383 combo

[GARY C]

Gary C and Headguy

Yes, I see what both are you saying.

My chassis is pretty much set at the moment due to funds.

I have UMI upper control arms with stock lowers. The spring is a Moroso spring and a cheap adjustable 90/10 shocks. I don't have a front sway bar and it does have manuel steering.

The brakes are stock calipers and stock rotors. I know a lot of improvement could be done in this area, but I just don't have the coin right now.

The car has poly bushings through out the car and rubber bushings in the rear control arms. The rear control arms are boxed on the lowers and the uppers are adjustable UMI pieces. The rear shocks are the cheap three way adjustables on the extra firm setting with Moroso springs in the rear as well.

Once the car is out of the body shop and get the car running with some passes I then can address the chassis a little more.

If you have more tips to give or more advice feel free to chime in!!!

As much as I hate to publicly agree with Headguy he is correct that every detail makes the difference.

A well thought out and modified stock suspension can work good, we ran Competition Engineer 3 way adjustable as we found the no name shocks like Summit sell to be soft med and firm but do not actually change compression and rebound, I ran the 90/10 up front but found my KYB gas rear to work for my combo.

I ran stock drums on my Nova because they were lighter than stock disks, I bough to sets of shoes so I could run the 2 bigger ones, sanded them to match the radius of the drum and because it was not a street car I didn't run the adjusters but set them with minimal travel but no drag and repacked the bearings with a light weight grease and set bearing load to where the tire would spin freely for longer than you would expect but would stop very well on the short shut down we ran on.

You want your control arms to move without resistance this may mean machining off the serrated edges or installing a properly sized washer and minimal preload on the nut or bolt depending on what yours has.

A small stock front sway bar set loose can help the car leave level as long as it doesn't interfere with weight transfer, we ran nitrous cars so a little extra front weight could prevent an un wanted wheelie.

Rear boxed lowers or fine, solid bushings would be best for drag racing or poly for street/strip just keep in mind that the better you get it for the strip the more it will drive like a slinky on the road, if your willing to change shocks from street to strip that will make it a little more enjoyable.

[tcb3274]

Gary C.

Competition Engineering Shocks is what I have on there now. Don't have enough runs on them to sort out the combo.

Seems like you have quite a bit of experience on setting up the front brakes with drums. Very impressive. I will be learning from scratch on this and so called on the run.

I forgot to mention that I have a BMR anti roll bar on the car to help level out the launches and etc.

Are you referring to a method some call double nutting on the control arms?

[GARY C]

Gary C.

Competition Engineering Shocks is what I have on there now. Don't have enough runs on them to sort out the combo.

Seems like you have quite a bit of experience on setting up the front brakes with drums. Very impressive. I will be learning from scratch on this and so called on the run.

I forgot to mention that I have a BMR anti roll bar on the car to help level out the launches and etc.

Are you referring to a method some call double nutting on the control arms?

Yeah the rear anti roll is the better way to go.

Front control arms, some guys press the center sleeve out and machine off the serrated edge, on my 72 Nova it had a bolt with a washer instead of a shaft with a nut like the 79 Fbody.

I used a ARP head bolt washer in-between the stock washer and bushing center and red lock tight the bolt into the shaft just tight enough to eliminate slop and then just keep an eye on it because they can still work loose, they work perfect to take up the slack but still rotate without binding.

Here is a good example of two nearly identical stock suspension cars and the difference of taking the time to make it work vs not.

This car I built and raced for several years and then sold it to the guy running it in the video, I helped him with the 421 nitrous engine but he refused to do what was needed to keep it on the track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RgKOCo0GhU

The first car in this video, blue Chevy II was a guy I helped and learned from also a 421 nitrous engine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTi71uG5BL8

[tcb3274]

Gary C.

Very informative post again.

Very nice videos are well. I must say that is a little quick for me. I'm just looking to run solid 11 second passes right now as I have not been down the 1320 in sometime...since 2010. Very impressive builds and cars!!

[GARY C]

Gary C.

Very informative post again.

Very nice videos are well. I must say that is a little quick for me. I'm just looking to run solid 11 second passes right now as I have not been down the 1320 in sometime...since 2010. Very impressive builds and cars!!

