84 Monticarlo Suspension Limits for 550 Horsepower

Shocks, Springs, Brakes, Frame, Body Work, etc

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ijames
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Re: 84 Monticarlo Suspension Limits for 550 Horsepower

Post by ijames »

peejay wrote:550hp is a "mild" Grand National and they don't twist the chassis like pretzels. Some beefening needs to be done in the rearend but you only need a rollcage after you drop below 10 seconds...
Uh, I know a few local Gn's that got the dreaded wrinkles in the driver's side rear quarter panel as they got into the low 11's from twisting the body, and from reading online it's pretty common. That's about 500 rwhp at 3800 lbs. The right side airbag for traction, left side if needed to clear tall tires, and a bigger than stock rear sway bar will launch well but won't stop the body wrinkles. A six point bar does a good job of preventing them, and getting the sway bar off of the lower control arms helps a lot too (the hr partsnstuff bolt on bar or the wolfe weld in, or clones of them, I guess). I'm a real fan of the hrpartsnstuff bar; lots of guys have fast cars but I own a swaybar that's gone 8.06 in the 1/4 :lol: . I got tired of watching a friend's then mid-8 sec turbo regal almost fishtail on every launch so I ordered one from hrpartsnstuff and asked Paul Ferry (the owner) to surprise him with it at a Buick race at Norwalk, OH. As luck would have it, it rained the first morning and Paul was bored so he walked over to my buddy's trailer and asked him if could install and set it up for him while they waited for the rain to stop =D> . Car was consistent and straight after that.
Carl Ijames, chemist not engine builder
carl ddott ijames aatt verizon ddott net
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