Joe, I am by no means a rear suspension expert but I did some reading last winter and learned a LOT from from Dave Morgan's "Doorslammers" book, which I highly recommend. I also bought the Dick Miller book (pamphlet) but it was by no means technical, but was a good starting point.
I would have to agree that pinion angle will have an effect on traction because the greater the pinion angle, the more the tires will "hit." The greater hit will shock the tires, thus potentially giving you no traction due to wheelspin. But this hit will likely cause more worn out and broken parts over the long run.
For coil sprung rear suspensions I have heard good thing about lift bars and no hop bars. For lift bars Southside Machine Co used to make them but Lakewood is now marketing their design. For no hop bars Lakewood, Edelbrock, and Dick Miller now make them, but I believe Genuine Suspension may have been the first (back in the 60s). These bars place the instant center above the nuetral line, causing the tires to be pushed into the pavement and raising the back of the car. When the instant center is below the nuetral line the car will squat on acceleration, which is common with these cars when they were new. The suspensions were set up from the factory to "do everything", but not any one thing better. Tradeoffs must be made. To adjust pinion angle you will need adjustable upper control arms (or you could lengthen the uppers, shorten the lowers, or a combination: depending on how crazy you want to get, haha). -Jesse
|