ladder bar ?

[john858]

i have a 78 malibu that weights almost 3200 with me in it scaled its about 100lb heavy on the left front ,spec; 565 w/860hp,glidew/180 & dana w/4.88's & imo i don't think it's getting enough bite 60' 135 if it don't spin et 6.07 to 6.10. last night i put an angle finder on the bottom of the ladder bar with the car at ride height and it read 0*,shouldn't be down in the front alittle and if so how can i do this because its in the bottom hole already,do i need to put new brackets on the front to lower the angle of my bars or is there something else i can do?when it lifts the front wheels it seems to unload and sits back down. thanks guys for any help you can give me.john

[us7race]

Can you lower it in the rear? It will help and it will transfer weight easier..

[dparker]

What rear springs are you using?
If your car is going straight. You might try turning up your shock setting in the rear. Your motor is putting out good HP, you may be hitting your rear shocks hard enuf that theyre going down to where theyre bottoming out or to a point you cant hold your suspension there, allowing the rear end to unload as it comes back up. This sometimes called basketballing. Believe it or not with big HP you can actually hit your suspension to hard. Try this approach before you go moving your ladder bar setting.

[john858]

125lb tried the shock tuning last night & it made it worse went to a 1.42 60ft.thanks guys a guess i'll just keep beating my head against the wall until something gives :lol: besides its hard to tune on a $hitty track!!

[itsabird]

john what type shocks do you have? single or double, adj, and do they have snuber,s on them.

[john858]

qa-1 singles with no snubers

[sp2816]

On the ladder bars, if you need to go full loose on the rear shocks to get the car to work, you will need to put more "hit" into it. To get more "hit" on the rear tires, you need to move the bars up. If you hit are hitting the tires too hard, you would need to move the bars down. So, since you stiffened up the shocks and the 60ft got worse, I would move the ladder bars up 1 hole.

How many holes do you have in the front bracket and which one are you in now?

After making adjustments on the ladder bars, be sure that you readjust your pinion angle, check your preload, and set your shocks back towards the middle of their settings.

Bill Mitchell

[sp2816]

I have the QA1's on my car, and they have a very small working window on my car which has a 4-link. On setting #3, it is a little too soft for the top end of the track but gets a good 60ft time. Setting #4 is where I run mine at a compromise, because setting #5 will spin.

Bill Mitchell

[dparker]

John what slicks are you running? and how new are they?

[itsabird]

good tip from sp2816, i would move the bar up one hole, and use the shock,s to control the hit. qa 1 single,s control both rebound and compression, the proma star,s that is. find a setting that won,t allow to much separation, may take a little test n tune but should work. good luck and keep posted.

[john858]

slicks are new hoosiers,thanks guys i'll try that bill ,i have the bars in the bottom hole now.i put the shocks down to # 4 and 60's came back but still unloading the tires just before the 60.i'm taken the family out of town this weekend but the week after going to a big race at a great track so i'll be able to tell u guys what happens then.thanks alot guys i need the help cause i'm lost & frustraded with the car,i want to go fast but i want to do it consistently.

[john858]

hey bill just seen your from ky are you going to clay city in two weeks? if you are like to meet you, i have the 78 malibu painted like a 56 chevy can't miss it. and thanks again.

[sp2816]

I might be out of town that weekend, but if that doesn't happen I was going to be there to watch. I go to Clay City quite often to watch as I still haven't gotten my car out of moth balls. I don't remember seeing your car, but I will look for you.

Later,
Bill

[john858]

moving the bars up a hole seems to have worked after some shock & tire pressure adjustment,the car picks the tires up about 6"to8" carries them about 30 to 40' with no spinning ( track was great ).here is my runs on sunday once i got it right 11:30am 60' 1.353,330' 3.896, 1/8 6.092 @110.292, 4:06pm 60'1.358,330'3.903, 1/8 [email protected] on the break alittle.6:34pm 60'1.360,330'3.909,1/8 [email protected] that you guys helped me get that straight it cause the fuel pressure to start dropping after the 330' mark and the car nosed over ( at least it nosed over consistly :lol: ).thanks guys for all your help & bill maybe we'll get to meet next time i'm down in your neck of the woods :wink: .

[itsabird]

good deal john.