Right on. I have the same suspension setup as Darren’s Barracuda and it’s been working great for me. Simple but effective. Love how the SS springs plant the rear tires.
Old Lakewood Ladder bars, that's what we called em back in the 70's. They were yellow when new, and would bind if not set up right. There was also a spring perch/pivot and/or a roller pivot that allowed the axel housing to slightly rotate. I probably saying what has been already said...
I have some more old school tricks for you : 1) Use 6 cylinder torsion bars, they let the weight transfer quicker so I'm told. 2) Those ladder bars are very similar to the torque arm suspension on the old Vegas, Monza's ect, they are attached to the rear end housing to the front side of the actual center of the car, under acceleration the torque being applied to the rear is transferred to the front, lifting the front of the car, transferring weight directly to the rear for a lot of bite. Just some food for thought, good luck with your racing adventure.
Hey Joe, Tim here again, i really shud wait til the vid ends, but i get spun up and comment to soon.....ur buddies car has NO weight transfer....my rear mods: ..i use Edelbrock hop-stop bars (re-locate my top rear contol arms, changin my instant center) and i made a bracket and welded in the MOPAR adj pinion snubber......car twisted up, pulled left front wheel almost 2 feet, hooked awesome, stayed in it, and got my 1:53 60'......i tried drag bags for the right rear spring, but it slowed down.....take the pressure away, let it twist, and my 1:53 was back.....so i left it......SUPER COOL vid!!!....TY sir!!
I'm fixing to build (or at least clean up) a 5.9 magnum to put in my Coronet because my 318 bit the dust today. Thank you for all your hot roding information. I'm going to be putting it to use.
Hey Joe, Tim here, all that stuff works for most GM A Bodies as well......my '64 had 90/10 shocks, so swat bar, no bum stops, AND when i replaced the upper control arm bushings, i ground the serations off that dig into the washer (ease of motion), AND i tightened up the upper control arm bolts with the front end in the air, so all it wants to do is lift!!.....yep....good stuff my brother!!!.....(oh, i've had a 1:53 60' no brake, runnin 7 flat, 99.97 mph), pump gas, drag radials......but all ur front suspension stuff is spot on!!.....PEACE to you sir!!
Hey Joe, unfortunately perfectly good-looking cinder blocks have been known to mysteriously break and collapse under such conditions, good to use some jack stands along with that setup also, thanks for video!
@@JustMoparJoe Before doing headers and exhaust on the GTX last winter, I made wheel cribs out of 2x4’s. They are rock solid and provide almost a foot of extra room under the car. I had around $80 in materials and an afternoon of time into them. It was money well spent IMHO…
Good timing on a traction refresher video Joe. I just took Doorthy to the track Saturday to race some other RU-vidrs. The main rule is it must be on a hard tire. So I had nothing but traction issues.
Try that with the from rubbers and let me know, Jonny! Also 90/10’s are huge help! I’ve picked up .05 in my 60’ before from swapping to 90/10’s over a dead shock.
ladder bars if solid on rear end will lift the front end when the axle tries to turn. they are not to stop axle twist, but to lift the front with the axle twist. Make a drawing if you do not understand.
Somebody just recently brought up the use of pickup 1 ton springs with some small modification. Mopar carried over the same spring centerline mount offset from cars to trucks in the 70s iteration of the D/W's. But yeah the 1 ton spring pack is reported to be ~3/4" shorter than the 1/2 or 3/4 ton packs and work in cars (that sounded suspicious to me because why change the lengths? The rest makes sense though). The super heavy main leaf really resists wrap and by pulling 2 certain leafs out they lift like the super stocks. This is something that you could verify easily with DDG. He's got the heavy trucks and you got the race cars! Keep preaching the Mopar engineering superiority of our 60s & 70s suspension, brother! Its all about that spring centerline offset :)
I've got Ladders in the back. My front has QA,s and I have rubber stops on it, but it transfers real well. I'm at 6.1 in the 1/8 . I didn't set it up. It worked real well when got the car. I haven't needed to change anything. I know what it looks like launching and like my setup. I'm, not sure what torsion bars are in it. The car your working on doesn't seem to transfer at all. It does need work.
Good stuff Joe. These cars work good to begin with and with these little tricks, they work great! Couldn't tell in the video but are there housing floaters on the rear in your buddies car? If the ladder bars need to stay, that might be a good next step if not already installed. This is the fun part though, figuring out what works and what doesn't.
Great video Joe, really key things you can do to improve your car in this video. I’ve got my notepad out. I have a quick question. I bought a 3500 stalk converter, now it’s not stalling at all. I put 456 gears in and my 60 foot times did not improve. Does this sound like I have the wrong converter or a bad one? My carburetor and timing looked pretty good, my plugs look great. I just can’t seem to get this card to launch. Any info would be greatly appreciated as usual thanks, Joe.
Here’s the generic answer first: I don’t know your full combination etc. Now on to the helpful stuff. The 4.56 gear makes the converter feel tighter than if you ran it with a 3.55 gear. Just like with Mike’s car in the video, a tight converter will give it a lazy launch. It will also not allow the engine to rev as quickly and the weights to fling out as quickly in the distributor. If it’s possible, I would send that converter to Mike Eiben at Top line converter in PA. He can loosen it to that 4,500-4,800 flash range. That will be a total game changer for you!
