andybyrd

can you adjust a ladder bar car to stay down in the front more than comming up. or is that a 4 link deal. MY 85 camaro 670 H/p 434 sbc - powerglide 1.76 - 5000 coan converter leaving at 4000 - 5.14 rearend 2700# with me in it. 14x32 slicks 8# of air. I'm not very smart with the chassis but I understand a little. right now it's running 6.10 in the 1/8 @ 112 mph and crossing the line at 6100 my h/p peaks at 6700 so I was going to a lower ratio to get my rpm's to 6800 in the 1/8 and I think it's really going to stand up then because now it brings it up 4.5 feet and stays up to about 50 ft. I'd like to bring that down if posible. any help would be appreaciated.
Andy [img]

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TopspeedLowet

Well, this invention called wheelie bars is the first thing that comes to mind in respect to your future with lower gears having 4'6" wheel stands now, unless you are trying to look like a gasser.
As for your question about ladder bar adjustment, the lower the front of the bars are to the ground the less prone to wheelie, but the limit in fixed length only dictates so much return by lowering. You are trying to get as much below the neutral line as you can get possibly get your front mount.
4 link is the best for custom adjustment's in respect to tuning to a multitude to different power levels but your ladder bars may still be ok for you if you are able to lower your front bolt a few inches lower or the very lowest possible mount would be the starting point.
Bruce

johnracer

You're too funny, Bruce.........now that I'm done laughing, limiting front suspension travel will help too. I believe 85 Camaro's have struts in front, so a cable limiter might be the best choice........

andybyrd

I have wheelie bars on it. but I'm trying to keep the preasure off the rear end because even with the bars adjusted all the way down as far as they go it still comes up. without the bars it came up and drug my rear bumper I thought it was going over. so I put the bars on it. I was just wandering how some are comming out so hard and not standing up without bars. and also I've read where you may mess your pinion angle up by moving to the bottom hole. it has adj.coil overs on the front and I've tried different adjustment on the front with no help. I guess I can just live with it. I just thought it may help in ET's to keep the front down and still come out @ 4000 I bought the car like this and I don't know that much about chassis work but I've read where a good set up chassis with lower H/P will beat a poorly setup with more H/p given everything else equal. Thanks for you replys helpful or not.
Andy

TopspeedLowet

Using the lowest hole will not have anything to do with messing up the pinion angle up unless when you are in it you are unable to re set your pinion angle back to the angle you run, be it 3 or 3.5 degrees. Some cars are not built properly with housing bracket location in mind and have a limited number of holes that they can use and still be within the range of adjustment of the ladder bar upper and lower adjustments for seting pinion angle. You do not know if this applies to you unless you change the front mount position and readjust your pinion angle. The answer to your wheel standing issue still lies in the height of your front mount and the rate of pitch rotation set in your front shocks, like Johnny mentioned by limiting front end travel is another way if your suspension was stock. If changing the front shock rebound adjustments to stiffer settings have not showed improvement then your front shocks have not been adjusted to a stiff enough setting yet or are not dampening forces very well, you will like stiffer rebound setting's and a stiffer spring rate to limit stored energy for pitch rotation.
If this does not help then lowering the front ride height or both front and rear will also help you get where you need to be. Lowering the ride height will kill wheel stands by lowering the CG of the chassis and effectively the front mount of the ladder bar at the same time. Be sure for starters that your ladder bars are running down hill at ride height to the front of the car. The more the better for your situation.
Bruce

elkymann

Andy, I would kill to have your balance point on MY chassis , but another way to help keep that front end down like these guys mentioned is to add some front end weight to the farthest most front solid mounted point on your chassis as this should help out as well. Many ways to do it too, you may also track down a Stock or SuperStock racer to give you a hand also as these guys have the game figured out quite well, just food for thought. Lots of smart guys on here, listen to them... :wink:

John

lively

the fix is easy on this car---DON'T GIVE IT AS MUCH PEDAL :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

andybyrd

Hey Guys thanks a Million for all your help. Now I'm begining to understand a little more about this setup. the front end is not at all stock it's been all changed out to rack and pinion steering and none of it looks stock. it is a motor plate setup no side mounts. I'll try the stiffening up on the front more and see if that helps I just looked at the ladder bars and they look like the pointed down about 1'' out of level. the bracket has 5 holes and it's in the middle one. so there are 2 open holes below where it is at now. in my last statement about it comming staight up I was comming out @5000 rpm's and have since used 4000 rpm even at that height the car settles back down very easy it dosent slam down other than looking at the sky you can't tell it even comes up. I'm just trying to make sure I'm doing everything right to get the most out of the car. again on the chassis the whole car from front to back the left side is set down 1'' from the right side. again I'm trying to learn so Thanks For yall's HELP.
Andy