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Check Out That
Chassis
By Jim Salemi
7/7/03
I have a 1980 Chevy monza drag car. This is a tube frame car with ladder bars. Up until
this year I had been running a 427 Chevy with a 5500 stall and a glide. The car ran 10 flat
consistently with the 427 and launched straight with no problems. I now have switched to
a 454, which has about 100 hp more than the 427. The car is now launching to the left off
of the line. While going down the rest of the track it does not pull or anything, it feel like
it is going fairly straight. What should I do to correct this problem? I have attached a
movie of the car leaving the line. (The bouncing is from me getting in and out of the
throttle. This does not normally happen.)
Thanks,
Luke Leander
Luke,
Thanks for the question as
well as the video. The video made this evaluation
much easier. Most of the time when a car goes
left or right with a ladder bar it means that
there is uneven load in the suspension or the
car is torque steering because of added power.
In your case the
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best
thing would be to put the car on scales and
see what the four corner weights are and also
your front to rear %. If that is not an option
the other best "backyard" scenario is to jack
the car up on the rear end so the rear end can
pivot. Use a skinny piece of wood or ratchet
socket on the pad of the jack. Place it right
under the center of the rear end for pivoting.
Next you will want to measure to level ground.
Then measure from the bottom of the tire to
the floor on both tires. With your pre load
link adjusters on the bottom bar in your ladder
bars make the measurement from the bottom of
the tire to the floor equal. From our experience
your car should go straight with an equal measurement.
This is the adjustment that makes static load
on one tire or the other. If the car still goes
left, make the left hand tire closer to the
ground in 3/8 inch to 1/2 inch increments. Make
this adjustment until the car goes straight.
Thanks G-Force Race Cars Inc.
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