Leaf Spring setup for 69 AMX in the 10's

 

Went 10.20s in a basically stock leaf spring setup and a 10 x 28 slick. But the big gain was in the tranny/converter. Used a glide with brake, and 8" ATI converter. That dropped the starting line torque spike from too much gear and allowed it to work. 60' was fair at 1.45 sec, but it was deadly consistent and would hook on a hot slippy track when the big tire cars could not. The log book has days of like 13 passes and 60' would only vary a few .000s.

 

Rear suspension was conventional slapper bars lengthened to react on spring eye, conventional but stiff shocks (do it again I would get adjustable), Springs preloaded with extra leaf on passenger side, offset ballast the have car sit level. Front suspension was the most crappy used worn out shocks I could find, low rate 4 cyl springs (easy on a Hornet). Both front and rear suspension had spaced shocks just enough to increase suspension travel a bit.

 

Tranny was a 1.82 glide with a 4.10 axle for a total ratio of 7.46 - way low in some peoples minds. But the converter made it work, and the low ratio killed the torque spike, with the converter "working" and spreading the torque over a longer distance in each gear. The converter was also able to work on the gear shift, and recover wheel torque there, making better use of the power. Don't try to run a glide without the very best converter.

 

This was developed over a number of years and changes. Think I had 4 different sets of front springs in there.

 

While this setup is not the plan with a class car, it was awesome on a bracket car. Won a lot of races, and gratifying when the big tire cars lost to me because they spun. It was so repeatable I could check the air conditions at home and dial the car. At the track (1 1/2 hour away) it would run within .01 sec. I remember one divisional final race I never missed my dial by more than .01 in a 15 hour day, and that was with no time trials, eliminations starting at 8 am.

 

 I have seen torque link guys run in the 10's, but note they are not great to apply initial hit at the line.

It had an 8 3/4'' Mopar rear with 3.91 gears and stock six cylinder leafs. 90/10 drag shocks and six cylinder coils up front.

You can see them working in this picture. When the car was at rest they were angled down slightly and there was about an inch of space over the tire. I would stage at an idle and just wack the pedal to launch.

Best E/T was 11.36 @ 120 mph with a 1.55 sixty foot. I'm confident they would have done me fine well into the 10s.