swing arm shocks?

[langdonracing48]

I've got an old(04ish) Powerhouse modified I bought last summer(copy of an 02/03 lightning). Raced it a few Times, and I Really like the ol' girl. It had some junky shocks on it, so I've bought 4545 small body bilstiens for the front of it. I've got a bilstien 4040 for the right rear. My question is what should I do for the left rear? I race on a Really tacky quarter mile on Friday nights, and a really dry slick 3/8 mile on Saturday nights so I know I'll need 2 different left rear shocks at least. My question is should I buy a straight valving shock for the tacky track(4040, 5050?)? And for the dry slick, do I tie down the left rear or easy up it? Or stick with straight valving? My top bars are 17" long, right side bottom 20" and left side bottom 19", and The car is on a 20" long straight bar if that matters. Springs are on swing arms and shocks are behind on birdcages. Thanks for any help.

[JustAddDirt]

the 40/40 will be good in the wet, and the slick. you could go with more compression and a smidge less rebound and be a bit better.
shocks on the rear of the birdcages?
might put a 2" extension on the LR shock as well.
I broke shock bracket at Volusia, and the car took off and I won feature. From then on I put a 2" shock extension on LR. made a huge difference
later model lightning's had a long LR upper bar and a tall birdcage that would put massive amounts of traction in the car.
If you would like info on it let me know, or call Donnie @ Lightning 606 878 7223

[langdonracing48]

Thanks very much! Yes, shocks on rear of birdcage. I was told if I ran coil overs on the swing arms I'd have to have custom shocks built. I've got another 4040 on order and a 2" extension. I've got a 9/2 pro gas shock with a 2" extension on it right now. It had an afco 7/2 the few races I ran last year, and the car seemed to drive pretty well, But there is definitely room for improvement. I wanna show all these 4 bar guys up here that a swing arm car can still win races. Lol.

[langdonracing48]

I should also add, I only ran the car with 40 lbs of bite last year, I'm thinking about going way up on that. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 180lbs I'm thinking. We use to run my old wore out rayburn late model at 280lbs, but I don't think this mod needs that much.

[JustAddDirt]

I was in the 200-240 range depending on stagger. ( I like a tight racecar though)
for springs I ran
700-900
400-375
Nova a-arms
pinto spindles

Stay away from coilovers on a swing arm, and leave the shocks on rear of birdcage.

[langdonracing48]

Mine has nova lowers and pinto spindles. Right now it's got a 600 lf, 650 rf, 350 lr, and a 375 rr. I'll get New springs ordered as well then.

[langdonracing48]

One more question for ya if you don't mind. What kind of bar angles should I be starting out with? My car was originally a leaf car, and the bottom swing arm just uses the old 3 hole high leaf spring brackets. Would I benefit by adding a few more holes for adjustment?

[JustAddDirt]

sent you a PM

[langdonracing48]

Replied and email sent. Thank you!

[langdonracing48]

Just wanted to update this post. I did everything you said to do as far as shocks and springs, raised my bite to 210 lbs and the car drove great! Slightly free in, and it was a rocket center out. Really happy with the car. Thank you for everything!

[JustAddDirt]

your welcome
you might up the LF spring to a 750 and it should help the free corner entry.

[langdonracing48]

One last update. Ended up going to an 800 lf spring, and put a 9/2 easy up on the left rear. Car is an absolute rocket ship. Won a stacked heat last night, started 10th and was up to 4th when I had a rock go through my radiator. Definitely had a good chance to win the feature. It's by far the best driving car I've ever had. Thanks again for all the help!

[JustAddDirt]

glad to hear swing arm cars aren't dead.
They are still fast!

[langdonracing48]

Very fast! By far the best driving car I've ever been in.

[Iowamod20]

I run a swing arm car in Iowa, which there are not to many. We have the car pretty fast (won a few races, run up front regular, etc.), however, always looking to be better against all these 4 bar cars.

I was curious about this statement from JustAddDirt: "later model lightning's had a long LR upper bar and a tall birdcage that would put massive amounts of traction in the car."

What kind of dimensions are we talking about on the LR bar and taller birdcage (just top tab gets taller)? Why does this give it more traction?

Thanks for any info.

[JustAddDirt]

I run a swing arm car in Iowa, which there are not to many. We have the car pretty fast (won a few races, run up front regular, etc.), however, always looking to be better against all these 4 bar cars.

I was curious about this statement from JustAddDirt: "later model lightning's had a long LR upper bar and a tall birdcage that would put massive amounts of traction in the car."

What kind of dimensions are we talking about on the LR bar and taller birdcage (just top tab gets taller)? Why does this give it more traction?

Thanks for any info.

LR top bar was in the neighborhood of 36'
Top tabs on birdcage were about 12" off centerline of axle.
(Measurements are going from memory, many not be exact)
Added a lot of leverage to birdcage.
Had to run the long rear bar because top birdcage bar was so tall.

[racin6mod]

moving the top bar up on the bird cage changes the drive angle we did this on a rayburn late model using the same length top bar and it was tight in the heat race but killed them in the feature the 4 cars had nothing for it. we only went up 1 1/2 on the bird cage. if not for a flat tire we would have won every race we ran that season. the track dropped lates the fallowing season.

the mod I've built was the same idea, I made the birdcages in my shop and they adjust up 3 inches on the lr.