Hello, just join your site this evening. I have two sons. We all have 2gen's Camaro's that we race. My question is what is the opinion of racers on this site of these two tractions bars. We have been just running in the 11's and 12's. Now we are building two of the cars to run in the 10's and we was wanting to upgrade from slapper bars to either Caltrac's or CE slidealink. I know some of the racers out there have been running them since they came out. So if you guys could give your opinion on them we would like the help..Thanks Kevin.

I like the Caltraks. That's what I use.

I have Caltracs and love them. I heard that the Slidealink tend to unload the tires at about the 60' mark. There is a guy up here that had the slidealinks than went to the Caltracs and never looked back.

I run Slide-a-links and have had good luck with them. Car has gone 1.420 sixty on motor and 1.39 sixty on the spray.

I think the front suspension setup is more important than whether you use Slide-a-links or Caltracs in back. They are both somewhat tune-able, and if you get that front end up quickly either can work. If I were starting from scratch I would probably go Caltracs just because of the great reputation they have, but I picked up my SALs for free and was pleasantly surprised.

The two camaros that we are switching is going to be just bracket cars. May go to the car cruise here in town, but not really much driving on the street. As far as the front springs. What is a good setup on the front. We are going to put adj shocks on the front and change out the front springs. Both cars have 165r15's on the front. I have Moog 6486 springs that I was going to used on mine.Was thinking about using the trick front springs too. Both cars are striped in the front, battery moved to the back. Fender wells removed. Running just SBC Alum heads and all a/c, heater parts has been removed. We was going to take the frontend of the cars and put them about an inch above the front tire. I have adj Koni's on the back of mind. Josh is going to buy the CE drag shocks all the way around for his. Hope this setup will work. It should, with either the CE slidealink or caltrac's. What is everyone else's opinion? Thanks.

I like the Caltrac's...but both seem real nice.

I run Cal tracs with their split leaf mono rear spring and Rancho 9 way single adjustable shocks out back. Up front I run Moroso trick springs and qa1-r shocks. I have a nose heavy big block. 60 ft 1.47 10.82 @ 122 1/4. I looked at almost all the stocker cars at the NHRA event in Joliet and 99% of them run Cal tracs or a home made version of them. That tells me what works.
I would like to try www.smithracecraft.com trick springs and also Afco shocks up front.

I think I would try Smith Racecraft trick spring, Moroso trick spring, or Moog 6 cyl springs.
Any of these should work well . I would not use the CE shocks use Afco, Koni. Qa1-r.

Some like the QA1-r some don't, but the afco is a good shock. Thats what I would replace mine with

Many racers also use an AFCO or Del- Alum greasable control arm bushing to loosen up the front end.

Ryan

I made my own set of CalTracs and I can say they work. I also have the Rancho ajustable shocks but haven't got to the track with them yet.

Your plan looks pretty straight forward to me.



http://www.hotrodsandhemis.com/Traction.html

I'm running the Cal-trac setup.

Iam running Caltracs with Caltrac springs and Ranchero shocks. I was very impressed with the customer service from Mr. Calvert himself who even gave me his telephone number at home in case I had any questions. They work very well at the track as well as on the street. Good luck with your decision.

I run the Caltrac bars and Caltrac split mono leafs. Can't go wrong with them.

Jim

Caltracks with mono Hotchkis leaf.

http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=129065

Moroso Super Stock springs and 90/10's put me up in the air at Launch time with 50/50 in the rear...

I run slide a links
caltracs dont have good street manners

I run the CalTracs and the customer support there is like no other company I have dealt with. They are awesome.

Having said that, I agree with Eric68...it was not until I got my FRONT suspension right that I was able to get a consistent hook. In the front I hacked off the travel bump stop mounting pads, went to a 6 cyclinder factory spring and QA-1R springs set on soft.

