On a whim I went or to T&T at Rockingham with the Rocky. Last time out i got the 'hemi under glass' wheelie 6 feet off the line so i reduced/limited the free travel of the suspension from about 5.5" down to about 2.5". Well the 5300 stall 8" A-1 converter still didnt care and it still hiked the wheels violently....twice

So after aborting the first pass i just made 2 more second gear start passes.

First one was 11.142 @ 122.05 with a 1.637 60'
Second pass it actually spun off the line pretty bad and only went 11.299 @ a new best mph of 123.25.

The previous best with the old 4000 stall 9 1/2 converter in ( a very predicable snd controllable first gear) was 11.16 @ 119 which I agree was well below the cars potential....still it was fun and consistent and easier to drive right out of the hole.

So what i learned is the converter seems to work great...definately 'too well' off the line but much more efficiently down the track. To pick up 4 mph in spite of launching in second gear proved that to me.

I also didnt so much as remove the air cleaner, the motor tune seemed pretty good pushing a 12' long by 6' high brick over 123 mph, if only i could get it off the line in first.

I had fun but was frustrated with having to granny gear it to get it out of the hole.

Right now it has a low gear 904 and a 4.10 with the M/T pro radials 275/60 15's, i had 20 psi in them.

I forgot my trick tank or otherwise i might have tried pumping more rear pressure to try to get 1/2 a tires worth of spin, thats sll it would really need, i could put a standard gearset back in the trans or try a 3.55 or 3.73 gear, but i wonder if that would be enough?

I just want reliability ( check) and a consistent high 10 car. I dont think a little less gear would kill anything on the top, the motor is a torque monster and feels really strong on the big end. The problem with relying on tire pressure is it can always vary with air and track temps prep, plus it will always be a 'poke and hope' every time i nail it...id almostvrather calm it down and play the consistency game do i can just concentrate on the light and getting it down the track.

Constructive thoughts?

Thanks!

Add tire pressure.............

Loose the low gear you don't need it(at all). Lower the center of gravity. Move weight forward. I wouldn't just try to spin the tires so it dosen't wheelstand

You might have to think a little outside the norm because you are dealing with a short wheelbase high center of gravity truck.

I think it's a cool little truck don't give up! Have fun with it

If you want some tire speed or spin your likely going to have to make a tire change. I am sure Monte will chime in here at some point but radials don't like to spin, they are typically no hook or dead hook. The few times my car has spun my et street radials it has resulted in a bad hope where I have to abort or a vibration like buzz that made me abort...kind of scary! However I have raced this car on many different tracks and all the 60fts are almost the same, I think I have had tire spin issues 3 times lol. The joys of a good tire and a not so fast car.

Ive seen more cars pick up with the low gear set but i've never heard to much if any differece switching from low back to standard....so i'm thinking i'd rather change the hogs head if anything especially since I could drive this on the street. The 1.63 (pretty good considering Second gear) 60' kinda indicates I can give away a little rear gear...if i can get a controllable 1.55 or so with a 3.54 or 3.73 im easily in the 10's (probably more consistently too)

Btw, Im building a cool little 3 muffler system by putting a flowmaster y between the cut outs that should make this thing super stealthy, it already has a full dual 3" system on it.

@Bad340fish....I totally agree on the 'light switch' nature of drag radials

Despite doing pretty well, I wish I had your "hook" problem.

Generally speaking, trying to get a car to spin consistently and predictably is probably harder than getting one to hook consistently and predictably! Track and weather conditions can vary enough to "surprise" you in either situation.

I think it came up before but I forgot your views. But wheelie bars should be considered at least as a safety item. Talking to some of the Stock Appearing guys may offer some clues. While they are trying to hook, I'm wondering if they actually try to bog the engine off the line a bit to minimize spin, which may also help in minimizing wheelies. Also, 2.45 low gear, weight in the front, vacuum secondary carb (My 750 DP always hit harder than 750 vacuum), oversize acc. pump squirters to induce an over-rich condition to bog it down a bit (may still "surprise" you in the winter months), talk to a converter manufacturer to see if it's possible to combine the softer hit of the old converter with the efficiency of the new one.....?

10.99 & faster requires additional safety equipment too.

Thanks Myron,

I agree and I really dont want to compromise or even play around too much with the one 'Trump Card' ( the hook) this thing has in its favor, something has to offset the areo handicap, lol

What rpm are you leaving at? have you tried a bias slick?

I try'd to use air pressure on my Valiant. It worked well, then the track would get better and it was back on the bumper.
I finally had to add weight to the nose.

Unless you are class racing and need to be above a certain weight I would not add weight to the nose. Your much better off if you can move the weight around to change the weight distribution. Examples: If battery is in trunk, move it forward. If gas tank or cell is in back only put enough in it to make that pass( 10-15 gallon of fuel is 80-120lbs). I have heard of some people taking it to the extreme by moving their motor 1"-2" forward.

Note the angle relative to the tree

Not really a whole lot of overhang in the back if placesto add weight in the front, i can fill the rails with lead shot I suppose, lol

Justin I have 2 step with a 3000 stutter off the footbrake, if i raise the stutter step speed Im afraid Ill have even less time to react if she goes sky high, i could try lowering it. Either way Im treating the symptom not curing the disease, lol

If you want a little tire spin and you run a drag radial, the first thing to do is take that tire off. because a "little spin" with a radial results in you not going down the track. A drag radial is hooked or spinning, there is no in between. You want to keep the nose down.....change the percentage

I'm with you there, tryong to figure out the best way to go

Just too high on the Cg, too short. I moved my battery up front, anything else you can do to shift weight forward will help. Is there any room at all to move the rear end back? Even a little will help. How about a timing retard or something to lower power for the first couple of feet? I don't see inducing tire spin as a good way to go, poor consistency.

Its funny I do a (Literally) 2 second burnout in second gear, shift to high and stage. Tires will last forever on this thing.

Guess I'll weld a couple of my Weider 45 pound barbell plates to the hood, lol

Make em into a front skid plate!

You dont want weight up high... get it as low as you can..
myself thats why I like bias ply tires... I can change a
1/4# of pressure and everything changes

I understand about treating the symptom and not the disease. I don't see a magic bullet, IMO you either add weight to the front, foot brake it, run a bias tire, run wheelie bars or a combination of these. Maybe a programmable ignition and pull a bunch of timing at the hit?