I have been searching for specific suspension setup tips for a 1st gen drag car but can’t find anything in particular.

Right now I run a suspension setup better suited for the street:
-Eibachs all around
-Tokico Blues all around
-Poly-U bushings, swaybar & end links

I am aware that the front has to be soft and the rear should be relatively stiff to allow for effective weight/power transfer to the ground during the launch. I don’t think that my present setup is good for the drag strip. The car feels too stiff. My best 60 ft time is about a 1.9 with Nitto drag radials. The car has a 108 mph trap speed but my times are usually around 13.3 secs because of my damn 60 foot time. I want to focus on the suspension to get a good 60 footer.

Any suggestions on what spring rate I should try for the front and rear? And what about the struts/shocks? As I was told by Shox.com, the softest setting on the Illuminas are about as soft as the Tokico Blues. Ground control told me to focus on the rear suspension and if I wanted to do the front then go with their coilovers. Do I really need to coilovers?

I was thinking of running stock front springs. But what about the strut… a stock replacement strut? Monroe? That sounds crazy.

I appreciate any suggestions on what to do or where to go (ie: websites, books, etc).

 

I dont know much, but I do know you dont want a front sway bar. Like you said, soft front suspension. You want the front to raise up and distribute the weight to the back wheels.

 

How many horse power are you looking at ?? yeah. coils up front, it's a drag car only ? and a 4 link setup
in the rear, is ideal. all those that you have are for street. drag racing is bare minimum.light weight front wheels with tires that are thin and require at least 50-60 lbs of air. roll much easier. in the rear, the way it is now try adding a couple of sand bags over the rear wheels. you can add bags or remove'em, or even move them around in the cargo area, find the best place that the car hooks up at and keep them there. the rear tires get low,low air presure(s). a line lock would also help out,,,tons !!

 

Um..

The Front should be stiff, with high air pressure in the tires.

The Rear should be soft, with Low Air Pressure in the tires.


This way the weight transfers to the rear more efficiently, and plants itself on the rear tires.

BTW, I have ridden in cars with the Tokico Blues.
The Illumina's on "soft" are MUCH softer than the Blues.

 

How many horse power are you looking at ?? yeah. coils up front, it's a drag car only ? and a 4 link setup
in the rear, is ideal. all those that you have are for street. drag racing is bare minimum.light weight front wheels with tires that are thin and require at least 50-60 lbs of air. roll much easier. in the rear, the way it is now try adding a couple of sand bags over the rear wheels. you can add bags or remove'em, or even move them around in the cargo area, find the best place that the car hooks up at and keep them there. the rear tires get low,low air presure(s). a line lock would also help out,,,tons !!

 

to help keep the rear end down I got a set of Compition Engineering 3 way adjustable shocks set at 30/70 (compression/rebound). They have knocked a few tenths off of my 60 foot times.

They are for 5.0 mustangs and they fit just find.

matt

 

Matt, thanks for the specific response. That's what I was looking for. I want to know what springs you are using with those shocks. Competiton Engineering states that they should not be used for the street and only for the track. I am wondering if this would be a problem for the occassional street driving to and from the track and a cruise once in a while.

Mark,My car is pushing about 250-300hp. I realize that a 4-link rear would be the ultimate setup. I dont have that much money laying around right now and I don't trailer the car to the track... yet. How would a line lock help my launch? I was considering getting one for the burnout but not to help my 60-foot time.

Directfreak, Your suggestion of having a soft rear and a stiff front is opposite to what everyone says. A soft front would allow the car to rise and fall, as long as its not too soft it rises and falls fast. The rear tires have to push on the ground with a lot of force. This reaction makes me think that the springs should be sorta stiff .

thanks to all.

 

Next time take a look at a funny car, top fuel, the rear is rigid, no shocks... so very stiff. bracket cars, street/strip
have to have some sort of shocks,,right thats where the problem begins, people like comp.engineering, moroso, are the same company,in there 2004 catalog, page281 -up talks about drag shocks,,but nothing for mazda's.. yeah a line lock keeps you staged without red lighting
one foot gas,one foot clutch, hit the button on the shifter and your gone !!it's also helps in the bleech box
too. try the sand bags you'll be surprized.

 

Wow, and I thought you would know better. It is the actually the exact opposite. You want to front to have soft long springs and a 90/10 type strut that allows the front to raise easily then settle back down slowly to avoid unloading the rear tires.
In the rear you will want fairly stiff springs and a standard shock or a 50/50. And an airbag in the passenger side rear coil will also help. You want to back to be pretty stiff so that all the weight transfer is used to push the tires into the track rather than being soaked up by a cushy suspension.
For what it is worth, there are a few fast (high 9’ low 10’s in the ¼) 1st gens over on v8rx7.com that are running all stock suspension and getting 60’ in the 1.4’s to low 1.5’s.

Later
Randy

 

Too stiff springs/shocks in the rear will result in a wheel hop. Keep the rear soft and air pressure low, that's what always helped me at the drag strip with 350HP FC. A rear strut bar also seems to help.

 

Randy, that makes a lot of sense to me. I can't find anything on v8rx7.com though.

The FC has an independant rear suspension so I dont think that its comparable to the fb.

hmmm..still no one comes forward with any particular setups. what is it a big secret?

 

About the best thing you could do is put some slicks on it. I picked up some tiny 22*8/15" et drags and even on a very crappy track it was cutting low 1.7's easy. I'm sure once I get to a better track it will be in the low 1.6's without much trouble.
I am getting some 24.5*8/15's before summer is over and they should work even better.

The 22" slicks work pretty good and don't stand out that bad when they are on the car.
http://members.sigecom.net/randyh/rx4ti/slick2.jpg

Later
Randy

 

It's no big secret, you want a lower ET ?? spend more money,easy. i must say airbags are good advice. see
you want a street/strip car, thats a balance that not too many people go for,,,keep researching.

 

Slicks are definately in the future. My goal was to get the best out of the drag radials I already have.

Suspension is a HUGE part of the 1/4 mile time that is many times ignored. I was looking for specific suspension setup examples that you may of wanted to share. Like shock/strut types, springs rates, slicks and where you got them. If you dont want to share then thats ok. It doesnt hurt to ask.

 

I am running 14inch stock GSL-SE rims right now. Maybe I could pick up a spare set of SE rims and mount Mickey Thompson 24.5x8.0-14 slicks on them. They seem like they should fit.