spring-fall) drive my car.

Its got 380hp create engine with 727 2800 stall and 2.96 gears.

Obviously the gears are a performance killer (the way the car came). But im not in a rush to ditch them since I'll be daily driving it.

Plan on added holley sniper Rhoads lifters and airgap. Gonna hold off on the Rhoads and airgap until i get it on the road.
Want to do a before and after drag and mpg test.

Hopefully that will give me enough down low (under 2000 rpm) to allow me to shift into 3rd intown. If not I'm gonna go 3.23.

So down to my question when I do go drag or just play around in the streets. I want to setup a second 3rd member with 4.10 or 4.30 what ever will give the best time at the track.

Is a spool safe enough to get to the track and back (2 hour drive)?
 
Sounds like your plan is to have two 3rd members to swap depending on what you're doing right?

Nothing wrong with a spool for the drag strip, but you won't like it on the street. A 2 hour drive is a long time to run a spool. If it's all freeway and straight it might be workable, but even if it's highway and not freeway I don't think you'll want to do that. Any time the car isn't going straight you're spinning a tire.
 
You could run a Detroit Locker and have the best of both worlds in only one chunk. Spool under power, open in turns.
 
Mainly its a cost thing. Ran out of money lol
Its like $1600 for a fully done 3rd member.

I got an open diff in the shed that i can convert. Guess i just got to save my penny's

Its just a confusing subject. Theres tons of peeps say its no problem. Watched a bunch of guys on youtube say their daily driver is spooled. And others say its instant death lol.

Guess the only way to tell is weld up my spare diff and give a try.
 
I second the Detroit, It's hard to swallow the price difference between that and the spool, but the Detroit is the cats *** for both worlds, and it can actually be tuned with different spring kits. how cool is that for autox? A spool on the street with that much tire will no doubt eat up rubber, cause control issues and beat up axles. It's your wallet though, I hate when people tell me what to do with my money, just a friendly suggestion.
 
Dubob said:
I’m running this type in my S60 in my Demon. It locks both tires instantly but operates smooth as butter normal driving.

Mopar 8 3/4" (8.75) Eaton Truetrac Differential
Click to expand...

The TrueTrac seems to be the choice of all the pro-touring and autoX guys. It's a smoother transition, which is important for corners. The problem with Detroit lockers is that you can get some chatter out of them during hard cornering, and that can cause a loss of traction in hard cornering. Yes you can tune that somewhat, but IMHO they're better for straight line cars that get driven on the street than for autoX cars that get driven on the street.

273 said:
Mainly its a cost thing. Ran out of money lol
Its like $1600 for a fully done 3rd member.

I got an open diff in the shed that i can convert. Guess i just got to save my penny's

Its just a confusing subject. Theres tons of peeps say its no problem. Watched a bunch of guys on youtube say their daily driver is spooled. And others say its instant death lol.

Guess the only way to tell is weld up my spare diff and give a try.
Click to expand...

Yeah a built up 3rd member with a truetrac is pretty spendy. I have one with 4.30's that's going to go in with my T56. Best of ALL worlds. But those two items alone cost about 3x what I paid for the car.

A spool is really easy. If you're turning, you are spinning. Period. If you drive your daily like a drift car, maybe that's ok. But I wouldn't recommend it. I wouldn't say it's "instant death" either, but, you're going to get tired of all that squealing and buying new tires. And if you drive in the rain ever it will be a lot closer to instant death.
 
Car already has a sure grip.

I guess the plan that make most sense if instead of building a second 3rd member $$$$$.

So I can change to when I take it to the track.

Is put the gears I want 3.91-4.30 in now and build a 500 or 518 and install it next winter.

Just figured spool would be a cheap way of getting the best of both. And by spool I meant welded.
 
I had a spool in my 77 LTD with a .060 over 460. I was blowing guts out of the 9” every other week. Well, after the spool, I had no more problems with the third member, but I did however start shearing lug studs. I lost a wheel on two separate occasions. Had a big flat spot on the drum, boy. Haha, that car was fast for as big as it was. The drivetrain is still local as I traded the car for a 71 2dr malibu in 03.
 
I have'nt got it apart yet, but my little 340 cammed 318 stick car destroyed a true track Rand's built for me. I'm not sure of how they are assembled, but I hope a pin or bolt backed out.
 
