Need some advice on a pro street truck build

I am looking at building a street/strip F150 short bed with either a 60 over or an 80 over 460. Already have a 4.150 stroke crank and a set of all out C8 heads to start with. After spending 9 years truck pulling, drag racing is a new thought process for me. First off, is where can I find out about the different classes and what class would be a good class to build for?

Right now I am thinking along the lines of building a motor in the 550hp range with a a C6 and a ladder bar/coil over 8.8 rear end from an Explorer. This will be a street legal truck but not a driver, just a quick trip to the local dog n suds and maybe car shows and some drags on 1/8th mi tracks. Any thoughts and tips are appreciated.

Alan

You can run whatever you want bracket racing, most of the class stuff other than possibly some index racing won't fit what you haved.

At what point is a cage required

HorsinAround wrote:At what point is a cage required

At the local tracks I frequent it's 11.49 or faster in the 1/4. They also told me no quicker then 7.00 in the 1/8th.Once you hit 9.99 in the 1/4 you need more then a 6 point cage along with more safety equipment. Keep in mind these are little rinky dink tracks and you might want to check your local tracks for a website and read their rules. good luck and be safe

Alan, Bunker Hill has a street index deal called heads up street brawl . They have 7.50,8.00,and 8.50 index classes. http://www.bunkerhillrace.com/dragsched/drgsch.html
NLR in Morocco Ind has 13.00,12.00,11.00,and 10.00 index and bracket racing at the ultimate shootout races. http://nolimitraceway.com/index.php?page=shootout

I run the 12.00 index class at NLR and would fit in the 7.50 index at Bunker.
Your going to have more cubes than me so you might fit in the NLR 11.00 index. Although there isn't many street/strip cars in the 11.00 class.
I don't think Bunker has any index faster than 7.50.

Alan,
Mike has a lovely little truck. And its low-buck too.

Regards.
Al

Thanks for the information. Is there a way to get a balll park et the setup should run so I'll know what rules to build to? What is the difference between an 1/8 mile setup and a 1/4 mile setup on the car/truck?

Mike, i might be emailing you with questions if that's ok?

email me anytime Alan

I'm in the mid 500hp range with a c6 and 4.10 gears. 29.5x10.50 hoosier slicks
We leave off a Merkl transbrake at 3800,shift at 6200 or so and run 11.90's
The truck was heavy last year. The plan is to lose at least 300lbs by spring.

NO DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!

i just put the explorer 8.8 under my 68 mustang and IMO with a bbf in a truck you'd be ahead with a 9".the 8.8 is a good setup and strong but the caps on them are small and break easy.you can get steel caps and a cover to beef it up but still not have a 9".JMO

lol i knew you would be back in the saddle even thou it isnt truck pullin
but a fast ford truck is also very cool

cool40 wrote:i just put the explorer 8.8 under my 68 mustang and IMO with a bbf in a truck you'd be ahead with a 9".the 8.8 is a good setup and strong but the caps on them are small and break easy.you can get steel caps and a cover to beef it up but still not have a 9".JMO

I was wondering about that myself. Where is a good place to get a housing? I think I will want one a little narrower than stock width for a pickup as I will be lowering the truck a little, and most likely run a 10.5 slick like Mike is.

Dan, yea it's driving me nuts not having something to work on. Don't get me wrong, I'm not sitting around, I have been catching up on some things around the shop and place, but I really miss spinning wrenches. I really enjoyed truck pulling, but between the cost to stay competitive, the maintenance and the travel expenses it just emptied my piggy bank and cause too much of a strain on the marriage. I finally said enough is enough, and even though I really struggled with selling it, I'm glad now that I did. I bought a bike to cruise with and am looking to a truck to start this build. (Have one spotted in Milwaukee right now)

HorsinAround wrote:I am looking at building a street/strip F150 short bed with either a 60 over or an 80 over 460.

I'm kinda partial to the first Generation Lightning's (93-95) myself.

They can be picked up kinda cheap as a roller. They have an excellent 8.8" H/D housing that you can utilize, as well as a little tougher/thicker frame.

HorsinAround wrote:First off, is where can I find out about the different classes and what class would be a good class to build for?

It's REALLY tough to find a class that the trucks fit in. The rules & classes are designed around the typical pony car,.....not a pick-up truck. Mine is basicly set-up to bracket at the local track and a couple of times a year I run in the NMRA series that have a specific truck class,.....but it's bracket/open-comp format as well.

