Hello, new member here! Had a couple of questions regarding suspension setups for drag racing...

I know it's generally bad to lift the rear on a fwd because it promotes excessive weight transfer, and from my understanding, this is due to released spring energy in the front. However, I had the idea of slightly lifting the rear and using limit straps up front with some possible preload. What do you guys cutting sub 1.6 60's think?

Bad idea or is there only one way to find out?

 

Ive seen that on v8s. Try it yourself. **** i might try it.

 

Limit straps are not needed with properly setup coilover's.

 

It's an inexpensive way to get your 60' times down, without replacing your suspension.
Strapping down the front is very common with sport bike drag racing, and very effective too.

 

Also the sport bike drag racing is a real wheel drive set up. Just saying............

Stefan

 

So whos tried them??

 

i tried limit straps up front and it didn't do much for me. i wouldn't say i really put alot of effort into testing so take it for what its worth. i've never felt right about it, car drives kinda odd so they are no longer there. i saw no difference in 60 ft. times. also think about the strap for a second. the nylon straps are like a spring when you preload them. if you were to use the cable type limit straps maybe it would work better. i think preventing front end lift is best handled by dampening control.

 

Since you put it that way... Yeah it isn't the same.
I use blox drag coilovers on my car, they aren't expensive, and I cut 1.65 60' on slcks with no real setup other than ride height, not even alignment. The front don't lift at all

 

I know quite a few fast cars running limit straps

 

Wow those blox's look really nice, wish they made some for the DSM. I would definitely consider those if they did. However, coilovers cost an arm and a leg for my application and I'm looking to maximize my setup for as little as I can.

With that said, there's no question that limit straps can help a less-than-optimal setup. I'm not really concerned about if they work. I'm more interested in the idea of using them with a slightly lifted rear.

Lifting the rear shifts the center of gravity forward, causing more weight to be distributed on the front suspension, compressing the springs. This is good and all until you accelerate. Upon acceleration, the loaded springs help lift the front up promoting more weight transfer to the rear, shifting the center of gravity back. Here's where the limit straps come in. In theory, if you limit the front from lifting, you take the preloaded springs out of the equation. The center of gravity remains toward the front, weight transfer is kept at a minimum, ultimately providing more traction.

Make sense? If anyone can point me to some coilovers similar (price and specs) to the blox's, that would be great! If not, I'm going to try this and I'll be the guinea pig

 

i drive stock cars and have been for a while. i use alot of that experiance for setting up my drag car. one big factor is your traction bars, front heim end needs to be higher then the heim mounted to you lower control arm (makes the tire push down, lifts car) vice versa (tire goes up car stays down) if you can control dampning then your good. find what you car likes, stay away from preload and the rest is in your launch settings. I pull consistant 1.5s. and know suspension wins races

my rears 1.5" highe then the frontend.

 

Have a played with a adjustable front heim? Height wise?

 

i made a plate that bolts to the LCA so i can slide the rear heim up and down 2.5"

Think RWD trailing arms..need more traction, raise the front arm so the heim on the rear end is lower then the heim on the frame.

 

I have a customer with a DC running my spherical front LCAs that ran back to back 1.51 60' times with NO traction bars. That was first time out and no suspension tuning has been done yet on that car. CCC Racing has run 1.48 60' times with the same setup plus spherical UCAs but with traction bars. I personally don't see how a traction bar on a DC/EG does anything but bind up the suspension. But then again I am a road race guy at heart and we make real low power in comparison. Unfortunately, a good quality spherical bearing conversion is not a cheap solution.

 

^must be nice^

 

I like your adjustability idea. You live in the Southeast? Just a guess given the stock car racing. :-P

 

I wish I could run those spherical bushings but racing as a hobby I can't spend that kind of money lol

 

I run limiting straps and so does our Prelude. Prelude has Tokicos with ground control coilovers.
I have been many
1.50's,60'
4.0's, 330'
6.0's 1/8 mile. with NO ballist upfront 2400lbs with driver on a 24.5" tire...

I'm not saying that the limit strap is why the car works like it does but I know for a fact that they work when set up correctly.

 

I think practice is the biggest factor in improving 60'. I'm on stock suspension cutting 1.62

 

GET SOME!

That reminds me, I used to run GC coilovers on my CRX. I was just checking out ground-control-store.com and found that they had coilovers for a DSM, and they have spring rate options!!

Wonder if they offer 12kg/mm F, 18kg/mm R

I'm still going to try the limit strap w/ lifted rear, just for the hell of it...

 

I would love to see what people have come up with for their limit straps. Just be interesting to see how many different ways it can be done. So please if anyone has some pics of their setups post them up!!

 

x2^

 

Same here!

This isn't my setup, but here is how someone ran their's on dsmtuners:
Front suspension limit straps

I was thinking about doing something similar using these:

 

Ride height has almost no effect on front to rear weight transfer. While launching, actual weight does nnot transfer to the rear. The traction of the front tires drives the rear tires into the ground. Image that your front tires are a rwd's rear tires and your rear tires are his wheelie bars...same thing.

The goal is to keep the static weight on the front tires to stay applied to the front. Stiff valved strut and bushings in good (not 20 year old crap) condition are your best starting points. Thats a good foundation to start with.

 

You said stiff control arm bushings. So why people sprung on bearing type bushings? Am i confused. So limiting straps is a poor racers bandaid for proper strut valving etc. Hmm sounds like ill give them a try sunday.