Not sure I'd like a Detroit locker. My now gone old friend put on into his then nearly new 70 Chev 3/4T 4x4, this was in 71 or so. That thing "banged" so hard when releasing around a corner, that slow movement say, in a parking lot would jostle the truck!!!
 
I ran one on a weekend, 30 miles to the track and 30 miles back, with 325/50-15s.and I think I had 4.88s in it.Or maybe 4.30s,not sure. It was fine in a straight line, seemed to track just like normal. Next day I headed out on the hiway to the next town over, Again on the hiway it was just like my 3.55s and 295/50-15s.
In town was another story, Every turn was an adventure. From plowing, to spinning the inside wheel, to bogging the engine down. And if both rear wheels had traction and I wanted to do a slow-speed turn well that was the worst, 67Dart says jostle, but I experienced JOSTLE.
Come Monday evening after work, that thing was outta there!
 
There's nothing confusing about using a spool; it's for dragracing trailer queens only.

I would just leave the stock SureGrip in there with a set of 3.90 gears. Then put an overdrive transmission behind the engine.
There's no such thing as a combined one-deal car that is good at dragracing, autocross AND daily driving.
Just focus on 'spirited' daily driving. This will mostly also cover autocross, and it's the function that gives the most pleasure most of the time.
 
Sure you can drive around on the street with a spool,lots of people have done so and will keep on doing so but it sure isnt a very good idea,it eats tires and sucks around corners and i believe it would be a big part of possible trouble if rain finds you on your way. My advice would be to save your dollars and time and invest them once in the right thing instead :)
 
I have had a spool in one of my cars for 15 years now. I have put around 20,000 street miles on it. I have driven in the rain (Florida rain!) quite a bit. The car has had slicks, ET Street bia plies and now ET street Drag Radials. The car would turn sideways with just a little moisture with the bias plies. Almost crashed it TWICE. No problems with the drag radials WHEN THEY ARE NEW. Once they get below 50 percent tread you better change them out or dry weather driving ONLY. Advice I can give you is:

Do not run low PSI on the street. The inside tire needs to slip a little going into driveways and sharp turns. If it can't, it really works the front spring eye bushings over and the axle bearings take a beating.

Do not jump on the throttle unless the car is straight! This is good common sense anyway and keeps you off the sidewalk leaving Cars & Coffee.

That's about it, keep it in the back of your mind when you drive the car and you will be fine.
 
273 said:
Im looking to make my car able to drag autox and daily (spring-fall) drive my car.

Its got 380hp create engine with 727 2800 stall and 2.96 gears.

Obviously the gears are a performance killer (the way the car came). But im not in a rush to ditch them since I'll be daily driving it.

Plan on added holley sniper Rhoads lifters and airgap. Gonna hold off on the Rhoads and airgap until i get it on the road.
Want to do a before and after drag and mpg test.

Hopefully that will give me enough down low (under 2000 rpm) to allow me to shift into 3rd intown. If not I'm gonna go 3.23.

So down to my question when I do go drag or just play around in the streets. I want to setup a second 3rd member with 4.10 or 4.30 what ever will give the best time at the track.

Is a spool safe enough to get to the track and back (2 hour drive)?
Click to expand...
^^^^^^^^^
I HAD A SPOOL (9" FORD) REAR IN MY APROX. 600 HORSE SBC VEGA, W/ 14X32 M-T ET STREET`S ON IT. I DROVE IT TO WORK, 28 MILES EACH WAY QUITE A BIT. THE CARS BEST RUN WAS 10.28, HAD 4:10 GEARS. I GOT CAUGHT IN THE RAIN ONE MORNING TOO. It can be done if u just use a lot of common sense. Also outran and embarrassed a turbo Porsche on the 4 lane one evening coming home from work, but not in the rain! It can be done !
 
Asking a question here, does Richmond gear still sell the lock-rite lunchbox lockers that replace the open spiders?
I have them front and rear in my 4x4 willys and they un-lock and lock as advertised, a bit noisy, but there was no traction aid available when I built the axles for it.
 
my street and strip rig has had a spool since 1982. Epping is a 1.5 hour drive each way, done about 5 times; and falmouth about the same = no problems . 5.13 gears then and 4.30 now - go for it!
 
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