Ok guys I need some help from those who have done this or know how I should proceed. What I want to know is how hard is it to do a mini tub on my Maverick and does that hurt how the rear hooks up? I have to get more meat on my car, I’m spinning leaving the line ½ the time and hooking the other ½. Any and all ideas welcomes! Thanks in advance Terry Gates AKA Bossmav
How fast are you going? What kind of 60' times are you running now, what kind and size tire do you have now and what kind of racing (bracket or heads up) are you planning. I have gone fairly quick on 28x10.5" tires, and others have gone faster on smaller. My best 60' was 1.392 with worn-out M/T 28x10.5-15's that had over 100 passes on them.
Also, what kind of motor do you have, and what suspension work do you have done to it? I don't have them, but a lot of board members reported a lot of success with Caltracs (and they'd be a lot cheaper than tubbing or mini-tubbing). Just a thought....:confused:
i myself am running 28x10 goodyears on the back of mine that are pretty well wore out (just ask nutt lol) and my car constantly in the 1.4x's, granit im running ladder bars and coil overs but its enough tire to pull it into the high 9's.. id say if your running leafsprings still try to talk to Cometgt1974(Steve) his car seems to be hooking like mad, hes running the cal-tracs that everybody is talking about i bet he'd be able to help you out.. Jim
I have 28X10.5X15 new Hoosier,(14lbs do best) Hurst 50/50 drag shocks, SSM lift bars, full spool, 411 gears, six point roll bar, some of Dans sub frame connectors and pinion set to 2 degrees neg. My 60 foot's are 1.45 to 1.55 and this happens way to often, Hard to dial with that. The motor is a 408 and my number 7 cylinder has a broken oil ring and fouling my plug and scarring my cylinder wall, with the season over I can now rebuild my motor. Everyone I've spoke with all seems to think that when the number seven was hitting leaving the line I'm spinning and after watching and listen to some of the video shot I'm starting to think they are right. I've had this damn problem all year long and still could turn a 10.70 ¼ mile and ended the season with 3 seconds place finishes. I also lost a lot of first and second rounds because the car was spinning and couldn’t run the dial. The other people on my race team seem to think the changes I want to make will only make matters worse, roller C4, 3 stage port job, new header (6208) and roller cam and lifters. All of them are saying I need more meat if I’m going to be putting that kind of horse’s to the ground. I’ve been to the best people locally that set up FORD rears and they told me that I have a good set up, but maybe I might want to do a 4 link. I still drive my car on the street from time to time and I don’t want to go 4 link unless I have to. I hope I’ve answered your questions, if you have any more just ask. Thanks again. Terry
You don't really need a 4-link with that much power....you can make that car hook on leaf springs.....the cars in my class on leaf springs are running anywhere from 5.60 - 5.80 in the 1/8th mile consistently but it is hard on tires. For any leaf spring car making much power, I would definitely say run the cal tracs....yes, there are people out there that have good luck with the lift bars but that is old technology and the cal trac bars are much more adjustable and much more consistent. First, you need to decide how much $$ you want to spend and then decide if you want to chop the car up or not. If you don't mind cutting up the car, you can put a ladder bar/coil over setup in, but they're not as street friendly as a leaf spring setup. If you really want to get crazy you can do the 4 link but IMO your car is not making the power to require a 4 link, not trying to step on your toes but i've seen too many 8 second 1/4 mile cars on leafs to say you need a 4-link. If you decide not to chop up the car, get yourself a good set of mono leaf springs, cal tracs and the best shocks your budget can afford. Move the shocks around to behind the rear end and take as much weight off the nose as possible. Also, keep in mind that in order the get the rear to do what it's supposed to do you need to make sure that the front of the car is transferring weight properly. The best setup for the fron of our cars (without doing a MII setup) is the coil over conversion and tubular control arms from TCP (total control products) but if your budget doesn't allow that you need a good set of adjustable shocks up front a good set of springs and everything in the front end needs to move freely, email me and I can give you some more tips on the front end if you are interested!! I hope this helps some.....
Also, if it's in your budget I think that the mini-tub is a great idea but you will probably need to move the leaf springs in board to get the full benefit of the mini tub. Just keep in mind that you can do the mini tub and keep your back seat......if you go for a full tub and 4-link say bye bye to the back seat. I kinda like my back seat!! I plan on doing the mini tub and moving the leaf springs one of these days!!!
Thanks CometGT1974. When you say move the shocks behind the rearend are you talking like on the earlier Mustangs, where both shocks mount on the backside of the housing? If that what your talking about I'm supprised that no one else as thought of that here where I'm at. That has to be the best idea I've heard of in a long time, why? Now you can open all kinds of doors for shocks and traction bars. Moving the shocks to the back side of the diff shouldn't be that hard. Can you tell me what's all involved in doing this mod. Also who as a mono leaf spring for our cars at a good price. Caltrac bars, Comp Eng slidealink are the newer technology type of traction systems but only the Caltrac's are made for the Maverick/Comet setup, also there are NO drag shocks for our setup. On the front of my car I've moved the battery to the trunk and have Comp Eng 90/10 drag shocks, removed the big bumper and replaced them with the smaller fiberglass one, I've done the Shelby mod to the upper A-arms and did the shock tower mod for clearence. After I get everything done this off season I hope to be somewhere in the 575 to 600 range of horsepower this would be a increase from my dyno last year of 50 to 75 horses. All throttle and no bottle, it's the only way I'll ever be. Thanks again for all the info and help. Terry Gates AKA Bossmav
There are probably several ways to move the shocks to behind the rear end but i'll tell you the way I did it.....I just ordered one of Competition Engineerings upper coil over mounting kits. It's basically a steel bar with some shock mounting tabs. you'll need to remove your old mounting brackets (one of them will be in the way) and weld in the bar and tabs. For the bottom, I ordered the lower shock mounting kit from Competition Engineering. The shocks need to be straight up and down with a slight angle to the rear of the car. If you are interested in the slide a links, I think you can make the ones for the early mustangs work on our car. I was running the rancho 5-way adjustables but will be running the qa1 12-way aluminum shocks next year. You need a good adjustable shock on a leaf spring car, or on any drag car for that matter!! As far as springs go, I am using the flex a form fiberglass mono leafs, i'm not completely sold on the durability of a fiberglass spring but I will keep you posted on my results with them. Cal trac offers there own spring to work with there bars, Afco offers a good mono leaf spring, landrum makes mono leaf drag springs also.......I think Landrum makes the springs for cal trac.......
