Wheel Hop??!!

I have a 88' GT with 3.73 gears and weld draglights with 265/50R15 but I have some major wheel hop can anywone suggest anything to help me I have had other tires on it and some made it worse and some made a little bit better but still there BAD I can do a burnout in 1st and it's the worst and second it's not as bad but still rough and I thought that if I got the tires spinning faster that it wouldn't have a chance to do it so I done it in 3rd and it hopped so bad that my seat jumped track and I fell back in the car and everything and that same time It jared the weld loose in the gas tank that holds the fuel pump in place and so my fuel pump was ganging loose till I got it home well not to long after that my rear end started making a bad clanking sound I think as a result of that incident and I had to have new guts put in it bearings and carrier and all so I havent done it since. I'm afraid to race it!! can anyone tell me what may be causing this and what I can do for it?? I have new upper and lower control arms and bushings on the car and all 4 shocks are brand new PLEASE HELP ME!!! :uhoh:

traction bars. it will take of that in a jiffy.

Forget traction bars on an 88''s 4-Link rear-end. First you have 6 shocks, go changed your quad shock to something more agrresive. Next your going to need a nice solid lower control arm. For uppers get yourself some nice adjustable one's. Set you angle pre-load to 3 degrees and all things will be taken care of and I've given you .1-.2 off your 60 foots even if you weren't wheel hopping. Say thank you LOL

My car only has 4 shocks on the rear they are the 2 normal shocks vericle which you change by using the access panel in the hatch area over the wheel well and the quad shocks which you can see by looking at the side of the wheel well on the inside of the wheel those are the only shocks I've seen on any of the mustangs that I've had could you please tell me where the other 2 are? I would GREATLY appreciate it. I have cobra upper and lower control arms they are stock cobra's but they are new. thank you all for your help please let me know where the other 2 shocks are thanks,

New shocks and bushing all around! Also, there is this great invention called the period. You might find it useful when trying to make more then one statement per paragraph. Just a thought.

Yes, I have new shock all 4 on the rear and new struts on the front. The control arms that I have are also new with the bushings in them. I do not know what is making this car do this! Between my cars and my parents cars we have 7 and this one 88 that I have put so much work into is the only one of them that wheel hops like this! Does this help any? thanks for your time

When i said 6 i guess i should have said 4 shocks 2 struts but i figured you would know what i meant by 6 shock even though i know shocks and struts are different. What are you using for shocks?

Also Cobra arms are ok but the upper is not adjustable so you are not able to change your pinion angle preload which will resolve this problem.

Pinion angle prewhatthaf? :eek7: :eek7: :eek7: Time to visit the hayes manual again....

LoL, I don't think that will be anywhere in the Haynes. See that's part of the difference between just adding HP and setting up your car to put as much power as possible down. I'll look for an article on it. If I can't find one I'll guess i'll type it out eww. Let me know if you really interested before I bother.

O-k I know what the pinion angle is and how to set it I just was trying to get aroung that I hate mssing with that! The shocks and Quad shocks are all from monroe I don't really know what the ratio is on them. What kind of adjustable uppers do you suggest? If I'm going to do this I would like to do it just once ya know what I mean. Will the cobra lowers be o-k or will I need something else? thank you for all your info it's great!!!

Cobra control arms are the same as GT ones, still have crappy oval bushings in them. Get something like HPM Mega-bite Jr.s or anything solid with good round or spherical bushings. The Cobra uppers are the same as FRPP uppers, they still flex with a lot of torque. (Found this out the hard way, bought FMS uppers and went to replace them finding out they were no different from what Dearborn put on the car) Get at least solid uppers if not adjustable.

Second, get some real shocks. Lakewoods if you're on a budget, Koni's if you aren't. I put KYB AGX adjustables on mine, they're coming off. Too soft, even at their highest setting.

BTW some people will tell you that quad shocks are no longer needed after installing solid control arms. I can't vouch for this, I have wheelhop with and without the quads.

If you set your car up for Drag Racing only once you get ya control arms and everything set-up the quad shocks can be ditched. But quad shocks also are serving a purpose when your driving and going around corners so if it's a street/strip car I would not get rid of them.


As far as upper and lowers I'm not gonna say one company or another cause it's just a price/opinion thing. The best way is to get adjustable upper and lowers cause then you have the most abililty to change things. But most of the time you can get away with some solid lowers and upper adjustables but the uppers are more important than lowers. This will be your cheapest way out.

get the steeda 5 link rear end or the one from griggs racing.
I have the one from griggs racing and It's great.

Yes get it it's only a $1000 dollars!

Unless he's planning on road racing I think that would just be a waste of money.