A race car is never “finished”, there’s always going to be new ways to make it go quicker, faster, or more consistent. Our Project Number Cruncher Firebird still has plenty of areas that need to be optimized. We spent the offseason working on a few of these areas and finally got the car out to test the upgrades.

The front and rear suspension of Project Number Cruncher received a lot of attention. When we got the Firebird, it did have an aftermarket K-member and manual steering rack of unknown origins. The car was also still rocking OEM upper and lower control arms, plus a “modified” OEM steering column. These parts did work together, however, the car didn’t handle very well and couldn’t be properly aligned.

To solve this problem, we reached out to BMR Suspension and IDIDIT to get some fresh parts. The goal of moving to the BMR suspension parts was to shed weight and make it possible to properly align the car’s front end. The IDIDIT quick disconnect steering hub was added to the aftermarket column and manual rack setup we got to improve how the car steered. We took the Pontiac to Lucore Automotive Services for a high-performance alignment and they got the car taken care of.

We cover why a proper front-end alignment is so important in drag racing right here. You can learn about IDIDT’s really trick quick disconnect steering hub here.

Project Number Cruncher did come with a set of AFCO single adjustable front shocks, but they were pretty tired, and the spring rate wasn’t correct. In the rear, the car was using OEM-style shocks that had seen better days, and a spring package that wasn’t ideal. So, we worked with the team at AFCO to get a set of double-adjustable front shocks with the correct springs for our car. The rear shocks and springs were replaced with a coilover shock conversion that uses shock brackets from Madman & Co Racing.

You can learn about how double-adjustable shocks will improve your consistency at the track here.

The big question is, was all the work worth it? Well, we took Project Number Cruncher to Kilkare Raceway in Xenia, Ohio to see how everything worked. When it comes to how the car handles and drives, the BMR upgrades and proper alignment made a massive difference. The car now tracks straight under power and doesn’t want to wander around. The AFCO shock package also paid off because the car is reacting great, and we can now adjust it to improve performance.

You’ll want to watch this recap video from our trip to Kilkare to see how Project Number Cruncher ran. Make sure you subscribe to the Dragzine YouTube channel for more project car updates and other great videos.

Special thanks to SAM Tech, Dart, BMR Suspension K1 Technologies, Wiseco Pistons, MAHLE Motorsport, ARP, Summit Racing Equipment, Total Seal Piston Rings, Melling, Moroso, COMP Cams, Manley, PAC Springs, Trend, T&D Machine Products, Wilson Manifolds, FuelTech, Fuel Injector Clinic, MSD, FTI, American Racing Headers, Holley, Strange Engineering, Meziere Enterprises, ATI Performance Products, Boninfante, Palko Motor Sports, Kontras Performance, and MundyTuned.