[fairlanemike]

finally got my tranny and converter done, now have traction issue or lack of. 67 fairlane, put south side machine lift bars on it, doesn't seem to help traction on my street tires, but the black marks are a lot darker now.
anybody have experience with these?

thanks

 

[PSIG]

I played with a set on a guy's Fox for a little bit once. It seemed one way to get adjustability was with adjustable shocks. Can't tell you much more, except spring bags would be another option to get leveraged reaction with them.

David

 

[Rcode427]

If you can find a local shop , speed shop and ask them to get you a set of soft rubber street tires they will hold alot of power. My 66 fairlane 390 with cj heads would spin a good ways. Local shop where I live said if you buy these tires and they donot hold I will take them back. After placing them on I dumped the clutch on highway at 5000 and car went away without even a single mark down. Hard to find a soft tire but that will do it, did mine.I donot have any traction bars on car. Just like it came from factory excelpt the rear gear is around 456 with a spool. On a drag strip where they place the sticky spray down most tires will get a bite but highway roads with rocks the tire has a harder time holding.

 

[Rcode427]

If you cannot find a soft tire those kind of traction bars should help from lakewood.

 

[fairlanemike]

I have a set of drag radials, at the track it will spin about ten feet, haven't run it with the bars at the track yet. hoping to have it dialed in before I get to the track again. those lakewood bars would be nice or caltracs but I don't want to stick much more into this car, I have a 66 that I'm going to build a drag car out of, I just want this one to the best it can be with what it has, A friend of mine is running a 66 into the 12s on old slapper bars. I'm hoping these lift bars will help. thanks for the replies I apreciate it.

 

[PSIG]

I have a set of drag radials, at the track it will spin about ten feet, haven't run it with the bars at the track yet. hoping to have it dialed in before I get to the track again.

Bummer, but you can't dial-in suspension reaction off-track. The reaction and traction will change considerably due to the different conditions on the line. A huge help is a side-view video of the launch and a couple car lengths, framed-up and fixed motionless ON A TRIPOD. Viewing the launch will tell you a lot about how the chassis is reacting and what you could or should change to improve it. Chalking the tires helps too if lighting is poor.
:tup:
David

 

[mustangboy]

I don't have any experience with the southsides but tires are everything..What kind of drag radial are you running?...How is the contact patch when you lay those black marks?..Fiddle with the air pressure until you get the full width of the tire in black marks on the road....

 

[Hottarod]

Darker black marks sounds like it is spinning more than before.

I used to run the lift bars. They did ok until I finally got my car launching hard. My rear end started to hit then unload and jack rabbit off the line. It took me quite a while to isolate it down to the lift bars. I switched to Shelby under rider's just to keep the rear end straight on launch and the problem went away. I run mid-eye leafs, drag shocks, 9 inch slicks, 3/4 rear anti-sway bar, Shelby under ride bars.

 

[fairlanemike]

bfg drag radials, had it out yesterday, it almost seems like it bites hard for a few feet then unloads and breaks loose, I'm going to put the drag radials on today and play with air pressure and get some video. thanks

 

[Hottarod]

It does sound like it is bouncing which is what my car did. What is the rest of your suspension set up? Tire pressure could cause this. I ran 15 pounds in my drag radials.

 

[fairlanemike]

I got some video last night, it seems to lift the front and hold it, running 15lbs in the tires, gonna go to street legal drags next wed. to test it.

 

[PSIG]

You may have to add more pressure when you get more bite at the track, It probably won't leave straight, so add 3 pounds to the slow side to see if it helps a little or a lot. Once it's leaving straight, if it liked the higher pressure on the one side, add a couple pounds to both sides and try again. Rinse and repeat. At some point the other side will slow, so back off 2 and run. You can start adjusting reaction from there. Most important is to do everything the same every time, making only one change (launch rpm, shock adjust, weight adjust, bars on/off, less burnout, etc.) so you can see each change and effect.
:tup:
David

 

[Hottarod]

So did the bounce or load/unload problem go away or what?

It is going to try and hook harder at the track.

 

[fairlanemike]

on the video it looks like it pulls the front and holds it, going to the track tomorrow, will see what happens

 

[fairlanemike]

it hooks good at the track.

 

[PSIG]

How do you know?

David

 

[Hottarod]

I know when my cigarette lighter flies out of my dash and lands in the back when I launch, LOL. Its a poor man's accelerometer. Somebody on here has their glove box door fling open when they launch. I guess that works too.

It is a good question. A friend told me that back in "the old days" they actually wanted some tire spin off the line to get the rpm's up. This was before high stall converters got invented or multi-stage clutches.

 

[PSIG]

It's like "How does your engine run?" and the answer is "Great!". Based on what? And the cigarette lighter is like that. Maybe your windshield should pop out if it were launching properly. How do you know? I often see folks thinking things are good when in-reality the situation is simply that they are not obviously "bad". Actually, I was fishing for a 60-foot time or other gauge of true performance measurement.

David

 

[Hottarod]

I was joking but the cig lighter does fly out. I have to remember to remove it when I run. 60 foot compared to ET-mph is a pretty good indicator but not just tire spin. It could be lazy out of the hole(I know you already know all this) for other reasons like not enough stall or launch rpm, accel pumps wrong, stumbling, timing, not enough gear. Lotta things to have to make right to run good.

My car does not run what I would consider good. Low 12's high 11's at 112 or so, 1.7 down into the 1.60's for 60 foot is passable maybe but I'm about the slowest car I ever run against at the track. I would like to see consistent 11.60's but I don't think that is going to be possible for me without spending a bunch more money and changing stuff(again) and the car will be even less street cruisable unless the addition is a turbo maybe. Bottle is out. I just won't go there.

 

[fairlanemike]

went to the track weds night, my best 60 foot was 1.90, before the bars my 60 was 2.3-2.5. I know a 1.90 60 foot still isn't considered fast but it is getting better. I also found out my throttle linkage isn't opening the carb all the way, I barely get into the secondaries, so I am changing to a cable, will run it again next weekend.