getting my 67' to hook

[Oborny71]

need ideas on suspenion tricks to get my truck to hook. thinking of going with coilovers in the rear . open for ideas. i'll be pushing around 750hp with my blown 427. running 28x13.5 ET streets. thanks

[LONGHAIR]

What are you starting with? LWB or SWB? Coil or Leaf? Gear ratio? Transmission?

[Oborny71]

its a SWB with coil springs. i have softer springs in the rear now out of a G-body. rearend is 12 bolt with 4.11s and eaton posi. i'm running a turbo 400, with a 4000 stall converter

[LONGHAIR]

I'm sure that some stronger/stiffer trailing arms would do you a lot of good, as will stiffer (urethane) bushings. The coil-overs may help because of their adjustability. You can preload one side more than the other to straighten out the launch. An adjustable panhard rod and bracket can help too. Of course simple things like shifting some of the front weight to the rear will help too. (moving the battery to a box in the bed, etc.) General lightening in the front helps. Fuel tank in the rear (is it still in the cab?)

Are you still going to drive this truck on the street? What kind of percentage drag-street? Are you trying to do this as cheaply as possible? ...more can be done but it starts costing drastically after this point

[Oborny71]

its gonna be primarily driven on the street as a fri/sat night cruiser. it will see some track time. i plan on putting a fuel cell in the bed, and also moving the battery back there too. what can be done/ what needs to be done for front suspension?

[LONGHAIR]

If you are primarily street driving it, I wouldn't do much to the front suspension. Assuming that it is in good shape and working properly there isn't much that you can do with-out negatively affecting it's street manners, unless you want to spend the money for lighter weight parts like tubular control arms and stuff like that.
I'm assuming that you already have disc brakes...it may be beneficial to up-grade them (that doesn't gain you any speed, but it is a good idea...especially with a big block)

[68LSS1]

Stock trailing arm suspension is capable. Tom Durham who occasionally posts on here ran a low 9 with coil overs. I'm pretty sure when that was done it was all metal body pieces (I think he installed a fiberglass hood later). It was suppose to be capable of more. I don't know too much more details but I know he was using a Fatman Fabrications front suspension w/ a rack. There are some rear suspension options out there like the HTH kit. The stock trailing arms are fine. I was originally going to weld mine up to stiffen them but Steve @ HTH and Ed @ Mothertruckers said not too. Running some stitch welds would be fine but you need some of the flexibility in them. To get ET's down your going to need to get your truck on a diet and move weight to the rear (including moving the engine as far back as possible). Tom was running a 512ci Chevy with some nitrous (I don't remember what he was using for a tranny) and was getting the front end 3-4 feet in the air.

[special70gmc]

pic of the thruck i think hes talkin about

[68LSS1]

That's the one. Used that picture as my desktop for a long time.

[Oborny71]

yeah i have a pic of that posted on my wall. i know the stock trailing arms are capable, i just don't know how to go about setting it up. i do want to go with coilovers because of there adjustbilty and i can fine tune it. Have any ideas on what brand or length or spring rate to use? Also pics of how to set behind the axle coilovers up? thanks

[SCOTI]

Classic perf Products has a bolt on, behind the trailing arm, coil-over set-up in their catalog. I wouldn't go so far as to say they would work for HD/drag applications but they would be a damn good template for making your own HD stuff.

Nobody has mentioned this, but an adjustable sway-bar helps the A/G body cars put down some serious bite. It can tune the rotational forces from the drive-train & help the chassis put the power down.

Another big tuning trick is adjusting your pinion angle so that your chassis isn't working against your goal.

[Vince Putt]

Check out Art Morrision When I built my 85 pro streeter they helped me with spring rates and then even swapped them out with different ones at no charge till we got it right. I went with a coil over conventional shock. Great customer service.

[SCOTI]

BTW . . ..... That pic is freakin' cool. Does anyone have the vitals on that truck?

[BrentRS1985]

just back half it and get it over with, cost ya around $1,000

[68LSS1]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

BTW . . ..... That pic is freakin' cool. Does anyone have the vitals on that truck?

I finally found some info here. Note that he ran a 9.25@107 and let off at half track.

[MOTHERTRUCKERS]

Oborny71 Not in our catalog but we have multi position bolt or weld on coilover brackets and behind the rearend coilspring relocators, weld or bolt on panhard bar relocators, coil spring shims, QA1 adjustable coilovers etc. Email if you need anything.

[AirMale]

107mph looks like a typo but I'd love to be able to hook like that

[68LSS1]

Best 60 ft was 1.25. He said he let off at half track so that explains the low MPH.

[68c10owner]

I talked to Tom Duram about set ups on my old 70 that I was going to hotrod. He said to set the pinion angle at 4* down and run coil overs. He was running 33x10.5W slicks I believe which don`t sound wide but they were on 15x12 wheels, I bought the wheels from him a while back. Obviously he was hooking pretty good.

[Oborny71]

does anybody have tom durans email? i would like to ask him a few questions. but i'm sure he gets bugged alot about it already

[Purs]

oborny71, let me know what you find out. I've got a 600+ ft/lbs of torque I'm going to be trying to put the the ground. Can you say traction challenged?

[browndawg71]

something no one has mention is a airbag on the passenger side rear spring. will help load the susp. i run stock rear suspension on my truck and has worked pretty well. 6.8s in the 1/8,1.50 60 ft. long ways from 1.25 60s though. lowering the back a little lower than the front help mine hook also , that and 28-14.50s hoosiers.

[Purs]

browndawg, Did you mini-tub your truck to run the 28x14.50's? If not, what size wheel and backspace are you running on the back? Also, what safety upgrades did you perform on your truck to run that fast? Cage, 4 point seatbelts, fuel cell relocation, what? I don't want to have a problem with TECH. Thanks!

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by browndawg71

something no one has mention is a airbag on the passenger side rear spring. will help load the susp. i run stock rear suspension on my truck and has worked pretty well. 6.8s in the 1/8,1.50 60 ft. long ways from 1.25 60s though. lowering the back a little lower than the front help mine hook also , that and 28-14.50s hoosiers.

We need more info on this & how about some pics too!

[browndawg71]

Yes purs i tubbed it using another set of factory tubs. easy to do ,just need a welder.i the wheels are 15x12s i am not exactly sure of the backspacing but can get it if you want. my springs are stock and i run a truck 12 bolt w/ eaton posi and 3.73s.i have n ot had one problem in probably 50 runs , but it is a matter of time till the ring and pinoin grenade. if you want to see how the truck looks it was totm for december. man i really havent made any safety upgrades , i always believe in keeping it streetable and our local track is real laid back.