Need help with slapper bars

[n2oracer]

I'm helping a friend with his 79 Camaro. We're having a few issues with it hooking. I wanted to get some opinions on solving the problem. Here's the setup:

3400 lbs.
295 MT radials @ 14 lbs hot
CE j-bolt slapper bars
Lakewood 90/10 front & 50/50 rear shocks
TH350 & 4.10 gear

The car runs 12.0 @ 111 w/ 1.60 60' on motor. The car hooks fine on motor. When we spray the car is when the problems start. It has a 125 shot on the throttle. It ran a best of 11.0 @ 121 w/ 1.57 60' on the bottle. It spins about a car length. I took a video from the side to see what the car was doing. It looks to me that the front and rear of the car are rising at the same time. It looks as if the weight is not staying transfered and is "bouncing" upward. The last run on the spray the car had the front tires up about 3" then the rear tire came off the ground. The car worked better with a 1" gap on the bars vs. 1/4" gap. Is there anything we can do to slow down the seperation in the rear? BTW, the Lakewood shocks are non-adjustable. The 1.57 60' was with a 1" gap, and it went 1.64 with the 1/4" gap. The 1.64 is when the rear tires lifted. Any ideas?

[Zeke1]

Been there done that and there are no eazy fixes it's the curse of the leaf spring so to speak they like to seperate the body from the rearend, there are several things wrong first the front control arms are to tight if you take the the spindle and spring out you will find the arms are hard to move but they should move very freely and drop under there own weight both uppers and lowers, second you should have either a QA1 coil over convertion kit or the moroso drag springs in the front, third you need a very adjustable shock not a three way or 90/10 a goodshock doesn't need to be a double but it would be nice and set them very loose to start with and work your way up, fourth head to the rear you need a shock that will let you set rebound so the back seperate is controlable a double would work very nice in the rear , fifth you probably have a 5 or 6 multi leaf set up WAY to stiff thats why the car seperate's instead of squats you can take leafs out but a mono leaf is the best bet, then you have pinion angle if it hasn't been done chances are it's way way out it should be between 3 and 6 down, and there are alot of other things like relocating weight to the rear like the battery and just plain removeing weight altogether those cars are very heavy I know I have one. Sorry there is no quick fix or cheap fix you can try different things and they might help but in the end to put down some real power you will end up doing all of the above, even if you don't think you need it now as you progress in the engine department you will keep going back to the same problems so just get it over with now, probably not what you wanted to hear but I've taken the long road on this one hopefully I can save you some time and money.

[steel town]

Well Zeke you did give some good information but those Camaro's are way tooooooo front heavy and there is the problem . In my 80 Z I ran 1.55's on motor and a 1.47 on spray with a completely stock suspension minus the sway bars or any traction device .I may have been able to run faster with some of those mods listed above but I didn't know any better (and still don't) now I run Cal Trac's and man those things work for a Camaro there the trick spend the money you won't regret it . Although my 60's did not get better with the Cal Trac's they did get more consistent and the car would hook on the street and that was what hinderd my Z on the street it would annihilate 28x12.5 ET streets (not fun) but the Cal Tracs stopped that .

[Zeke1]

Your right about the cal trac's I have a set on mine but he wanted help with the slappers so I do what I can, the front weight has very little to do with it "if" it's set up right, while the cars are heavy the front to rear bias is not to bad atleast from my own exp. mine has been from 46 to 50 REAR weight and thats a hell of alot better than most stangs so I don't see it as a problem, I have used and tried and made almost every set up in the past I have owned this car for over 22 years and I have went from 1.45 60's running 11 flat to 1.40 running 8.70's and I can tell you as you add power you end up back at the same point every time, I did my research this year and went to Orlando and every single leaf car in DR with one exception had split monos, cal tracs, double adjustable shock's in the rear and either QA1 converstion's or moroso in the front, so I now have the same and have seen this set up get 1.25 60's on radials, I just hope I can replicate those numbers. ;)

[steel town]

Well Zeke I did see that he wanted help with slapper bars but I was hoping he may see the light and invest in a set of Cal Tracs , sometimes people need to see that a product works befor there willing to put out the money .I also want a set of QA1's but I've decided to put them in my 68 Camaro unless I find a set at a good price for the 80 . This will be the last year for the 80 .I'm giving the car to my son . I hope you have good luck with your car Zeke it sounds good anyways .