I run slide a links
caltracs dont have good street manners

I definitely disagree with that, I have run my Caltracs for 4 or 5 years with most of the driving on the street and they are great. You can take all the preload out and they essentially are not there, but I leave my preload in and it makes it just slightly stiffer. Just curious but what makes you say they have bad street manners?
I absolutely love my Caltracs and have recommended them to lots of my friends and everyone is real happy, they work great on even a basic suspension. I'm sure the slidealinks are good too, but the caltracs are a stronger piece with a bit more adjustability, thats what sold me. I would recommend them to anyone :thumbsup:

I could care less about street manners. Are we discussing ride quality or hooking at the dragstrip?

I will say the ride quality from slappers to CalTrac (look-a-likes) I like the Caltracs a lot better.

Tkae a look at these. It's what i have on my car and they work very good!
http://smithracecraft.com/

Hey everyone. Thanks so much for the input. It is nice to see people jumping in and helping us. We DO thank you for the help.
I bought Josh's [oldest son] Camaro about 10 years ago. It seems like when I bought the Moog 6486 springs they was for a six cylinder car. I never put them in the car, still have them on the shelve. I was going to race it till he truned 16, but somhow I lost it and never got to race it again....but he has really enjoyed racing it. Justin [youngest] is going to order the Caltrac's and 2 pc rear springs from Calvert. He has the 78 Z28 that is in full trim. We are building a 406 for him. He is buying the Alum Heads from Powerhouse. They have a set of Alum, assy, bolt on for $800. The flow numbers look good for the price. He is going to put adj CE shocks all of the way around. We are racing in KC in May. We won't get the rear springs on but should have everything else done. We are taking all three cars there. It is only Josh and I working on the cars when we can. Justin is a pipe welder and is on the road, so his time at home is limited. Like I said, we just want too bracket race the cars, so don't really care about the ride. Just want good solid launch and recovery for a consistend run.

I have the slide-a -links. Like how they look. Like how they work. Ended my wheel hop woes. Easily adjustable for street or strip.

It took a lot of hard lessons for me to learn the importance of good shocks, but it finally got through my thick head. I would recomend that you NOT put the CE shocks all the way around. On paper they look like an economical alternative, but you should just buy some $10 Auto Zone shocks to get you by if the budget is tight.

Calvert will tell you that you need their Rancho shocks on the back and they know best.

For the front you will likely need a nice set of multi adjustable shocks as you start going faster. They are big money but well worth it. If you have no budget for them right now, that's fine and understood, but buying the CE shocks is pretty much a throw away. A cheap set of gas shocks will work as well as them for now. JMHO.

Tkae a look at these. It's what i have on my car and they work very good!
http://smithracecraft.com/


These are very interesting. A spin on the CalTrac design no doubt.

Ron

It took a lot of hard lessons for me to learn the importance of good shocks, but it finally got through my thick head. I would recomend that you NOT put the CE shocks all the way around. On paper they look like an economical alternative, but you should just buy some $10 Auto Zone shocks to get you by if the budget is tight.

Calvert will tell you that you need their Rancho shocks on the back and they know best.

For the front you will likely need a nice set of multi adjustable shocks as you start going faster. They are big money but well worth it. If you have no budget for them right now, that's fine and understood, but buying the CE shocks is pretty much a throw away. A cheap set of gas shocks will work as well as them for now. JMHO.

Koni SPA-1's work well for me. and they fit!
I also have great success with the CalTracs and split monos.

Ron

These are very interesting. A spin on the CalTrac design no doubt.

Ron

I have had the Cal tracs and i like the Max-trax MUCH better! Take a close look at the design and you will see where the Max-trax is better.

does the solid front spring eye bushing of all of these designs cause a lot of harshness on the street? Does it put heavy loads on the front spring eye mount?

does the solid front spring eye bushing of all of these designs cause a lot of harshness on the street? Does it put heavy loads on the front spring eye mount?

I don't have any problems with mine even on the street. It hits pretty hard at the track though.

Which set-up (Caltracs/Slide-a-links/Max-Trax) is best for a manual transmission car?

I'm guessing that the Slide-a-links with the urethane bushing pad might keep the rear from unloading better while shifting gears, but maybe someone here knows better?

Imho, you aren't tuning your old-fashioned slapper bars right, snubber gap and side to side pre-load, b/c guys use them deep into the 10's!!

Are you also using shock coil-over, overload springs to pre-load each side?

