My first runs with the Hemi in review…

[Hemidoug]

Reduce the pre-load eh? I was going to increase it.. . I've got very little in it now....two flats after contact on the right side and just touching on the left side. I still think the lousy burnouts and 8 inch rim are most of the problem. The suspension is working, you can see the weight transfer happen the second the tires catch. I was running the stiffest setting on the shocks as well. Funny how none of the changes I made affected the 60 fts one way or the other. I was looking for movement in the numbers to buy a clue but nothing I could say was a trend........ I have some motor work to do but I will get back to messing with the chassis setup REAL soon!

Don't be too hard on yourself for hearing a 727...you were! it was the other car you heard. I did the same thing last night watching it on TV trying to figure out where 2nd gear shift was....my wife thought I was nuts untill I figured out I was listening to the other guy....

[charge69]

I would think you want the car to transfer as much weight to the rear as possible. Softening the rear shocks and reducing the preload should help. You do already have it barely pre-loaded so, I would not let off too much there. Definitely soften the rear shock setting and experiment with the tires.  A 10" rim might help and getting them HOT in a burnout is a must! Your front suspension height looks a little low. Probably the tire/rim size you have and not the height setting.  Good luck on the fixes. I want that car in the 11's too and it should be able to do it.

[firefighter3931]

Doug, congrats on getting the big dog out onto the track 

A couple of observations from the vids ;

(1) Burnout is weak....you need a 5-6 second stomp in the waterbox to heat those babies up 

(2) The front end looks tight...rises and falls very quickly and this is hurting your weight transfer. My guess is that your front sway bar was not disconnected....am i right ? 

(3) The qtp is a stiffwall tire....you don't need to air them down that low, especially with a heavy car. Get enough heat into them and they will bite. 


110 mph in a very good working chassis is good for 11.90's to low 12's. Your car should 60ft in the 1.5-1.6 range and generally speaking....every 10th you shave off in the 60ft yields 2 tenths at the stripe. Get those 60ft times down and the car will run where it should given the MPH.

Did you scale the car while you were there ? Raceweight ?


Just my opinion on the wheels ; an 8in rim is fine with those 11.5 QTP's....the chassis is causing the tires to unload and you've got plenty of rubber on the ground. 



Ron

[Mefirst]

The Charger looks good

But as Ron wrote, your front end does not seem to raise up, so I also guess that you have the sway bar still bolted on? Unbolt the sway bar, that way your front chocks can work as intended.. In my op. first unbolt the front sway bar and test again before you start to play around with the Cal-tracks. Change one thing at a time, if you start to change alot of things at once, it will take for ever to find out what the "sweet spot" setup is...

More rpm when you do the burn out, and smoke the tires a couple of seconds longer...

Also, you light up both Pre and Stage lights directly, this is no big deal, but rather light the Pre stage light and wait for your opponent to light his Pre stage light, then light the Stage light. Thats called courtesy staging... (Light the Pre and Stage light directly if your racing a Turbo car, that way the Turbo guy probably wont have time to build up the turbo pressure, the Turbo car will most likely bog at the line... There are other ways to, to psych your opponent at the line )


/Tom

[Hemidoug]

Thanks guys! No sway bar...took it out last week. I have a lot of weight up front still.....resto battery, steel wp housing....that may be part of the problem. I know the burnouts were weak, I kept pulling up out of the box (no one to guide me) and they were not soaking it down like they should have (God knows there isn't a drought). I've got a couple of things to work on that only seat time is going to cure. The thing about rim size was after a few runs and a real good burnout I noticed that the little nubs on the outside of the tires hadn't been knocked off yet. It wasn't until I lowered the pressure down to 10 psi that they were gone. That has me thinking I need a wider rim. Part of the rise issue was my launch RPM. The last video I launched at 4K and she felt real good, just spun getting out of the hole. I'm in the process of ripping down the top end, I developed a valve tap that comes and goes so right now it looks like a sticky valve. I'm going to get the heads done top to bottom, including some flow work. I'll have them back in a week or so. When I do I'll be getting some T&T time in and that will allow me to work out the 60 ft times. I'll be switching to a Stage V intake at the same time so that combo should get me to mid 11s. I just need some seat time and to work the combo....

[bullit68]

its really good to see someone using a hemi car for more than collecting dust in a garage.hats off to you.i guess you can now see why so many automatic cars were made.they're much easier to race.do you think elevens are going to be fast enough to make pinks?usually they settle on the 10.50 class.i have a 69 hemi 4spd charger to restore,and when its done i'm going to drive it like you're driving yours.good job and i'll be watching this post with great anticipation.

[Hemidoug]

Thanks! I don't know if it will be fast enough for pinks, but 11.50 is as fast as I can go before I need a cage....no cage is going in this car so 11.50 is the goal.

[Mefirst]

Doug... You do need to loose some weight from the front end to get a better weight transfer, or maby playing around with the Cal-track setup might help? Also what diameter torsion bars are you running?? Then again if I understand you, your not building a 1/4 mile race car like I have..

If you check out the video taped of my ride and then compare it with the way your car launches youll see quite the difference... -Yes, my car has a 727 and SS springs, but still, the suspension should work is more or less the same way in your car... Another thing, my car ran 13sec flat with a busted up 440 and I let go of the throttle after about 2/3 of the run, so your car should be MUCH FASTER

Look how my car raises up, both front and rear, its like a speed boat raises up when you hit the throttle. This even though I did not unbolt the sway bar.. Yes, my ride probably has less weight in the front, but not that much... (NOTE about the video... My burn out could have been better, but I didint want to granade the engine in the burn out box.. I also mess up the launch bad, reason was that I was not expecting Pro Tree lights and became a little -WTF? also the 440 got hurt bad in the previous run.. -Yeah, also don't have the volume turned up high, I put some metall music in the video, I couldn't stand to listen to the race speaker, he was talking God knows what...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rozjX0l2RIc

You dont need a cage to run under 11.5sec, a Roll Bar will be enough...

/Tom

[Hemidoug]

Ya know...I was just up on etowns web site www.racewaypark.com looking at the pictures...the front end is rising just fine. One more inch and I'd have the tires off the ground. Go take a look at the pictures. Number 5-18-08 d7 061, page 57

Go to the links button on the left side of the page, then the first photo shop link, then to Etown Saturday-Sunday Mopars link.....I think it's rising just fine. Just can't tell from the video. Other pictures are page 52, 5-18-08 6s 103 and page 54, 5-18-08 7d 012.

[firefighter3931]

Ya know...I was just up on etowns web site www.racewaypark.com looking at the pictures...the front end is rising just fine. One more inch and I'd have the tires off the ground. Go take a look at the pictures. Number 5-18-08 d7 061, page 57

Go to the links button on the left side of the page, then the first photo shop link, then to Etown Saturday-Sunday Mopars link.....I think it's rising just fine. Just can't tell from the video. Other pictures are page 52, 5-18-08 6s 103 and page 54, 5-18-08 7d 012.

Yep, it sure looks good in those pics Doug....allmost got some air under the front skins. 

In the vid it looks like the front end comes down fast...faster than it should. What shocks are you running on the front....the rebound dampning seems too soft. 



Ron

[Hemidoug]

I'm running the new Calvert 90/10s. I don't think it is the shock though....I think I was shifting to 2nd too soon. I can't remember ever looking at the tach for the 1-2 shift, just using my ears. After reviewing the tape it seems to me I may be making the 1-2 shift a little early....may also be why the 60 ft times are off. I've got the car apart now....I will be doing some T&T after it's back together. I figure 2 weeks...