i have a 4.2L blown V6 vs. The car was built with the idea of drag racing in mind along with puttin out big hp
ive had the car on the 1/4 mile a few times now but have massive traction issues and its only gunna get worse as i up the power, the cars running standard suspension atm lowerd 1 1/4 inch, but is clearly not much good

my question is, what have poeple done to get these things to put the power down off the line suspension wise

First thing you should be addressing is tyres.

What type and size are you running?

I wouldn't think you'd be making earth shattering power so i think a change to a slick style tyre would net you good results ( if you haven't already ).

power in this thing is far more of an issue than most would realise, car made 392rwhp on just 9 psi, now runs 12.5psi with 3.7 diff gears, in a car that ways less than 1400kg

i havent changed to a slick tyre yet, it is the next thing on the list for the track, but i would like to have traction on the street, which is what started me thinking what suspension setups are people useing to get the power to the ground in the humble VS commodore
atm its running 19inch rims with 245's
geting the weight transfer from front to rear must have a massive affect on the grip off the line so any tips would be great

Is it just a stroked 3.8, or is it a 4.2 crate engine?

one of C.O.M.E racings 4.2L crate engines, which is just a 3.8L stroked to 4.2L
tho its by no means one of come's standard 4.2L's, its had alot of work since i got it from them, including custom, pistons, cam and heads, but i'll post details of the car in another section

my question is just how can i get the power down ?

Is the battery in the engine compartment? If so, put it in the boot. That will help a little.

You can get Mickey Thompson SR's for the street. They are a semi slick compound and i think you will find them helpful.

Just a quick note. My engine was making 600 ft lb or torque and around 600 hp. It made 570 ft lb @ 2700 rpm so launching my car was extremely difficult on the BFG's. I put the hoosier quick times on and the difference was unbelievable. It hooked up very well. I was extremely impressed. This was with a standard falcon leaf spring setup!

The quicktimes are made from a similar compound as the MT SR's.

I'd agree with old mate up the top there - if you're serious about racing then you aren't going to go wrong in getting a set of old pursuit rims and a set of Mickey T Street Slicks. I checked a set on my commy and on the first launch I got a red eye. You know what red eye is yea? It felt like I was pushed back in my seat so hard and violently that my eye almost detached. Hurt like an ass and itched for ages afterwards.

From what Ive gathered for a setup im about to do, and I'll second what has been said above. If you were running 19" rims on the quarter mile, too little sidewall and not enough flex, a popular combination is a 15 x 8 rim with 28 x 9 slicks.
Diff wise LSD's dont always launch in a straight line, and dont last long in a serious strip car, go mini or full spool. Lower rear trailing arms should be boxed as they like to twist. Get new nolathane/noltec bushes all round to firm up the ride, can use a combination of rubber bushes and the aftermarket compound for a more comfortable ride if its a streeter. A suspension specialist would be able to advise you.
Soft springs at standard height all round, as it will help the car squat during the launch and aid transfer of weight to the rear of the car. 90/10 shocks at the front, however if its a streeter youll want to compromise because they are useless on the street, 50/50 shocks rear.
If you want to go a bit lower its probably a good idea to go for adjustable upper control arms to compensate for the pinion angle of the diff, and an adjustable panhard rod to keep it centred.
Ive heard varying opinions on swaybars. Still yet to hear something solid.

Thanks for the help, first thing i'll try is the semi slicks, see how they go, battery in the boot is also a good idea, hadn't thought of that

Avoid spools if running the car on the street. Plenty of us have run them and they are terrible for anything but straight line brawling. If the cops happen to see your car skipping around a round about, guess what?

