Also, a properly built and prepped Stock or Super Stock car will be much, MUCH lighter than it's "street-legal" counterpart.

 

I bumped this old thread to hopefully get some opinions from guys that may have made changes to their lowering spring set-up that IMPROVED their 60'.
I know I'm full weight but was looking for some better short time. Car is trapping 125-126 (not spraying the 100 shot til about the 50-60' mark) and I'm not quite in the 10's yet. Not really sure if springs are going to help if dead hooking now.

 

Read mine again. I was talking about my virgin convertible. Convertibles are heavier than hard top cars. I don't see that 8 second car with a chute being a daily driver, do you? Suppose it still has AC? LOL

 

All the cars on Street Outlaws are ... isn't that reality?

Sorry I misunderstood your original post Ed. I thought you were talking about your Super Stocker. In that case I don't know how these guys are so heavy. ??? I would think a street version F-body should be in the 3400 lb. range but I'm not as familiar with them as most.

Scott

 

Im going to try cut V6 rear springs this year and see how it goes just for ***** and giggles.

 

Get V6 rear springs from a 3rd Gen. Wound from smaller wire.

 

Thanks, lmk. I wouldn't mind going a little lower in the rear than the DMS's sit now. I think I'm gonna source some V6's also. Car is squating and hooking now (but I don't know jack about suspension). I thought too much squat was wasteful.

 

Yes I will, and already have some and they so far are the only springs Ive tried that actually worked when it was an LS1. I made my new brackets and duped the arm angle to be the same with the sportlines so the LCA bracket is VERY low now, you can easily see them from the back looking under. On the street it works pretty well I get great bite when the temps are about 70. From a dig theres zilch mind you, but from 5mph or so I can mash 1st and not spin with 285/40/17 Kumho Ecsta XS rears and the whole car lifts noticeably, it feels fantastic and with the L92 in there now it really boogies. It's only a mess from a dig now, even with et streets it spins 1-2 if I try and launch from a stand still on the street, or the track. Hoping cut V6 rear springs work better in this regard with otherwise the same config. We'll see, thats what I'll try next.

Really Id like to redo the whole back half of the car one day so I can get a 335 18" in there, coil overs etc. But not for a while yet, this cars going to stay in current trim for a while, its been under the knife enough the past few years, its time to drive/tweak it.

Besides it gives me time to build... other stuff

 

Say no to squat! Say yes to LIFT!!!

Check this beast out, See how the body is lifting up off the rear tire? Thats because the suspension is working and PUSHING the tires down, this is what you want. When the suspension is working properly the rear lip gap increases as the weight of the car rides the tire helping traction. If its squatting and the lip gap shrinks under power? That means the car is actually pulling the rear OFF the ground, no bueno

 

That's exactly what I thought. So, in theory, the "lighter springs" lets the torque arm lift the rear more? My old ladder-bar car would lift up like an alligator after coot duck

 

Why are people cutting the V6 springs?

 

Theres a few things in play but you need to;

1. Get the weight of the car transferred to the rear tires as quickly as possible.

2. Load the tires with the weight of the car ( thats the lift part )

3. Not put it on the bumper


So pending power levels, and car specifics ( overall weight, front/rear bias ) each car will require different parts/settings to get the most out of it. You really only want to load the cars weight up on the tire to the point that you wont over power it. Anymore than that is wasted energy transmitting down to the ground instead of pushing weight forward which is what we are trying to do, move forward. Too much bite will hurt performance and often causes the tire to "bounce" back up and blow off. So it digs like crazy for 5' and then spins. If that happens you need to soften it up a bit by reducing transfer ( less LCA angle, more shock, etc ). Just a couple quick examples there but its impossible to know what to change, without some testing on your combo. I've mentioned this before but it works great so i'll offer it up again. Having someone video your launches with a good quality video camera ( something you can drop to frame by frame with detail ) and capture some test hits from both sides of the rear of the car. Then you can review the footage and see what the car/suspension/tire is doing and adjust accordingly, this is really the fastest way to learn what the car wants.

I have sorted out my set up where its all working well, except for transfer, so thats why im playing with rear springs again. New adjustable shocks would be a HUGE help here as well but I get stuck between wanting KONI yellows for the road course, or Strange DA coil overs for drag racing. Thats why I want to redo the whole rear i think I can take the current theme and put it on steroids and still gun for "best of both worlds" and have a great launch, yet still retain wicked cornering grip.

 

Cuz the stock ride height of a 4x4 pick up looks like *** and hurts aerodynamics

 

Well I pick up a set of V6 springs yesterday, and they are an inch longer than my stock
WS6 springs.
Haven't put them on yet.
I've got a new entire shocks & springs setup.
Got AFCO DA fronts with 275 springs and
Comp Eng 3 way rear shocks with the V6 springs.
It's going to take some playing around with.

 

They compress further.

 

The V6's?
That's what I was thinking, being a lighter spring.

 

Yes, the weaker V6.

 

Update...just installed the V6 springs. Had to cut 1 1/2 coil to achieve same ride height as DMS springs. I'll try to get it to the track before I do the fronts (Strange SA) to see if any measurable difference. Fortunately I have a lift and screw jack, so taking them in and out is just minutes. Thanks for all the input guys.

 

Just a bit of info:
Every coil in a spring starts to compress as weight is added. If a coil is cut off the spring rate will go up. Several things control the spring rate of a coil spring. The overall diameter of the coils, the wire diameter and the number of coils. The larger the the outside diameter of the coil the lower the rate, the smaller the diameter of the wire the lower the rate, and more coils will lower the rate.

You want the rear of the the lower control arm to be lower than the front frame mounted end. This will drive the tires under the car and lift. If the rear of the arm is higher than the front the tires will try to drive up in to the chassis and loose traction.

Pinion angle is another item that needs to be checked. The pinion needs to be slightly down relative to the tail shaft of the transmission. If the transmission is level then on a four link car you want about 1° down pinion angle.

 

I was going to tell them that cutting coil springs raises the spring rate, but figured I would get some crap for it.