So the axle is not moving in relation to the car, but the car is bouncing. How will tightening the shock do anything? The shock controls axle movement which we don’t have. With the rear ride height, there isn’t much weight transfer. If we go full loose on extension for the shocks does it try to throw the axle out of the car? If not, then is the spring really controlling the axle not the shocks? My idea would be get a good tire pressure setting by having someone take a picture of the tire marks of the launch. Then you know basically what the tire wants. Then I would try to get the axle to move by loosening the extension of the shock all the way and loosen the compression a good bit. It will probably crush/bounce the tire at the hit, but you can start tightening the extension until it slows down. When it is still bouncing the tire just a bit at the hit. Start tightening compression to see if you can hold the axle down through the initial bounce. Just spit balling

That use to be the thing to do back before the shocks got much better.. the spring has a couple
jobs to do and thats to hold the car up and keep the axle in place.. shocks control the rest
(thats breaking down to its simplest form)

It’s worth the try . I won’t have time to make any major changes until winter , then maybe caltracs are in my plan .

Only thing is I am out of rebound adjustment in the front . I could have Viking overnight the heavier kit for the front .

Where should rear tire pressure be ? Tires are 31.25 12.5 w
Car is 3100 or so

I am going for the weekend as well, so if I don’t have a helper in tow I will take you up on it . Either way I will find you .

I assumed Cab meant the spring would separate . Maybe he will clarify .

Yes the spring does separate

And does this damage the spring? Or cause a dangerous condition ?

You need to have your shocks checked out. I had a bad Viking shock on the front of my car and sent them to Afterworks to be fixed and revalved.

I've never ran that tire but I'd start upping the pressure until it spins and back it down from there. Do the front shocks first though IMHO.

Yes the spring does separate
[/quote]

And does this damage the spring? Or cause a dangerous condition ? [/quote]

No it doesnt do anything to the spring.. too low of tire pressure is more dangerous when the
tire starts to squirm around on top end

Ok so we know there is no simple fix .

As has been mentioned, I think a set of rear sliders would make more sense than another set of holes in the frame to correct the shackle angle . There are already two holes on one side and three on the other (who knows why) , so if I go sliders I would like to clean up that area as it wasn’t done very well.

As I said there won’t be time for revamp of the rear suspension until winter .

There are only 2 months of track time left so I think I will play with tire pressure, shocks and maybe even remove the factory spring clamp and use an after market clamp in different positions to see if I can minimize the issue a bit .

Thanks to all , you guys always learn me something . If you have any thoughts on limping it along let me know .

If any of you will be at lvd this weekend, you know what the car looks like now , stop by and say hi .

Furry Stump I will be looking for you .

Absolutely! My name is Rhett and I’ll be the one beating my head on the side on my trailer!

Think of the rear leaf spring like this.. the front of it controls where the axle is and the rear part is just
the spring to hold the car up.. the shock controls the rate the rear end moves and how fast.. the angle
of the shocks is based on what the car is used for.. a race car the shocks are vertical and a street
car they are angled for doing corners.. on my street rod I put them vertical for drag racing with some
distance running(I built the car mainly for DW but I latter changed my mind) I didnt see the pic of
your car but if the back end is up in the air it just makes it harder to get traction so if you can try
to make the car level

Thanks much .

Just saw you are in ct.

Where abouts?

I’m in Colchester.

So I was watching the video of the last run on Saturday. So it hits the tire and then tries to throw the axle out of the car. At the hit it plants the tire moves forward about 6” then the body separates until it tops out the rear travel and unloads the tire making the tire spin. the tire then bounces with the rear suspension at max lift all the way through the 60’. I think you are pretty close to full stiffness on rebound. Either you continue going stiffer on rebound to slow the separation down or you could lower your percentage of rise number. Basically drawn a line from the center of the contact patch of the tire through the front spring eye. The farther forward that line is angle softens the of the tire slowing down they body separation. .

Leave the stock clamps on the back half of those springs for now and clamp the front half every where you can, one on each leaf, that you can make fit where it hooks to the main upper spring Once you get that done and relocate the rear shackles so it has more frontward travel before it goes pass center it may make your neck hurt from the improved acceleration

Rhett
Thanks for the nudge.
Here is a link to the vid for anyone interested . https://youtu.be/bFP9XAFZ5PI
Made the following changes which all mostly resulted in minor changes in both directions

I removed 2 leafs from each spring pack and got the car almost 2” lower in the rear.

Tried it with rear segments clamped and unclamped.

Tried tire pressure from 15 lbs (spun uncontrollably) down to 9 and back to 10 whee it did best and consistent 1.50 .

Spoke with someone at Viking . Said it hits too hard . Rhetts crew also mentioned this.

I can change that by moving front spring eye to a mounting hole further from the chassis , but that will raise the rear even more .

At this point I,m just playing with it for education.

I will reluctantly dump another $1000 into it for cal tracks and sliders over the winter.

The front segments are all clamped and have been .

I am reluctant to make any more holes in the frame , as I will likely install sliders .

Question:
If I did sliders now , would the locations work for a Caltrac mono leaf or would I have to redo ?

Watching the new video. In my opinion it separates way more than is needs to. It's defiantly out of rebound travel and topped out. Compare the latest video to your earlier post with the rear axle hanging. Are the new shocks shorter at full extension than the old shocks? Separation is dictated by front pivot location. In your case the front spring eye. Without lowering or lengthening that point you can not reduce separation. Lowering the car will lower this point to the ground. But this is not a total cure as the center of gravity is now lower as well. The front eye mount needs to come down, NOT UP. Your only other alternative is to tighten the rebound slowing the separation. At this point air pressure and shock adjustments are a crutch to try and correct a instant center location that is to high and shocks topped out in rebound.
Doug

First thing I would do with that car is swap springs and lower the ride height in the rear. Too much rake. I wouldnt be surprised if the shocks are topped out too like Doug is saying.

I had to re-arch my springs on my Barracuda and lower the spring eye up front to fix it.

Its a PITA but so is driving a car that wont work.