Floaters/Ladder Bars on A body

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That set up has been used since the 80s i dont lik it are you using superstock springs ? Toss the rancho shocks and get adjustable comp shocks sorry not a fan of the mono spring either
 
I brought a 68 cuda 20 years ago,that had a 4 link but used floaters with leaf springs,i belive the srings was only to hold the car up,like a coil over,it worked good,but you can say its out dated,the way to go these days is a ladder bar or 4- link with coil overs
 
i used something very simular to that back when i was bracket racing. i used the stock springs that came on the 66 cuda with it and it worked great. hotrod hooked up very well every time. took me to a few track championships places.
are the mono leaf springs steel or fiberglass?
for the small sum of $100 for the floaters i'd sure recommend using the set up. if you deside to step up to a coil-over you really haven't lost any thing. the coil-overs, mounts top and bottom and diagonal bar is going to set you back $1000 so why not go for the floaters now.
 
Yes, I have steel Mono leafs, they are Cal Tracs...
My goal is to NOT go to Coil over Ladder bars or 4 link, as I want to put it back on the street some day.
I realize I can leave the old leaf spring hangers,but I want it clean.It is also about $800.00 for complete coil over/ladder bar/track locater. I realize I could sell all my Cal Trac stuff to return maybe 1/2 that cost.
But it requires alot more welding and fabricating. My springs are already inboard and mini tubbed.I am tired of working and spending money on this project. I just want to race and be competative again.
I am happy with my 11.5 wide tires (13.5" wide) Hoosiers.
The issue is the short length of the Cal Tracs 20" instant center which seems to be the issue with them launching on a transbrake.
Floaters and ladder bars require less work, and are under $400.00, and I can sell the Cal Trac bars alone to recover some of that.
But the main goal is to make this thing have consistant 60's.I also want to run S/St which is a 5/10ths Pro tree as you know.I should have left the S/S springs in it for now, it worked much better.
My Duster had ladder bars, and it worked awesome.
Lastly to those that say floaters or S/S springs are old technology, so are ladder bars, lift bars and and 4 links.Even Cal Tracs are a form of slapper bars, which have been around forever.
Thanks guys for all the great input.
 
I think the coil overs would be better. I have a Dart with ladder bars and floaters, if you can wait a couple days I post a couple pics of it. Mine was done by previous owner.
It seems to work well, I have no experience with cal-tracs to say which is better.
Me and the car have sat up a long time,,lol, so we are getting used to each other right now. I've only made 6 passes with it ( work and weather get in the way )
7.29@94 best so far, theres more in the car.
Ive seen some fast cars using floaters, but like whats already been said, its outdated.
 
Hi Chris. I really have no business chiming in here, but I have been following your progress, or lack of, this year. Several times I thought about recommending Dbl adjustable shocks but kept my mouth shut :smile:. I love your car and I know your goal is to be competitive in Super Street in the near future. I believe your looking at a late season or winter project, and while the floating, leaf, ladder setup is probably a upgrade, i'd consider it a band aid for what you eventually want. Knowing your experience with a 9.90 car, i'd probably consider going ladder & coil as a minimum for a solid Super Street car. I know it's a little more coin and fab work, but the end result will probably get you closer to your goal faster then playing with the leaf's. Just felt like putting my thought down, so just pat me on the head, give me some pudding, and send me on my way.....:mrgreen:.

P.S. I started typing this about a half hour ago....lol. You guys are fast. :mrgreen:
 
Hey Rick, you are a wise ol' man. I do listen to you, because you are level headed.Your idea's make me always think.And I love your support.Never worry about speaking up. I can be pretty out spoken myself.
My buddies, and others on here tried Double adj. shocks with no help. The reality is the instant center is too short on an A body front spring mount.The bars want to lift the car up in the rear,not in the center, which tends to unload the tire.I am sure with a BB it's even worse then a SB because of the foward weight.
Now I know I am going to get a bunch of heat again, but that is my opinion,and conclusion. I am not willing to try anything else. I have the car calmed down on the starting line. In fact it's so calm I have 0.980 in the box. That is pretty wimpy, and I promise it's not me.It's added a ton of roll out. But I can adjust for that.
My good friend,a great racer, and they call him "Ice Man" ran floaters in his 67 Nova for years with lots of sucess. He went to big dollar coil overs and 4 link, but said the floaters/ladders worked better. Now wait. I am not saying floaters work better, I am just saying he had good luck with his car.With both BB and SB.
All the others on here gave great info.Except for my short encounter with "crackhead" it's been a great websight.It did take a while and a lot of frustration to come to a conclusion about the Cal Tracs. Actually several people Pm 'd me and came out of closet about them. They all agreed they couldn't make them work either, at least the way they wanted them to work.My buddy has a BB 57 Chevy, and he runs stock springs 3 way Comp. shocks and a transbrake. They work great for him. My buddy in oz has a 67 camaro mild blown SB, he foot brakes and blows the tires off, even after talking to Mr Calvert several times, and made every possible adjustment.
Good prepped track,less HP,more balanced car, lighter car,SB,footbrake,saturday night/street race car, racing in Pro, not Super Pro, all can make a difference in how I believe they can work in an A body.Or maybe I totally missed the setup!
And yes, it would be a winter project. But I swear, I almost pulled my SS springs out of my wifes car, and was going to adapt a snubber to my 9". But I decided to ride the year out, and just have fun.But you never know if I get real frustrated. With a hoist it only takes an hour or so, and I can always put her stock springs back in, because she is not racing this year.
Here is your pat and pudding LOL
Chris
 
