Author Topic: Another one for Laz (Read 321 times)

SFRT - Frenchy · « **on:** June 20, 2005, 04:47:10 PM »

I was looking at a real life 700HP cobra MKIII. I was wondering if it was really worth having so much HPs on a light car. How did you set your Halley to put the power to the ground? DO you use super shoft shocks, did you mess with the damper/rebound rates? What's the trick?

lazs2 · « **Reply #1 on:** June 21, 2005, 08:39:08 AM »

You learn how to drive.

that is the short answer. There is no real answer. for the street you need some comprimise. I can't get tires bigger than about 9" under the rear. I use Bilstien shocks... use em on everything.. I use very short (cut down cheapos) traction bars and new Healey leafs with one extra spring..

The car has a 90" wheelbase and is only a few inches off the ground... we aint talkin setting up a pro stocker here... I just want it to squat a bit and run straight (relatively straight) I kill the bottom end with a big solid lifter cam and Victor single plane and 750 double pumper mechnical carb... run 24 degrees initial advance.

Close ratio 4 speed and 3.76 rear gears.. 4.56 set was way too hairy.

Ov the dozens of setups I have tried this works the "best"... Nothing is gonna make a 90" wheelbase car with 400+ hp launch like a 4000 lb sedan. or even a 3000 lb 32 ford.

I live with it and set the car up to go around corners fairly well.

Anything the Healey can do... you can do better using a Mustang to start with except.... well.. the look and feel thing.

Guys in my club are getting Healeys into the low 11's... that is about the limit for a street driven Healey with it's chassis and other limitations.... without making it into some bizzare situation that is. Too low and too little room and too short a wheelbase.

That being said... I can use even more HP... Was thinking of a 427 small block or Ls7 427 with a six speed...may even do it. It will make the car even more dangerous but... it will really pull hard in 4th. 5th and sixth... course then I would finaly have to ditch the drum brakes I suppose

hey... you asked..

lazs

moot · « **Reply #2 on:** June 21, 2005, 09:19:26 AM »

drum brakes??

Hangtime · « **Reply #3 on:** June 21, 2005, 09:40:19 AM »

Quote

That being said... I can use even more HP... Was thinking of a 427 small block or Ls7 427 with a six speed...may even do it. It will make the car even more dangerous but... it will really pull hard in 4th. 5th and sixth... course then I would finaly have to ditch the drum brakes I suppose

jeszus frikken cripes...

why not just add a boat anchor and 40' of chain?

lazs2 · « **Reply #4 on:** June 21, 2005, 02:23:39 PM »

ah... I see we have some braking experts here.

I use ceramic linings on the front dual leading shoe drums with 2" by 11" surface area.. the rears are 12" by 2 1/2 semi metalics.

This is quite a bit if brake swept area.

do either of you know what kind of disc setup I would need to equal the power of my drums?

have either of you ever driven a car with performance drum brakes? You do realize that all else being equal.. the drum brakes are capable of shorter more controled stops?

lazs

Hangtime · « **Reply #5 on:** June 21, 2005, 02:49:14 PM »

ahhh.. nope. Last car I had with front drum brakes was a 60's LeMans. By the third turn there was damn little 'brake' left; temp buildup and the friction materials of the day being what they were.. even had an issue with spongy pedal when the brakes got hot.

Stands to reason that like everything else, drum brakes with upgraded friction material and manly wheel cyclinders would improve performance.. but how do yah handle the heat buildup?

lazs2 · « **Reply #6 on:** June 21, 2005, 02:53:33 PM »

some linings actually need heat to perform well... much like disc brakes. The point at which their performance is degraded dangerously is past my point of endurance.

lazs

vorticon · « **Reply #7 on:** June 21, 2005, 04:31:06 PM »

"By the third turn there was damn little 'brake' left;"

i dont know much about driving, but everything i do know keeps the words brake and turn out of the same sentence...

beet1e · « **Reply #8 on:** June 21, 2005, 04:53:31 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by lazs2
drum brakes

lazs2 · « **Reply #9 on:** June 22, 2005, 08:29:33 AM »

well... if the automotive expert beetle says that they are bad...

They wouldn't be the best for races lasting a couple hours with 10 turns per lap that made you slow from 150 mph to about 30 mph.

I rarely do that on the street.

They are not good for towning house trailers in the mountains...

I don't do that either.

They tend to wear quickly on 4,000 lb cars.

mine weighs half that.

They do have better feel than discs for most people.

They are harder to work on and more expensive than discs

They don't get brake dust all over my American Magnesium wheels.

They match the retro feel of the rest of the car and work just fine.

with a 331 with 11 1/2 to ones in it... I don't really use the brakes all that much.

laughing at modern drum brakes on a light car is sorta like laughing at the guy with a single action 454 casul revolver.

lazs2 · « **Reply #10 on:** June 22, 2005, 09:00:30 AM »

well... now that our automotive expert beetle has chimed in...

Drum brakes would not be good no matter what kind, and even with the latest technolodgy, for any race that lasted several hours and had turns that demanded braking from say.... 150 mph or so down to 30 mph or so for ten times per lap.

they would not be that great for towing a house trailer through the mountains.

I wouldn't bother with em on a 4000 lb car.

For a 2000 lb car the newest linings do a better job than the old race cars ever had tho.

They are harder to work on than discs.

They are more expensive to work on.

They have better "feel" for most people than discs.

moot · « **Reply #11 on:** June 22, 2005, 09:50:20 AM »

That's what I thought. Shouldn't be an issue for you then.

I know all the drumbrake cars that I drove were heavy, and past a certain speed they'd feel like wet toilet paper. One of the worst was a pontiac grand prix on my way back from Vegas, the things just whined and vibrated forever.
Definitely didn't risk corner entries with them in the canyons.
I never heard anyone mention their good qualities before, and with my experience with them plus seeing them just about disappear from any average performance machinery nowadays, I assumed they didn't have any.