I will hazard a bet and will say that if you tune them w/ shock coil overload springs, that you will be FINE!!

I don't race, but my car after about four hours one Sat afternoon T&T'ing left like a "rabbit outta the chute at a Dog Track" after I got done! Sucker would hunker down, then take off and lift and flat GO!! STRAIGHT as an arrow!!

Ever watch a Bull Frog take off when you wanna gig him for supper!! That kinda launch!

pdq67

I put slide-a-links on my 68 Camaro, 376/375, 4 speed and adjusted for street setup. Completely eliminated wheel hop and did not affect the ride quality.

However, I had a 69 Camaro with an LS-7(454) and properly adjusted slapper bars with J bolts and it hooked hard,always pulling the front wheels 18" or so. Old technology, but they do work, if set up correctly.

Imho, you aren't tuning your old-fashioned slapper bars right, snubber gap and side to side pre-load, b/c guys use them deep into the 10's!!

Are you also using shock coil-over, overload springs to pre-load each side?

I will hazard a bet and will say that if you tune them w/ shock coil overload springs, that you will be FINE!!

I don't race, but my car after about four hours one Sat afternoon T&T'ing left like a "rabbit outta the chute at a Dog Track" after I got done! Sucker would hunker down, then take off and lift and flat GO!! STRAIGHT as an arrow!!

Ever watch a Bull Frog take off when you wanna gig him for supper!! That kinda launch!

pdq67

I don't doubt that slappers can work great, but I have to buy new ones (since mine are bent). Since the good J-bolt type slappers long enough to hit the spring eye are $160 ($240 for the chrome ones I like) and only rated at 450 hp, I'm looking into the newer leaf-spring/rod systems all only about $330.

Now I just need to determine which sytem works best for my application (Caltracs/Slide-a-links/Max-Trax): a street/strip car with a Richmond 5sp OD, multi-leaf 12 bolt 3:73 rear, and a 496 BBC with around 500-550hp.

I'll probably go with the Calvert 90/10 shocks up front and the Rancho adjustables on the rear like they recommend on the Caltrac website. I already bought a new set of stock multi-leaf springs, so I'll skip the split-mono-leafs for now since others have posted here that they didn't make a huge difference anyway. I also have a new set of BB coil springs on the front; those might have to go if they're not compatible with the shocks?

From the many posts I've read here, Caltracs seem to be a bit stronger than Slide-a-links (there's a photo of a bent up set of those here actually- but I won't have enough torque to do that with my 600 ft/lbs). Only a couple of posts have been made about the new Max-Trax bars, all good ones.

Most people also recommend replacing the rubber leaf-spring pads with solid aluminum ones. Seems like that might cause a 'squeak' on the street though?

Buy the short, cheap, Lakewood slappers and take them to a welding shop and extend them long enough so they slap where they should and go!

This is the most cost effective way to do this and if you look close, you will see where the modern non so-called slappers lock right at the weakest part of the main leaf's!!

pdq67

I have had the Cal tracs and i like the Max-trax MUCH better! Take a close look at the design and you will see where the Max-trax is better.

Not doubting you or anything , but what do you consider better about the Max-Trax design over the CalTracs ? I ran CalTracs and split monos on my ChevyII and that thing would hook on a gravel road . I am probably going to run them on my Camaro , but I'm open to different/better options .

Terry

I have Cal-Tracs, split monos and the rancho adjustables

if you look close, you will see where the modern non so-called slappers lock right at the weakest part of the main leaf's!!

I did notice that same thing and wondered if it would damage my springs?

I guess since it's pushing down, against the direction the springs want to wrap up under torque, makes it different than the way a short slapper pushes up on them at the weak point- which would add to the spring wrapping stress and could bend them permanently.

And too short slappers will bend the main leaf's if they don't slap the spring eyes!

pdq67

I have the slidealinks, they work OK but still not happy with my 60' need more time to adjust Does anybody have a good starting point for adjustment?

I decided to go with Cal-Tracs since there is plenty of proven set-up info here. The Max-Trax might be the next big thing, but there's just not enough info on them yet.