Hey guys, some of you have been following (many from ls1.com) my modifications to a set of Lakewood Lift bars (see pic below), with my TA and rear sway removed. I finally got a run on some ET Streets, and here is what I learned:

- The suspension worked very well. Not a single person could convince me to go back to a TA. The car launched so violently, yet straight and true. Felt like a real race car out of the hole.
- The problem now is my drivetrain. Previous owner warned me that he had run a whollotta nitrous thru it and the stock A4's clutches were fried. (150 shot out of the hole with Nitto drag radials, and ANOTHER 150 shot down track). My ET's reflected this fact. I wasnt putting the power to the ground. The car would lay down, especially mid to end of track.

- My rebuilt 10 bolt aint gonna last, but I knew that. Mine started making new noises that I could hear AND feel! Not good.

Here's the results, again, its obvious to me I have issues, but I am happy with the suspension - sorry no video, couldnt get the cam from my Dad in time for the run.

60 ft - 1.787 (My brother said I was barely getting any smoke off my tires during burnout, but thats because I was afraid I was going to break something, better 60 ft could be had if I heated the tires more)
330 ft - 5.247
1/8 mile - 8.179
mph - 83.45

My other 3 runs were virtually identical.

Here are the mods to my 1999 Pontiac WS6:
- SLP .571/.571 cam with SLP springs and Titanium retainers
- SLP MAF
- Modified stock air box (baffles removed)
- K&N
- Predator Tune (could use more timing, Fuel/Air seems good)
- Mac ORYP w/O2 sims
- Mystery Cat-back system with the largest muffler I've ever seen.
- TCI 3500
- 3.73 gears
- Mod'd Lakewood Lift Bars
- MT ET Streets, 26x10.5x16 (running 25psi, I was told I could run them lower)

- Stock heads, stock LS1 intake, stock TB, stock exhaust manifolds, no weight reduction (fully optioned WS6 car with leather, T-Tops, etc).

Anyway, with some tweaking I know I could have seen a 7. But believe me, this drivetrain is tired, and I really wanted to drive home Friday night Overall, I had a blast. This car is so fun to launch with sticky tires. Traction is such a good thing!

Next steps.... New tranny (might decide on TH400 conversion) and new rear end. Also, for piece of mind, I'm going to tear that motor down, inspect everything, and build it a-new.

Peace!

Reference Pics:

 

I cut 1.55's with the stock torque arm.

I went 1.48 with the RT torque arm, Alston non-adjust lca's, and the tq arm attached to thes stock location.

No offense but your short times don't really get me excited.

 

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That looks pretty much like a ladder bar setup only
2 pieces, adjustable?

Longer lever arm on the bottom link (times 4) probably
makes for stronger than the stock torque arm. But
a long torque arm makes for a more consistent pinion
angle across suspension travel and is probably more
suitable for a street car that sees a lot of bounce.

Are those upper arms articulated (how much can the
axle rotate in roll without binding)? The bottoms look
like they are free but the top black arm looks like a
hard piece?

Can you tune the torque reaction independent of
pinion angle, or is this maybe just already "engineered
in" with the geometry?

 

I wasn't happy about my 60 ft either. I wonder how well your A4 would hold up to 700 HP (previous owner was spraying hardcore, see above). Mine is shot, and slipping. I simply had a number of people interested in a first run with sticky tires so I posted the results.

Stay tuned.

 

A lot of people have come over to this site from LS1.com, just wanted them to know this was the same setup as discussed months ago at the -old- site.

 

Good questions! I'm still experimenting with it but I'll do my best to describe what I experienced in my 4 runs.

These are probably too short, especially for serious drag racing, and I suspect new problems will arrise once I increase HP to the rear wheels. Most likely, the car will be thrown into the air (shocking the tires too hard) and it'll unload after a couple feet then spin, hop up again, etc. In fact, with the tires at 25 psi, thats exactly what was happening. I can probably reduce some of that impact by dropping the pressure in the tires... I've seen posts on here where guys are running as low as 12 psi.

If I move the bars down (front adjustment) to shock the tires less, I might not be able to get enough traction to raise the car up in the air, and could spin.

I have not seen or felt any binding. Top bars are poly's front and rear (standard boxed Lakewood LCA's). Lower bars are heim/poly. Its actually more like a 4 bar/ladder bar setup. Odd, I know. But it seems to work well. Now when I first installed them on the car in companion with the TA, yes it was binding terribly. The rear end was literally locked down. But with the TA gone, it woke up, big time.

The pinion angle is adjusted by turning the heims (both of them). But I have found it very interesting that I can keep the pinion angle consistent and create preload by making one bar slightly longer than the other. Currently I'm down 2 degrees. Smooth as silk on the highway.

Here's the short of it.... the car leaves the line like a jackrabbit (squat.... build.... launch), even with cold overinflated (25 psi) tires. The entire car comes up in the air in a quite impressive launch. I've never felt anything so wicked. The car feels alive. I dont know how to describe it better than that.

Do I recommend that any of you should try this? No, not at all. Do I think its interesting and worth the effort? Yeah, for me. When I get my tranny replaced, and a beefy rear end installed, I'm sure I'll know a lot more about the feasibility of this design. In the end, I'll probably notch out my floor pan and install a true 4-bar system.

I know cars are running some serious ET's with the TA. But it goes against years of experience growing up at the track... maybe I'm just old school. But from my view point, consistency wins at the track. I want my car to hook clean and straight. And I dont wanna play with sway bars, and air bags to accomodate a 4 foot long I-beam down the center of my car.

There just has got to be a better way

 

I still have a lot of the parts from my old set if you know anyone who might be interested...