B Bodies and Road Courses - My Super Bee Setup

[Superbeemike]

Here's an Gopro video from the track....

 

[Superbeemike]

Here's a in car video using the trackaddict app. Sorry for the talking in the video.

 

[1970RT]

Here's a in car video using the trackaddict app. Sorry for the talking in the video.

This is my favorite thread on this forum. Outstanding.

David

 

[70chall440]

Awesome videos, that track addict app is pretty cool. Its good to see you out there getting after it.

 

[Stephen Hotz]

Got back last night from Thunderhill and had a blast. Car still runs and the only two issues I really had was I lost the 4 gear syncro again, so it was grinding, and the drivers side valve cover was leaking pretty bad. I have all of my videos uploaded to YouTube, here's a link to the channel.

SuperBeeMike YouTube

Subbed

 

[69sunfireGTX]

Nice video!
I think there is something wrong with your tires. They make a lot of noise.

 

[moparedtn]

Now looky here Mike (Ed says in mock frustration)....
How come you haven't told me to add your YT channel to the FBBO "master list"?


Wellll, fret not sir - I have now done just that!
FBBO Members with YouTube Channels



for sharing your adventures so that folks like me can live vicariously!

 

[Superbeemike]

No idea - but FBBO member @Superbeemike has been very busy posting videos lately on YT and
for those thinking about buying a new Challenger, I'd say very informative too:
https://www.youtube.com/@superbeemike3562/videos

Thank you for the post. Yes, we had a busy Memorial Day out at the track. Unfortunately the Super Bee stayed home since it needs some transmission work, but the wife did let me take her Challenger out on the track. It’s an 18’ Scat Pack and really is a great car. I put track day pads/rotors on it and Nitto NT05’s. It’s really good and surprises many.

We are starting to plan another track day/s at Sonoma on Thanksgiving weekend. Stay tuned, I might take the Super Bee then.

 

[old guys rule]

On Memorial Day 2021, myself and a few buddies went over to Thunder Hill Raceway in Willows, California for a Track Day.

While camping at the track the night before, I was BS’ing with my buddies about Mopar vs. Chevy and heard a lot about bringing a boat anchor to a road course and so on. I did two days last year at this track and the Bee did quite well, so I went for another round this year. Last year I was very conservative with the car and just cruised around the track, but it was still pretty good. This year, I set some goals and I pushed the car and myself. I really wanted to get some respectful lap times and get the car on its edge. Long story short, we had an absolute blast and I managed to get 7 sessions completed between the two tracks. They had a special package that day where both courses were open. I was giving rides to everyone out there and after my buddies cars broke, their tone quickly changed too. The car was very comparable to many of the newer cars out there and surprised many, including myself and my buddies.

On my drive home, I thought about what I accomplished with the Bee and why it was perceived as the odd car out when it actually was really good. Kind of like the fat kid playing dodgeball. I realized that everyone see’s these cars as only drag cars, but they are most certainly not a one trick pony with a few simple upgrades.

When building up my car, I struggled researching combinations for doing this kind of driving, there just was not much information out there. Now that I’ve dialed my car in, I feel obligated to share my setup in hopes more of you take your cars out to the track too. I’ll attempt to break down each section of the car in the following posts so this intial post isn't too long. Here are the pics from Memorial Day 2021.

Thanks for reading - Mike

View attachment 1120900 View attachment 1120901 View attachment 1120902

I have a 63 Dodge b-body I'm looking for ways to make it handle better. It's not a race car just Street. Was wondering if it would be practical to use offset shackles on the rear eyes of the leaf springs. Any other advice for handling I would really appreciate. Thanks in advance, Dave

 

[ckessel]

The focus on my 65 is road course and auto x with some drag thrown in along with the fun drives on curvy roads. I have no feedback available as the car is in build mode.

 

[Rusty knuckles]

I have a 63 Dodge b-body I'm looking for ways to make it handle better. It's not a race car just Street. Was wondering if it would be practical to use offset shackles on the rear eyes of the leaf springs. Any other advice for handling I would really appreciate. Thanks in advance, Dave

I think the only way this would be more practical than a rear sway bar is if you were racing in a class where a sway bar isn't allowed. I don't know of any such class.

 

[sam dupont]

What did the NASCAR teams do when they went road racing?

 

[old guys rule]

I think the only way this would be more practical than a rear sway bar is if you were racing in a class where a sway bar isn't allowed. I don't know of any such class.

I have a sway bar but was wondering if I should get the offset shackles as well

 

[old guys rule]

Wonder if they'll fit under the dog dish caps...

