Hey guys I just wanted to get some opinions I'm looking into a set of front shocks because my eddy IAS are super stiff and not letting the car have some weight transfer on the launch. I bought a set of cheap summit shocks years ago and hated them because the adjuster was crap on them when switching 90/10 or 80/20 or 70/30 I literally couldn't get both sides of the car on the same setting tossed them in the garbage can after months and went to the eddys. My current shocks are nice car doesn't have much body roll and is a daily driver but I'm either going to buy a spare set and swap before the track or just ride them daily if they work out well. I would have already pulled the trigger on non adjustable 90/10's but I was reading some people don't like them because the front end stays up down the track and something like a 70/30 would transfer but get the nose back down.

Opinions wanted and much appreciated!

Kev

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I'm curious to know, and others probably are too, what torsion bars you're running. You can run a soft shock, but if you're using a stiff torsion bar it will unload with very little suspension movement and not give you much front end rise.

If you want a shock for street and strip I'd spend the money for the single adjustable QA1s or better.

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Joshua

The duster still has the stock torsion bars, not sure what size those are though. The car used to get good suspension lift with
The old worn out shock

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Hey to all, I was wondering the same thing. My car is a stick with 6cyl bars and I want to launch as hard as possible as well.(street and strip) I noticed that Greg and Mad Max both run worn out leaf springs and are having success but both of those cars are auto's. With the suspension being already loaded on the convertor it would seem that that combination is really working well. I wonder if a stick car would react the same? Has anyone tried soft springs with a four speed? and what do they run for shocks both front and back?
The idea of an adjustment versus a swap is appealing but I would go through the effort to change the shocks on race weekends if the car performed better.
Any and all comments appreciated as well.

Thanks Derek

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70 Duster 238'', four speed ,3:91's, 500 Elde, Hookers
68 Dart 4 dr 225, completely original

Kev and Derek, I'll run this pass you two,but remember this is just my thinking. and what worked for me.
My Dart has stock slant T bars and I ran the same Summit adjustables and yep, my adjuster broke and was only able to run 90/10. After a few years and discussing my "Red Light" problems, a old timer drag racer said "Just buy the cheapest shock you can and your problem will be cured". I scoffed at the Idea as 90/10 are "Race Shocks" and should be the best.But I thought what the heck can't hurt trying. So off to the local auto part store and found basic stock replacements,"EL Cheapo"Gabriel Red Riders.Son of a gun, way better, no more red eye,improved 60', front settled faster and picked up 1mph consistant trap speed.Now again this is what worked for me. Another thing was when I installed the 002/003 S/S rear springs it made only my wallet a bit lighter.
If you want to make something adjustable, try limiters on the upper control arms. The coolest set up was from the Sox and Martin team that had a cable attached to the upper control arms coming up thru the inner fender with a clevis pin. A bracket was attached to the inner fender with a series of holes to lengthen or shorten the cable to limit the front end lift. with in a matter of seconds Ronnie could set them for track conditions. OR just a set of 3/8 bolts set at 2'' to take place of the rubber upper control arm bump stops. I did OR, set it, forget it.
Again this was some things that worked for me, "Your results may vary."
Just a thought...

Thanks for the response Romeo, was your car a stick? In my case I bought Mopar replacement springs for a 340 not the Super stock ones. Even with that the car is a lot higher than I would like, I know it will settle over time. My thinking was that with a stick I would be '' shocking'' the suspension and good springs would actually help performance? I thought new springs would help eliminate wrap up. I'm going to take my old springs and get fresh bushings installed and try them. Should I be using anything other than stock for bushings?
I have seen the cable idea before on an A/SM back in the eighties and it worked great..
I will try the cheapo shocks as well, quicker 60' sound good.
Help me understand how the shocks effected your reaction time to get red lights?
I have limited experience in setting up a street/strip four speed car and I appreciate any and all comments from any members. My biggest goal is to ring out every bit of performance in my combination, if I can beat just one of my buddies V8's. To me that would be like winning a Wally.

Thanks again
Derek

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70 Duster 238'', four speed ,3:91's, 500 Elde, Hookers
68 Dart 4 dr 225, completely original

My car was race only with a 5000 stall converter auto.
When I replaced the springs with the S/S it raised the rear 5 1/2 inches.
You may be old and grey before the new springs you have will settle much.
With a stick I would try the adjustable pinion snubber set about 1/2 to 1'' from the floor with the car setting on all 4 tires on the ground for starters.
It sounds like you drive it on the street too,when you do lower the pinion snubber or every bump you hit it will be banging the floor. When I was 17 that didn't bother me much. Had a 340 4 speed Duster with 5.13 gears that was my daily driver. Fun Fun !
Poly bushings are better, but lube them well to prevent them from squeaking. Kits come with lube.
The best way to discribe the shock theory, short version is to keep the car from jumping out of the beams too soon.Seat time,meaning the more passes you make down the track the better understanding you will make of all of this. Just some more thoughts.

Depending on your set up, the SS springs will still wrap up. I saw it in person on Ryan's Dart and it weren't pretty. Put the snubber on like Romeo said and it will launch well. But be forwarned, it will destroy the under side of the car if you do not reinforce the snubber area. It is not made to take the hit of a 4-Speed car on slicks for the long term.
Rick

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

Slant six torsion bars are not all the same.Ones out of ac slant car are the same as 318 bars.318 cars with ac got the same bars as 340 cars.I just got a set of old mopar performance bars that are 810, the stock slant torsion bars without ac are 830.Just some info I just learned.Mark

Here is some hearsay.

If you are running street radials, your tires will just burn up. None of these suggestions will make a bit of difference. The suggestions will only start working if you are running drag radials or slicks.

Pinion snubbers and SS springs are a waste of time on a street car. You would have better results with slapper bars, which would also stiffen the rear springs.

I base this observation on 3 years of running a 4 speed car with 40 year old 340 T-bars and 5 leaf rear springs. I also have 3.5 rear gears with limited slip, along with p235x60x15 street radials. My 4 speed is '64 vintage. The car is a '65 Dart.

Nothing I have tried, has planted the rear tires. The tires just spin and the the cars goes sideways.Kinda of fun, but you don't win races going sideways...

I ram my red car for a long time with worn out stock shocks, stock t-bars, JC Whitney 5 leaf springs, and a pair of $19 pair of Lakewood clamp on slapper bars. On 8x26x15 ET Streets it would 60' in the high 1.50's on the spray.

As a reference, Mike's '68 went 1.54 with ladder bar/coilovers and 12" slicks. I was in the other lane and went 1.56.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Not hearsay at all. I too ran slapper bars on my 65 Belvedere stick car.
As they say,,,,, "There is more than one way to skin a cat."

Thanks guy! You all bring up good points but if I go with the cheapo shock is my car going to ride like a boat? Before I re did my 4 shocks and leaf springs the car would never settle down it would feel like all bouncing and act like it wanted to change lanes at 120mph, now it's just super stiff barely can even move the car pushing down on a bumper haha

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Not of the first 10,000 miles or so. I've been using $15 Monroe gasmatics on my daily drivers for years.Again this is just me.

I did a lot of research when coming up with a setup for the belvedere and ended up going with this:

Slant t-bars up front, junk shocks, lowered as much as it can (from the torsion adjusters) so it has a lot of lift off the launch.

Out back is ss springs (3800 lb) with shocks from a ram (forget what year now...) the ram shocks are set up pretty good for the strip, and the length works well with the ss springs.

Haven't ran it yet, but v-8 guys use the same setup with great results.

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1965 Plymouth Belvedere II Turbo Project - SOLD
2002 Subaru OBS
1995 Lexus LS400 Race Car