gofast panther suspension

[1990LTD]

I know one of the biggest limiting factors in sending a Panther down the track at anything approaching ludicrous speed is the suspension designed with elderly bluehairs in mind.


What exactly are these limiting factors? Inherent design of the chassis? Wimpy springs and shocks? Not enough reinforcement? What? I've seen videos of a B body wagon doing wheelstands going down the track (and doing like 9s or 10s as I recall) so I know it's possible....I'm just curious where one should start if they're tuning their Panther suspension for more straight-line acceleration as opposed to the floaty boaty ride we all know and (mostly) love.

[mrltd]

The chassis is good, pull the front swaybar, 90/10 shocks on the front, 50/50 on the rear. Little stiffer spring on the back.

Good bushings all around, a good alignment. Uslydawg's wagon pulls 2.0 or less 60' with not much done to the suspension. I don't think bigbluetank has anything special either.

Wheel stands are fun to look at but make you slow. It's wasted power that should be being used to push the car down the track instead of lifting the car in the air.

[1990LTD]

What does pulling the front sway bar accomplish? Sorry for all of the n00b questions, I'm really just trying to get a basic grasp on what makes gofast suspension vs grandma suspension

[johnunit]

it allows more suspension travel, letting the nose get up higher, transferring more weight to the back tires.

[gadget73]

good for a little weight reduction too, though this is fairly insignificant. Mostly its to allow more and uneven suspension travel. if you notice on cars with a lot of motor, they pull one wheel off the ground on a launch. If you had the bar on, this probably wouldn't happen but instead of the weight shifting to the back for traction, it stays forward to keep the wheel on the ground.

[Pesty351]

What I have done so far is use the 925# front 200# rear springs from speedway motors, energy susp. bushings all the way around and the "police" shocks you get from napa. It launches pretty straight and solid with a 1.80 60ft. I don't have any of those scary floating feelings in the triple digits either.

[GM_Guy]

it allows more suspension travel, letting the nose get up higher, transferring more weight to the back tires.

I'll add to that it is the same reason for 90/10 shocks. They pull apart easy to let the front get up, but cushion the return down to normal ride height (normal street shock would be 50/50, it actually isn't, but it is for the sake of comparison) =-)

Alex.

[mrltd]

What I have done so far is use the 925# front 200# rear springs from speedway motors, energy susp. bushings all the way around and the "police" shocks you get from napa. It launches pretty straight and solid with a 1.80 60ft. I don't have any of those scary floating feelings in the triple digits either.

1.8! nice.

[Pesty351]

Thank you.

[1990LTD]

1.80 seconds to 60 feet? is that what that means? I take it the 60' is a way of determining how well a car gets off the line.

[1980c10]

Just a marking at the drag strip. But yes it is used to indicate how well a car does out of the hole. So when you se people talk about what a car 60's like that's what they are talking about. Also if you don't know 1.8 60ft is very respectable for a panther. My junk only pulls a 2.3 60ft.

[1990LTD]

thanks man. i had no idea about any of that.

[Mercracer]

good for a little weight reduction too, though this is fairly insignificant. Mostly its to allow more and uneven suspension travel. if you notice on cars with a lot of motor, they pull one wheel off the ground on a launch. If you had the bar on, this probably wouldn't happen but instead of the weight shifting to the back for traction, it stays forward to keep the wheel on the ground.

The right wheel raises for the same reason that the right tire spins first with an open diff. It is because of the direction of the driveshaft rotation. The left rear tire is planted into the ground and the car is in effect pushing off of it and unloading the right side. That is why you mount your battery over the right rear tire to preload the right side of the rear suspension. The sway bar has nothing to do with this effect. A sway bar definitely will not help to stop your front end from lifting if you have enough engine torque. With enough torque, you can permanently twist the frame including factory engine compartment cross members. I will get pictures of my Mach 1 engine compartment some time which has evidence of this.