[Mike S]

Finally made it to the track with new car (67 GTO). Made to half pass to get use to car and to full passes. 11.06/121.8 and 11.095/121.13 with both 60' times at 1.593. I feel these should be a little better. I have stock boxed arms, air bags(10/20), rear sway bar and 90/10 shocks up front with 50/50 in the back. I'm running 13.5 et streets. Pinion angle is 2 degrees. I hear it should be 6 is this right? Do you think it will help the 60's?
Thanks Mike S

[Mike S]

Finally made it to the track with new car (67 GTO). Made to half pass to get use to car and to full passes. 11.06/121.8 and 11.095/121.13 with both 60' times at 1.593. I feel these should be a little better. I have stock boxed arms, air bags(10/20), rear sway bar and 90/10 shocks up front with 50/50 in the back. I'm running 13.5 et streets. Pinion angle is 2 degrees. I hear it should be 6 is this right? Do you think it will help the 60's?
Thanks Mike S

[Ron]

60 foots are really pretty good. I think you should consider some adjustable shocks such as Konis and set them for full stiff. It helped my 60 foot times a lot.

Ron

[Goatman]

I had a 1.58 sixty when I went 10.62 @ 128. Seems like you're loosing it on the top end, not the bottom. Possible converter slippage issues?????

Go with the HAL shocks, Konis were good about a decade ago.

[Half-Inch Stud]

How about INCREASAING the ET Streets PSI to about 12 PSI, then 14 PSI.

I got better results there with the higher PSI, then the age-old degcreasing PSI to as low as 8PSI..that was old-slick technology.

Also, how about the off-idle launch?

Also, how about mechanically-delaying the Secondary opening.

H.I. Stud

[Ron]

Neither the Koni or Hal shock provides control of the rebound so either shock would be suitable for this application. The Hal shock is easier to adjust using a dial and does not have to be un bolted.

In trying to solve a traction issue in my '65 GTO and the same for Jim Taylor in his '64 Tempest we found that the stiffest setting provided the best help. Our cars are heavy stock type of suspension cars. We both use adjustable upper control arms, sway bars, and air bags. We both experienced bunny hoping with our cars, Jim Taylors was much sever than mine. To try and eliminate the hoping and obtain maximum traction we experimented with different settings with our upper control arms. The brackets that attache to the rear end has three holes in them which you can put the upper control arms in. I starated with my arm in the upper hole and I believe Jim started in the bottom hole. Over time we both went up and down and changed our pinion angles also. At this point both us us have our upper control arms in the bottom holes with full stiff shocks and a pinion angle of about 5 degrees. I have good traction and Jim for the most point does also. Jim still has a little bunny hopping but mine is all but eliminated. Now Jim makes a lot more horsepower than I do. Jim runs high 10's at 120 - 122 MPH. I run 12 teens at 110 - 112 MPH.

I have never run a street slick. My present slick is a M/T ET slick, 28 x 10.5 x 15. In talking with some friends of mine that race Stock Eliminator in NHRA I started to run more air in my slicks. I now run between 16 and 17 PSI and that also has helped with my traction issues. Also I now run tubes in my slicks. That helps with make the side wall stifer and again this has helped my traction issues.

Hope this is of some help. Good luck with the carand have fun.

Ron

[ April 15, 2002: Message edited by: Ron ]

[ April 15, 2002: Message edited by: Ron ]</p>

[Half-Inch Stud]

...more PSI. Who woulda thought.

Slicks these days sure are better than 10+years ago.

[Ron]

Not me that is for sure. I was from the school that less air is better. Well I tried less air and the car was like driving on ice. I tried more air out of pure frustration. I got pissed one day at the track and put in 20 pounds of air and WOW, I had some traction. Over time I experimented with air pressure. At 20 PSI the patch of rubber on the track was small and it was a little squirrely at top speed. Testing is how I arrived at my present air pressure. My business partner is the Stock Eliminator persom I was talking to about air pressure. Lots of track time, lots of talking to other racers. I must say that all of my problems were brought on by myself. The suspension underneath my GTO was built for road racing. The drag racing bug hit me and here I am. Stiff shocks and springs along with lowering the car is not always good for drag racing traction. I stll have not removed the road racing suspension but I did remove the front sway bar and changed the front and rear shocks. The front shocks are stock 1965 AC Delco shocks, the rears are from Koni. Since I started on my quest to improve my traction more racers, here locally anyway, are adding air pressure to their slicks. Worked for me and I hope the information can be of help to others.

Have fun and good racing.

Ron

[Skip Fix]

The last talk I heard by M/T at a race a few years ago was they recommend around 16-18 psi. for most of their slicks. The new radials usually like even more 22 or so.

My car , although a leaf spring rear picked up 60 ft and overall time by pulling my 90/10 front shocks and putting on my stiff oradrace vakved Bilsteins. opposite what most folks told me and one would think. So trial and error are what it takes.

[Old Man Taylor]

I used to run the same tire Ron does. M/T said to run it at 16 pounds hot. I ended up at 14.5 cold. I now run 29x11 Goodyear’s. They like 10.5 cold. I think they work better on my car than the M/T’s because they have a stiffer sidewall, which helps minimize the bunny hop. Whatever tire you run you would like to run the highest pressure you can and still maintain traction as it will present less rolling resistance. My car is set up a little different than Ron’s, so the results are a little different. My pinion angle is 2 degrees, but I have a 12 point roll cage to stiffen the chassis and I have a torsion bar in the back. Also I launch off of a trans brake. If you look at the launch on slow motion video it is absolutely brutal to the tire, and I don’t really have all that much horsepower or torque. Mine is just a 400.