1982 S-10 - Prostreet questions/upgrades?

[CDMBill]

With big and little tires that issue with bias on one end and radial on the other isn't that big of a deal. I've driven all over the place with bias skinny front runners and big drag radials on the back and previously with ET Streets on the back and and street radials on the front. Proper alignment and decent shocks mitigates most of that issue.

Question one, is this intended to be an all weather truck, or nice dry days only? Those big Sportsman M/T's especially the older design and compound versions are some of the worst tries for traction ever made and the older they are the worse they get. I've experienced this directly with a buddy pro-street car. The S/R radials work quite a bit better.

As the truck is already lowered in the back I'm guessing you are running out of rear tire clearance? Shorter tires might help.

The best bang for the buck rear suspension is Cal-Tracs and you might look at their split mono springs too. Much cheaper than a four link conversion and guys everywhere are running 8's in street driven S-10's on that set-up. Usually BBC's and spray, but you get the idea.

[prostreet34]

I have to agree with Bill, about the bias/radial combo not being as big of a deal on a large tire prostreet car, your are already sacrificing some ride. I'm running radial fronts and 19.5' x 33' Micky Thompson Sportsman Pro rears. Like you, I had M/T sportsman, then switched to the M/T sportsman Pro, much softer sidewall and compound. Made a huge improvement with 60 foot times. If your concerned more with ride then traction, I would consider going the radial route.

Jason

[MattDuCharme]

Really appreciate all the feedback guys!

[BobD]

Thanks for the information let look at this again.

Guys,
Here is the scoop on my truck. 82 S-15 GMC really. 400 SB with a mild cam build by Thomlin Chevy out of New York, I think. 650 Holly on a Offenhouser intake. Hooked to a TH350 with shift kits and supposedly to a 2500 stall converter, heavy duty drive shaft with safety loop to a Narrowed 9". I think the posi clutches are tired and could possibley be rebuilt, not sure though.

The old Mickey Sportmens on the back were on there when my buddy bought the truck. He had it 11 years and I have for 4 years now. The front has those 165R15's on the front.

The truck will easily smoke the tires without Line Lock on. With that said, I really am not loking at drag racing the thing as it goes straight on a nice road really well. On a bumpy road it will jump around with any bump in the road.

My thought is that #1. The old Sportmens (31X18.5x15) are really hard thus no hook up off the line and a crappy ride any way. I have ran those things down as little as 3 LBS of air and still don't stick.

If I would get a newer Mickey Radial tire, they should be much more sticky. I should hook up better as well. Then if I need to add some Cal Tracks to prevent the pinion roll and put it down onto the ground better. At the same time maybe bump up the front tire size both in height and slightly in the width as well as drop to a 29" rear tire. That should also sit the weight back a little toward the rear as well. It also will bring up the RPM a little at launch as well as at the shift points. It seems to fall on its face slightly in 2nd and 3rd right now.

Like I said, I would still like to drive the truck a little more and feel a little better about driving it around as well. I do not drive out in the weather, unless I have too. Went through a farmers sprinkler a couple rears ago and went way side way!

Any help would be appreciated!
Thanx.

[BBR]

I'd c-notch the rear frame first and lose a leaf or 2 to try to get some suspension movement in the rear. Then I'd maybe look at relocating the shocks farther outboard and double check that the shocks are not near either extreme end of their travel.

The huge tires are going to have a big footprint and combine that with the light rear end of a mini truck and there are very few pounds per square inch back there. Traction will be a challenge for sure.

[prostreet34]

I don't think you'll gain much traction with a new radial tire, but you will improve ride. Being that your working with modified stock suspension I would start with all the basics.

> How much shock travel do you have, compression & rebound.
> Are shocks bottoming out over bumps, not allowing the suspension do its job?
> Is the alignment correct?
> If any front end parts have been interchanged or the ride height changed, I would want to know what
the bump steer is.

No reason the truck should be jumping around on bumpy roads. The only time mine feels a bit sketchy, is at highway speed (70+ mph) during a lane change when there is a very uneven step in pavement height. Of course rain is always fun. I'm pretty sure mine sees more rain time than most prostreet cars.

Jason

[BobD]

I don't think you'll gain much traction with a new radial tire, but you will improve ride. Being that your working with modified stock suspension I would start with all the basics.

> How much shock travel do you have, compression & rebound.
> Are shocks bottoming out over bumps, not allowing the suspension do its job?
> Is the alignment correct?
> If any front end parts have been interchanged or the ride height changed, I would want to know what
the bump steer is.

