I've been feeling the rear-end attempting to hook up while on the street and reasonable throttle through first or WOT through the early part of second. Feels similar to axle wrap but, more controlled and less violent. A bit of grab then seems to let loose momentarily and hook up again a short moment later. It's not violent and only does it once or maybe twice but I tend to lift out of it early for safety.

I have the cal tracks set with me out of the car and the bars tightened so the bottom bolt just touches with no pre-load. Should I pre-loading that a bit more? IF I do will that hurt the bards in the bouncy street driving world of potholes and dips in the road (and some on the roads) I can hear them clanking a tiny bit over really rought roads already and was worried that having them adjusted too tight would be wearing on things or case failures. I need an all around setup that is street friendly, caltrac friendly and will give me a better feel of how much it will take before it lets go and still tries to hang on rathern than the grab and release axle hop like feelings.

Rear is Caltracs on their heavier spring rate mono leafs and stock shocks. I have but haven't fitted the rancho shocks due to the 3" TTI tail pipes in the way and the wrong eyelet size on the shocks. I have a sway bar on there as well. Fronts are stock shocks with the biggest torsion bars I could get my hands on. I can't tell if the rear squats or lits or does nothing, and I can't tell about the front either. Still too many movements and feeling that I'm getting used to to be able to discern those things just yet.

Greg

Without the Rancho's or something similiar your missing 1/3 of the equation imo...mine would verge on wheelhop/porpoise with the stock shocks on there...forgot to add I've been running mine on the street now for 6 yrs now...just as I set em up for the strip...

You need the ranchos on there. I run my car on the street with the race setup. Its a firm ride but who wants to adjust those things everytime you go to the track? Not me

All ya need to do is soften the shock for street cruzin'

Actualy for the street, leaving them stiff is just fine by me. The car is mostly G machine inspired anyways. The problm with the shocks is that they touch the exhaust, as the rear compressed over bumps it would crush the shock sleeve and I was concerned it would bend the rod in the shock. I haven't tried them since I re-mounted the tail pipes last weekend, but I suspect it's still going to be a problem.

So how tight should I be running the bars on the street? And where should the shocks be set at if and when I get them mounted where they belong?

Greg

I run my shocks on 7 and the bars are set with 1/4 turn preload on right and snugged up on left with me in the car.

I have to set my Ranchos to 9 at the track for hard launches or I will get bad shudder on launch. But the ride is just too jarring on the street with the higher settings, so I have the shocks set on 1 for the street.

for the street you can have them just touch the spring or slide a nickel between the spring and the sleeve and lock it down.( it will make some noise when your on and off the throttle that way though!) i would get rid of those ranchos and go with the qa1s. wayyyy lighter and narrower with more adjustability.

my caltracs hook much better with a soft setting on the shocks.

Before I inevitably go google them, who sells qa1's? I think I heard of them when I was looking for a good set of 4 corners worth of shocks, but they were out of production.

You can get them from jegs or summit. They are made by carrera.

I see a part number that appears to be teh correct shock for the front, which is great:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HAL-RC1538P/

Edit: Found the rest of the shocks on summit's site by going to QA-1's site and looking up prt numbers.

I see they are expensive shocks, especially the double adjustables. I don't think I want a firm compression for the street, so I'd prefer double adjustable. Especially with the really high rate torsions I run, it's likely I need a medium to firm compression and the ability to change the rebound soft for the strip (front end rise) and very firm for the street. Are the equivalent adjustables out there or am I pretty much limited to Qa1 for a double adjustable shock?

Greg

Out of all the double adj.shocks the QA1s are probably the cheapest. Don't get me wrong, the rancho,s work,but in my case I had to put a brace on my 8/34 and the shocks (being in the stock location) would hit the brace when I launched the car.I've since went to a 9" and still had to notch the brace for shock clearance,but I have no clearance issues now with the QA1s good luck. Mark

Just hard to swallow tha a full set of 4 full 2 ways is a grand total of 1200 bucks shipped plus taxes and border fees... Gonna have to think that one through, but I don't see a way around it. For the spring rates I have, I don't want softer drag racing specific shocks that will work against the car on the street.

I use the QA1 Stocker Star R on the front of my Dakota. Single adjustable, 12 way. Position 1 is like a 90/10 and works great at the track....a little bouncy on the street. If I drive more than 20 miles or so to a track I'll set the shocks at position 6 and get a very comfortable, well controlled ride and decent handling. Just my