Joe, just spent the weekend in Mountain View, drove right past you! I got a pair of Super-Stock springs and the A-body(?) Brackets and was gonna get a hold of you, if you'd be interested? I was thinking about cutting them down for a big block Dakota, But didn't want to mess them up. I forgot and left them at my place.
Mopar Joe. Are there any differences in the oil filter plates from a small block and a magnum block? Years 67 to 92. One has 4 holes, and one has 6 holes
@@russellmiller6770 I’ve heard of people drilling extra holes in their stock plates before. But I belive the diameters are the same. I haven’t ever swapped a magnum plate on to an LA.
Nice one today! How does torsion bar front end height affect it? If it’s up high does it Also help or hurt? If I’m not mistaken you can get inches up from stock with torsion bars adjustment right? Thanks in advance for dealing with my crazy questions lol.
It’s probably dependent on each car, but cranking them up does take away from the amount of travel available to transfer. Not only that, it changes the amount of pressure on the bar. To raise the car, you have to twist that bar harder, which preloads it. I forgot to mention that Darren has the slant 6 torsion bars. They actually are a smaller diameter and have a different spring rate than the heavy bars. The trade off is that they wouldn’t handle as well on the highway.
I have a 74 Duster with a mild 440 with a manual valve body 727. I've never drag raced an automatic and have very little drag racing experience. What would you suggest is the best way to launch it? As far as I know, it doesn't have a billet drum.
You’re gonna love it! The billet drum is nice, but I only got one this past year. As for launches, if you’re using slicks, I usually burnout starting in 1st and immediately shift to second while the tires are spinning. Hold that rpm around 5,000 until you know they’re hot, rolling out from there, quickly release the throttle. To stage, try it first off idle. It allows the converter to have a harder flash and transfer quicker(or break the tires loose). From there, go up about 500 rpm: 1,500, 2,000, 2,500. It almost never launches faster trying to leave at the highest rpm possible, with a footbrake. Hopefully that helps!
Yes sir, removed it so Joe wouldn't have to during the paint and body restoration. It's getting a QA1 coil over front suspension once Joe is done with it.
Off subject but....what intake manifold is Mike running on his car? Main reason is how does he fit a single plane/carb under a stock hood? I've been told my super victor or victor 340 will not fit with a stock hood. (1968 valiant) Engine is not in car at this time. Just wanted to know what I'm getting in to.
@@JustMoparJoe I remember steeet racing in the 70s and I live in Oshawa can a lot of gm guys used them on chevys I’d say prob sort of poor man’s 4 link or you know what I mean they were prob quite expensive if I think about it late 60s early 70s
A little Rickity them old ladder bars look like ther missing something but glad you put up some of your old stuff I get a bit mixed up love you racing the road runner man that was a race also I’m seeing new stuff I thought you had a 8/75 and that shifter is a way better selection than the old one I prefer hurst quarter sticks but we all like different things and the price was very good wish I was in the USA cause that Mopar tax here is crazy I’m debating on a scat ratating assembly but I want heads to that’s at Leat probably 8 to 10 grand I know it’s not a lot but wen you are on a fixed income it will be a tough winter maybe come out of retirement I’m a tattoo artist all my life and I can make quick cash so just maybe find the glasses so I can see and pump out some tattoos lol been tattooing for 40 years and sick of it lol keep em comming we appreciate you I know a fair bit about cars bud I’m learning a lot from your channel as you say Mopar to the front
@@JustMoparJoe that’s really good my buddy used to run a 440 with all Indy stuff like the best he could get and once he got to 1040s it started getting harder and harder to gain just a little time now he runs KEITH BLACK HEMIS ALUMINIM BLOCK MOTORS I’m not sure of the cubic in but over a thousand horse both motors in a 69 barracuda goes 8s and he has a few more hemi cars 64 Belvedere and a 70 challenger with a cast street hemi he’s a very good Mopar mechanic transmission s and motors but he hardly races much anymore but he usually goes down to the states to big events so I’d say you are doing very well for how old you are he’s been doing this all his life and he’s 72 so I’d be proud if I were you that’s why I follow your channel cause you are a very gifted young man and your very intelligent I only give credit wen due and everything you do is above and beyond I’ve been around Mopar since 16 and if I only new a quarter of what u know that’s why education is important your always doing numbers and I BELIVE wen building stroker motors it’s to your advantage sorry for the big comments but I would get work of off you in a minute but would be a little ways from Toronto lol Mopower to you I hope the coupe your brother owns comes soon it will be a awesome ride
I’ve never used them. I have only heard and read the stores of guys breaking records with them, etc. Are they a necessary upgrade over what’s on this car? Not for any of my power levels. I do think they’re hard to beat once they are tuned and are working properly. I’m not sure of the threshold when they become a mandatory upgrade over the stuff I showed here. I’m sure guys have changed over to them from and the older style suspension and really picked up 60’ times. (Hopefully that wasn’t too much of a politician’s answer) 😂
@@JustMoparJoe honesty is the best policy. I also heard good things about them and since i am starting from scratch and need something i think i will buy them.
