[snvin]

OK- I read the articles and posts, and besides motor mount inserts and tweaking tire pressure, does anybody know of anything that can be done to a suspension that will improve drag launches? Common sense (and I could be way off here,

) tells me that increasing stiffness may not be as good for drag launching as it is for increasing overall handling, but from what I've seen, the aftermarket is kind of limited when it comes to suspension parts geared towards drag racing. Anybody have any info they'd like to share?

 

[BlueTeg]

Radius arms are also good for sharpening your launches, but are kind of pricey.

 

[snvin]

But would using radius arms AND motor mount inserts be overkill? I probably couldn't afford both anyway!

 

[SurferX]

If you can afford the radius arms then get those, they are about $400 and will elminiate wheel hop. For a cheaper alternative you can get a set of motor mount inserts for $29. Get both ES and Prothane sets of inserts for about $70 and you'll have eliminated most of the hop as long as you aren't boosted.

I forgot what company made them but they sell "drag launch" springs which are super stiff in the rear to minimize weight transfer. Not recomended for the daily drive though so I hope you're proficient with spring installs haha.

 

[b18bad]

I had a guy at the local machine shop weld me up a "solid shock" I took him a factory shock, compressed to my ride hight (were talking rear shocks here) He fabbed up a upper and lower mount just like the ones on the shock, and used a piece of 2x2" square tubing to join the two and make it the same size as the shock.

now when im at the track, I just replace the shocks w/ these bars and run. It knocked .15 seconds off my 60ft., and theres a lot more traction on the 1-2 shift. It doesn't even chirp 3rd when there in

The mounts are a great idea too.

 

[nospeedlimit143]

I forgot what company made them but they sell "drag launch" springs which are super stiff in the rear to minimize weight transfer. Not recomended for the daily drive though so I hope you're proficient with spring installs haha.

I believe they are made by Eibach. Essentially what they are are stiff rear spring that sit higher than the softer lower front springs so the car won't lean back as far when it is launched and the softer springs will absorb the impact of wheel hop more than stiffer springs. My english teacher would be proud... that was one hell of a run-on

 

[nospeedlimit143]

Oh yeah... they probably aren't good for everyday driving either.

 

[jahbugz]

b18bad. That might not be such a good idea since you can bust your entire wheel well. I mean if your track is not perfectly smooth, you can cause some catastrophic damage that cannot be undone. I think you should go with the racing springs instead. I was going to do that but was persuaded not to.

 

[b18bad]

Ive ran em for about 20 passes now.....no problems. Is there any tracks around you w/ speedbumps on them or something? lol The track here is as smooth as glass.

 

[SurferX]

Our track has speedbumps and dips all over the place, definitely wouldn't work for my area.

I'd be interested in those drag launch springs for the strip if I felt like re-installing springs everytime I went. I personally just go with my street setup as I'm not that hardcore of a drag racer to want to bother with them.

http://www.eibach.com/draglaunch.htm

Like mentioned before they are lower and softer in front to provide more weight to the drive wheels and super stiff in back to minimize weight transfer to the rear. May be something to look into.

 

[snvin]

If you can afford the radius arms then get those, they are about $400 and will elminiate wheel hop. For a cheaper alternative you can get a set of motor mount inserts for $29. Get both ES and Prothane sets of inserts for about $70 and you'll have eliminated most of the hop as long as you aren't boosted.

I forgot what company made them but they sell "drag launch" springs which are super stiff in the rear to minimize weight transfer. Not recomended for the daily drive though so I hope you're proficient with spring installs haha.

Even though I'm sure the install will drive the expense of the inserts up, they're still probably much cheaper than the radius arms installed, so I think I'll go w/ the inserts.

As for those Eibach drag launch springs, I wanted to get the spring rates so that I could have some idea of what the effects would be on street handling, so I called Eibach. The tech guy, "DC" is supposed to e-mail me the spring rates, so I'll post them if he sends them. (I did read on the website that the drop is 1.7" in the front and 1.3" in the rear.) Anyway, that got me thinking that it might be possible to put together my own drag launch spring kit that's not quite as extreme as Eibach's. Besides, 1.7" is too low for my tastes. Do you guys think that I could combine 2 types of springs and come up w/ a similar (but not as extreme) effect on weight transfer during launches?

 

[b18bad]

ok, this floored me, but I just talked to a guy that pulls !1.7 second! 60ft times in an se-r(94 i think)

he said the only thing he did was bolt on slicks and get this.....put an exhast clamp on the rear shock as close up to the top half as you can get it! he said its never broke!

 

[jahbugz]

good for him, but that won't work for us guys that don't have tracks as smooth as a baby's bottom. on my track he would go down only one time and after he would be welding something back together

 

[SurferX]

Slicks can do wonders for 60ft times.

 

[snvin]

b18bad - The exhaust clamp thing is interesting, but I sure as hell wouldn't do it! Having a set of slicks is another story.

By the way- the dude from Eibach got back to me and said that spring rates for the drag launch kit are 'not available' and that he's not even sure if they still make the kit for Integras. (The website said they do, but his company database said no.)
Whatever. Somebody must know the rates - They're just being shady.

 

[SurferX]

Yeah sometimes it's tough to get spring rate information out of companies because they don't want other companies to copy them. Too bad I would have liked to add that to our spring specs table but oh well.

 

[timpac167]

Maybe you can try a set of Skunk 2 coilovers on the rear with a 400lb spring rate and maybe an Eibach Pro-kit or H&R OE springs in the front. You could set the skunks at the highest point and [ not sure if this is recommended ] shave maybe about half an inch of the coils on the front springs to get that drag stance.

Also, having Koni shocks, my brother told me these shocks are only rebound adjustable, so you could adjust the rear to full stiffness so that when you launch, any weight transfer to the rear will be highly damped and you will minimize osciallation of weight towards the rear.

 

[snvin]

Funny you should mention that timpac - a few hours ago I was looking @ Surfer's spring/coilover spec article to try to work out a good combination like that. I agree that adjustables are a necessity in this situation, but I haven't decided on which specific ones to go with... but it's OK- I have a few months before it's time to dump the LS and get a GSR. Just planning ahead so that when the time comes I do things right.

 

[Discoteg]

alot of guys around here put Accord front springs in the rear of their tegs I believe it requires some cutting of the spring to set the ride height. The accord front springs are waaaayyyyy stiffer to support the weight of the f22 therefore lessens the rear and dipping.

I run silicone filled engine mounts and a set of full race traction bars. With some 15 in BFG drag radials. I need to stiffen up the rear end fo sho. My 60 fts are 2.0