Need some help at the strip

[steel1212]

I'm pretty dissappointed right now. I got caltracs and subframes and even fixed my compression leak and figured I was a 12 second car for sure. Didn't turn out that way though. I know my car has more power now and we where working mainly with the carb and tire pressure and timing to bring it out. I also couldn't do a good burn out to save my life it kept kicking to the left. Any way here is my times. Their machines where screwed up so they had to write everything down so I don't have all the numbers

1st) 2.4 60foot, 14.1 1/4, 99 mph, 33 deg total, 20 psi in tires
2nd) 2.03 60 foot, 13.74 1/4, 100.32 mph, 18 psi tires
3rd) 2.01 60, 13.702 1/4, 100.32 mph
4th) 1.97 60, 13.628 1/4, 100.16 mph, 35 deg total, put in short yellow spring in vacum secondary (quickest)
5th) 2.066 60, 13.731 1/4, 100.10 mph, 38 deg total (vacum addvance hose left off)
6th) 2.056 60, 13.885 1/4, 99.215 mph (rerun and did terrible burn out)
7th) 1.942 60, 13.593 1/4, 100.72 mph (jetted up 3 sizes to 68/71)
8th) missed third not worth posting lol

These were all during test and tune last night. Never even addjusted cal tracs past what the instructions tell you are street settings. Left at 2500 rpms. I need critizism, addvice, what ever! I'm still thinking we can up the jets more but we ran out of time due to the track closing.

 

[70MachI]

I can't give you much advice on the susp. setup since I am new to leaf springs. But what is your engine modifications?

ALso your 60 ft times are kind of weak. WHat are you using for rear tires? With a 100 mph trap time you will need a very good launch to reach the 12s. What did your plugs look like after each pass? What carb. are you using? Sorry for all the questions but I need more details. Also do you know the weight of the car?

 

[steel1212]

The details are in my sig. 670 street avenger carb, 275/50/15 drag radials, I checked the plugs and then upped the jets. Didn't have time to do it again. Stock 65 So I think around 3000# with me.

 

[70MachI]

The 280H cam is that the .512 lift cam? What were your shift points? What type of Drag Radials? Were they BFs or MTs? I think your main loss is in your launch. 1.9 60 ft time isn't the best. Try to launch at a higher RPM. You should be able to launch higher with Drag radials. What I usually do is Launch harder and harder until I spin them off the line and then you know were you stand.

Also what includes in your heads "worked"?

 

[Vinyl66]

You can pick up a lot in the 60 foot. With a T5, 4.11's, Caltracs and 275 drag radials you should be getting 1.7's for 60 footers with your power. It looks like you should be launching much harder. That would immediately put you in the low 13's. I used to run consistent 13.2's at 100mph.

Running 12's will probably require a few more mph (HP).

As for the car kicking to the left i believe you can adjust the Caltracs so that does not happen. Someone correct me if I am wrong but you can either put more preload into the driver side bar or take a little preload out of the passenger side bar. Since you have the bars at the street setting, I would guess to add a little preload on the driver side.

Have you loosened up the front suspension? Drag shocks, weak springs, removed sway bar. If not, then that would greatly help the Caltrac bars and tires work better.

 

[steel1212]

THey are BFG drag radials, yeah its 512 lift and 230 duration. The heads have been worked for bigger than stock valves I think 1.84 and 1.5. They have also been ported as well and a little shaved off for about 10.5:1 compression.

I agree with both of you I need to get a better launch out of it for sure. I think there is more left in the suspension and I think we where going the wrong way last night, I.E. work for more power instead of hooking what I had first.

I was shifting at 5500 and decided to raise it 6000 on the last pass. Was used to shifting at 5500 and missed 3rd. Anyway it allowed the butt-o-meter to tell me that its pulling to about 57-5800 but never got to try it as the track closed.

It launches straight so would adding more to one side or the other hurt the launch? It has a little preload to the drivers side already per the instructions.

I know the times don't show it but I really believe that this car will get to 12s with more tuning.

 

[MustangMatt1966]

launch at a more higher rpm and shift at higher rpm...for your combo, 5500 sounds really low to shift at, 6000 sounds better...i would have liked to see the numbers on that last run if you didnt miss 3rd....i belive the car is low 13's/12's..you just need to really get it dialed in..good luck

matt

 

[Bullitt]

you need to get some time at the dyno and get your jetting right. 100mph through the traps is going to be very difficult to run 12s with.

i agree with just about all of the above. with 4.11s and DRs you need to get out of the hole a heck of a lot quicker. find your torque peak on the dyno slip and launch as close to that as possible... basically if the tires don't spin, you want to be right near the torque peak when the car "hooks".

not that i'd recommend it with a stock T5... but powershifting will get ya about .2 in the quarter.

 

[Max Power]

I think you may need more cylinder head to get into the 12s consistently

 

[tommytorino]

Left at 2500 rpms.

Your answer is right there. As noted before the 60FT times are slow.