Those cars are probably low 10's straight motor and once you get to low 11's all you will be looking for is high 10's... thats how it always starts. We started with 8 second 1/8 mile cars and then we met nitrous and he introduced us to Adrenalin who is a close friend with debt.

[tcb3274]

LOL

[tcb3274]

My next problem is to decide to I install a 6 point roll bar or not. The car only previously went 11.7 with a 1.7 60 foot time, but this was was a 3800 converter and cheap shocks. Gearing was 4:10's.

Since my car is so close, do I leave it out and enjoy the car or go ahead and install one?

The only way Im going to go faster is to spray it. I dont plan on building a BBC or 406 or something to run low 11's N/A or get into the 9's.

Anybody want to opinion on the combo and how it relates to installing a roll bar?

[B Original]

It being a 1967 Chevelle I personally would be hesitant to butcher any body metal unless it was a POS that was race car material only

[tcb3274]

Every panel on the car is brand new...very little original sheet metal is left.

Its a 136 malibu car. Came with a 283 and powerglide.

Has had a 4 speed when it was a cruiser....been raced with a automatic and 4 speed.

Again the car is not a race car, but a prostreet car without the bachhalf. Its only seeing about 35 to 45 runs a year the rest is street time at cruise ins and etc.

However, most of the car has been tuned for the strip and strip performance comes before street performance.

[GARY C]

The benefits are safety and chassis strength, the cons are added weight and loss of back seat access, also some states may no longer consider it a street car. In Texas we have to get a yearly state inspection to get tags and not all inspectors will pass a car with a roll bar, they now consider it a race car and not safe for the street even though it's safer than when it was built... Go Figure.

[tcb3274]

Gary, Im in Florida so we have no state inspections, glad we dont either!!

Yes, I realize it will be added safety and strength. Im strongly considering do this. I plan on running Pro Street bars so I can run my back seat.

[tcb3274]

ttt

[GARY C]

Gary, Im in Florida so we have no state inspections, glad we dont either!!

Yes, I realize it will be added safety and strength. Im strongly considering do this. I plan on running Pro Street bars so I can run my back seat.

That and a swooped down or swing out door bar helps but if you run the cross bar behind the seats for your race harness then only small children and monkeys can get back there.

Oh and drunk chicks but they can't figure how they got there or how to get out.

[tcb3274]

ttt

[mdla]

My next problem is to decide to I install a 6 point roll bar or not. The car only previously went 11.7 with a 1.7 60 foot time, but this was was a 3800 converter and cheap shocks. Gearing was 4:10's.

Since my car is so close, do I leave it out and enjoy the car or go ahead and install one?

The only way Im going to go faster is to spray it. I dont plan on building a BBC or 406 or something to run low 11's N/A or get into the 9's.

Anybody want to opinion on the combo and how it relates to installing a roll bar?

I came across your post looking for ideas to squeeze a little more et out of my 383, 70 Nova. I've been struggling with the same dilemma, is it a street car or a race car. I guess I decided, its a street/strip car , as it is now at the chassis shop getting a 10 point cage.

Looking at your combo I think you'll be surprised by how it runs. You don't say how much it ways but with the right converter and if the suspension works, I'd bet it's capable of some high 10's. My car is all compromise from when I built it trying to keep it "streetable" and "cheap". It weighs 3450 with me in it, according to the track scales. It ran an 11.70 first run ever. It has run 11.40's since in decent air of 2500 DA. It's a basic budget 383 with brodix IK200 heads out of the box, and old solid flat tappet cam design with 256/268 @.050 and .550/.570 on 110 lsa installed at 106. It has 3.73 gears with 275/60 street drag radials and a 9 inch 4000 stall converter.

I wish I would of gone with 4.11's and at least 500 more stall, not to mention a solid roller cam. I also didn't realize what I was giving up by not putting more in the heads.

Only you can decide but like has been said before, once you get to low 11's, you'll be looking for high 10's. By the way, my car is still all there with a full interior including a bench seat, and that's how I plan on keeping it. I decided to go with a cage instead of the roll bar because I figure if I do ever need it, I'd rather have more around me. I hope I never do though!

Looking forward to hearing what you do and how it runs!
mdla