SCCA/ROAD RACING

[MoParMetal]

anyone do this in their charger? i'm looking for some information or links about suspension and what not. pictures if you got em. 

[bull]

I think RallyeMike could help you out: http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=262

[RallyeMike]

Ya.

Find someone with a collection of Mopar Action and read all the stories on the green brick Valiant. Pictures included!
Seriously.... a very good series of articles that cant be explained any better here, and certainly not by a jr-grade road racer like me.

[MoParMetal]

you may be a jr-grade racer, but you have a lot more experience than i do.
any tips will help.

[bull]

Mike, I'm sure you know way more about this topic than the rest of the members here. I think the four links under your signature pic would be a good start.

[RallyeMike]

It depends really on what you want to do with the car, how much it will weigh, and how fast you want to go. In general, large torsion bars 1"+ , bigger front sway bar, add a rear sway bar, box the lower control arms, total rebuild of the front suspension and steering box, gusset the steering box mount, reinforce the lower control arm pivots, add subframe connectors, a roll bar/cage?, lower the car, lose as much extra weight as possible  - particularly off the front of the car, quality adjustable shocks, and heavier rear springs out back. You can still buy A-body circle track / road race leaf / mono springs, but nobody is making B- body ones, so you live with big block/super stock springs (de-arched) or are on your own to build/have built rear springs to match your set up if you are going to get really serious. Appropriate tires and wheels, of course.

Don't forget brake upgrades. If you are going to go closed course or max autocross, new upper control arms that allow greater caster/camber are pretty much a must unless you want to hack things up and fabricate. The stock set up is pretty limited on what you can achieve in terms of adjustability. Definitely new bearings all around and a good set of new alloy axles. Stick with Timken rear bearings and avoid the green set up. Pay attention to the drive shaft angles when you change the ride height.

Final suspension set up as far as toe, caster and camber will depend on too many variables, particularly car weight % F/R , tires, track, etc. For example, the setup I'm running for ORR which is needed to keep the car stable and save the tires, would be no good for the local road race course. I derived my current set up based on talking with other racers on what they did and experimenting. This is a good resource - go to where you are going to run and hang out in the pits. Keep a log book of everything you do and how it worked, good and bad.

As far as what-nots: Think survival. I have a fire suit, helmet, gloves, arm-restraints, shoes, fuel cell, roll cage, 5-point harness, fire extinguisher, and fire supression system that douses the engine bay, interior and fuel cell.

I think that about covers it?

[Jon Smith]

You can still buy A-body circle track / road race leaf / mono springs, but nobody is making B- body ones, so you live with big block/super stock springs (de-arched) or are on your own to build/have built rear springs to match your set up if you are going to get really serious. Appropriate tires and wheels, of course.

How would a set of stiffer a body circle track springs with superstock hangers work on a heavy car? since SS springs are a body length anyway...

firm feel list b body springs...
http://firmfeel.com/leafspri_b.htm

[Brock Samson]

what  yr we talkin about here...?   

seen this?..

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1ZZRatZO08o

[2Gunz]

High speed open road racing.

[MoParMetal]

i think that should cover the basics, thanks RallyeMike and Brock its a 71.

that olympia charger kicks ass!

[Brock Samson]

thee was an AWESOME orange and white Plymouth on e-bay a few years back, did anyone save those pics?..

[PA Dodger]

If it's a specific sanctioning race orginizationyou are interested in, such as SCCA, make sure you get their rules/regulations book. I built my '70 Challenger with all the road race goodies and then went to a local SCCA solo course event to talk to some of the racers. Turns out I had too much to race in a stock class but nowhere near enough to race unlimited class.  They're not exactly a run-what -ya-brung event.  Open Road racing is probably different though....
Dan

[J-440]

  PA...I'm building a road race, top end, 1/4 miler with modern suspension and other mods on my 68 Charger and was wondering if you have any pics of your car.  I too have gotten the "restomod" bug and love the technology that is out there for cars like ours.  Texas has lots of road race courses and I can't wait to hit them all.  What has helped me out is definitly lots of research on the subject before I do any mods to my car.  Problem is you don't see too many pics of other people doing the SCCA thing.  Seems as if the 1/4 mile drag racers get all the glory.  Anyway, lateral-g.net is an awsome website dedicated to Pro-Touring/Road Racing cars of all types. 
  A hardcore Mopar road racer named Tim Herron modded his Cuda and has his own website called alltimeracing.com.  I bought a 9 quart aluminum oil pan from him with all the trap doors and baffles...excellent quality.  He sells other items too.  RallyMike, you guys might want to check him out.  Anyway, like I said I would love to see pics of the "guts" in ya'lls cars.  Thanks again.

[NYCMille]

Yes, I run with NASA and PDA "http://www.nasaproracing.com/news/2005/NASA-Northeast.html" in my '68 Charger - I've modified everything from stem to stern just PM me with some specific questions and I'll answer the best I can. I've done about 12 road course events running on tracks like Pocono, VIR and Moroso Motorsports in FLA. to running at Limerock in CT as well, in fact I have my first track day of the year next Fri. at Pocono.

[RallyeMike]

How would a set of stiffer a body circle track springs with superstock hangers work on a heavy car? since SS springs are a body length anyway...

firm feel list b body springs...
http://firmfeel.com/leafspri_b.htm

I see that was a confusing statement. I meant to say: Heavier spring rates for the rear are needed. A-body length springs in various rates are still available from various circle track sources. B-body length springs are not. I stopped looking a few years ago - the Firm Feel source is new news to me. Thanks for the info.

[Jon Smith]

Thanks...I was planning to go that route with an A body anyway, thats what I had in mind when I bought the barracuda, dunno about open road events, I'm not sure if there are any legal ones over here, but track days would be fun..