HorsinAround wrote:Right now I am thinking along the lines of building a motor in the 550hp range with a a C6 and a ladder bar/coil over 8.8 rear end from an Explorer.

A 550hp engine should move along a pick-up truck pretty good. When I originally did the Big-Block conversion in my 93 F-150, I installed a 600hp Ford racing crate engine along with a C-6 tranny and a ladder bar rear suspension. At that time it weighed a heavy 3900 with me in it and it ran 11.19 @ 122 IIRC.

HorsinAround wrote: Any thoughts and tips are appreciated.

I've been hot-rodding / drag racing these type of trucks for a long, long time. If you need any insight or ideas, I'd be happy to give you some pointers.

Thanks Copperhead, the 92-96 is what I am going after. I have been playing with 87-91's with the pulling truck so I thought I'd mix it up lol.

I am not sure where the motor will end up until I get the heads flowed. Maybe I can bring them with me to the tech seminar and have Charlie go through them, put valves in and give me the flow #'s, then I can spec a cam to get into the HP range I am thinking about or a little higher. Just want to keep it somewhat streetable.

Did you or Mike have to narrow your rear to fit the slicks you are running?

HorsinAround wrote:Thanks Copperhead, the 92-96 is what I am going after. I have been playing with 87-91's with the pulling truck so I thought I'd mix it up lol.

I am not sure where the motor will end up until I get the heads flowed. Maybe I can bring them with me to the tech seminar and have Charlie go through them, put valves in and give me the flow #'s, then I can spec a cam to get into the HP range I am thinking about or a little higher. Just want to keep it somewhat streetable.

Did you or Mike have to narrow your rear to fit the slicks you are running?

Love the idea of trying to keep the truck streetable . It should be a fun setup when you get done with it . good luck on the build.

Alan,First of all you should definately put a cage in this truck.If you go to the track with a 550-600hp motor things can happen that you can;t sometimes control.Two driveshaft loops are a must.We don"t go out to race thinking that we might wreck ,but you never know what can happen to you or to the other driver in the lane beside you.I at least want to know that if I go upside down it's not going to crush my top in on my head.Lot's of tracks will let people run crappy junk,especially on test and tune night.Prepare your truck to take you safely down the track.Saftey is a big factor with the guys on this forum.Good luck with your build. Michael

HorsinAround wrote:

cool40 wrote:i just put the explorer 8.8 under my 68 mustang and IMO with a bbf in a truck you'd be ahead with a 9".the 8.8 is a good setup and strong but the caps on them are small and break easy.you can get steel caps and a cover to beef it up but still not have a 9".JMO

I was wondering about that myself. Where is a good place to get a housing? I think I will want one a little narrower than stock width for a pickup as I will be lowering the truck a little, and most likely run a 10.5 slick like Mike is.

Dan, yea it's driving me nuts not having something to work on. Don't get me wrong, I'm not sitting around, I have been catching up on some things around the shop and place, but I really miss spinning wrenches. I really enjoyed truck pulling, but between the cost to stay competitive, the maintenance and the travel expenses it just emptied my piggy bank and cause too much of a strain on the marriage. I finally said enough is enough, and even though I really struggled with selling it, I'm glad now that I did. I bought a bike to cruise with and am looking to a truck to start this build. (Have one spotted in Milwaukee right now)

http://www.quickperformance.com/index.htm

IF I were you I wouldn't use ladder bars with an 8.8. Of course IF I was building a truck like you are talking about I would use a four link.

I was looking at putting a 4 link in, but don't know anything about setting it up.

Prostreet, it will definitely have safety gear, and I still have some loops from the pulling truck. Anyone that pulled with ITPA while I was president knows that I am a a##hole when it comes to safety equipment. I've seen too many parts go flying. Usually from diesel guys that put a new turbo or electronics in their truck and say that since it's still driven on the street they don't want to put the safety stuff on. Those same guys never pulled if I was there......

I already had full length Moser axles when I built my 9" so I didn't narrow it. My slicks stick out about 1 1/2" of the bedside using 10" wide AR outlaw 2 wheels.
If I had known they were going to stick out that much I would have tried finding a wheel with more offset.
In the next year or so I'm going to build a narrowed 9" to get everything tucked in.

Alan if your going to build a 9" yourself, I have a alignment bar and bushing you can borrow to narrow the tubes.

