I'm looking for some suggestions on how to get some traction at the track.
Real drag tires will be coming next year, but that's not the only solution. Watching some of the videos from yesterday in slow motion, I am getting very little weight transfer to the wheels even a bit of separation from the wheel to the body.
In the car now, the front suspension is stock. Rear coils are Moog factory replacement coils and the shocks are Competition Engineering drag shocks.
Torque arm is adjustable, similar to a BMR short arm.
Rear end is a 9" w/ 4.30 gears and a locker.

So, I'm looking for some suggestions on how to get rid of the wheel hop that I'm getting now and get the power to the ground.

My suspension is pretty much the same as yours. I think once you get tires it will hook. Time to start lightening up the front end too. I dropped the front swaybar for yesterday and my 60' was no better so that may be another wives tale along with the lowering springs being no good since my 60' didn't change when I went back to stock height either.

I tried the sway bar removal at Armdrop with the drag radials on and it didn't make a difference either.
Are your springs constant rate or variable?

My springs are no name stock replacements so not sure on that. My 60' didn't change when I took out the 2" drop Sportlines. This is about the best launch pic I have of my car. Looks like a 4wd truck LOL!

Been mud-bogging lately
It looks like the front end is rising on yours.
Here's some freeze frames of mine






I know that I'm not going to get a lot of traction with street tires, but I was breaking them loose and getting wheel hop in 3rd gear. It's the wheel hop that is really bothering me.

From reading posts and what not seems like alot of guys are using the QA1 adjustables with stock springs. I also see alot them also using airbags in the right spring to help sink the backend. Looking at the videos you need IMO a sticky tire with some adjustable shocks to get it to squat when it bites and then crank them back up when your on the street. Im running the KYB AGX adjustables on setting 3/10 and know when it was biting hard off the line it was squating nicely i just need the powerplant to get it going off the line

This is a common misconception when drag racing...you dont want your backend to squat, you actually want it to lurch forward.

You're losing so much when the car squats as you want that power to get loaded into the suspension to the point where the rear actually sort of LIFTS as the power gets loaded through the suspension and into the chassis.


I hope the both of you have aftermarket rear lower control arms and lower control arm relocation brackets! If you do, put them onto the lowest setting you have and go for a launch!

Also LT4mula...your TQ/arm is adjustable, did you set your pinion angle properly? That along with the rear LCA's and LCARB's are the 3 best things for a 3rd and 4th gen when at the strip for hooking up and eliminating wheel hop!

You're right about having the back end come down. I'm looking to get the torque to the track.

I do have aftermarket LCA's. They're from the Lakewood Traction Action setup which contrary to most reports did work well up to about 300hp at which points the welds on it weren't strong enough. I'll have to check, but I think it is in the lowest setting on the bracket.

Pinion angle was set to -2 degrees, but I am going to remeasure it anyways.

I'm also going to measure the height on the front end. It should be stock ride height which should be 8" of clearance if I remember correctly. In the pictures I posted, it looks like the front end might be sagging a bit.

Yea that Lakewood setup works okay for stock power - stock with bolton power 4th gens but they do end up breaking eventually...

Grab some lower control arm relocation brackets and get them welded onto your rear end and drop the LCA's into the lowest setting. It is much stronger and will NOT flex unlike the Lakewood setup tends to.

You can re-use your Lakewood LCA's.

It's a Moser 9" axle, already has the relocation brackets. The Lakewood setup is long gone, still using the LCA's from it.

Checked, LCA's are in the lowest hole and pinion angle looks right. It's a bit wet outside to try to measure it.

My suggestion would be to the tires first. Sometimes its all you need.

I've been using the MT ET Street Radials for the last couple of years. Can't get them to hook up either so that's why I'm thinking suspension.

I didnt know you already have good tires. How does the wear on the tires look like? How does the tire marks on the ground look like?

Like metal(Jay) said. Its not a matter of the car squatting but the rear planting firmly on the ground. You want the front to transfer the weight to the back which gives it that "squatting" look.

if you are running stock control arms in the front, swap out the stock bushings for Energy Suspension or equivalent. This will allow the front suspension to travel fully and transfer the weight to the rear. The stock bushings act like a spring and don't let the spring push the car up, as efficiently as aftermarket bushings. With the spring out, try pushing down on the lower control arm you will see what I mean. But tires are a must!!

Not sure that I'd call them good tires. The non-radial version is much better. They left fairly solid tire marks behind. On the street, they would usually grab in 2nd gear, but on the strip they'd break loose.

It does have Energy Suspension bushings all around. Also poly motor mounts and an LS1 transmission mount.