Wheel Stander

I've got a 92 coupe with a 383 stroker, A4 trans, 3400 rpm stall, 4.10 gears and 335/17 Hoosier drag radials. I installed Viking adjustable racing shocks on all four corners and a super-stiff VBP rear spring. What other suspension upgrades should I consider for drag racing but still want to drive the car on the street?

89L98TPI

Extended bump stops in the rear. I can't remember PN off hand but will get it. Rklessdriver may chime in soon with more info..

89L98TPI

Bump stops , Viking shocks, 84 Z51 rear spring is about all we got in mine. No issue here.

Kevova

Modified trailing arm brackets. If you're not going to drive car on street, front stabilizer bar can be disconnected or removed.

rklessdriver

The bump stops are Energy Suspension pn 9.9143G.

Obviously not a straight bolt on but its not difficult to modify them like 98L98TPI's are in the pic. I did those in about 1/2 hr with a 4" angle grinder...

Shock settings are important as well.... I would start out something like 12 R and 7 C on the rear. 6 R and 9 C on the front.... that's from full loose.
Will

C409

..... I used the extended bump stops when I went to a 28" slick but the car was launching on the stops instead of the suspension ... why buy double adjustable shocks and launch hard tail ? besides , the car became a handful off the line ... the extended stops also put the halfshafts at a bit of a downward angle toward the outsides ... the u-joints will be much happier if you can keep the halfshafts parallel to the ground during launch .....

rklessdriver

I cant know why it didnt work for you but I ran my car for years with that set up.... you can see the stop is cut shorter so that it puts the halfshaft level.

Even with my shocks loose for poor prep, I never had any problems. You can see there was no prep past the starting line and I was fooling around with the rear shocks - had them almost completely loose both C & R...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lyqzpynsp7..._0849.MOV?dl=0

You can see the car was hitting the stops really hard.... but drove straight as an arrow. Still went 1.32 60ft.

My best 60s came with really good prep and the rear shocks super tight on Rebound to hold the rear down on the stops until the car was about 100ft out.

The front had to be fairly tight on Rebound as well, so it wouldnt reach max extension so fast that it upset the car. With the front loose it would either wheel stand or unload about 30ft out.

I guess alot would depend on what rear spring you run. The softer the spring, the harder it would bottom out and worse it would drive. I ran the 84 z51 spring and you can see with the shocks loose how much it will squat if allowed. I cant imagine how hard any other spring would bottom out.

Will

Wheel Stander

To be perfectly honest, I think the single biggest problem is my lack of driving skills. I'm very much a novice in that until recently I haven't driven a high performance car in over 40 years. Hopefully, with practice and the proper shock settings my 60' times will get better. I installed a 500 lb spring from VBP along with the Viking dual adjustable shocks, so that should help too. Next year, I going to switch to the MT ET Street SS tires. Once I get the burnout process worked out, get the shocks and tire pressure dialed in, things should be much better. I have no doubt that if you drove my car, Will, the 1/4 mile times would be much faster. Thanks for all your advice.

383vett

Actually, launching a car with an automatic transmission is not rocket science, nothing compared to a stick. With an auto, you dial in the tire pressures (start with manufacturer's recommendations and forum info). That should get you within a couple of pounds of where you want to be. Dial in the launch rpm, left foot up and right down. Unless you are bracket racing, that's pretty much it. You should get it down in a few runs. When you get some consistent times, you can then play with shock settings and what not, but you need to establish a consistent baseline first.

Turbo Bob

Hey Pete,

The M/T drag radials will certainly help lower your 60’ times rather than using the Nitto NT555R’s. Much softer tire. Also you will have to experiment with tire pressure, shock settings, and launch RPM’s.
You can also install a line lock or not. I do my burnout in second gear to keep the rpms up then shift into 3rd gear prior to staging the car.

Wheel Stander

Hopefully, it is true that practice makes perfect ... I guess we'll see!