Well, it's almost ready to hit the race track, but I had to attack the front suspension first. My goal was to free up the front end to get maximum weight transfer to the rear tires, have an adjustable ride height, and have a way to adjust the front shocks. In my 20 years of racing dirt modifieds and stock cars, I have learned a few things about suspensions, and they will directly apply to a drag race car. After all, when the race track goes dry slick in a 30 lap main event, you have to know how to get the weight to transfer to the rear tires so you can accelerate down the front straight. Most of the time the car is raised slightly to get the center of gravity higher, and a different set of shocks are installed to get the weight to transfer quicker. These principles will work with a drag race car also.
I dis-assembled the front spring perch and tossed the rubber bushing. I was going to install roller bearings in the perches, but I settled for a piece of 7/8" I.D. tubing that the perch cross-piece will slide into. I welded the tubing into the perch, greased it up and re-assembled everything. Boy what a difference it made, without the shocks installed you could really see the suspension work, weight transfer will be no problem.
For the ride height adjustment, I simply installed weight jack bolts on top of the front springs. I used the stock upper shock mount, and welded 1 1/8" nuts in them to acept the weight jack bolt. The bolt sits on top of a plate that sits on top of the spring. When the bolt is turned in, that corner of the car will rise, it will also transfer weight to the opposite rear corner of the car. The weight jack bolts will accomplish 3 things, I am able to retain the stock 6 cylinder springs, but I will also be able to raise the car for the 60's gasser look I am after, raising the car will give it far better weight transfer to the rear tires,and I will be able to pre-load the right rear of the car for super straight launches.
Since I now had no place to install the shocks because of the weight jacks, I simply re-located them to the lower control arms. In my years of dirt track racing I have also collected quite a few shocks, and I fully understand how they work, and how to use them to fine tune suspensions. I am going to use a 7" stroke Pro Shock on the front of the Falcon. I built some quick release mounts that install the shocks with hitch pins to make shock changes very easy and quick. I have a set of 90/10's a set of 70/30's, 60/40's and several sets of 50/50's with different valving, so I am sure I can find a set that will work best for any track condition. The shocks are also mounted upside down to reduce un-sprung weight, as only the piston will be acting on the suspension.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: F15Falcon on 3/16/05 10:20am ]</font>
Today
