Maybe try leaving closer to idle to hit the converter. Just thought.

Slow the video down to .25x speed and watch how the car reacts when leaving.

Seems a bit travel limited up front.

Super happy for ya! You are the man

Thanks Rich!!



Thanks, I definitely have some things to try now in addition to the nitrous tuneup. I've watched the video a bunch and agree it seems to run out of front travel quickly, and once the front suspension tops out the car porpoises. I don't feel that on motor but did feel it on the nitrous pass, each porpoise it felt like it unloaded the rear and tried to spin.

The torsion bars are jacked up a little in the front, mostly for oil pan clearance with all of the street driving I do. I'll have to see if I can put a smaller bump stop on it to help with the extension. It also has air shocks in the rear, those need to go as well. It has a snubber which is adjusted pretty close to the floor.

I think chassis wise next outing I'll try leaving from both a lower and higher rpm to see if it likes either of those any better. I also can try lowering the front so it has more available droop, and also letting the air out of the air shocks. I have clamps on the front of the leaf springs on both sides, I'm surprised how violent it looks after watching it slowed down, it's hitting the tire hard which from what I understand is good for a radial.

I've had multiple people tell me to not waste money on the cheaper drag valved shocks, and Vikings are the only adjustable fronts, so I think if I do anything I'll do it all - fronts, rears, caltracs and possibly their monoleafs, but only if I can't get what's on it to work.

My biggest concern, if it loads and unloads a bunch in 1st gear that it will hurt the sprag in the trans, the valve body doesn't have low band apply.

My old S/P car had single adjustable steel Koni coil overs on the frontend with A arms, I switch them to a set of Afco 36-way double adjustable aluminum coil overs and it help that car 60 Ft better and react quicker once I got them adjusted to what that car needed: work:
I agree on getting rid of the air shocks and better front shocks, you will maybe have fun tuning them and go quicker with better reaction times

Love your car mate, I too have a 68ht, to give your self options, it may be worth considering customising the front shock mount in the stub frame, i haven't tried too hard to find adjustable shocks, but its looking like im going to have down load some catalogues with specs. The C Body front shocks are very short, 8" compressed - 12.25 extended. What the hell the factory was thinking I have no idea (space no doubt).

If anyone has some suggestions, brands or part numbers, im all ears

I assume you have scaled the car? Hows your front to rear percentages? I've seen numerous different weights listed for various C's, real life and random spec sheets. The fury is meant to be the lightest, kinda worried cause mine has AC and a similar trim level to yours plus a 9 on the under body deadening section on my build sheet lols.

The real world weight loss thread on here is a gold mine of info, after the usual low hanging fruit the one that stands out to me with the C is our bolt sizes are generally a "size up" compared to A-B's, so lighter, or drilled bolts through much of the non stressed items will be pretty worth while.

Thanks Cab! Agree, it seems like a worthwhile investment, and I would expect the car would react a little quicker with better shocks. It moves around sloppily like a no prep car, it just doesn't have the front end travel to match, lol

Alchemi, thank you! Yep- the short front shock is definitely a problem. The rear is common with B bodies so anything you want is available. I've looked all over for adjustable shocks for the front. You can get KYB's, Gabriels, and Monroes for non-adjustable. AFCO and Viking show that they offer an adjustable front shock for the 65-up Furies, but the AFCO one looks to be the same part number as the B body front shock so I don't think that will work, it's 16" long instead of 12". The Viking front has a specific part number for the Fury, it's B2002 for their double adjustable but still street oriented shock, and look to be $200 apiece. They also have the B3002 which is the race oriented valving and those are $275 per shock.

I will give them a call to see what they recommend for my car. Your idea of modifying the upper shock mount is a good one too, I need to look at it further but there has to be a way to get a longer shock and have some more travel up there.

I did scale my car last year, before I put the nitrous kit on it (so figure another ~15 pounds of stuff), and I also weigh between 285-300 depending on how many cheeseburgers I've had that week.

3/4 tank, without me, 4027 pounds:

LF: 1085
RF: 1072
LR: 951
RR: 919

3/4 tank, with me: 4330 pounds:

LF: 1194
RF: 1113
LR: 1089
RR: 934

53.8% front, 46.2% rear.


I haven't done anything for weight reduction yet. I can pull the HVAC box out, none of it works anyway. It has 2 layers of carpet, I could remove one of those easily. I also have a manual brake pedal assembly for it that I haven't installed yet, that would get rid of the booster, a vacuum canister, and a vacuum pump that is installed to run the power brakes. Beyond that I think I'd need to start drilling holes and removing bolts. Maybe a lightweight battery too. And go on slimfast, lol

Bumping this up just to keep track of progress more than anything. Goal is get into Roadkill nights again, run 11.50's turned down at Drag Week if I get in, and to run solidly in the 10's by the end of this year.