You'll be shocked at how well those MT's or Hoosiers hook up. The only down side is the tyre life. Because they are thin, they don't tend to last long.

yeah i will have to get a spare set of rims for them and only run them when i want traction, and yeah i wont bother with a mini spool or anything like that as its still a street car

When you do that, come back and let us know how you went.

will do, headin down to the test and tune this saterday, probly wont have slicks by then but i am workin on it, i'd just like to break into the 11's before puting slicks on, and its only my third time there so i figure the more pratice the better

Ok so i hit the strip last saterday, will definatly be going to a full slick tyre, wont bother with drag radials, as traction was much more of an issue this time
car has run a best of 12.085, which was on just 340odd rwhp on street tyres
car now runs more than 392rwhp with less weight in the boot
on the night i had rims, jacks, 5L's of water and anything else we could find in the boot to try and get traction with no luck, car was spining no matter what i tried, most of the time all the way to the 100-150m mark.
only managed a 12.9 tho this was also in 25 degree heat and 89% humidity, and with a 2.2 60ft time on 19inch street tyres

so will be heading back down as soon as ive got some slicks

hey mate really look into the tyre pressure your running can make a really big difference cheers.carl

Firstly 532man is dead on the money tyre choice is crittical which you have already figured out. 90/10s will help with the launch of the car thats true but as stated useless for the street. In my vk, runs an 11.2 1/4 mile i have gone koni adjustables all the way round i also have used 6 cylinder springs as well all the way round. Boxing the lower trail arms will also aid in traction however i would persuade you not to use nolathane bushes at all fe2 rubber bushes will be just perfect you want the suspension to have a little give especially if you are loading the car up to launch. Commodores are notorius for ripping the floor mounts out in stiffly set suspension set ups the rubber bushes will help there you will also need to reinforce the mounts. I would also recomend getting a set of adjustable upper control arms. The commodore once lowered tends to have the diff pinion angle pointing towards the floor of the car hence when loaded up and launched you dont have an effective squat and roll you just get roll and heaps of tyre spin, changing the pinion angle will give you the desired effect your after. As i stated earlier i had the same issues that you are having i think the car ran an 11.4 at best with truckloads of wheel spin after i the changed the setup to what i have just outlined im running an 11.2 with no wheel spin and im picking the front wheels just off the deck and carrying them to the 30ft mark hope it helps sorry if it sounded complex mate

thanks, plenty have said the vs have the major problem with the trailing arms but mine are welded to the subframe so they shouldnt be a really issue
next step is slicks then will go from there

little update, got some semi slicks for the car (dunlops) how ever 2 days after geting them i blew up the powerdyne blower, so that sucked ass, as i hadent proved it would actualy pull an 11 secend pass yet, figured i could either rebuild the powerdyne (just to prove people wrong) or go for some thing a little better, seeing as i'm not that aragent lol i decided to go for a new blower, in the form of a Vortec T-trim, along with a couple of other fairly serious mods.

car should be done within 3 weeks, so will hit the track as soon as possible, i know i'm gunna have even more trouble off the line but hoping the extra 80hp+ will help me get across the line quicker anyway

well another update on my efforts

after geting the new T-trim up and runing along with the front mount and twin throttle body intake manifold, we had a few issues, cracked a balancer, split a fuel line, along with many other small issues after sorting them all

WE BLEW THE GEARBOX so ive now had to rebuild the C4 as well, its geting there again now and should be ready for a tune soon

so i shall post updates when ive got some resualts

more updates

cars tuned, and made it to powercruise QLD

runing 19psi!!!! not by choise tho, its the bigest pully i can get for the T-trim
power is still unknown as its just wheel spins on the dyno. thinking upwards of 500rwhp

hit the strip again with semi slicks, fu*ked second gear doing the burnout but thought stuff it i'll see what happens
launched at 2000rpm, had no traction off the line, clicked second and just hit limiter (gear sliping)
clicked 3rd anyway then pressurised the crankcase at about 300m mark which blew the dipstick out. backed off
rolled across the line and still managed 11.8 at 119mph

so now its toasted another C4 and still not sure what caused the dipstick to blow out as the car still runs fine

sounds tuff, get some pictures up of this thing!

pictures as requested........ its supost to be a sleeper, noise kinda gives it way now tho
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?...mageID=16932948
just have a look through the pics


and a vid
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseacti...ideoid=59876976

theres also a few more vids there from powercruise, poor vids but the one against the GTR aint to bad

Drop the c4 like a dirty turd and chuck in a powerglide problem solved