Southside machine lift bars and unloading the tires

I finally got a decent time from my Mustang thanks to a new 4200 converter a couple weeks ago. It has a 9" diff with strange 10 way single adjustable shocks, south side machine lift bars and adjustable uppers. Lakewood drag struts with coil overs up front on an AJE tubular crossmember. Here are some pics of the car and a couple video's, in the video shot from the rear you can see it bouncing and there is some smoke from the slicks spinning after I'm rolling. I had the shocks set on 6, going to try 4 next time out. The rear 28 x 10.5" M/T's are stiff sidewalls (bought used) with M/T tubes in them. Set at 13psi. Can I cure this bouncing from the back or do I need rebound control in the front? The previous owner had a 418W stroker and glide leaving at 5500rpm on the trans brake pulling the wheels. I have a 460 and there is a lot more nose weight to say the least.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUYcMjiHmx8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqSKfugUfeg

Don't know about your suspension issues but 9 tenths with a converter change is impressive.

From my past experience the south side bars are only good for slower stuff, they are not good for faster cars.

Yeah the converter is a 9" unit, billet one piece front in it. I had the MPH last year but the car left like a turd. The old converter was a TCI that was supposed to be a 3500 but it was at best a 2500. The car used to run 10.00 with the suspension as it is and it went dead straight according to other racers who knew the car when Joey ran it.

hate to tell you this but those south side bars have to go. you are past their effectiveness.  they were built for 302 no torque based cars.

dfree383 wrote:From my past experience the south side bars are only good for slower stuff, they are not good for faster cars.

ive been 1.30 60' and 5.90s w my ssm bars on my 81, iron headed 306 on a 75 jet.

lots more power this go round, the bars are still on it will see what happens in a few weeks.

My 60ft are 1.52-55 with the new converter. Down from 1.83's last year. Other than the bounce I have no complaints, it goes straight like its on rails and stops fine with stock discs and drums. The most common thing I hear about my car is "your running a C6, you need a glide"....I'm going to rollerize the C6 this winter. It's heavy and it's a power hog but its rock solid reliable and I have. 3 spares here - like I need 3 spare C6's.....LOL

regardless of what trans it has you are hitting the tires really hard.  the IC is short and high with those bars which is good for no torque where you are trying to plant the tires.

I think the front end is bouncing and the car is rocking like a see-saw with the full torque of the big block pushing it along.

Nothing wrong with a c6,rollerize it & beat on it for years & years. I would ditch the ss bars, big block torque doesnt seem to work well with them.

If I ditch them - what should I put in?

they are junk I tell ya.........

http://m.youtube.com/?reload=7&rdm=01jy#/watch?v=imC_xYaumLk

This car was known to leave hard and straight when Jory had it but the weight balance is much different with my BBF instead of a aluminum headed 418w

Im not saying they are the best choice, when we built this car thats all there was...... they were not as popular then and parts were limited. What are you runinng for uppers?

I know an iron headed bbf is heavy, but our deal w the iron heads, boss block, front cell etc etc the front weight bias is stupid.

Ill be honest and say it dont look like you have enough initial power after the hit to keep the tire planted and or get the weight transfer working very good. Not dogging your ride just my observation. This car of our is a pile of shit, its got old ass parts but they work good together.

They are adjustable uppers, heim joints on the body end. The engine is around 490-500HP, 500ftlbs. If I had a 500HP aluminum head SBF or SBC in this car like my buddies have in their Mustangs I'd be pulling the wheels too. If I can stop the bounce I'm keeping things as they are, no $$$ for big upgrades have 3 little kids running around here. I'll try softening the rear shocks and see what happens.

what springs and shocks on the front? no reason you need to change bars with your set up imo.

Lakewood drag struts with coil over conversions, I don't know what the spring rate is as they came with the car. AJE K-member with stock lower arms.

Id ditch the lakewoods and get some strange adj fronts instead. They are the bang for the buck front strut on these deals. Id spend money there before I got rid of the SSM bars.

The more I watch the video the more I see the see-saw look. The front drag struts are old as dirt too. I'll look into some front strut prices over the winter.

Here is what I have underneath. do the ends of the lower arms have bushings or not? I haven't had the lowers apart since I bought the car but I did take the uppers off to get the heim joints free'd up. It looks like metal to metal contact where it sits in the bracket on the axle.

theynhave a bushing, there is a grease zerk there .

i see no antiroll bar??????

None on it when I got it. The only change I made was to replace the comp 3 ways shocks with a used pair of Strange 10 ways out back. The rest is exactly as it was when Joey was running 10.00's. I'll look for the grease fittings tomorrow. Do I need a bar? The thing leaves straight as an arrow even with the bounce. Goes dead straight.

take the shocks loose and make sure the thing goes up and down freely. when you bolt the bottom of the shocks back dont crank the bolt down so the shock can pivot in the bracket.

I cant believe it dont twist like crazy with no arb, may be bound up.....

I'm feeling the need to loosen some bolts and see if the sleeves are moving in the bushings in the lower arms. I have a feeling your right and she might be bound up. Time to find out. Here a link to a pic thread of local Ford cars on the weekly Monday nite pic's, if you scroll down there is a pic of the car when it was running 10.00's. Left pretty even in this pass and I've seen other pic's that look the same.

http://maritimeracers.proboards.com/thread/6061/monday-nite-indy-pics-edition

BigRigTech wrote:Here is what I have underneath. do the ends of the lower arms have bushings or not? I haven't had the lowers apart since I bought the car but I did take the uppers off to get the heim joints free'd up. It looks like metal to metal contact where it sits in the bracket on the axle.

It originally should have had thin nylon washers between the lower and the axle.
Gary