[66bonne]

Originally Posted by Mikes455Wagon

I have been waiting on my Pro Bracket Radials for a month. I sure hope they are good when they get here.

Mike: I've seen the Mickey Thompson truck at a couple of events here in Florida and they had some on board. Had a nice talk with the M/T rep as I told him how much I liked the 275Pros. He responded that the Pro Brackets are a real step up from the 275Pro. I'm going to give them a try after my 275Pros wear out.

Jim

[Mikes455Wagon]

Jim,

I sure hope they are a step up. I am looking forward to trying them out if they ever arrive.

[10secbird]

Thanks for all the replies people. I can say that so far on the street I have not got these tires to hook up at all. Every launch on the street regardless the particular surface; it spins all the way through first and second and then hooks once it gets in third. I realize the track should be much better...but I fear they wont hook enough to run what the car can run. I have not raced this car since 1988 and I just got it running a month ago. I'm still getting some stuff ready before it can hit the track....like gear change from 4.56 to 4.10. Im starting to think i will just put some new wrinkle walls on it. Also, I think I could finally benefit from a higher stall converter with the new bigger exhaust from ports to primary tubes to collectors and a Wenzler 1 tunnel ram that has been extensively ported/welded, along with a little bigger solid flat tappet with 275/289 @.050 duration\637/660 lift. The power band has moved up some and now Im struglling to get the 3000 stall i used to get before the upper end improvements that are probably resulting in a torque loss down below 3000rpm. The converter I currently have in the car is an 11" Interesting to hear some of you speaking about these tires not recovering once they break loose ...that is my experience. Can you guys recomend some converter specs and or requirements I can specify for my local converter builder. The heads are still my old max ported iron 48s (max until I saw Jim Robertsons d-ports http://216.178.81.108/forums/showthread.php?t=509965) and I want to give these old dports a chance with a healthy roller cam before I retire them and put on some KRE HPs

[ventura7211]

Guys have been 1.0x to the 60 on 275s, one with leaf springs as well.

The tire isn't suppose to make up for an inefficient and poorly set up suspension...

I realize its easier to put on the biggest softest tires you can find instead of tackling weight %s, weight distributions, springs, shock valving, timing curves, etc.

[mike leech]

Originally Posted by ventura7211

Guys have been 1.0x to the 60 on 275s, one with leaf springs as well.

The tire isn't suppose to make up for an inefficient and poorly set up suspension...

I realize its easier to put on the biggest softest tires you can find instead of tackling weight %s, weight distributions, springs, shock valving, timing curves, etc.

Amen.

[10secbird]

Im very glad to hear that ventura....ok i got enough tire....thats what i wanna hear........now im open to help with my suspension ....where do i start.....i have new moroso trick springs up front and new multi leaf in back....adjustable drag shocks front and rear....caltrac bars......im open to anyones helpful comments on getting my car to hook

[Mikes455Wagon]

Your headed in the right direction on suspension parts. What I haven't seen anyone mention is concerning your 4.56 rear gear. If you couple that with a 3 speed (Th400 or Th350), you are gonna have a bunch of SLR (starting line ratio) to try and hook up on the radial. The radial likes to be hit, hooked, then stayed on top of in my experience. I am about at full tight on the compression on my rear shocks and fairly loose on extension.

The local track I run does almost 0 prep. They have nothing to drag the track with, rarely scrape it, and VHT is like liquid gold to them. This is why I test there. Once you go down a bad track, good ones are easy.

[mike leech]

I found more et in the front on a suspension like yours. It needs to have unbound movement. But cannot be so fast that it hits the stops and unloads the tire.

Try a lower intial launch rpm as well. And as mentioned stiff rear shocks on compression.

[ventura7211]

Originally Posted by 10secbird

Im very glad to hear that ventura....ok i got enough tire....thats what i wanna hear........now im open to help with my suspension ....where do i start.....i have new moroso trick springs up front and new multi leaf in back....adjustable drag shocks front and rear....caltrac bars......im open to anyones helpful comments on getting my car to hook

Start by Testing, then testing some more, lol.

Small changes between passes until you get an idea of what the car wants and how it responds.

Do you have limiters for the front end travel? Depending on your power level they become a must have as too much travel will actually unload the tires, it will hook then get out a few feet then spin.

That is if needed, I didn't need them until 60s got into the mid 4 range, the quicker the car started to 60 the less front end travel needed, an inch is more than enough now days (low 1.20s). The old thinking that loose up front is fast is just that, old thinking.

While good shocks are a key to quicker 60s and ets, they again, are not a magic part, dumping cash on the flavor of the week may not be of any benefit. Springs are very important, often over looked, the right spring can make a "bad" shock work just fine while the wrong spring can make a "good" shock perform like crap.

The best tuning aid you will have starting out will be weight, if possible to be able to move from front to back, back to front, you should see the car respond and lead you to where and how much it wants for given track conditions.

Of course all the above if for not if once you learn something you do not record it in a matter you can refer back to it later, log book, sticky notes, whatever, I have an eraser board in my trailer I quickly jot down notes, these notes may not make any sense to anyone else, but it gives a place to record them until I can properly record the info. Data is bread!

Remember you will learn as much from what does not work, as you will from what does. There is no "failure" from something not working.

Depending on your track, you might hear that it isn't "radial" track, isn't "radial prepped", etc. While a true "radial track" is nothing more than freshly drug rubber and drums of glue, it isn't what makes going fast on a radial possible, there is not such think as a tire for the track, you can make any tire go down any track with enough work and testing.