By Scott Weney of S&W Racecars
02/08/08

I have a 2510 lb small block Vega that runs 10.30's at 128 mph. It is a back half car with ladder bars, 14x32 tires, QA-1 single adj. coil-overs(130 lb springs) in the back and competition engineering 3-way adjustable shocks set at 60/40 in the stock front end. When using the transbrake, the back of the car will squat down some and then lift the front end about a foot in the air but hard to the right. If I add preload to the passenger side ladder bar to correct it the car gets highly unstable at the top end. The rear-end is square to the car. What next? Greg Riihimaki St Catharines,Ontario

Greg,

This sounds like this could be a fun ride to sort out. With adjusting ladder bar preload on a narrow car you must go in small amounts. If the ladder bar has an adjuster in the bottom tube you only want to go 1 flat at a time. The other thing you need to check is the rod ends in the front of the bars, they need to be free but not lose. Make shore the front end setting are correct, the castor is the key down track, check your bump steer as you add preload and it shifts the load to the left front it could be changing your tow-in.

Scott Weney
President, S & W Race Cars
610-948-7303X111

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