Cal Tracs - Q & A

I have never used Cal Tracs but hear good things about them. I have a street strip 71 Demon with a 500+ HP stroker SB, 4 speed, 3.91 8.75 with a Yukon center section, super stock springs, and 15.00 Rallye wheels with 275 Mickey Thompson ET Street Radials (just about shot though, need new tires soon). I drive it on the street most of the time but plan some drag strip outings in street trim (no slicks). It hooks ok on the street but sometimes spins a bit more out of the hole than I prefer.


So with the above info, would you guys recommend Cal Tracs? If so, what set up, springs, etc? I want to run an all bolt in only setup, and no relocated springs, etc.

Caltravs will always help a leaf spring car . Stick shift and radials done play well together .
Get decent dbl adjustable read shocks .
I uss mopar xhd springs .
There is a good read on yellowbullet

Tex

DO NOT USE XHD SPRINGS WITH CALTRACS. Use only with mono leafs. If you cannot put the whole kit in then just put a good shock with your ss springs. When using stock style springs and caltracs you cannot get enough adjustment out of the shocks to control them. You want the bars to do the work and the spring to just hold the car weight.

Cal-Tracks are a direct bolt-in, no spring relo required unless desired. I'd spend the extra on the mono leafs.

Just my opinion but I think cal tracs would be overkill on your set up. Spend your money elsewhere. Drag radials and a manual transmission don't go well together if you are making decent power. They will be fine for the street though. Buy 2 extra wheels with a pair of stiff sidewall slicks for your track outings

Since you need new tires anyway, why not slap on a set of MT's R drag radials. Then see what you need to do next? You might just be surprised at how much difference they make.

Cal-tracs typically need light springs and stiff shocks to work best. I have adjustable rear shocks with Cal-Tracs on the Cuda and it won't hook much until I have the shocks on at least 7 of 9. Too much rear lift without the shocks to control it. So, at the track the rear shocks are set on 9 (max).

Caltracs work great but don't forget the front end. I did way more work to the front end than to the rear to get it to hook.

Get the whole cal-trac set-up including the split mono leaf springs for the weight of the car! Once you do that it will dead hook if set up correctly. On the street they may be a little noisy as the suspension moves up and down. Its a completely bolt in deal and having a good shock makes all the difference on tune-ability

The street is no gauge for how a car hooks. A drag strip might look like asphalt but it is concrete with lots of VHT and tire rubber on it. That SS spring wants lots of shock travel, so you need the longest shock travel that you can find. This was usually from a SW, B or C body. Go read all the posts that Monte Smith wrote about SS springs. Read it 5, 10 + X's to start to understand what you need. BTW, those stock eliminator cars that pull the front tire way off the ground,stick or auto, are doing it on a very sticky track. They use very specific clutch set ups. When you finally get your car to hook, you will destroy that 8 3/4.

I ran the XHD springs with Cal Tracs....... No problems.
I wouldn't try and use them with SS springs though.

Keep in mind....... The bars were available for quite a while before the split mono-leafs were.

My Cal Trac/XHD combo replaced some well used SS springs, and the Cal Tracs were much more consistent, although best-to-best, they were no better.

I found the Cal Tracs made the rear of the car quite stiff for road use.

I ran CalTracs on the street in my Hemi 4 spd car. I liked them very much. No more wheel hop and I quit having issues with bent springs. The 'ol monster used to eat up springs and pinion snubbers on a regular basis. Once I put on the Caltracs it never happened again. One tip though...don't use any preload on them when running on the street..OK for the track but very bouncy for the street.

All of the above answers are spot-on! I tried using them with super stock Springs and they worked against each other causing the rear of the car to porpoise. The car is much more manageable and consistent now and doesn't get all contorted off the starting line like it used to with the super stock Springs.

I would suggest the ET Street Pro for you to hook especially on a streetcar.

I didn't notice mine riding any rougher than with the 3,400 lb super stock Springs that were in it.

No love for the pinion snubber?

Pinion snubbers are a crutch and a pain in the ass on the street!

It was the stock snubber...would bust them right off, bolts and all....




My car at etown with caltracs...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnf4i-iecT8

what ??? my pinion snubber and SS springs and 509 cam are not high-tech enough........

Ahhh, been using XHD and snubber on the street for a couple years.
Adjustable however.
Does bracket race well for an 11.0 car

I run the Calvert full meal deal and I have no complaints. As said above however, either get the split monos and bars together, or don't bother with any of it. The Calvert shocks also made a big difference in my setup over a set of CE shocks as well.

For tires, you want the MT ET Street R Bias Ply tire with a clutch.

Caltracs stock D100 4 leaf pack missing the overload leaf Rancho 9 ways 10" wide hoosier drag radials this was a couple of week ago


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you can see in the slomo below less than 2' of rise in the rear at launch

If you can find any old articles on the Calvert bars when he first started selling them, you may see that he developed them on a Super Stock Mustang with a 4 speed. And he used really stiff multileaf springs with that car. When I remember that it makes me wonder why the change to monoleafs.

Could be that they work better.

Very nice, wish my 135mph sh1tbox would launch like that, dam Im 1/2 a second slower at the top.