bajavan said:
Hey Rick, you are a wise ol' man. I do listen to you, because you are level headed.Your idea's make me always think.And I love your support.Never worry about speaking up. I can be pretty out spoken myself.
All the others on here gave great info.Except for my short encounter with "crackhead" it's been a great websight.It did take a while and a lot of frustration to come to a conclusion about the Cal Tracs. I tried hard do it without slambing them. I think they are a quality product, but didn't meet my need.
And yes, it would be a winter project. But I swear, I almost pulled my SS springs out of my wifes car, and was going to adapt a snubber to my 9". But I decided to ride the year out, and just have fun.But you never know if I get real frustrated. With a hoist it only takes an hour, and I can always put her stock springs back in, because she is not racing this year.
Here is your pudding LOL
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Thank you for the response Chris, you're a good man and a good racer. I'll keep watching what you decide to do , and thanks for the pudding...:mrgreen:.
 
I have a set of floaters very similar to the ones in Jegs kit, I'll sell them for 45, plus shipping. I believe they will fit on a USPS box. PM me if interested.
 
Ah name calling again.

Except for my short encounter with "crackhead" it's been a great websight.
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At least I'm not so stupid as to blame the parts I install on a car for my inability to get them to work.

Cal-tracs don't work on transbrake equipped mopars... LMAO



The trainwreck that keeps on giving. :)
 
You can add crackedback to your ignore list, it is easy. So whenever he posts all you see is "hidden" which is really quite pleasant. "Hidden & Ignored" is a good place for him
Thanks again to those that left the positive input, it all really helps.
 
caltracs and a brake,9.80's with a 1.42 60ft. they take some work but they work...

what holes do you have it set up on? how much front end travel from bump to bump and from current ride height to bump? we had a lot of issues with the car unloading until we put it on the lower hole and took out the factory style upper/lower stops for the flat poly ones.

and that's a 528 race hemi so front end weight isn't the issue.

EDIT: those times are un tuned to track conditions at VEGAS, so 3 tenths just fly out the window on those times.
 

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805moparkid said:
caltracs and a brake,9.80's with a 1.42 60ft. they take some work but they work...

what holes do you have it set up on? how much front end travel from bump to bump and from current ride height to bump? we had a lot of issues with the car unloading until we put it on the lower hole and took out the factory style upper/lower stops for the flat poly ones.

and that's a 528 race hemi so front end weight isn't the issue.

EDIT: those times are un tuned to track conditions at VEGAS, so 3 tenths just fly out the window on those times.
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But haven't you heard, they don't work on that type of car.

The president of the club has spoken, please put me on ignore. LOL
 
@805moparkid: Nice pic
Oh how I love Speedworld, ran my Daytona there a few years back, made it to the finals in Super gas, lost on a double break out against the Az. Pro gas ***. pres. The blue Mustang with the chev in it...Keith? Named Crazy Horse or something? We became instant friends. Saw him a few more times at Firebird at the nationals. It was some of the most competitive racing I was ever involved in. You guys are tuff.Anything less then a .00X light and you were toast!
To Answer your question. Bottom hole (top was worse) 6 1/2"+ travel. Snubers cut off. Have not measured ride heigth, but I would guess centered on travel. Car is not lowered in the front, rear is using Cal Trac 1" lowered springs.Good info, and I am glad your work.
Mine are working,it's not about the number it runs or 60' numbers (we are at 4500' so that is a challenge in itself), I am happy with that, just not consistant as I would like. SS springs were more consistant, even though it is faster and more fun with the Cow tracks.
Lastly, our track is not the best (not bad), even though it is all cement to the 1000'. Walla walla,Bremerton, SIR or Yakama are way better. Your starting line ripped my head off.So that is some of the issue.
Thanks for your info, jealous of your car, it is bad A
Chris
P.S We have Chuck from Firebird managing our track.
 
what are you using for launch control, a 2 step? track conditions? how much are your times moving?
 