No reason the truck should be jumping around on bumpy roads. The only time mine feels a bit sketchy, is at highway speed (70+ mph) during a lane change when there is a very uneven step in pavement height. Of course rain is always fun. I'm pretty sure mine sees more rain time than most prostreet cars.

Jason

Help me understand what the Bump steer is. I have sort of been busy working and haven't had time to get out in the garage. I will have to get the truck over to the other side of the barn where I can pull the front tires and get some better pictures of the spring etc.

Do you think Bia's tires are going to work better?

I know these old ones are really hard compound.

I also know the wear on the fronts indicate a bit of a problem there. I figured once I change out the tires I would take that in to the local shop and have it lined up. I also figured matching the tires would in the long run be a positive too!

[BobD]

Oh I have to be leave there isn't much weight in the back. The only thing back there is the Rear end, Battery and fuel cell.

[prostreet34]

Bump steer is the measurement of the change in toe as the front suspension moves through its travel. If everything is stock up front as GM built it, everything should be fine. Its just something to consider, if mismatched parts were used during the build or a major change in ride height.

You mentioned bad tire wear, put whatever tires on it you decide to run and get it aligned.

I don't think you will see any difference between the radial or bias as far traction, they are both very hard tires, but will be an improvement over your 11 year old tires. The radial will ride a bit better and be much better in the rain. I personal would never run the Mickey Thompson Sportsman. I like the Sportsman Pro, much softer compound and wrinkle side wall. My best 60' is 1.45 with that tire with no air press. change from the way I drive it on the street.

Jason

I know some guys like the Hoosiers, but I have no experience with them.

[JeffMcKC]

You wont see much traction with any of the Pro Street tires other than the thin sidewall Pro Versions and they are still not great. My suggestion is to change tires at the track and offset the wheel to the outside to be stabil. I also would not be trying to hook up to much with those lowering blocks. Get a different spring and ge rid of the blocks you should run a split mono with the cal tracs. Put some Delum bushings in the front end from Global west to get rid of slop and make it move free.

[Huskinhano]

Nice S10! I've been doing some suspension work on my 66 Mustang to make it more of a corner carver but before I started I bought a really good suspension book to have a better understanding of what I was doing. Loren knows his stuff and I'd listen to him. I'd recommended the book I bought but it's being sold for $300 now. Not sure if it's a typo or real, I paid like $20. It's by Bob Bolles. But there are a lot of other good books too.

Maybe Chassisman will chime in too.

[Dignlif]

I agree with a lot that was said, especially having a second set of wheels/ tires for the track unless you're running something like an ET Street or Drag Radial. That is of course if you plan on actually taking it to the track much. Otherwise it may not be worth the investment. I like the idea of checking out/ replacing your shocks and ditching the lowering blocks when you can. I run a spool and currently run bias ply MT Sportsman Front runners full time and out back I use radial Hoosier Pro Street 31x18.5 on the street and bias ply ET Streets 32x17.5 at the track. I haven't noticed much on the street running bp and radials but the bp's are on a 4" wheel so not much there. I have considered switching to the radial front at some point but not there yet. What follows is my personal experience.

For the first few years after doing the 4-link back half on my car, I only had one set of wheels/ tires and I was running ET streets full time. The only problem I can recall driving in town was doing 35 and driving over an area of asphalt street that had been slightly flooded by an overflowing sprinkler system. The car did get a little squirrely but not too bad. 14" of almost slick type tread...what do you expect??

Neither tire set offers me traction on the street when I get into the loud pedal earnestly. Previously with 4.86 gears and now with 4.22, if I do a fairly regular 'launch' at the start of an on ramp, I generally spin through 1st and halfway through 2nd before it grabs. I'm honestly ok with that because the street is not a prepped track with a buildup of rubber. I don't street race so it's of no consequence to me. On a prepped track with the ET streets I have no traction problems.

I chose the Hoosier Pro Street for street use because I liked how deep the tread was which I wanted primarily for the chance of getting caught in the rain during Drag Week. Last year we got slammed by some major rain and while it did slide a tad every once in a while, it was nowhere near as bad as it could be. I figure it will be hard to get away from hydroplaning all together with 14" + of tire surface area. I also figure that's why my car tracks in the ruts made by the big rigs on some of our bad stretches on 99. Big wide tire settling into the grooves goes where ever the grooves go.

Something else to consider is that Jason (ProStreet34) puts a ton of mileage on his car and actually drives it 1400+ miles to the starting point of DragWeek so his on road ProStreet experiences should be seriously considered.