mr_wizard

I'm to the point on my 94 Z28 where the front suspension when I drag will completely stretch out where the tires are almost coming off the street. I think if I grabbed some better or wider tires (grabbing traction is a problem for me right now), throw some weight in the back, I should be able to get them to come up a little. I'm running roughly 375hp to the wheels on it as it sits now. Stock gears and automatic. Any idea where I should be at if I were to get those fronts into the air?

Fabrik8

The reason the front end is lifting right now is because of weight transfer under acceleration and soft springs. You need a lot more power to actually lift the front end off the ground with torque. You need a lot more than 375 HP.

shawn22

No you dont. With enough traction, you can lift the wheels with stock power if you hit the tires hard enough.

Fabrik8

Do you want to just lift the tires or actually have them stay lifted? What are we talking about here?

I thought I remembered mid 90s Camaros were too heavy and too long to lift the tires at all with that little power and a stock auto tranny?

shawn22

Stall + traction can lift the tires with 375whp. They wont stay lifted no, but they can come up on the launch. You are right if you're talking about a power on wheelie where they will hang up there for the duration of 1st gear, you need some good power to do that.

SMOKEYBEAR

There's a couple things you will find out that you may not like if you start pulling the front tires. Your actual times might be slower if you pull the tires. Your car is rotating up instead of traveling forward down the track. You will also find that when your suspension is at full droop that the alignment specs will change. It can make your car a handful to drive. If you car pulls them and holds them though first gear you may not notice theses things. If it just snatches them and dumps them back on the ground it's going to be a bumpy slow ride. I had to put limiting straps on my Mustang to solve these issues. On a jack the alignment was changing by almost 4" at full droop. I almost never made a full pass until I limited the front suspension travel. It had 90/10's and I tied 70/30's but the problem wasn't fixed until I limited the front suspension.

Edit: As far as where you will be? You will be at the parts store shopping for a new oil pan and headers if you pull them and dump it hard on the ground.

Fabrik8

Those are all excellent points.

Also, don't forget that when you have no front wheels on the ground (or not enough force for any traction), you have no steering. That's the most fun of all.

mr_wizard

Yeah it's not quite that serious, but I just thought it would be some good eye candy to see the car hop up on the rear tires if I wanted it to. Enough to wear It's noticeably off the ground (maybe 10 inches?) for a few feet and drops back down, nothing special. I know for one, it would destroy my transmission and gears. And two, it would be hard as hell on my motor. I guess I just want to show off when the time comes, nothing I want to do all the time.

So I guess taking the cheap way would be out of the question? Do you guys think better traction (upgrading from stock tires) and throwing some weight in the back would do it? Or would I need wider tires and/or a lower gear set for it?

Fabrik8

Lower gears won't hurt, that's for sure. The more traction and more wheel torque you can get, the better.

SMOKEYBEAR

I would find some weight to take off the front before I added weight to the back.