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Larry Wolyniec is owner of Competition Cars in Bridgeview, Illinois. They specialize in building NMCA type cars. If you have a chassis question, please email to chassis@racingnetsource.com.

Greetings,

I just put traction bars on my multi-leafspring 1967 Camaro. The rubber bumper just touches the bottom of the leafspring on the driver’s side, and there is about 1/4 inch space between the rubber bumper (snubber) and the leafspring on the passenger side. It seems to be hooking just fine, and is fairly consistent (.012 difference between best and worst 60ft last Sunday for five runs).

My question is, is this the accepted way to preload the springs or do I have it backwards?

Thanks,

Dana Thompson

Dear Dana,

Yes, it is possible to pre-load the suspension with the slapper, but we recommend that the slapper bar have a rigid adjuster and not a rubber one. We recommend that the adjuster be a positive stop. The pre-load is used more to balance out the weight load from right to left on the rear tires.

Larry