setup

[floppyfoot]

My son recently purchased a street stock dirt track car, it has been 10 years since we raced. The car is a 1988 Monte Carlo with a 358. It has a floater rear end with a 9" ford and a 6:50 gear, turning 7000 rpm's. Only ran 1 race and the car has a severe push going in then snaps loose. Wheels are 15X12 and tires are 90x11x15 Hoosiers. I put it on scales, it has to weigh 3275#. After adding about 400#, it was that light with the driver, I have 53% rear, 53.7 cross, and 53.6 left side weight. It has 275# bite. Took suspension apart and found these springs, RF-1300#, LF-1100#,LR-350#, RR-250#. Here is what I plan on using, RF-800#, LF-900#, RR-250#, LR-225#. Anysuggestion would be welcome.We did win 9 races the last year we ran in mini modifieds with a Toyota.

[floppyfoot]

Air pressures were RF-14#, LF-10#, RR-10#, LR-12#. Wheels are 2" offset all around. Car also has 4 link in rear and aftermarket tublar upper A arms on front. RF front has app. 3 degrees neg. camber and LF has app. 1 degree positive camber.

[setup479point2]

Springs LF 850 RF 900 LR 225 RR 200 . Air LF 12 RF 14 LR 8 RR 12 . Shock LF 5 RF 6 LR 4 RR 4. Camber LF +2to3 RF -5 to -6 , Caster LF +2 RF +5, Toe out 3/8". Bite 150 lbs , Left 54.5 , Rear is ok . Make sure rear ride heights are equal to or higher than front. Make sure weight is not too low , 18" to 24 " from ground and no further back than center of fuel cell if possible. This should get you close.

[floppyfoot]

Looks like the springs will not be here until at least Thursday and maybe Friday. Did get to set the camber today, RF -6, LF +4, have not check ed camber ye or the toe, waiting on the springs. With the old springs still in and a little weight removed, 3330# with driver and full 16 gal fuel cell. My weight is all in front of the fuel cell and almost right over the rear end with some in front of the rear end. It will probably be Friday night before I will get to scale the car again and with new springs.

[floppyfoot]

Here is what I ended up with, I hope this gets me close.springs: RF-800, LF-900, RR-225, LR-250.Weights: Rear 52.4%: left 53.1%: cross 49.7%: bite 82#Toe out 3/16ride heights: RF 6 1/2" LF 6" RR 6 3/4" LR 6 1/4"camber: RF -5 1/2 LF +3castor unknown at this time

[setup479point2]

Here is what I ended up with, I hope this gets me close.springs: RF-800, LF-900, RR-225, LR-250.Weights: Rear 52.4%: left 53.1%: cross 49.7%: bite 82#Toe out 3/16ride heights: RF 6 1/2" LF 6" RR 6 3/4" LR 6 1/4"camber: RF -5 1/2 LF +3castor unknown at this time

Add a little more toe out ,better too much than not enough . Also make sure your steering is straight , find the center of your steering ,and make sure wheels are pointed straight, not off to left or right. Would have rather seen the 900 in RF and 800 in LF. If you have weight jacks in back put about 3 turns in LR and that will add some bite. Caster , if you don't have a gauge , look straight down on ball joint with car on ground and at ride height , RF should be top balljoint 3/4 inch back further than lower balljoint , and LF should be 1/4" back , this equals about LF +2 , RF +5. Feel free to PM me if you have questions.

[floppyfoot]

That looks real close to what the caster is set at. For some reason at our track, most all cars are running the stiffer spring on the left front. We do run spring jacks on the rear but are not allowed on the front. We are running 1/2" of stagger on the rear with a Detroit locker and 6:50 gears with Hoosier tires, track rules.

[setup479point2]

If you can, get more stagger in rear 2" if possible , 0 to 1" in front . If it is still pushing raise rear about 5 turns per side. Also are your brakes working properly make sure you are getting more rear brake than front.

[floppyfoot]

Car can run 3 or 4 wheel brake, not allowed to use 3 wheel at this track. Also, have a brake adjuster in car, running it balanced right now. This car also has adjustable lower trailing arms with a 4 link setup. The uppers are not adjustable except for length. Have about 5 degrees down pinion angle.