Keith has the truck setup figured out. I checked his lightning out in Indy 2 or 3 years ago before I started mine.
The lightning is a work of art.

Copperheads truck is very sweet.

Dude, that is a SWEET ride! Did you lower the front or did the extra weight of the 460 lower it for you? Where is a good place to get a cage for it.?

HorsinAround wrote:Did you have to narrow your rear to fit the slicks you are running?

The 14" wide wheels w/ 31x16.50 QTP Hoosiers I'm running now I had to narrow it, BUT,... when I originally set everything up, I utilized the stock length housing. I had to use a custom 12" wide wheel with 8.5" back spacing.

HorsinAround wrote:I was looking at putting a 4 link in, but don't know anything about setting it up.

I was in the same boat as you when I was deciding between a Ladder Bar set-up or a 4-Link.

After considering all the variables in a 4-link versus a Ladder Bar deal,......and the fact that 4-links are not allowed in a lot of classes (some index's), it was a no brainer for me to go with a 36" Ladder Bar set-up.

f250mike wrote:I already had full length Moser axles when I built my 9" so I didn't narrow it. My slicks stick out about 1 1/2" of the bedside using 10" wide AR outlaw 2 wheels.
If I had known they were going to stick out that much I would have tried finding a wheel with more offset.

On a stock length housing with a 10" wheel and a factory wheel tub, 5.5" backspacing is near perfect.

f250mike wrote:Keith has the truck setup figured out. I checked his lightning out in Indy 2 or 3 years ago before I started mine.
The lightning is a work of art.

I remember that Mike. It's was at the Pinks race.

I appreciate the compliment.

jasonf wrote:Copperheads truck is very sweet.

Thank you Jason,......that T-bucket of your's ain't too shabby itself.

HorsinAround wrote:Dude, that is a SWEET ride! Did you lower the front or did the extra weight of the 460 lower it for you?

The front utilizes a semi-custom tubular K-Member, Mustang style struts & lightweight Aerospace brakes. It does away with the stock I-beams, crossmember/engine cradle and the heavy ass cast rotors & spindles. It came from http://ajeracing.com/

It's not listed on their web-site, you have to call. Complete set-up runs between 3500-4000,.....depending on how you option it out.

HorsinAround wrote:Where is a good place to get a cage for it.?

I have an S&W 8-point kit in mine. (actually it's a 6-pt as I didn't utilize the inside kicker bars) http://www.swracecars.com/

I sourced my Ladder set-up from S&W as well.

It worked "OK" for a kit, but I did have to tweak the door bars just a little to get them to clear the door panels. My truck has progressed to the stage (ET wise) that I have out-grown my 6-point bar. Looking at doing a custom Moly 10pt cage in the near future.

Here's another option I found for a pre-bent kit,.....
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Roll-Bars-and-Cages-8-Point-92-96-Ford-F-150-Lightning-/260893769006?pt=Race_Car_Parts&vxp=mtr&hash=item3cbe7afd2e

Don't know anything about this company though.

HorsinAround wrote:Dude, that is a SWEET ride!

Thank you Alan.

Ladder bars aren't the best idea on the street because they allow little/no body-roll. And some usable amount of body-roll is needed on the street to make turning into & out of steep/angled driveway & parking lot entrances a lot easier reducing the chance of bending something in the suspension. That's not to say that they 100% can't be used on the street, they can....you just have to be extra careful where you go & how you drive the car on the street with LB's.

Some form of a 4-link with a "springy" (factory style) sway bar is a better idea on the street in my opinion.

Where did you guys find wheels with the 5x5.5 bolt patternx

HorsinAround wrote:Where did you guys find wheels with the 5x5.5 bolt patternx

They're very difficult to find,.....especially in certain size/back-spacing.

Most middle of the road manufactures like Weld, American Racing or Racline have discontinued the 5X5.5 sizes,..... mainly due to guys putting them on 4x4 rigs and breaking/bending the crap out of them and not being a popular bolt pattern in general.

Your only choice is to look for used,....but they're tough to find,....OR,... go custom.

Steel wheels - Good economical choice and not too heavy for a non-aluminum deal - http://diamondracingwheels.com/pro.html

Aluminum Wheels - Very light weight,....but expensive -
http://www.bogartracingwheels.net/
http://holeshotwheels.com/

FWIW,.......you're better off to change the bolt pattern to a Ford 5x4.5" or a Chevy 5x4.75",....as there's a ton of off-the-shelf choices for these sizes.