2 step @ 3500 on a 5500 converter. This is the only way it will work. I started @ 5000,4500, 3800.
On a fresh prepped track, and warm, it's pretty consistant. The 60's though can vary at any given moment by 600 ,and maybe 2 hun more at the 330 and another 2 at the 1000 which come out in the E.T.by a 10th give or take a hun. Real hard to dial the car with a 10th variance in E.T.
 
bajavan said:
2 step @ 3500 on a 5500 converter. This is the only way it will work. I started @ 5000,4500, 3800.
On a fresh prepped track, and warm, it's pretty consistant. The 60's though can vary at any given moment by 600 ,and maybe 2 hun more at the 330 and another 2 at the 1000 which come out in the E.T.by a 10th give or take a hun. Real hard to dial the car with a 10th variance in E.T.
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sounds like you have other stuff going on besides suspension... you should be hitting at least 5 on the converter if not 5500...

is the car getting squirly or nosing over? have you checked for fuel issues? if its hooking that's all its ment to do....

EDIT: everything after the 60ft isn't suspension unless your pulling the front end off at each shift... sounds like other issues...
 
@805moparkid:
Thanks, agree on the 5000 or 5500 launch, that is what I did with SS springs and it was fine, but this is what Mr. Calvert told me to do after nothing else worked, and it worked the best.Doesn't matter any way on a full tree, one can drive out of the lights.
If I do that, I launch perfect, then it goes out and unloads the tires.
It's not squirly. The 330' and 1000' number losses are minimal, it's the 60's that are the most off.Can be as much as a10th.Depends what mood it is in.And it may make 2-3 consistant passes, then fall off or pickup.
Fuel system is fine, was on the dyno earlier this year.It's when I changed to the springs/ bars that this all started.
What rear springs and shocks are you running? You have a lot of rear seperation.
How much front travel do you have from ride height?
Thanks Chris
 
69valiantracer said:
@805moparkid:
Thanks, agree on the 5000 or 5500 launch, that is what I did with SS springs and it was fine, but this is what Mr. Calvert told me to do after nothing else worked, and it worked the best.Doesn't matter any way on a full tree, one can drive out of the lights.
If I do that, I launch perfect, then it goes out and unloads the tires.
It's not squirly. The 330' and 1000' number losses are minimal, it's the 60's that are the most off.Can be as much as a10th.Depends what mood it is in.And it may make 2-3 consistant passes, then fall off or pickup.
Fuel system is fine, was on the dyno earlier this year.It's when I changed to the springs/ bars that this all started.
What rear springs and shocks are you running? You have a lot of rear seperation.
How much front travel do you have from ride height?
Thanks Chris
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dyno's are worthless other than a number thats useless lol...

ever hear of fuel stacking?

were running caltracs shocks front and rear and if i remember cranked all the way up on the rear (its been a year since we had the car to run so thats a little fuzzy) and the self lower 90/10's. we have 890's up front as the .860's and .870 went flat on us, with about 5" of travel (if touching the lower thin bump stop) and about 4.5" at ride height.

were just running the split mono-leaf for 3200 lbs car, the SS replacement springs which were about a half inch lower than SS springs. we had ours on the lower hole, sorry cant remember preload.

here is the landy clone on its pre brake runs and still getting things settled, next is a 472 hemi with a pro shifted 833, again with the caltracs setup. this car is doing what you described in the 60ft and let me know if this is whats up.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ewNTCopqp8&feature=c4-overview&list=UU2UfycLWJQRo0DnRrnW3KxQ"]SS And AFX Landy 10.06.MOV - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bie5_lBrFQk&feature=c4-overview&playnext=1&list=TLK838Dhj3Y80"]SS And AFX Mr. Norms SS Hemi Dart #1 - YouTube[/ame]
 
Dyno's finds leaks & other issues,such as if it's going to shift etc. so you don't wait till you get to the track to work on your car.Helps with fuel adjustments I.E. Lean/ rich, fuel delivery & mangement. I personally ignore HP/toqure levels, you are right they are just numbers. Every car I put on the dyno, I run all season without opening the hood, and go lots of rounds and win (well not this year).All I do is change oil & check plugs.I set my cars up as grunt cars, so I can go rounds and not work on them. I get many season's out of the engine/trans., and all I do is replace the valve retainers for safety, and clean everything else up with rings, valve job and gaskets. Last freshin' was he 1st time I even put rod bearings in it, and it didn't really need them.I shift @ 6200, the motor will go to 7500. I am not going after the number, just rounds. Been there done that!...LOL
This same combo was on the dyno here @ 4500 foot, I finished the season with tons of wins with it in my S/G Daytona, and took it south to your tracks, and ran it all Winter,as mentioned made it to the finals on a double break out in S/G. It ran mid to low 9's off the stop.Never touched a thing, never took the hood off except for tech. If I remmeber, you are @ like 1500' in that area.
But we could argue Dyno's all day, because lots of people will agree with you. But for me, it always works.And the group I hang with which win alot will agree with me.
Your car looks good, and yes, not to that extreme is what the car does.But them I am not running a cogger either.
I have heard of fuel stacking, I have no fuel delievery problems
Thanks for your input.
 
Back to the original question LOL, is anybody running floaters/ladders on an Abody? If so, how do they work for you?
Thanks Guys/Girls
 
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