Help with cheater slick selection

[63.5xl]

There are 3 small town car shows within 80 miles of me that are including 150 foot main street drags now and rumor is more to come. I just run mine in one last week and no traction at all. I want to buy some slicks to play more. So i need some help to go to the 1/4 mile track once in a while and for these 150 ft hole shot drags.
My car is a 63.5 Galaxie 500 XL with 390, tripower, 406 shorty cast iron headers with 2 1/2” exhaust with dumps, 350 traction loc, 68 big in big out 4-speed toploader close ratio with 2:32 1st, 275-60-15 Cooper Cobra Tires and traction masters,
I realize people will say get ride of the close and change it to wide, but I actually like driving the close ratio.
Engine is 68 390, .060 over, H304P with 12cc dish, 21cc deck clearance with these pistons, 69cc 63 heads no head work done, .030 Cosemetic head gasketFord tripower, no work done, Comp 270S cam with 282S exhaust lobes, petronix lll curved distributor by Faron Rhodes,
I like the 3:50 gears to drive down the highway, 2550 rpm at 65 so probably will not change the rear gearing, and probably will keep the toploader the way it is although I did buy the 1 3/8” input, 2nd and 3rd gears and cluster wide ratio stuff a few years ago safely sleeping in a box on the shelf.
Not doing this for money, just like grabbing gears and having fun.
Which cheater slicks or whatever they are called and size of tire does anyone recommend?

[428kidd]

I run the towel city recaps on mine . I can't remember the exact size but think they are 28.5 inch tall. Mine are on a 15x8 wheel with 4.5 back spacing. Have no issues with the tire ,
fairly sticky and wear good.
https://www.towelcityracingtires.com/Vintage

[shady]

I'd look at what other guys are running. Hard to get any traction on the street with that big motor. If you get it to a prepped 1/4 strip, it's a whole different ball game. I'm with Lance on the Towel City tires. At the least you'll look cool with those pie crusts.

[e philpott]

I would get some Mickey Thompson Drag Radials in the same size as your Cooper Cobra's unless you want old style Pie Crust type cheater slicks

[63.5xl]

428KIDD, what width of tread did you get on your piecrust

[428kidd]

I will have to measure , I look tonight after work.

[Phil Brown]

I've got the M/T drag radials on the mustang and can say that they work very well on the street, just don't expect a lot of mileage out of them as they are very soft

[Rory428]

Since you have a heavy car with a tall first gear, and not much rear axle ratio, if you really want the best performance with what you have, I would use a pair of short slicks, like MT ET Drag 8 1/2 x 26-15 slicks. The shorter tires will help with overall gearing, if you could find a pair of 5 lug 13" wheels, from an early Falcon, you could use 8 x 24 1/2-13 MT slicks, although such short tires would look rather goofy.

[Stangman]

I run drag radials but I thought they were mostly for automatic cars. Once they loose traction its hard to get it back without getting off the gas.
I would think with a stick you would want a slick or if you do want to stick with a drag radial the pro series is more like a slick and the compound is softer.

[63.5xl]

I run drag radials but I thought they were mostly for automatic cars. Once they loose traction its hard to get it back without getting off the gas.
I would think with a stick you would want a slick or if you do want to stick with a drag radial the pro series is more like a slick and the compound is softer.

Thata what I heard Stangman, once I get going my right foot stays planted and I just grab gears and have fun, so letting off the gas is not an option, LOL

[63.5xl]

I run drag radials but I thought they were mostly for automatic cars. Once they loose traction its hard to get it back without getting off the gas.
I would think with a stick you would want a slick or if you do want to stick with a drag radial the pro series is more like a slick and the compound is softer.

Thata what I heard Stangman, once I get going my right foot stays planted and I just grab gears and have fun, so letting off the gas is not an option, LOL

[63.5xl]

Since you have a heavy car with a tall first gear, and not much rear axle ratio, if you really want the best performance with what you have, I would use a pair of short slicks, like MT ET Drag 8 1/2 x 26-15 slicks. The shorter tires will help with overall gearing, if you could find a pair of 5 lug 13" wheels, from an early Falcon, you could use 8 x 24 1/2-13 MT slicks, although such short tires would look rather goofy.

I had been thinking that way about it Rory428. If i go from 28” to 26” tire that would really help in my case my 3:50 gears would be changed to a 3:76 ratio

[Falcon67]

Either the MT or Hoosier Drag Radials - 275x60R15 which is a 28" tire with around a 10" tread.  Only hope of any hook on an unprepped surface IMHO.  I personally run the Hoosiers - best pass last weekend was 7.33 @ 91 in 1/8 mile with a 1.55 60'.  Haven't bought a drag slick for the car in years as the Hoosier DOTs 60' same as a slick on my car.  It actually leaves a little better with the DOTs. There is a 235x60R15 at 26.2" nominal diameter.

https://www.hoosiertire.com/assets/Drag19.pdf

[e philpott]

The guy's with stick that have trouble with drag radials re-hooking once they spin are on cars running 9 second range or quicker , typical 11 second cars don't have that problem at all

[428kidd]

Mine has a 9 inch under it on a 8 inch wheel. They are Towel citys, and while probably not as good as the MT they work for what i do and look good. 

[Hemi Joel]

If you get that thing to hook with those gears, you will be leaving the line like a 120 car freight train leaving the station. And with a 150' track, the race will be over before you have time to get up any speed. I recommend setting up a separate pumpkin just for the even with 5.13's or even deeper so you can launch hard and fast. 

[TomP]

I'd do like Joel says. If you launch at say five grand on slicks with that sort of gearing it will bog badly. You may be faster with the street tires spinning like the Greer,Black and Prudhomme.. and certainly more entertaining. For 150 foot drags even 6.00 gears wouldn't be too low... but driving 80 miles on them will seem like an around the world trip.

[shady]

Some clutch slippage and a vac. secondary. make the bog work for you. I love my close 4 sp. and 3.50 gears, although not the hot ticket for hole shots, it sure is fun to grab gears.

[cammerfe]

Back in the mid-60s, I was regularly street racing my '65 Mustang. I ordered it with the K-engine and a Top-loader. Within a few days after getting it, I took the back seat out and replaced it with the fiberglas Shelby deck. I put the Shelby 'glas hood on too. I installed a Cobra intake manifold and a 715 Holley. And a set of Doug's headers and a Mallory ignition and a cam from a local outfit that was available from Gratiot Auto Supply. And finally I installed a Paxton VS 59 blower and did some suspension work. The car weighed 2800 pounds in final form.

There was enough traffic on Telegraph Road that trying to catch a light was a bit difficult but it was fairly easy to come up on a 396 Chevy II and set things up for a roll. I'd choose to be fairly high in first gear, probably about at 45 MPH. But the chevrolet would be into second by that speed and I'd still have usefulness before having to shift. I was running Pirelli Cinturato tires---225-15s as I remember. And a 3.50 gearset in the axle was just right with the close-ratio trans. The Paxton was designed for the FoMoCo racing program and would make more than 20 pounds of boost.

Chevy IIs never had a chance.

KS