3600lb f-body. 275 radial pro

This video is with an older converter that doesn't couple hard down low like my new one. New converter will just hammer the tires at the hit regardless of launch psi. Rears are factory leafs, one added main leaf, clamped front section, viking DA shocks, and home made caltracs. It appears to hit the tires hard,just spins when the front tops out and unloads the tires. but what I'm thinking the problem is the front end seperation. From the video it pulls the front end up a bunch although it hooks just cuts a horrible 60'. I don't have any videos from the recent passes(had no help). These f body front suspension are kinda a PITA, no aftermarket shocks except for calvert 90/10 which I have on it.

My question is will a front end limiter help, or be a bandaid to get this thing down the track? I've also got a progressive boost controller I'm working on installing, but I know the suspension is lacking. I'm planning on ditching the whole subframe setup this winter and build a coil over setup.

https://youtu.be/s6eM4rtTThs


I appreciate any input.

If the front end is topping out, causing the tires to spin, try taking out the upper control arm bump stops. It will allow a little more travel before topping out, hopefully giving you more weight transfer to the rear tires. Won't cost you anything but time. You could always put them back.

I had the same issue with the front topping out too fast on my Satellite. I also had the 90/10's on the front. I tried my brothers shocks that were adjustable from 90/10 to 80/20 and 70/30. They made a huge difference when I had them at 70/30. the car was much smoother and didn't have the violent jerk. I would contact Viking and see if they have something that will fit your car from a different application. There has to be something out there that is close. You might also try to loosen up the extension in the rear. It doesn't seem to separate much in the rear. just my to cents.....

It will be a while before my Aspen wagon is ready to test, but I had Viking make me up a set of shocks that fit. but you have to double-check everything and make changes to make sure they don't bottom out and damage the shocks.

Basically, I asked them to put a stud on their shortest shock - Mustang II front application. I added an aftermarket poly bumper that may be about an inch longer to reduce the chance of bottoming the shock and added a couple of washers to the top stud because the shock body was hitting the plate the stud goes through at full compression. Either mod may not be enough in extreme compression situations, like coming down hard from a wheelstand. But I just have to wait till I get it on track to see if it will work and allow some fine tuning.

The OEM suspension allows too much down travel and I had a friend bottom out a Moroso pan and close up the pick-up by hitting the brakes too hard at the finish! OEM style shocks are WAY too soft on extension and compression.

I also think that your front is rising & topping out too fast. If a controlled rise isn't good enough, you'll need to go back to work on the rear suspension.

Personally, I don't think removing the extension stops is a good idea. It may actually exceed the limits of movement that the suspension was designed for and the metal-to-metal stop at full extension without a stop can't be good either.

Yes I've since loosed up the rear to get some more extension. I will contact viking and see what they can do for me. I read somewhere that gen 1 camaro shocks are close l, but in fact they are not. I just want this thing to cut some mid 1.3 60' times. All the fast leaf spring cars I see have very little front end travel.

Viking does make a DA smooth body shock for the fmj platform. It's not listed but they have them. Got a set ordered.

Let us know how the Viking shocks help/hurt compared to the Calvert shocks. I am running the Calvert shocks on front now and I think they are too loose and am considering buying the Viking DA front shocks if they make any that I could use on my D50. Sometimes mine pulls the wheels then it spins really bad.

I just got some Viking rears, nice looking pieces and good customer service. I kind of wish I had sprung for all 4.

I've got a feeling it's going to make a huge difference.

Experience with my Volare while using the stock main leafs was similar, the 24" front segment and oval front eye bushing made it hard to consistently deliver power through out the first hundred feet or so.
The fix for me was ss springs with solid bushings, the rear suspension just wasn't working.

76 Volare 440 1.41 60ft 10.70s.

I switched to Viking shocks from Calverts on mine and the difference is night and day.... The car launches much smoother now. I'm still playing with the settings. The 90/10's that were on the front were too loose for my car.....