Help

Let me back up a step....

I bought the car with the current setup installed, I am willing to ditch ALL OF IT so I am open to a complete package, all I plan to keep for now is the Yukon 3.91 8.75 rear (which is brand new from Dr. Diff). Tires, shocks, springs, etc. are all open to suggestions, BTW, car weighs 3,400lbs.

Myself I just run a set of 3400 lb Super Stock springs and the MP longer ext shocks. The pinion snubber made no difference once I put the new SS springs on my car. Its old school but its a street car and I like how it rides on the SS springs. My best 60 ft running 10.70's has been a 1.50 which I feel is ok for what setup I have on my car. I see cars running about the same #'s as me with Cal Tracs pulling 60's in the 1.40's. My guess is I could maybe pick up a tenth in my car with Cal Tracs and less body movement but it hooks good now on the SS springs. So I dont think its worth it for me to spend $800 or more as I would go with the mono springs to pick up maybe a tenth on a 99% street car. I live on a tight budget now so thats also one reason I have not gone to them. If I had the money to mess around with things on my car I would most likely give them a try but I dont have much play money and feel the SS springs work ok for me and how I use my car. Good luck to you Scott if you do go with them. I always hear many say that the Cal Tracs are best using the mono springs but as I say thats what I hear as I have never used them. Ron

i like the assassin bars myself they have adjustments if needed and can be used on regular leaf springs

I run Cal-Tracs and Calvert's mono leaf spring on my Dart. Personally I don't like the 70's air shock look that comes with SS springs. Also they were of questionable quality for a period, made in mexico I think.

The front end has already been mentioned, I'd start there with a decent set of shocks and check the amount of travel you have. Have you tried clamping the front segment of your ss springs? What shocks on the back?

IMO Cal-Tracs are not a magic bullet and are not necessarily faster than a well set up set of ss springs, but they are more consistent and easier to adjust. If I were building another street/strip car and wasn't going to use either a four link or ladder bars I'd be on the phone with Calvert placing an order for springs and bars, but no shocks.

With your car being a four speed I agree with others on running a bias tire on the back, they are more forgiving than a radial.

Yea Ron, the current setup with the SS springs works "Ok" but I am redoing a lot of things he half arsed on the car. When he added the SS springs he didnt like the stance (high) so he added 3.00" !!! Lowering blacks to get the car to sit lower (and to his credit it does have a great stance) however I don't like the blocks and plan to ditch them, wouldn't mind keeping the current stance though, not sure what to do there.

Scott, I faced a similar delima with my 66'. I didn't like the stance with SS springs. I called Cal Trac, told them the height I wanted, weight of car etc. Two weeks later they were in the car and it sat EXACTLY where I wanted it. Call them and discuss it.

Thanks guys!

In addition, put adjustable shocks up front and take your upper control arm bumper off if you haven't already. I drive mine everywhere on the 90/10 setting.

Oh, and better start looking at a Dana 60 as well... 😣

I am in the same boat as Ron, I love this hobby but don't have much play money and I can't afford a truck and trailer right now and don't have the ability to try new parts out so I built my car with budget in mind and I built it with a torquey motor to pull the 3.23 gears.

My factory stock leaf springs were starting to sag so I had a local leaf spring shop add one leaf to each spring which strengthened the front segment and made the car sit higher so I added one inch lowering blocks. I run Rancho shocks on the rear that were given to me with the adjustment knob on them. I have them set 3 clicks from full soft and may need to go a couple more clicks. Front suspension is bone stock. No snubber.

Yesterday I drove the car 50 minutes to the track, clicked off a 10.69 at 124.65 and drove it home. At the track I do switch rear tires from regular street radials to M/T 275/60 drag radial Pro's.
Tire technology has come a long way and these tires are phenominal.
There were big tire back-halved cars with lexan windows yesterday dialed a couple tenths slower than me and they were blowing the tires off. My 60 is only 1.51 but it hooks and books.

Awesome! I used to drive mine to the track all the time but it sure is nice to trailer it, take the pit bike, popup tent, cooler, tools, lawn chairs...

It is fun having a mild, full interior street car that is faster than full boogie race cars and running them down when they get the light first!

Yea it's a blast but you're right, it's nice to have a truck and trailer for all the stuff you mentioned, especially if you're gonna be there for 2 or 3 days. I'm not planning on doing all that with this particular car, just an occasional cruise to the track for a few fun passes.

Prosport, great looking Duster man! How much power is your 440 making?

By my math...if it weighs 3500 pounds...he's at about 520. Since it's not a full race car, I'd expect his HP to be closer to 550.

Providing my weight guess is accurate.

I agree probably around 550HP. It's an all steel car with full interior, the motor is a very mild 10:1 compression 500" low deck with ported Eddy heads and small 557 purpleshaft cam along with small 1.75" B-body headers with a lot of dings. Lots of torque.

Was I close on my eight guess?

It was 3275 with me in it at a local hardware store but I need to get a more accurate weight.

Pretty much the same combo as me. My car is 3,600 lbs. with me.

You are definitely running good at that weight.

I think mono springs with the Gazzard bros bars would be the hot ticket, or at least caltracs.