[fasteach]

Hi...pretty new to the board. Great info available to the average guy. I have a 68 mustang fastback with caltrac bars and the rancho 9 way shocks, and i have a question: should i be trying to add weight to the car to come to some "ideal" front to rear weight distribution, or just keep working with the bars and shocks? the car has 53.5% ft 46.5% rear now. on hoosier quicktime pros it runs pretty consistent 7.28-30 at 95.5ish mph with 1.60-1 60ft times. from the mph, i think it could 60ft quicker. Thanks for any advice. Duke

 

[fasteach]

spoke to travis at caltrac, and got some advice on shock settings, but nothing in the way of weight distribution. do i even need to worry about weight distribution, or what? any advice AT ALL will be appreciated. Duke

 

[Drag Radial]

Hey Duke,

You can either slow the shock ext down some or put some extenders on them to increase the travel, sounds like it might be ripping the tire off of the track when the shocks fully ext., once that happens it puts it back down and you lose a little traction I am sure.

 

[fasteach]

thanks for the reply, John. actuallyTravis and i just went through that exact issue. it seems that alot of the mustangs were having that exact problem with the previous 5 way ranchos being 2 inches too short, so when i called he had me measure them. that's how i got the 9 ways, he sent them to me for free...great service from those guys. how heavy is that plate in your truckbed john?

 

[Drag Radial]

Too, heavy, it's gotta be about 75 lbs or so. Running the truck in Orlando without it and on radials we will see what happens :-D ! Going to run the 7.0 in Immokalee?

 

[fasteach]

yep, if i can get the gaskets in the car in time...havent taken the heads over to dave to mill them to the suggested RA yet. just need some time to get everything squared away. if it will hook, it should run the number. good luck in orlando, John.

 

[craig w.]

spoke to travis at caltrac, and got some advice on shock settings, but nothing in the way of weight distribution. do i even need to worry about weight distribution, or what? any advice AT ALL will be appreciated. Duke

My '73 Nova has a weight distribution of 52/48% with 50 lbs in the trunk to get up to 3200 lbs. It'll run 1.35 60' times on fresh 26x8.5" slicks. Caltracs, Calvert split mono-leaf springs, Rancho 9 way rear shocks set on #5. Moroso Trick springs up front with Koni SPA-1 shocks.

I'd be tempted to play around with some weight in the truck of your car. I believe it'll help. Try 100 lbs and see what happens. Just secure it well.

 

[fasteach]

thanks for the info, Craig. when i get the gaskets in the car i'm gonna start stiffening up the shocks till it quits the "hook and spin". i'm on setting 6 now, but i spoke to some of the caltrac guys in orlando this past weekend, and apparently the general consensus is the stiffer the better, till the tires go flat i'm gonna make some weight bars for the car 50lbs each, and try it. whatever works, i'll scale it up and post my results. (saw alot of weight in those caltrac cars also) thanks for the advice. Duke

 

[craig w.]

You might look into slowing down the front shocks a tad. If it takes the initial hit OK and then spins when the front suspension tops out, it may be rising too fast in front.

 

[fasteach]

hmm, hadn't thought of that...good point. whenever wilma lets racing resume in immokalee, i'll do the rear shocks and then see what happens. my front shocks are the carrera 90/10s as recommended (and sold) by Calvert, but theyre not adjustable. i did find however, that lengthening the ft shocks (the mr. gasket extentions) really seemed to help quite a bit. thanks for the tips, Craig... really appreciated. Duke

 

[craig w.]

Adjustable front shocks would be a nice addition to your setup. I don't care for the CE/Summit 3-ways. Not enough adjustment. I've got Koni right now and will be switching again this winter to something externally adjustable. The Konis work pretty well, but just take too long between rounds to adjust when you also have to worry about warming/changing bottles, programming the ignition, cooling the motor, etc.