Switched from wanting a 4 link to Caltracs in the course of this thread.But sliders or shackles?
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CalTracs gone. Bilsteins now. Here to learn. Springs have nothing to do with ride or rebound?
HEMI-ITIS
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They do have something to do with the overall ride. Double adjustable shocks allow you to control the extension and compression of the shock. This more critical in racing but would be better than a NON adjustable shock for the street.
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What has been done to allow for that wide a tire?
I saw a spring relocation kit put on a 69 SuperBee that gave it about 3-4" of additional width each tire. For some reason, they left the outside vertical part of the frame intact, cut out the rest that is normally cut out, and welded in the bracket.
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Back halved with LARGE tubs and shortened rear
Dodge 330
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Let me guess. You used them with stock or Superstock style leafsprings?
I had people tell me the Cal-Tracs sucked, too. But way more told me they worked! I considered the source that could not get them to work and ignored him. They do require some effort and experimentation to make them work. The biggest gaffe I've seen people make is tightening down all the bolts to where they can't work properly.
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HEMI-ITIS
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Yes,they need to have free movement. I have not tried more preload as the car leaves straight.
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In the realm of 9.0 and slower ANY properly working suspension will hook. Auto Zone Shocks and Pep Boy radials probably wont hook. The quicker you go the more important the tire, shocks, weight distribution, starting line ratio, converter, power management all become. Believe or not there is a Coronet that has been low 7s in the 1/4 on leaf springs, also a Dart in the low 4s in the 1/8.
Doug
Doug
Hemirunner
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The Dart has been 4.14 that I know of and I thought I heard it went a 4.0 something but I couldn’t find the video. I’ll be At SGMP in February and be watching for it in person.
https://www.google.com/search?q=tooth+jerker+dodge+dart&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari
70chall440
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Coming into this late and admittedly I have not read every post, however since I am in the process of doing a 70 RR myself, I thought I'd step in reference suspension; in my case my car was already hacked up quite a bit with a tilt front end. In the rear, it has stock leaf springs. What I intend to do is relocate the springs and stuff as big a tire in there as I can. I have done the mini tub thing on my 73 Cuda and while it did allow for a 315 tire and looks cool it caused some back seat issues which I didn't anticipate but overcame. I am not building a drag car, pretty much strictly a street car and I want it to handle and stop (as much as it can). I will be running a 66 426 Hemi and 4 speed and I recently decided to run front coil over shocks. I built a triangulated 4 link for my Cuda and it works fine but it is a lot of work; in the case of the RR I am going for more of a "year 10" look lol. I would consider some Caltracs I suppose, haven't thought it through enough yet.
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That '66 426 Hemi should have solid lifters, is that the route you are going?
All I "thought" I was waiting for to install a RMS StreetLynx or Gerst triangulated rear suspension was the money and having checked off a couple of more important boxes, like my QA1 K-member and front suspension and buying the Wilwood disc brakes, and getting it all installed. Well I've bought the brakes
and when they come in, I'm ready to get all that installed. So I "had made my decision" and it was a question of RMS of Gerst...that is until this thread. I will ultimately do what I want with my V-code car, but the performance and relative ease of adjustment of the Caltracs suspension was the selling point AND the full reversibility was a bonus.In your case, reversibility isn't a factor in my opinion.
70chall440
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That '66 426 Hemi should have solid lifters, is that the route you are going?
All I "thought" I was waiting for to install a RMS StreetLynx or Gerst triangulated rear suspension was the money and having checked off a couple of more important boxes, like my QA1 K-member and front suspension and buying the Wilwood disc brakes, and getting it all installed. Well I've bought the brakes
In your case, reversibility isn't a factor in my opinion.
I am running hydraulic lifters in the Hemi; but yes in 66 they would have been solids. Basically, I am building the Hemi to meet 70 specs (roughly). This engine had a hard life (as many did), it was a race motor that was windowed at some point, welded up and continued to race. Throughout all of it, they never punched it out a huge amount and it ended up not being too bad. I am not looking for a huge HP engine, really more of the eye candy of a 426 in this car (I have a number of other cars, 6 pack 70 challenger, 73 Cuda with a 416 stroker, 01 Viper, etc.). I do love the 70 Roadrunner and this one was so cut up that I have no problem doing whatever I wanted, but I also didn't want this to turn into a 10 year project (like my Cuda), just looking to make a relatively reliable very cool street car. It will have an air grabber, pistol grip, etc.
I am all about fabrication myself, I have a full shop and can make pretty much anything I want/need so there is that; but I am more about just making it work rather than pour money down a large funnel. If the front end wasn't cut up, I would be running stock T bars but that Hemi takes up a lot of room and since I don't have a coil over front end car, here is my chance... LOL.
At the risk of getting flamed here; I personally would not give 2 craps if it had a V in the vin or not; its your car, do whatever you want. I would (and have) chopped up V code cars and even a R code back in the day, wouldn't/didn't bother me even a little bit. First off, not a lot you can do these days that cannot be undone short of chopping and channeling it, secondly it is not like there is a shortage of stock show ponies, just go to any car show. IMO stock is boring, inefficient and a PIA. I was around when these cars were new or near new and very few of them remained unmodified for very long, thats hotrodding and where the excitement is. Very few people (if any) went out and bought a performance car and then bragged how stock it was back in the day. Again, my opinion but I will walk past a row of restored cars to see a modified car. No, I don't like chopped up cars that chopped up for no reason or done very poorly, but I do love well done modifed cars that work.
