If they would be suited, you'd see people using coilovers at the track!! I've seen thousands of drag cars and NONE of the serious drag race cars had front coilovers.. They are just too short. Drag Race front springs need to be long...

Look at that pic, how far the front wheel well is above the tire...
The energy in drag race springs needs to be released slow and in order to accomplish that, the springs need to be long!!

 

I give up.....when will it get through your skull that the spring rate and the compression/extention are directly related??? you can buy those coil over springs in several lengths, anywhere up to 16 inches orso and get them in almost all spring rates, the longer the springs the lower the rates available, there are no real long high rate springs available and also no real short low rate (because the short ones would bind and the long ones would have a rate so high that they don't compress much and you'd end up w/ an insane ride height and a spring compressed height not compatible w/ any of the coil overs on the market)

just for giggles do a search for the hypercoil spring catalog, or H&R or Eibach for that matter...most have about the same selection.

Then check out the koni coil overs, why do you think those things are available in SPA2 spec (a drag race valving, superior to the old school 90/10 valving)...they're not sold to autocrossers.

What everyone else runs..who cares, if everyone would do the same thing we wouldn't be going anywhere now would we. You want a lighter front suspension yet maintain the heavy stock type coil/shock arrangement and the control arm No one sells a tubular control arm and you have no fabrication skills...then you're stick aren't you? You just keep hoping till someone steps up and starts making those arms, chances however are very slim as there aren't that many people interested in a lightweight arm setup for the stock suspension arrangement when you can get similar arms w/ an adjustable leaf spring or a semi/full coil over setup.

What about all those guys w/ the tube frames like 69 NOX Ratt, look what they have, they all run a mcpherson type strut, what do you think that is? It's basically a double a arm suspension w/ a coil over minus the upper control amr and fixing the coil over straight to the spindle. They can use the long springs, which in most cases are also the common 2,5" ID springs...same deal, different arrangement.

As for no one running coil overs, I did a quick looksee onracingjunk.com and the 3rd car I looked at has what....
http://www.racingjunk.com/exec/ca/vi...nkey.html?gp=8

He has afco/dirt track type control arms and coil overs...from the looks of it that's a pretty serious car...

 

 

yes, that's it.

 

Like Twin Turbo. Why don't coilovers work on the track?? Alot of drag cars have coilovers.

 

There was a 9 second nova drag car in the shop yesterday getting a 4 link and he certainly had coilovers. Any tube chassie car, and I mean any run coilovers. It is not practical to put a full sping in any tube chassie.

 

That's a tube chassis 2300 lbs car.. The car is so light that it doesn't need as much help from the springs to get the front up..

I'm talking about FULL FRAME door cars that are closer to 3000 lbs than 2000 lbs...

 

lightweight tube chassis cars, but I haven't seen any full frame door cars using them IN FRONT...

 

absolutely, because they are very light and don't need the help of the springs as much as heavier cars do..

 

I agree. At the track tommorow look for the orange and yellow car with the water on it. that car is full tube chassis fiber glass body.tube chassis cars have almost no weight transfer.

 

They have just enough weight transfer and weight transfer ia very easy if you have a 400 lbs lighter front end...

 

If you want to reduce weight the simplest and most lbs seems to be the body itself. Its made from crappy glass laminating methods and if you just redid it with glass would save quite a bit.
If carbon

 

I probably have the heavy weight here because of the bigblock and a 125 pound blower. Mine is 3500 with a full tank of gas.

 

Replace the block with a aluminum block and you gonna have a lightweight

 

You guys are all right. For drag cars with coil overs it is better to be lighter, The way towards that is a front firewall forward clip that includes frame rails,tubular arms,coil overs front rack and pinion, mustang 2 spindles and lighter brakes.This drops over 200lbs off the front.Im putting one in this winter. Most cars are usually back halfed first then a front clip. It would be easier to do a whole chassis at once but sometimes you do like me in stages not thinking you will end up with what you have.My goal is a racing weight of 2500lbs. I need more room so the wide frame rails and dual motor plates will be easier with this install.Plus the steering will be in front of the crossmember so I have plenty of oil pan clearance.For roadracers you can put coilovers on that work very well in that type of driving.My driving is only drag and little street cruising that will become less now that I got my 155 in a 55 warning today. Thank god the officer loved my car.Thats the problem with a fast car,too fast for the street no matter how much control you show every once in a while you want to test something without going to the track.I was lucky this time.Sorry for getting a little off topic but I just got home from my stupidness.

 

What was your excuse when pulled over? Sorry officer, I could have swarn there was a 1 infront of the 55! Almost triple over, not bad at all....

 

I still think it can be done, remove the front frame extensions, the lights, bumpers and all other stuff not needed and replace the stock control arms with that jim meyers stuff, some lightweight brakes, lightweight rotors, aluminium radiator...and so on and you've lost a lot of pounds on the front. The frame itself is not that heavy, I can lift the whole dang thing by myself so there isn't that much weight in the front. However adding the extension and the suspension parts greatly increases the weight. You don't have to use short stubby coil overs, you could run the longest shock that will fit w/ the compressedlength being just a bit shorter than the room you have, meaning the shock rides @ almost full compression w/ a couple of inches left for bump and the rest of the travel for rebound (extension), that way you can slap a soft spring on it, let the car settle on it and adjust the collar for the proper ride height, a soft spring will compress quite a buit so what you end up with is a soft spring setup just like you have now w/ a lot of extension. There's really no difference in a coil over setup w/ what you have now..it's still a spring and a shock...just a lot lighter.

 

GrandSportC3 are you running an automatic transmission?

 

yes, I have a "built" TH200R4 (used to have a Tremec TKO 5-speed before)

 

back to the original post:
1. My 68 convertible bigblock weighs around 3650 with me in it (200lbs) and 1/2 tank gas according to the scale at the track.

2. I have weighed my full size spare on steel rally wheel... shocking 50 lbs!

3. ZL1 block can be purchased for a mere $4300.. (used to be $5K?) I am a little confused on this because they say the new one is a 454 block, not a 427.. but anyway, the block weighs a mere 110 lbs!!

(see gmpartsdirect.com part # = 12370850)