Besides traction bars any other ideas on reducing the good ol' wheel hop at take off?

An independent rear suspension.

adding weight will do it - but not worth the trade-off to me.

Well, if you power brake to get the wheels spinning smoothly before you really let loose... that will work too!

(set up a sprayer system using the windshield washer pump that will spray just in front of the rear tires instead of the windshield! That will get you spinning! Lol...)

How old are your springs in the rear? I hope to add a Slide-A-Link set up from Comp Engineering:
http://store1.yimg.com/I/hm-performance_1843_58639871

They look much better, and are less noticeable than the traditional style Traction Bars. But if neither are acceptable, the only thing I can think of is to change the spring rate in the rear, and change the shocks... and as others have mentioned weight distribution etc...

Hope you come up with a good compromise!

Brett - 56 Drop Top 455!

A different shock may help.
Jim

I put a new set of springs with an extra leaf on the right side and changed the shocks on my 69 Bird,and no more wheel hop.Driveability of the car stayed the same,no noticeable height or ride difference.

Landrum makes special springs, with the front of the spring being extra-stiff (like a hidden traction bar).

If you have multi-leaf springs, clamp the forward leaves. You can also install a "helper" spring to the front.

I have the SouthSide Machine type "lift bars" on my car. The front of the bars clamp solidly to the spring which causes them to angle upward (and not be very noticable), instead of hanging down like the old style "traction bars". These work REALLY well, as the body will actually raise several inches in the rear, when I launch.

Lee

Oh man, i was under the impression that the 69 Firebird didnt have wheelhop problems. I have a 67 Camaro which were notorious for wheel hop issues and i read somewhere that the Firebirds didnt have that problem. My 69 firebird is a couple years from being done and on the road but i was very much looking forward to a car that didnt wheelhop....now your tellin me no such luck??

My 69' never had any wheelhop issues,come to think of it, neither did my 67' or 68' birds. I'd launch all of them hard. My 71' Buick GS however had major hop issues.

David

My 69 Bird would "hop" a bit on hard straight launches and really bad when I would take off hard making a turn at a street light,after I replaced the springs and shocks the problem was gone.

A trunk mount battery--on the right side of the car--does wonders for overall improvment in the poor geromonity of the car. And it gives the car one heck of a lot more hook-up than you realise.