Is anybody using the Caltracs springs and track bars? What do you think of them? I'm casually looking around, and they seem recommended by the Chevy guys, but I wanted to see what you guys thought of 'em.
I've got a home-made set I made...only because I didn't want to spend what they were asking for them, and had the tubing, plate, and welder already. My car has a best 60ft so far of 1.39...so yeah, they definitely work. And that's with factory leafs and autozone factory replacement rear shocks! I'm wanting to get the Calvert split mono leafs, and their rear shocks...but I'm afraid I may mess up a good thing I'd highly recommend them!
Here's a link someone posted before here. Pretty informative. http://www.hotrodsandhemis.com/Traction.html
I highly recommend them too. They took .2 seconds off my 60 foot time. Also there is no wheel hop. Lee "THE MAV" Richart
I also use them with cheap monroe shocks and heavy duty leaf springs (4-leaf from JC Whitney). I have not raced at a track with them, yet, but they feel really different when I take off hard on the street. I have not had any wheel hop since installation.
I am going to us the caltracs mono leafs as well as the caltracs traction set up. At first I was not going to go down the path of using a race specific leaf spring but after the standard leafs that I purchase having to big of an arch I called caltracs. They sent me a new leaf springs that are new that were designed more for the street. The mono leaf is tappered to give me of a gradual ride versus just being stiff. I have not installex them yet due to the car still being in paint but I can tell you the quality is much nicer than the stock style replacements. I hope this helps the OP. Tom
I have them on my car, with 4 leafs, and KYB's, and they work awesome! I'm not a racer, but I like how the car lifts, in stead of squatting.
Cal-trac bars I just got a pair from a fellow Maverican and i love them! No wheel hop and feels like it goes down the road straighter.
For the money nothing will beat cal-tracs,just about every winning Super Stocker out there is using them.I may use the set on my car for a little while before I switch over to the ladders and coil springs.My set up uses 3 soft leaf springs w/ small comp engineering shocks,4.56 spool & 35 spline axles,10.5 slicks,29.5 tall.Previous owner ran this set up for a few yrs w/ 351w & a c4 because his class did`nt allow welded on traction bars and a tire no larger than that,said they were awesome.
That's awesome, guys, thanks for all the responses! I guess I know what rear suspension setup I'll go with!
I believe John Calvert's theory is the lighter the spring the better the hook. My Mav has only the three top leafs and my S-10 has only 2 leafs. I guess if one is concerned with carrying additional weight (like rear seat passengers) then the 4 leafs would be a necessary compromise. It would be interesting to test varying number of leafs in the same car...
Number of leafs has nothing to do about the stiffness of the spring. Some 3-leaf springs have a higher spring rate than some 4-leaf springs.
That's correct, but you get the idea... Removing leaves is easier than trying to measure the rate of a spring pack.
