Spin Control Question

[Ron Gusack]

Originally Posted by Mike Pearson

Get rid of the sliders on the back of the spring and put the shackles back on until you put the coil overs on. I had the same issue with the sliders on my car. As long as something is not bound up in the rear suspension the leaf springs will work just as good. I did not see any improvement in performance when I took the leafs off of my car and installed coil overs. There was a little weight savings though. It's all about the geometry on the ladder bar set up. Once you find the sweet spot your car will start working

Mike, I thought the slider helped keep the rear from binding. I have a lot of options to sort through. Ladder bar, 4 link, or Cal Tracs.

[Bob Pagano]

Cal-trac, cheapest , easy to work on, they can walk you through the prosess. There are many Nova's running them, just look at the pictures posted on this site.

[Ron Gusack]

Originally Posted by Bob Pagano

Cal-trac, cheapest , easy to work on, they can walk you through the prosess. There are many Nova's running them, just look at the pictures posted on this site.

If money was a non factor, would Ca'-tracs be your first choice?

[Bob Pagano]

Yes ! Just look, pictures abound all over the net, many bracket cars and Stockers run them. The reason ? they work. Add them and get your front end to work then hang on !

[Alan Roehrich]

With ladder bars and leaf springs, the rear end housing must be mounted in "floaters" in order for the leaf springs and ladder bars to work without binding.

If you do not have something like this : http://www.competitionengineering.co...?CatCode=10047
on your car, and you're running ladder bars and leaf springs, your rear suspension simply does not work.

Given the choice, I'd never bother with ladder bars again, ever. If I wanted full aftermarket rear suspension, it would be a four link with a wishbone locater and coil over shocks.

For a car like yours, if you do not intend to go faster than 9.30 or so, and you want to run smaller tires, say 9" and 12" slicks, the by all means I'd put a complete Cal Tracs system under it, their leaf springs, their bars, their mounts, and their shocks.

Sure, full aftermarket suspension is the ultimate, if it is allowed, and you're going really quick, it's the thing to have.

But you're running in the mid nines, and you're running 9" tire classes at times. I would not go to the expense of a four link for that.

[Ron Gusack]

Originally Posted by Alan Roehrich

With ladder bars and leaf springs, the rear end housing must be mounted in "floaters" in order for the leaf springs and ladder bars to work without binding.

If you do not have something like this : http://www.competitionengineering.co...?CatCode=10047
on your car, and you're running ladder bars and leaf springs, your rear suspension simply does not work.

Given the choice, I'd never bother with ladder bars again, ever. If I wanted full aftermarket rear suspension, it would be a four link with a wishbone locater and coil over shocks.

For a car like yours, if you do not intend to go faster than 9.30 or so, and you want to run smaller tires, say 9" and 12" slicks, the by all means I'd put a complete Cal Tracs system under it, their leaf springs, their bars, their mounts, and their shocks.

Sure, full aftermarket suspension is the ultimate, if it is allowed, and you're going really quick, it's the thing to have.

But you're running in the mid nines, and you're running 9" tire classes at times. I would not go to the expense of a four link for that.

I do have the floaters and I grease them. What if I want to stay with a 13 or 14 inch tire, will a Cal Trac work with them?

The thing that turned me off to CalTracs was a video of a rear rotating what I thought was a long way on a car with Cal Tracs. Paste this in and have a look. http://flic.kr/p/cfLT6W
Here's another shot from the back. http://www.flickr.com/photos/simpkinsfamily/7387114350/
Isn't that a Cal trac system?
I can't see how my set-up could possibly rotate that much. It looks bad to me

[Alan Roehrich]

Ron, there are big block Chevy cars that weight 3400# going mid nines on 9" tires with the CalTracs setup. It works, there's not a lot more to say.

I have no idea how the car in the video is set up.

On a 9" tire we're carrying the front wheels all the way to high gear consistently with CalTracs and the rest of the setup I described. If we can't hook, no one can. There are big tire cars that will go home if we so much as spin the tires a 1/2 turn.