midnitejam

I need help with traction and wheel hop.
My problem and symptoms are these.........
New stock tires will not bite enough to lay rubber. tires just spin as if they are on ice (almost). When and if the tires do bite I have horrible wheel hop.

Car history: The car is a 98 RamAir convertible w/6 speed.
Aftermarket stuff consists of:
Moser Ford 9-inch rear housing assembly. 31-spline axles. 4.11 Richmonds
Hotchkis panhard rod, upper and lower control arms, Speciality adjustable torque arm for convertible application.

I have hooker headers, off-road Y-pipes into Flowmaster 3-inch exhaust system, High-ratio roller rockers, chrome-molly push rods.

Dynoed 347 HP and 341 torque.
Best time before suspension add-ons 12.89/111.
Best time after suspension update 13.7/104 (2.45 60-foot)

My greatest fear is that the correct pinion angle wasn't retained during the suspension updates. Would an incorrect pinion angle cause the traction problems?

I'm thinking that my stock shocks with 55 K miles are also a factor. Which brings me to another question: What is the best way to go with Shocks for maximum traction?

Please help--only 6 more weeks and the local drag strip will be open.

Cheers,
midnitejam

Fifedogg

iTrader: (15)

is your Sway bar at the right angle. I know when I installed my 12 bolt on my LT1 my sway bar didn't line up right and I started getting very bad wheel hop. I bought a kit by spohn that fixed that. Also you can use some LCA relocation brackets, those helped me after it was all fixed. It basically took car of my whole wheel hop problem.

pHEnomIC

iTrader: (14)

Looking at your setup, i see you have an adj torque arm. What angle do you have it set at? going from stock (1*) to -2* i believe made a huge difference in traction. I have done all the other suspension mods and nothing really did much for wheel hop. You gotta play around with the angle to find what is best.

LCA relocation brackets may help in your case but play with the angle first.

If you have worn parts they could cause issues as well. Make sure your shocks and springs work (you dont have excessive bouncing).

midnitejam

pHEnomIC and Fifedogg, Thanks for your help.

I have several uncertainties as to what my problem/s are and I wanted to tackle the most likely culprits first while doing a process of elimination.

I didn't personally wrench my add-ons, nor did I supervise the work in progress. So I don't know for sure about the pinion angle. All the parts are essentually new. They were installed last summer and they have less than 500 miles wear. The shocks are the only chasse components that are not new. The shocks have about 55K miles on them (they are the originals).

linn.35

did you ever think about getting a good tire under the car? i would try a nitto and then start to adjust the TQ arm.

midnitejam

linn.35, thanks for the response.

I have drag radials, but they produce unacceptable wheel hop.

00slowredz

maybe just go back over all the suspension parts that were installed??? start with the small (easy) stuff and hopefully you can find your problem