| FAQ |
| Members List |
| Social Groups |
| Calendar |
| Search |
| Today's Posts |
|
|
|
#1
04-11-2003, 10:22 PM
|
|||
|
|||
was very interesing to say the least. the night started with the inside of the tires rubbing the inner fenders (i shoulda got rims with a 3.5" backspace). we got that fixed and in the process i damaged a lug nut. the next drama involved some kind of as yet unexplained suspension problem. the entire car is leaning to the left and we couldn't find anything obviously wrong tonight despite several people looking over the rear end and suspension. according to people who watched me run the car went to the left on every launch and stayed leaned over to that side until i let off on the big end. i need to find a solution to this pretty quick because i sure don't want to race much longer if something is going bad that might break.
the good news is that i made up for my disaster last week on double points night by winning 3 rounds and taking home quarterfinal money tonight. that makes 2 out of the last 3 weeks in the money for the old pontiac...i can definitely handle more of this, especially if the car will actually drive straight one day and get all of the tire to the ground. any suggestions/advice on the suspension problems are appreciated. at least 3 full time GM master techs looked at it tonight and couldn't find anything obviously wrong. there are a few suspects, including a collapsed left leaf spring, left shock failure, air in the right rear shock that is causing that side of the car to sit up (we took the air line off and no air came out, so this might be far fetched), or a broken shock mount on the right front. the leading suspect at this point is the left leaf spring or shock. 97 Trans Am WS6 Best ET: 12.13 Best MPH 114.6 74 Formula 455 Best ET: 11.97 Best MPH: 112.58 |
|
#2
04-17-2003, 12:50 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
dave- mine come almost to the spring eye (maybe 2" short on each side). we're going to try to get the bump stops in the right places when my buddy comes over tommorow morning by adjusting the bolts with me sitting in the car.
97 Trans Am WS6 Best ET: 12.13 Best MPH 114.6 74 Formula 455 Best ET: 11.97 Best MPH: 112.58 |
|
#3
04-13-2003, 05:47 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
I've seen problems with the Comps not adjusting properly & i've also heard this from other people. Either way you should have a good shock.
|
|
#4
04-17-2003, 07:01 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
bart- i forgot to mention that the tubes were not turned in the housing. i did have 4 spot welds added on each side to be extra safe.
tonight i was finally educated on how the l-shaped bolts fit into the bars. we couldn't find the bolts that go over the springs to pull up the bump stops. after i measure the holes on the traction bars, i'm going to go to a spring shop first thing tomorrow morning to get some custom bolts made. hopefully all will be right with the world before noon tomorrow...thank goodness i have the day off. 97 Trans Am WS6 Best ET: 12.13 Best MPH 114.6 74 Formula 455 Best ET: 11.97 Best MPH: 112.58 |
|
#5
04-16-2003, 01:52 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Rumair,
Glad to see you checked everything before you put it back together..The perches and the angle are critical to the load on the driveline.Now stop screwing around with mickeymouse shocks and call scott at summit and be done with it..Trust me do it right the first time and it will be cheaper in the long run...Set them at 60/40 and go racing... Dave...1033/stock 
|
|
#6
04-16-2003, 07:10 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
well, the news might not be all good. i tried to put the u-bolts that came with these traction bars on tonight. i was unable to get them on either side; my buddy who had these on his car (74 GTO) is off friday so he's going to come by and see what's up. more concerning than that is how the bars are sitting in relation to the springs. from what i understand the bump stop on the passenger's side should barely touch the spring and the driver's side should sit just below the spring. when i rolled the car off the trailer on the street the driver's side was touching the spring and the passenger's side was ~2~ inches below the spring.
i described this to my friend and he asked me how tight the u-bolts were that hold the bars to the rear end. i thought that was an interesting question, considering that there are no u-bolts on my setup. there are 4 bolts that hold the traction bars to the spring perches. i supppose the only thing i can do to fix this for now is adjust these bolts until i get the bump stops where they belong. unless we figure out something on friday morning that i've been missing, i'm guessing i need to trash this whole arrangement as soon as i can. i think i might be in for a big surprise when my car actually starts driving straight... 97 Trans Am WS6 Best ET: 12.13 Best MPH 114.6 74 Formula 455 Best ET: 11.97 Best MPH: 112.58 |
|
#7
04-16-2003, 07:51 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Rumair,
My race car is a 77-78 Formula Firebird,With a 10 bolt(8.5),spool/MW axles, etc. I use slapper bars with no -U bolts..I did add a 6-8" section to both bars so that the snubber is right under the spring EYE, not on the flat leaf spring..This helps in two ways,stop springs from bending and stiffens the whole rear set-up...You need to make sure your pinon angle is 3-5 degrees down towards the ground/downward...You need to be sitting in the drivers seat, the drivers side snubber should be right up against the spring..The passenger's side should have 1/2-1" space at the snubber..... This is a good starting point, so don't worry about U-bolts, make sure those are hardin bolts?? Good Luck and go have fun racing..Dave..1033/stock |
|
#8
04-13-2003, 07:43 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Thanks Scott for clearing that up for me!
 I knew they were made by a reputable company for you guy's as are most of the "Summit" parts! I have had good luck with my "Summit" shocks so far!
__________________
|
|
#9
04-12-2003, 12:25 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Get rid of the air shocks. They went out in the 70's......
Chance favors the prepared mind. |
|
#10
04-12-2003, 10:03 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
I would check the leaf springs. I had 2 broke on my bird and I could not see it until I pulled them out of the car.