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Agreed, as long as it's not a train wreck, and the only reason you look is because you have to, it's so bad.
I have NO plans on selling, literally, and no children to pass it on to, and my wife has her own 65 GTO, so gaining or losing "value" is subjective. I would prefer it to gain value, and being a Mecum auctions junkie, even making the Kissimmee auction a family vacation (it was GREAT!) I see well executed restomod/pro-touring cars bringing the money, and my intention is to follow that style outline while making the car suit me and my purposes.
The "stock" perfect 70 Roadrunner niche in my area and circle of friends is already occupied by 2 brothers, friends of mine, and even if I wanted to "compete" with them I probably couldn't. We placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd in the World Of Wheels and I was 3rd, and in the "stock" category I always will be when they show up. But you see, when I'm at the race track, or I'm at the monthly cruise in show, or I'm putting 600 miles on my car in the 6 days of Cruisin the Coast and their cars are "in the garage" because of a slight chance of rain or I'm at the track needing surgery to remove the smile off my face from just having put someone on the trailer, they are sourcing "correct bolts" and polishing the paint. My car is a show-er and a go-er and with the changes I am making it is uniquely MY car.
Thanks for the reply.
I do have some nice sized tires on the back with stock suspension and Year One wheels, and when I do the U.S. Cartools frame ties I will get the leaf spring relocation kit installed, see about how much wider tire I can go with, and if that means mini tub, so be it!
moobster
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Can someone tell me what the slot length is on the sliders?
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If you look up the various offerings, some have dimensions shown. The Caltracs sliders have a slant/tilt to the slot within the bracket too.
coronet68mx
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With the amount of money you spend you should consider buy one of this instead... ready to race
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A buddy had Cal-tracs on his 3600 lb Challenger and we never could get the car to launch like it should. Granted, it was nose heavy but not that much....pretty much the average for most I'd say. It had the rancho shocks from Calvert and the mono leaf setup and it did have a pretty stiff ride. We ended up installing a ladder bar setup with iirc 110 lbs coil overs. With just doing a basic setting for the car for a 1st pass shakedown, the car ran a better 60' and ET plus it drove smoother on the street. Don't know what the prices are these days on a ladder system vs the CT's but back then, the ladder setup was about 150 bucks more. I'm a ladder bar guy but unless you need to stay with leaf springs for a particular class etc, then go with the CT's. The CT setup will also make less noise on the street but that doesn't bother me.
66Satellite47
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Bio, one heck of a thread! So much here I had comments on, but have restrained myself. I need to go through it all again. A few quick points: 1) leaf springs (SS or CalTrac) will work for most applications, 2) 4 links are neat but fit is tough & you really need to understand how to adjust them (guardrail here I come), 3) drag street radials can work/handle a lot of power/torque with a good rear suspension, 4) good adjustable shocks are really key front & rear, double adjustable are neat, easily adjustable is really important.
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The turning point, for me, was what was initially a rather harsh reprimand of me by vintage chromoly, which I objected to, got an apology for, and that helped me consider that although ultimately I WILL do what I want to to MY car, it is a real V-code, and if I can achieve good results with a reversible modification (Caltracs vs the WELDING required for a triangulated 4 link)...
AND:
Caltracs work well AND are easier to adjust, which to me means more likely to be effective for me. That's a big plus!
VERY important, for a few reasons, and I am FAR from getting the most out of the Toyo Proxes TQ drag radials I've enjoyed for 3 years. They fit GREAT at 315/35/17 and look pretty darn good too, they wear well, and put about 10.5" of tread width on the road, and unlike "imminent death in the rain" Nitto 555R drag radials, they haven't forced me to have surgery to unclench my sphincter after a spin out on the highway in my 89 Conquest TSi with the Nittos...
I have a line lock due to be installed with my new 4 wheel disc brake system, so there's that, I can clean and heat them beyond what I've been doing-spinning them up by sidestepping the clutch and not using the water box (which I still may avoid using water). I am also installing the Hydramax hydraulic throwout bearing and one of the benefits of that is I'm installing the HitMaster launch control system too.
So LOTS of things to help my launch before I start looking for different tires, like bias ply Mickey Thompsons...
I may be able to fit the 345/40/17 size and get a taller sidewall.
I have 2 way adjustable Viking front shocks, so I am inclined to do the same on the rear.
Thanks for the reply.
To be clear. A triagulted 4 link is not the same as a true race style 4 link. Bar lengths, attachment locations at both the housing and body are a compromise. Each car requires something slightly different. Power, trans type, tire type, track prep, weight. We could go on and on. My firm belief is the triangulated aftermarket kit is of little performance value if any. I believe this to a degree with aftermarket front set ups as well. They are slightly lighter. Some offer more room. Rack and pinion is a nice addition. The cost is pretty steep for the gain. Just my 2 cents.
Doug
Doug
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