Please Read Carefully and Reply With your knowledge on the subject.
Everyone who owns a front wheel drive car or a Cobalt SS/SC already knows its not easy to launch our vehicles. In a sense experianced drivers can do very well at the track with good tires. However, in my ongoing search for information and other people here who have used products with real life gains from slips or testing I have failed. This thread is an attempt to find out who is running what, and what real life gains were obtained. I will start out with anything and everything that will help get you off the line. So many times if I could get better traction I could win alot more races against very fast cars. So here is the theroy.

Cobalt SS supercharged
For Track
16" Light Weight Wheels with Drag Radials or Slicks (depending on axels of course)
Ingall's TD
Engine Mounts (anyone have exp with Bwoody mounts?)
Tranny Mounts
Bwoody traction bars (anyone have track use with these, gains?)

Street Use
Light Weight Wheels wrapped in a Max Performance Tire Such as Goodyear Eagle F1 D-3s or BF Goodrench KDs
Ingall's TD
Engine Mounts (anyone have exp with Bwoody mounts?)
Tranny Mounts
Bwoody traction bars (anyone have track use with these, gains?)

I'm trying to find the differances between the types of mounts offered from differant companies. I'm also trying to find people who use the traction bars.

Together I'm sure we could all find away to nail 1.6-1.8 60ft times with alot of power behind the wheels. Keep in mind, every tenth of a second faster off the line had a potenial for two tenths at the end of a 1/4th mile.

 

yah im really interested on some feedback on the traction bars also

 

Ok guys here we go.

Track- This is when i only had the ingalls torque brace, i had it set to the tightes seting, which is 10, i was dumped the clutch at 3k and no wheel hop at all, just alot of spin, my 60ft did benefit some with some feathering out of 3k. On stock tires.

street- With the brace, and bwoody bars i was still spining my ass off, i dont know why either, i have also tried drag-radials on the street, at like 32psi, not really warm and still spun.

 

Bumb

 

my ss/sc is stock... but i do have bwoody traction bars. when i launched the car after installing them i thought i still had the wheel hop when i was spinning, but the lines i laid down were solid so i think im feeling the engine torqueing over so i might just buy the poly mounts. but i have yet to take them to the track

 

I don't have any experience with this car at the track but with my VW the best way to get a launch was with solid engine mounts and a good feathering of the clutch. The trick was to catch it at 3k rpms and just feather the clutch on the edge of tire slipage. The trick was that once everything caught you ahd to be quick enough to just floor it. On occasion i was shocked that it grabbed quick enough and didn't quite leverage the launch for the rst of the run.

 

Off line traction is my biggest problem.
I can run a best of a 13.8 and a 13.9-14 flat all day long but Im not able to run better then a 2.2 60' time on most runs with a best of a 2.1.
If I could run a 1.8 id be happy. That would put me at being able to run a 13.2 to a 13.4 and thats what I was trying for.

My set up last time at track was.
18x7 wheels 19.5-10lb each. KDW 235-40-18s. (Thou I think i would have been faster in 225s do to tread cupping problems.
ZZP upper motor mount.
Intense trans mounts.
Base 2.2 car rear springs.
Control arm bushings.
And a strut bar.

I have No wheel hop off the line and will spin most of the time if I take off at anything over 1,500 RPM.

I think we need struts and stiffer springs to help with weaght transfer.
I think that is the biggest problem we have.
I know that my car will lift the noise big time on take off.

Later

 

WHat was the reason for the 2.2 sprinsg in the rear? If you run the SS SC springs it should help with nose lift since it's a stiffer spring. Did it have to do with ride height?