75bird 7.41 1/8mile at 92mph street car 73Ventura 11.88 at 113 streetcar 69GrandPrix 12.64 at 107 tow car 65GTO 10.14 at 129 tri-power dragcar |
|
#11
04-17-2003, 03:50 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
BTW did you get the axle tubes welded to the housing. If you didn't then it will probably slip even more and you'll be back at square one.
Bartman Ponies run but Birds fly
__________________
Ponies run but Birds fly |
|
#12
04-13-2003, 06:16 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Ditto to Scott's reply! I went with the Summit brand because many of the racers I talked to about the CE's had switched to Summit brand because they had problems with the CE! Just what I heard and have seen, the final judgement is yours!
__________________
|
|
#13
04-16-2003, 01:36 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
turns out that the driver's side spring perch was welded slightly farther forward than the passenger side. i took it to a guy who cut it off and welded it in the proper position last night. the car now sits 1/2" lower on the left as opposed to 3 1/2" before the fix. we also put a cheapo set of pep boys gas shocks on there to replace the tired air shocks, which brings me to my next question.
the guy who did the work last night suggested that i find a pair of old school piece of junk hydraulic shocks. i've tried every place i can think of to no avail...everybody either has gas or air shocks, no hydraulics. if i can't find one of these kind of shocks i guess i'll just stick with the pep boys specials i got last night. i've heard lakewood might make a shock like this... 97 Trans Am WS6 Best ET: 12.13 Best MPH 114.6 74 Formula 455 Best ET: 11.97 Best MPH: 112.58 |
|
#14
04-12-2003, 07:10 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
dave wins the prize. the driver's side axle tube is turned forward about 3/4" in the housing. i did put a better set of leaf springs on the car today, so it wasn't a total loss. as far as ditching the air shocks, i would do that if i had the money, along with lots of other things. the car might be down for as few as 7-10 days or as long as 3 weeks depending on how quickly i can find somebody to turn the tube back into place and weld both tubes to the housing.
the good news is that i'm making enough power to cause problems like this.  97 Trans Am WS6 Best ET: 12.13 Best MPH 114.6 74 Formula 455 Best ET: 11.97 Best MPH: 112.58 |
|
#15
04-19-2003, 08:11 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
rumair-
I think in the long run, a set of dedicated race shocks will be helpful in the rear, but the pep boys specials you have are a huge improvement over what you had. Because you are running slicks, I would take the effort to extend the bars the two inches to the front spring eye. That is a big hit, and you want it to transmit directly to the mass of the car, not through a quarter inch of spring steel first. Because of this, I would consider a stiffer bushing in the front of the spring as well, poly or even solid. Also, the spring is forced to wrap under load... the traction bar hitting short of the spring eye only makes this worse. Ensure the front of the bars are tied to the springs so they don't dig in to the track as the housing rotates the other way under braking. Also, as an extra precaution, find good U-bolts to tie the axle tube, spring and traction bar together. If you only use the T-bolts, ALL the load is on the welds on the perches... Lose the welds, lose everything. With U-bolts, the load is transfered to them and the perches become more of a locator, not a critical "single point failure" item. |
|
#16
04-12-2003, 07:04 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Check the tubes on the rear-end, make sure they are welded and are not moving or turning under a load....I had some of the same symtoms and
chase the problem for a month...Also look at the spring eyes and perches, for cracks????Good-Luck Dave 1033/stock
|
|
#17
04-12-2003, 05:12 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Race cars don't run air shocks. That will cause some problems. Get a good set of adjustables.
|
|
#18
04-11-2003, 10:22 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
was very interesing to say the least. the night started with the inside of the tires rubbing the inner fenders (i shoulda got rims with a 3.5" backspace). we got that fixed and in the process i damaged a lug nut. the next drama involved some kind of as yet unexplained suspension problem. the entire car is leaning to the left and we couldn't find anything obviously wrong tonight despite several people looking over the rear end and suspension. according to people who watched me run the car went to the left on every launch and stayed leaned over to that side until i let off on the big end. i need to find a solution to this pretty quick because i sure don't want to race much longer if something is going bad that might break.
the good news is that i made up for my disaster last week on double points night by winning 3 rounds and taking home quarterfinal money tonight. that makes 2 out of the last 3 weeks in the money for the old pontiac...i can definitely handle more of this, especially if the car will actually drive straight one day and get all of the tire to the ground. any suggestions/advice on the suspension problems are appreciated. at least 3 full time GM master techs looked at it tonight and couldn't find anything obviously wrong. there are a few suspects, including a collapsed left leaf spring, left shock failure, air in the right rear shock that is causing that side of the car to sit up (we took the air line off and no air came out, so this might be far fetched), or a broken shock mount on the right front. the leading suspect at this point is the left leaf spring or shock. 97 Trans Am WS6 Best ET: 12.13 Best MPH 114.6 74 Formula 455 Best ET: 11.97 Best MPH: 112.58 |
|
#19
04-13-2003, 06:31 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
The Summit shocks would be a good choice. I run them as well as alot of other people. They are made by Doestech.
|
|
#20
04-17-2003, 02:04 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Rumair,
Sounds like your good to go...I am sure your friend will be able to help you out..I think that 2" to start is fine..Just have you friend help you set the preload on the bars with you sitting in the car...Good Luck...Dave..1033/stock 
|
| Reply |
|
|
The PY Online Forums is the largest online gathering of Pontiac enthusiasts anywhere in the world. Founded in 1991, it was also the first online forum for people to gather and talk about their Pontiacs. Since then, it has become the mecca of Pontiac technical data and knowledge that no other place can surpass.
Hybrid Mode