They will. I put them on mine.

 

[old guys rule]

I think the only way this would be more practical than a rear sway bar is if you were racing in a class where a sway bar isn't allowed. I don't know of any such class.

So what do you think of using the offset shackles on the rear of the leaves for the street. Think they may cause any problems with handling or over stressing the leaf springs?

 

[old guys rule]

The focus on my 65 is road course and auto x with some drag thrown in along with the fun drives on curvy roads. I have no feedback available as the car is in build mode.

What do you think of using the offset shackles on the street? I would like to find an autocross club nearby too. Do you think the shackles would stress the springs for cause any handling problems on the street? a

 

[sam dupont]

The focus on my 65 is road course and auto x with some drag thrown in along with the fun drives on curvy roads. I have no feedback available as the car is in build mode.

weight is all important and you are racing a moderately fat pig. it can be done, look at the Viper. The Viper's full potential was never realized. Chrysler didn't have their heart in it or Ford wouldn't be the sole American marque to win Le Mans . in the end, lighter cars go faster on road courses

Find out what these guys did to race at Riverside:

 

[Rusty knuckles]

What do you think of using the offset shackles on the street? I would like to find an autocross club nearby too. Do you think the shackles would stress the springs for cause any handling problems on the street? a

Without offsetting the front mounts and probably the spring perches on the axle yes I think it will introduce issues with minimal upside.

If you are looking at autocross heres my advice. I run my 69 charger in the autocross a lot. I'm just finishing rebuilding the front suspension. All moog oem stuff, nothing exotic. All my front bushings were shot and i discovered i had a blown shock too. My rear springs are tired and the front suspension is set to match, the car sits low. I put a bigger front sway bar on it and a rear sway bar and went racing with that old tired junk. You would be surprised what a 50 year old worn out suspension in a 4000lb car will be capable of. I can tell you from what ive seen, a set of 200tw tires will get me a helluva lot more than any suspension mod I can do. If you want to be really unique, go for your offset shackles. But in performance a $300 rear sway bar will beat it I'm certain.

 

[old guys rule]

Without offsetting the front mounts and probably the spring perches on the axle yes I think it will introduce issues with minimal upside.

If you are looking at autocross heres my advice. I run my 69 charger in the autocross a lot. I'm just finishing rebuilding the front suspension. All moog oem stuff, nothing exotic. All my front bushings were shot and i discovered i had a blown shock too. My rear springs are tired and the front suspension is set to match, the car sits low. I put a bigger front sway bar on it and a rear sway bar and went racing with that old tired junk. You would be surprised what a 50 year old worn out suspension in a 4000lb car will be capable of. I can tell you from what ive seen, a set of 200tw tires will get me a helluva lot more than any suspension mod I can do. If you want to be really unique, go for your offset shackles. But in performance a $300 rear sway bar will beat it I'm certain.

I am still putting the car together so I haven't gotten any feedback on the handling yet. I'm just looking for any detail I can do to it to improve it. I have front and rear sway bars, both non-adjustable, Bilstein shocks all around and Poly.. bushings throughout the entire suspension. The torsion bars are just short of solo bars and the leaf springs are super stock. The steering box is a 15 to 1 power unit and I have a quick ratio steering arm but no one makes a quickly ratio idler arm for my car. I can only run a p215 60 tire on the front to clear the sway bar and only with a quarter inch wheel spacer. I'll probably look for a different sway bar for the front so I can go to a wider front tire, maybe you could suggest one. I have an adco bar now. I have 275 60 15 tires in the rear with plenty of room left over. I want to get some wider rims to see if I can run 295s. Really appreciate your help, thanks, Dave

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

Without offsetting the front mounts and probably the spring perches on the axle yes I think it will introduce issues with minimal upside.

If you are looking at autocross heres my advice. I run my 69 charger in the autocross a lot. I'm just finishing rebuilding the front suspension. All moog oem stuff, nothing exotic. All my front bushings were shot and i discovered i had a blown shock too. My rear springs are tired and the front suspension is set to match, the car sits low. I put a bigger front sway bar on it and a rear sway bar and went racing with that old tired junk. You would be surprised what a 50 year old worn out suspension in a 4000lb car will be capable of. I can tell you from what ive seen, a set of 200tw tires will get me a helluva lot more than any suspension mod I can do. If you want to be really unique, go for your offset shackles. But in performance a $300 rear sway bar will beat it I'm certain.

any recommendation for 200 TW tires to fit a 15-inch wheel? What are you using?