Since this thread I picked up Viking shocks for all 4 corners, Crusader valving for the rear, B body Caltracs, Calvert stock height split monoleafs, AREngineering front spring hangers and new shackles. Have new Firm Feel tubular UCA's on the way but they haven't arrived yet, will replace LCA bushings, the UCA's, and install the front Vikings all at the same time.

I installed the Caltracs/split monos yesterday since it was almost 60* outside. Have to recheck pinion angle, and also come up with some type of spacer for the lower shock mount as the grommets on the Vikings are smaller than OEM so they have 1/4" of lateral movement on the shock mount. Hoping that ditching the air shocks and worn out springs pick the 60' up a little. From there I want to spend more time tuning the nitrous, there should be some gains there.

If I can sell one of my motorcycles, I am going to swap the heads for Trick Flows, step up to 1 7/8" TTI headers, and redo the exhaust too so it's quieter for extended freeway cruising, but I'll put cutouts on it since whatever it gets replaced with won't flow as well as what's currently on the car.

The stock rods are a risk so I'm going to be more cautious and not run it much past 6000 rpm though. Eventual goal is a 512 stroker and then it'll get good internals but that's 2-3 years down the road. The other risk is the 8 3/4, we'll see if it lasts the season!

Wow, big upgrades! I love this car!

One little thing I might add: Get the shocks as close to vertical as possible. We relocated the upper mounts out towards the framerail.

I agree, worth the effort.

Thanks, appreciate it!!

I cut down the sleeves for the shocks yesterday so they are in correctly now. It also looks like the pinion angle is 2* nose up compared to the trans so I have 4* shims coming from Calvert, then the rearend should be done.

Would I need a different length shock if they get remounted vertically? The C channel they're attached to looks pretty easy to modify. Have been meaning to make a set of subframe connectors and patch the wheelhouses anyway, moving the shocks shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Keep an eye on the stock spring perches. The caltracs put way more load on them and they can start to roll over. If you have a welder or fab buddy it would be easy to reburn the factory welds and add some gussets. Calver also makes some real nice perches that are reinforced.

What mufflers are those that are on there?

That explains the "HD perches" option on Quick Performance rearends and the boxed option on the perches for the Strange S60, I had no idea those were needed but it makes sense now. Thanks! I have a welder, while it won't be pretty I should at least be able to reinforce it a little.

Mufflers are 3.5" 40 series Flowmasters. I love how it sounds, but the hearing loss I've had over the last couple years is saying it should be quieted down some, lol. If I get into Drag Week and don't have a chance to put tailpipes on it I'll toss another set of mufflers on the end for the street drives.

Looking good, Nick!
I'll have to swing by again some day and go for a ride.

Maybe road trip the Imperial?

Great work!

I'm in the same boat with exhaust + years of playing onstage next to hard hitting drummers haven't helped too much.

I went ahead and used my old Calverts and they don't bottom out. I gave Viking the dimensions for the new shocks. Then again, I didn't mount them totally vertical, either.

I know some drag week guys run 3.5" Ultraflows and they claim they are fine on the road.

I run 3" Ultraflows with turndowns in front of the rear axle and they are pretty quiet going down the road but have very little restriction.

The only problem I've had is the drivers side likes to crack where they stamped "Dynomax" in them. Drill stopped and welded and they seem to be fine.

Thanks guys!

Feets, you should come up for the Dream Cruise when your Imperial is back together!

Rich, totally. Work tracks my hearing as part of my CDL test and it took a significant dive in the last 2 years, from better than most to below average. I need to stop that trajectory. You're always playing next to a loud rhythm section too.

GY3, thanks for the exhaust and shock info. Sounds like I can at least stand them up a little further without worrying about bottoming them out but I'll have to measure.

Clark, those would definitely be the quick and dirty backup plan if I don't have time or $$$ to put a full TTI system on it.

For now I'm waiting on the new UCA's, LCA bushings, and the pinion angle shims should be here tomorrow. Another problem just popped up, one of the rear wheel cylinders has sprung a leak. Easy fix but the tires are super difficult to get off the car, the rearend is just a smidge too wide and the wheel lip hits the drum trying to get the tire in past the quarter. Without the air shocks on it and fully extended I have to deflate the tires and ratchet strap them to get them past the quarter. Debating one of the $600 rear disc kits that should give the tire/wheel a little more clearance compared to the drum. It never stops, lol

Nice work! I may have some pieces to help you build a decent motor or two...

I enjoy your car and watching your progress racing. I had a 68 Sport Fury with a 383 330 hp that I did a lot of work on to race, reminds me of that car. If you are going 11s with that beast, I would forget about spending $600 on brakes and start looking for a Dana. Would be a shame to break the diff and all the other problems it can cause. Thanks for the posts!