SS springs, Drag Radials and 600+ HP/600 lb/ft?

Garage talk the other night, and it's always fun to relay that here for everyone's input.

Anyone having any success with regular ol SS springs and drag radials? Or radial slicks?? Torqueflite of course...

With Cal Tracs so common, just wondering who's hooking with the old fashioned SS springs?

383man [ Ron] does very well , I'm sure he will speak up.

I was running the 456/457 Superstocks and 275 ET Street Pro's.

Hooked pretty well with SS's but the Cal-Tracs are more consistent.

I have run 11.20's with both at 121-ish mph. Best 60 ft.'s were in the 1.54 range n/a.

The latest Made in Mexico SS springs will NOT last. They bend into a lovely S shape after a couple of seasons and lose arch.

How could I have forgotten Ron??!! Of course ! ! !

I had a set of the old original SS springs on my car ran good for years, when it got to running low 10's I bent one. Bought some new ones before I knew they were being made in Mexico and bent three sets in one season. I found out they were made in Mexico when I took a set apart and it was written right on the spring. Cal Tracs at that time were just coming around, and I could do the work myself so I just did a 4-link and never looked back. My advice is if you are in the 11's SS springs work pretty good, 10's and faster and use cal tracs or a 4-link. I like the 4-link and it works great, but if I knew cal tracs would work as good as they do, I would have went with them at the time.

I don't use radials (MT 29.5./11.5), but I do use SS springs only. NO Caltracts, NO pinion snubber, no anything. I did add an extra main leaf to the right side spring. .030 over, stock stroke 440, very close to 600 hp, 727, Turbo Action "J" converter, Dana 4:56 gear, car w/ driver 3288 lbs. Foot brake (not no box), 60' 1.38 -1.40, ET 10.30's- 10.40's, 126 mph. Not too bad.

Brian

Thanks guys. Yes I run the 3400 lb SS springs I bought from Mancini. I use the longer ext shocks from MP and there is no adjustment on them. All other suspension is stock other then the Comp 3 way front shocks. Its not killer but I guess its ok for a street car on the Hoosier 30 x 9 radial slicks. I use a Dynamic 9.5 converter and its best is 10.76 @ 125 with a 1.50 best 60. On normal days it runs 10.80's @ 124 with the 60 between 1.50 to 1.53 Myself I love the radial slicks since I run radials up front and I drive on the street all the time on them. The car handles great with radials on all 4 corners as I will never go back to bias tires. Ron

Ran 28 by 10 Hoosier quick time pro’s with 002/003 s/s springs on my old 70 Duster
Ran 9.80’s at 3350 with 1.34 60 foot. Would hook anywhere
Just CE 3 way shocks all around

So good SS springs are not available new anywhere?

Thanks, Joe

Very common in stock class, most all say if a stick go caltrac, autos s/s springs. D-E-F can run in the 10s easy and hook with the wheels in the air.
PS. Springs can be bent back rather easily, done many. I can bend one in a circle.

I don't know if Tri-City Competition still makes their custom Launcher leaf springs that a lot of Stocker guys have used.

"A long time ago" the father ran one shop (in Michigan?) and the son ran another in SoCal. One specialized in the suspension part of the business and the other did engine work, IIRC.

EDIT: Old thread might have some info, if you're interested: https://board.moparts.org/ubbthread...-tri-city-leaf-springs-still-around.html

My Brother has SS springs from about 3 years ago, with the stock shocks it still went 1.45 60ft, then switched to Strange shocks and its more consistent, runs 11.00s on M/T drag radials, drives it to the track runs 2 classes and drives it home.

There's better stuff out there such as Caltracs but with me being on a budget on my old Duster I took Monty Smith's advice and added one leaf to the bone stock leaf springs I had, which strengthened the front segment of the springs. I used Rancho 5way shocks and a 275/60/15 drag radial. I was able to drive the car to the track with 3.23 highway gears, run 10.60's-10.70's and drive it home. It never spun the tires.

Wonder how the SS or modified stock springs would work with a good set of DA shocks?