 

stiff tall springs in the back will help out launching, but while the 2.2 springs are taller, theyre also softer, so theres no real gain there, just a more agressively stanced car

 

i have
sportlines- noticed a bit with the weight transfer and aggresive manuevers

Bridgestone Potenza RE950z 225/40/18- a lil wider and grip hella better<these should have been oem but i plan on running Potenza RE01R

Intense Poly Tranny mount-vibrate pretty bad but NO wheel hop, less spin pretty effective

JBP control arm bushings- help knock out the wheel hop but not alone, do help a bit with cornering

Ingalls TD- makes some noise but is stiff and launches harder, i run it stiff at 11mm and have had it on and off for a few weeks now-plan to run it soft with the combined traction mods

DC sports Front/Torque Forward Rear braces- stiffen chassis and help torque steer a bit, but on the wrong road can be very touchy without it tugging one way or the other under spin or load

custom alignment specs- help with toe out under hard turns, caster is higher than i like on the Right and i plan on adjusting the subframe or getting adj mounts, also camber changes made a diff on torque steer

next mods im doing should be the Bwoody sway bar endlinks and the Potenza RE01Rs in a 235/40/18 or a 235/35/19

what you guys think 18s, or 19s

 

I'd say practice launching more. 1.6 is just about imppossable w/o full drag tires. 1.8 is near impossable. Shoot for 2.0 even.

Manage the power with that right foot. You only spin when you in the gas you know?

Try to use only 100% of the tires grip, when you spin you loose a good deal of the grip, Make sure you don't spin. It's better to use 95% of your tire then to send them to shreds.

 

I was pulling my best 60 ft's with just a small bit of spin off the line. If I didn't spin, the car would bog, and that cost me a tenth or two. I was at stock power though, so once you up the power I'm sure the bogging goes away.

i would also agree that 1.6 is near impossible.

 

Hmm, some good info here but no one with track times or differances after mods....that sucks....BUMB

 

Bumb

 

i think you mean bump

 

This thread is very usefull, i can wait so read what ohers have to say.

 

The last time I was at the track my best 60' was a 2.22 with awful wheelhop. Hopefully I can get to the track this weekend and test out my stiffer spring and bwoody traction bars.

 

i couldn't get my s/c to launch at the track as well. for 1/4s i'm more a nub in the area so my 60ft was 2.4 and i couldn't get grip in first but had a 15.01 being my best run and trapped 96.25mph... on the other side i beat a ls vtec integ with bolt ons and type r cams.. and my buddies g35

 

My second run ever on a track netted me a 14.498, I was bone stock. I bogged a little on the start. That seems to be one of the higher times I'm gessuing because no wheel hop and no spin.

 

The 2.2L Rear springs are softer then the SS S/C springs but not that much.

They raised the rear of the car about 1.2"s and It did feel better off the line and was easer to control wheel spin with them.

It was mostly just a test to see if they would help or not.

I think that if you used a stiffer spring with the 2.2L hight and a stiffer front spring with a 1" drop you would be able to get a better launch.

Im going to do some more testing this year. And will post what I find after a few tests.

I want to get the B&G set up and test with that but I have to limit my spending on the car this year.

later

 

suspensions with a heavy negative rake offer suffer from tire wear and difficult alignment issues with caster
i would not suggest a setup w/ more rake than the FE5 setup(stock lsj)
lower your car and you will even the rake angle out to a better stance

i understand the traction benefits however tranny mounts and CA bushings address that

not hating just passing on my experience with suspensions and steering
im one of three alignment specialists at my shop ( service manger, 16yr A tech, THEN ME)
so i can say i do alot of alignments and steering issues

being 2.2 springs your not gonna have issues with bounce but try going lower instead of higher

 

u can launch the 2.2 on 18 inch rims, lightweight of course, dropped on sportlines stock struts,Injen CAI, Apexi style N1 Exhaust... at 2,300 rpm, let clutch out fast, do not dump...as you let out the clutch, feather throttle to oppose clutch release...you should jump off the line with no wheel hop, no spin, yet a complete launch that rockets you out of the hole. its worked several times for me. unfortunatly i havent tested the time difference at the track. last time i went to go to the track id drank a little too much the night before and woke up a bit late...lol missed entry. sorry fellas.

 

well i have really only had one or two good hard starts in the 2.4 but i have gotten the best starts by keeping it around 2K RPM and then take the clutch about half way to get going and then when you are near 4-5K RPM let it all the way out. also turn of the traction control so when you catch second it doesn't cut power.

side note: if you hold the traction control button for about 3-5 seconds it cuts of the ESC. has anyone dyno'ed/ran the car with it on and off to see if there is a difference?