[floppyfoot]

Ride heights are set in the front with the left tie rod slightly uphill to the outside and the right tie rod level. This is with the driver in the seat. We have never ran a Detroit locker before and I am not sure about just how it works. We have always ran a welded rearend and could only use around 1/4 to 1/2 " of stagger or we would be loose off. My understand of the weaker right front spring is to let the car roll over to get rear steer. I could be way off base but the other cars in our class are doing that just like the sportsman and late model cars. With the 1300 # spring in the right front, it was there when we got the car because it was ran at another track with high banking, the car pushed like a snow plow. Our track has about 8 degrees of progressive banking with longer turns and shorter straights, it is a 3/8 track and really gets dry slick in hot weather.

[setup479point2]

Should be running brake all the way to the rear if your car is tight entering corner , not balanced . With the locker you may not need much stagger, never worked with one. Any advice I give you is stuff I know works.

[floppyfoot]

Hot laps before the race, the car was extremely loose all the way through the turns. Went down 2 rounds on the left rear jack screw and up 2 rounds on the right rear. Lowered both lower trailing arms down 1 hole, that is as far as they will go. Had 1" stagger. The car got into the turns much better but was very loose under power. I guess I went a little too far from last week. Will try to close the stagger up to 0, and maybe make the left lower trailing arm a little longer. The rear end in the car has a feeling of moving around some but everything is tight. I jusr wonder if the Detroit locker is giving it that feel. Still had a 5th place finish. Thought it was 5th last week but it was 6th then. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

[setup479point2]

Swap the front springs.What happened is what I figured would happen . Make sure you've got at least 150 lbs bite , more bite is OK. At least you're not pushin like a truck

[floppyfoot]

That is in my mind, also have a 200 spring that I was considering installing on the right rear, it has a 225 now with a 250 on the left rear. Do you think the 200 spring may help also? The front springs in now, 900 left, 800 right are the way the 3 link cars are running, we have a 4 link. I need to raise the right front, there is about 6" tire clearance and the fender is still coming down on the tire, it did this with the 1300 spring there but only had 3 1/2 ' clearance then. I have the 3 link system that I could put in, then there is a whole new game to setup and the rules may change next year. there is talk about combining some classes next year. We run the same tires as sportsman and late model. They have 14" wheels andwe have 12" wheels.

[Driver88]

You should probably get a lil seat time to make sure it the car and not the driver (No offense intended I'm doing the same thing right now). And just change 1 thing at a time Instead of 2 or 3 now that your close.

[setup479point2]

200 RR is what I suggested you run . 900 RF , 800 LF . I pretty much gave you a complete set up , that I know works. If you choose to do something else, you probably really don't want help.

[floppyfoot]

There is no way we can get any seat time. We get 5 laps to run before the race and then 25 laps of racing. that is all. One problem is getting used to the quick steering box. it is a 2-1 ratio. It only takes 1/2 turn of the steering wheel to go from lock to lock.

[floppyfoot]

I am going to put the 900 in the RF and the 800 in the LF. Also have the 200 in the RR and the 250 is in the LR. Bite is 154. Rear weight is a little low I think at 51.4%. When we raced before, I always used a heavier spring in the RF and LR. I did find out why they are runing the LR with a stiffer spring, they are trying to get the most bite off the RR. Almost all are running a 3 link setup, we have that for the car but do not know if we will ever use it. The rules are changing next year with maybe pure stock and street stock being one class. The track owner has 2 tracks that are about 50 miles apart and we run on different nights. As far as shocks go, we have to run a stock type shock that is not adjustable, wish we could run coil overs.

[floppyfoot]

I have the 900 RF, 800 LF, 250 LR, 200 RR. It really dropped on the LF. It is 1 3/4" lower than the RF. I did not think it would drop that much but it did. LF is the lowest corner and the RF is the highest. Should that be correct???I was thinking the LR should be lower, I can drop it with the rear screw jacks.

[setup479point2]

Are the springs different height? It should not have changed more than 3/8". the 800 must be shorter. Any way of lowering RF or raising LF ? What are the ride heights? Make sure rear is equal or higher than front. Are the springs seated properly top and bottom?