I’m thinking about upgrading my suspension, but don’t want to spend that much money unless it will help with my ET’s as well. Now, as I understand it, the stock rear spring rate is around 110. For drag racing, you want it very high, somewhere near 500. However, that number is bad for handling and not really streetable. I’ve been looking at H&R Sport springs, which are 276/220 I believe. This should give me a nice drop and make the car handle well (an added plus).
My question is this, I know a higher rear spring rate helps in that it lessens the effects of weight transfer which keeps the front wheels on the ground more, resulting in better traction. But does the front spring rate help to? If a stiff rear suspension lessens the effects of weight transfer, would stiff springs up front prevent a lot weight transfer from even starting? I hope you get where I’m coming from here…like stiff rear springs are stiffer so the front end won’t go off the ground as much, and front springs are stiffer so the front of the car won’t go off the ground as much to begin with. This all has to do with drag race launching and getting better 60’ times, as well as better traction immediately following fast shifts.
My best 60’ time at the track is 2.316, which I think is pretty good on stock suspension, stock clutch, and regular old Goodyear Eagle HP radials. I did lower the front tire pressure to 20 psi. Now would H&R Sport springs along with shocks allow me to get my 60’ times to at least 2.1-2.2?
on the 2.3 with the stock suspension. I can’t help you, but I think more people should do what you are. Learn the drive the car well stock and then fixing it up.
i am by no means an expert or authority but will post my observations and guidance… first of all…
2.3 60 foot times is blowing the front tires off. I have the same prob, by the way.
I know for a fact that a super stiff rear suspension is great for drag race…
front spring rate… please note the non expert part… I believe will not control the lifting action or (where i feel is the science) weight transfer… i feel very confident in saying WEIGHT TRANSFER!!! i personally feel that the lower you can get your front as compared to the rear the better… provided you keep the camber somewhat square… crooked wheels slow you down…(drag sux)… from my experiences so far and yes i’m still a rook… most of all our front drive racer’s problems begin with traction.
which seems you feel is a prob for you as well. anyway back to weight transfer… … you launch and all your weight shifts to the rear which is great for those heavy v8 cars… but if you can minimize the transfer of weight from the front(drive wheels) to rear you will have much more traction.
I love to drag race… i have some cheap ebay coilovers (adjustables) and i jack them all the way up in the back at the track. and set my fronts where the camber angle aint to ridiculus but still low… basically i’m tryin to keep the weight on the front wheels… i feel slicks are a god sent but hey if i could afford an extra set of 275.00 worth of wheels and tires i’d be the man!!!
most of my time is consumed by thinkin and testing and tuning my little white car to make it faster at the track…
Please understand.. i am not the grand wizard... but i love to drag race!!!!!!!! my friends are all junkies as well.. v8s, imports, who cares.... thats our life...we love it..... what else would you do in tennessee???? lol!!!! its all about e.t. ....... e.t., baby... nothin else matters!!!!!!!! well, i guess havin a sweet ride is cool too....
keep the weight up front, don’t get to excited at the light and dump it at 6 grand, and keep thinkin…“MY SH1T LOOKS GOOD, I DROVE IT HERE AND THE V8 BOYS ARE LOOKIN MY WAY!!!”
talk to fellas!!!-adam
Front spring rate isn’t that important in a drag race situation as long as you dont go to soft for control(bounce) or to hard for the suspension to extend. What is important is the damping rate of the front shocks. When the weight transfers to the rear the front suspension is unloaded(without a reverse four link setup this will always happen). It is important to have a loose enough shock extension setting(rebound) to allow the front suspesion to fall down to keep as much tire on the ground as possible.
This requires double adjustable shocks whith the rebound(extension) set as loose as possible and the compression set to the maximum damping level. This allows your front suspension to extend as far as possible then stay extended as long as possible to allow maximum traction.
Spring rate is mainly for ride hieght and ballance(front to back and across) and is dependent on the wieght of the car.
So what suspension would you guys recommend? I mean, your basic sport spring lowering with shocks would help my 60’ times as well right. The stock spring rate is around 110 I believe, so any sport spring would be double as stiff. Still looking for some more info on this topic…
You’re going to have a rough time getting someone to
“recomend” a suspension for street/strip. What works well at the drag strip doesn’t usually work well(unsafe) on the street.
Originally posted by night
[B]only when you are getting truly fast, it will help on back 1/8.
.4 from a drop is not gonna happen. he may have improved his 60 a chunk, and just overall had a great run, but it wasnt simple result of the lowering.
how do only manage a 16.2 with a B20 ?
is it a stock B20B ? [/B]
no, the stock teg got the 16.2, i got 16.4 with my jdm b20b teg.
yes, the stock exhaust and the crappy “small port” ‘90 intake mani hurt my top end. But the real culprit was my 2.5sec 60’ times. First gear was pretty much a write off, and second gave quite a squack too. tires indeed…
on the 2.3 with the stock suspension. I can’t help you, but I think more people should do what you are. Learn the drive the car well stock and then fixing it up.