Hooking up!

[Okiesnake]

Got a G-Tech from my wife for Christmas (she's a great wife!). The G-Tech is also great. However, It frustrates me how much wheel spin I get with the T/A's. I get alot of wheel spin in every gear and my 0-60 times are in typically in the mid 4 secs. I have a friend that has some somewhat used Mickey Thompson slicks that I think I'll mount to see how much better It'll do. Anyone have any wisdom to share?
Okiesnake

[spd4me]

Did you have to add a cigarette lighter to plug it in? I've read not to run drag slicks with a Jag independent rear end. Maybe someone else knows?
Bob

[Russ Dickey]

Did you have to add a cigarette lighter to plug it in? I've read not to run drag slicks with a Jag independent rear end. Maybe someone else knows?
Bob

Some G-techs can also be battery operated. I've seen enough broken half-shafts on IRS Cobras that ran slicks to make me very leery of doing it. However, I do plan on trying drag radials this year.

[spd4me]

I saw on Dream Car Garage TV show where they tested several old muscle cars. The flat belly guy from Legendary stared out in second gear, reved up to 4,000-5000 rpm and took off. He said this saved time in having to shift from first to second. I tried that once and smelt my clutch the rest of the day.

[spd4me]

How does the battery operated pick up the rpms? I know they have three excelorodometers (sp) to measure gravity and motion. Amazing piece of stuff.

[Jerry Cowing]

It measures RPM by picking up the static coming off your spark plug wires like your radio picks up the clicking sound.

[Okiesnake]

I added a cigarette lighter. Ran it through the fuse box and mounted to the left center support bar that mounts to the lower part of the dash.
Hopefully the Jag rear end holds up to the slicks! I don't have a monster motor. 410+HP
I had changed my original 3:31 rear gear to 3:71. The T/A's street tires just can't keep up. It's fun burning out thorugh each gear change but it's not very efficient.
Any recomendations on suspension settings?

[chris knueven]

okie,
i am running hoosier quicktimes,not pros,and am able to launch at 3500-4000,
with very little wheel spin. i run 10-12 psi and the car hooks great !!! the t/a's
i had did very nice 1/8 mile burnouts,but i finally got reallllly tired of them.
i have broken my posi...my fault,no limited slip additive(god,and i am a
mechanic for a living!!) ,but other than that,no problems. i am going to
guess i have somewhere between 175 and 200 !!! 1/8 mile runs plus
constantly beating the car on the street.....if i cant kill it nobody can!!!
as for setting the car up,i am running just the way it came from unique. i did
set the rear toe at about 3/16" in to kill some of the squirminess at speed.
fyi...the yellow 55 is a honest 10.80-10.90 nitrous street car,in the 1/8 i had
him beat by 3-6 cars depending on the run...and was still pulling away hard.
i am hoping to get over to orlando dragway and make some 1/4 mile passes.
the guys at the track told me on wed nite test and tune that i could run
single passes and not get kicked off the track,just need arm restraints
added. i am hoping to get there in the next month or two....
enjoy the traction!!!
chris

[spd4me]

Chris
What kind of motor and clutch are you running. I've been afraid to do a burn out, something might break.
Bob

[nolastyankee]

Chris mentions setting toe-in at the rear wheels above. In a previous thread Eliminator mentions that it is 'easy' to set the toe-in.

Looking at the mechanics of the Jag rear end the 'proper' way to set toe-in is with shims behind the lower suspension pivot. However, I would not classify this change as 'easy' in any way. How are you guys setting toe-in? With the rear suspension trailing arms?

We set ours up with 1/16" per side using the shims, but it has not seen the alignment table yet. I dread pulling that rear end apart to set it again...

[chris knueven]

bob,
i am running a 351/427 with a 11" centerforce dual friction clutch.
as for burnouts i do them all the time,just never had slicks on the car. the
quicktimes are good enough for me,i went from unlimted 1st gear burnouts
to about 10-15 feet of wheelspin in first changing from the radial t/a's.
the biggest difference is in grabbing second,the tires only spin maybe
5-10 ft. i shift to second without ever lifting off the throttle,just let the msd
do its job(set at 6400rpm). i would guess as hard as i am on the car you will
not break anything. i personally think i could do some pretty good death and
destruction to the diff if i was running slicks and truly had no wheelspin
at all.......but boy i bet the car would freaking launch!!!!


brian,
you are correct,it is a pain to correcty set the toe on the rear. i changed
my toe when i had a leak out the side plate on the diff. i figured it was a
good idea to add some shims while the diff was out for a reseal. i set mine
at roughly 3/16" in, with the diff out of the car.it ended up pretty close
on the alignment rack. i would not try to set the toe with the trailing arms,
i think it would cause suspension bind. you should be close..the rear
doesnt have to be perfect but you for sure do not want 0 or toe out,
it will make the car wander at high speed.

chris

[nolastyankee]

Chris,
I agree about the rear end being a pain to set toe in...Did you set 3/16" total toe in or 3/16" per side for a total of 3/8"? I'm guessing it's the former which is about where ours will set up.

[chris knueven]

brian,
yes,it is 3/16" total.....

chris

[ralphscott]

Brian, I posted alignment specs some time back that work great for the TN cars. Can't put my finger on 'em right now but I did post them so do a search if you want to see 'em.

Ralph

[nolastyankee]

Ralph,
Thanks...We have your alignment specs and have been using them. I just wanted to see if Chris had done something different and how he is adjusting the rear toe in. I understand how it is done, but was (still am) a bit confused by Rick's comment that it was easy to change. I was wondering if Chris and/or Rick knew something I didn't...

[eliminator]

The way the cars come from Unique you can use the rear trailing arms for toe-in adjustment. Very small amount of rotation needed. There has been no binding issues with my car.

Then the camber adjustments are easy using or taking away shims.
The camber on these cars is the most difficult because of ride height. So I have a camber tool and after driving the car and having around 1/2 tank of fuel I check the rear and adjust as necessary.
I pull and bounce on the front of the car the best I can at the alignment shop to get it down after the car is raised, thats the best you can do. So the front is set at the shop as well as the rear. But with 4 shocks on the rear is hard to get right without driving the car.

Brian your making it difficult if you start shimming the rear for all toe in adjustments. You may have to do that initally to get in close but after that the rear trailing arms are the way to go. If not, it may be Homecoming 2008!!

[nolastyankee]

Rick,
No doubt about the difficulty of the shims for toe-in adjusting! I really, really don't want to pull that apart again.

We calculated ours to hit Ralph's alignment specs using shims. So far our initial measurements using straight-edges and centerline strings show we should be right there. We set up the trailing arms pushing forward on the suspension to "zero lash" , then loaded it 1/4 turn or about 0.012".

[eliminator]

Brian,

You will be good to go with that set-up.

[rdorman]

I have personally witnessed Chris break a few things and folks, if he can't break it, it can't be broken! At DVSFIII (or was it IV), Chris's car was the second highest pull (and not beaten by much) of the entire weekend. And folks, he RUNS IT HARD. He blew away Jamo's all arruminum big block on the dyno. I can still see Jamos face....

Chris, whats up man? I was just looking at a pictures from our trip to AL. the other days. What a great run.