How much boost/RPM are you leaving at? What are your rear shock settings at?

What I have found with mine is that it hooks better with high boost/low RPM vs. Low boost/Higher RPM. The lower RPM lets the car get a “run” at the flash point of the converter and doesn’t shock the radials so badly.

Mine has a 2.45 1st gear, 3.55 rear, and non-pro 275’s, at 3700+lbs. On a decent track I can get it to leave at 4200rpm and 13psi ramping to 16psi in 0.1sec (basically as fast as I can get it there). Last time out on a decent track was a 1.40 60ft.

Also, you’ll want to run the compression on the rear shock VERY stiff to keep the radial from bouncing back up and unloading the tire after the hit. The rebound setting all depends on how hard you’re trying to leave. A lot of times as I add power, I have to actually tighten the rear rebound because it will hit the tire so hard it will crush it and roll over itself causing spin/shake.

4000 and it will only take 2-3lbs on the hit, any more and it wold spin. Best it would 60' was 1.57. Just got the controller hooked up and and gona play with it and get to the track next week.

Just got off the phone with andy at viking. Shocks ordered. He said they are building them today and shipping them today.



Customer service is awesome. I highly recommend them.

Ok... so here's how it works...

When you launch the car, the first thing that happens is the tire is slammed into the ground (hit). This happens because as the teeth of the Pinion gear press downward on the ring gear, it is easier for that force to push the tire down, then it is to accelerate the car forward.

This "hit" presses the tire into the ground, giving you more traction then you would normally have without it.

The more power you have on trans brake release, the harder the hit.

With this hard "hit", you can accelerate the car quick very early in the run.

As the car starts to accelerate, you shift the weight of the car from the front to the rear.

It's sort of counter intuitive, but you are actually in a situation where you need to leave on more power then you are leaving on right now.

Your problem is that you have very little hit, so you start to accelerate slowly. Accelerating slowly, shifts the weight from front to rear slowly, meaning the available traction is less then it could be. At that point when the boost lights up, and all of the power comes in, you don't have enough force on the rear tire to give you enough traction to keep moving forward.

The other thing with a radial car is that they are so stiff/high air pressure ,that when you "hit" the tire hard to plant it, they want to bounce back up off the ground.

If I were you... I would do this as a baseline to get the car down the track.

Set the rears 4 clicks from full tight on compression. And set them 10 from full tight on Rebound (extension).

18.5psi in the tires.

Set the two step to 3500rpm, and the boost controller to 6psi on the trans brake, ramp all of the rest of the boost in as quick as you can.

The slower I make the front rise the higher my wheelies are. There's good voodoo in controlling how fast the front comes up.

The rear suspension of the Volare is unique in that it's front half of the springs are longer than all but the largest C body's. They just don't transfer the rotation of the axle into body lift well. I watch the video and dont see much body lift at launch or at stage.

I'd call Calvert Suspension and get there recommendation for their mono leafs, I would use the A body length.

My 1.41 60ft times are with no ft. drag shocks.

The volare front segment is 24" long... with the caltrac it becomes mostly stiff on the launch. That 24" is a far cry from the usual 32" ladder bar...I can't see that being all that big of an issue.

To be honest, I've seen some of the faster mopars go to the Camaro springs because they have a LONGER front segment.

I had all kinds of traction problems when I tried the Calvert 90/10 front shocks. It did just as you're describing yours does...initially bites, then the front tops out, and unloads the rear. Put my old stiffer/tighter Lakewoods back on and it hooked again.
You'll like the Vikings. I have a set of their shocks at all 4 corners of my car now and really like them so far.
Slow down the rise and it'll hook.

Check the condition of the oval front spring bushings, mine were junk when the car was 13 years old. The best luck I had was using slapper bars that went to the center of the spring eye, I didn't care for the excessive front end lift and oil pan damage. That was when the car was in the upper 11s.