Get yourself a good 2 stage rev limiter, put your foot to the wood and hang on!

Good Luck

Tommy D

 

[steel1212]

I think you may need more cylinder head to get into the 12s consistently

Those heads got a caprie into the low 12s surely they can get my lighter car there.

Do you think a low 1.8 60 would get me there? Like I said we never messed with the cal tracs last night.

you need to get some time at the dyno and get your jetting right. 100mph through the traps is going to be very difficult to run 12s with.

i agree with just about all of the above. with 4.11s and DRs you need to get out of the hole a heck of a lot quicker. find your torque peak on the dyno slip and launch as close to that as possible... basically if the tires don't spin, you want to be right near the torque peak when the car "hooks".

not that i'd recommend it with a stock T5... but powershifting will get ya about .2 in the quarter.

Getting to a dyno around here isn't easy and most of them running them are, well lets just say they might have a 6th grade education but they sure know more than YOU lol. But anyway I never really thought about launching at peak torque, it makes perfect since but I just never thought about it that way. My t-5 isn't stock but I don't think I'll be powershifting it. I'm quick on the stick though, so hopefully I won't have to abuse the tranny to get some tenths.

It wasn't an all bad night, I did manage a .100 reaction time and beat a tubbed, slicked nova to the 1/8th, he ended up running a 12.6 though. He had to come over and see if I was useing the bottle, showed him it wasn't even in the car lol.

I was looking at my time in my sig which is my best time still. I compared it to my best time friday night and it looked like for every .02 faster on the 60 my 1/4 came down .08. If so that would be a 1:4 ratio and going on that theory I would need to cut my 60 down to 1.79 to obtain a 12.99. This is just me thinking....scary sometimes lol.

 

[10secgoal]

I agree most here. shaving .10 of the 60 will net more than .10 in the 1/4. Yur bars don't sound adjusted quite right.Mine were adjust a little diferent from each other and everytime I launched they tried their best to put me in the wall.Traction will be where you are going to get closest to the 12's. I was running 12.7's at only 104 at one point. So don't give up yet. Took me 5 months to get the times down. Keep adding jet. If you do EVERYTHING the same after adding jet and don't pick up MPH, add 2 deg of timing and take a look at it.MPH is poer, E.T. is the way the car reacts to the power.I would look at putting the fron eye in the lwoer hole in the bars to start. It won't hit the tires quite as hard. Make sure your rear isn't squatting at all when you launch, or as close to it as possible.

 

[302 coupe]

I agree. Jet it up until it slows, then back off 2 sizes, treat your timing the same way. Caltracs on the lower hole will react a little slower, but may give you the edge you need to launch at a higher rpm. Also, I run more preload on the passenger side, rather than the drivers side. Normally, .10 in 60 ft will get you about .15-.17 at the end of the track. However, to some extent, a better 60ft will slow your mph. Its a small amount, but it can come into play while you're tuning. Make sure that when you're changing jets or timing, to launch at the same rpm, and do everything else as identical as possible, and make 3 runs per adjustment to get an average change. Good data makes for better tuning. Only change one thing at a time. Some changes might only give .02 mph, or .01 sec, but over the course of a few adjustments it starts to add up.

One other thing, looks like your jet sizes are a little close. Most people get better results by using a 6 point spread, say 68/74, rather than 68/71. Personally, I like to go a little lean on the primaries for cruising, then size the rear jets a little larger to make up for it. Tune the transtion with different pump cams and shooter sizing.

Our engines are pretty similar, I run a 306 with a Crane 284H (228 dur at 50, 512 lift), stealth intake, 650 dp, 10:1 comp, early 351W heads with 1.84/1.54 valves, hooker comps with X and flows. I run a C4 with a 3500 stall, 3.70 gears with a locker, and 225/60/15 street tires. My car is kinda picky about track prep, normally 60fts in the low 1.8's on race days, low-mid 1.9's on test-n-tune nights. Best 1/8th is a 8.42 at 83mph on a 1.82 60 ft. I don't know how those street avenger carbs come calibrated, but you might want to make the accel. pump tuning a little more agressive, it will only effect the 60ft though.

 

[steel1212]

I've got a 650 double pumper sitting at the house that I thought about useing but we have worked this street avenger pretty good so far. We just changed the jets 3 sizes up from what was already in there and it was stock 65/68 so we went up 3 sizes 68/71. With the vacum secondary spring, the short yellow one, we have it opening at around 2k and it is fully open by 5500 or maybe a little before. It is the fastest opening spring in the box so its almost a double pumper lol.

 

[302 coupe]

try the DP, with 68/74 jets. Its an easy 5 minute swap, and who knows you might drop a tenth. Vacumm secondaries always leave me wondering, lol.

 

[steel1212]

302 whats your best 1/4 times?

 

[302 coupe]

302 whats your best 1/4 times?

I haven't taken it to a 1/4 in its current configuration. Nearest 1/4 is 70 miles away, 1/8th mile track is 8 miles away. I'm guessing it'd run 13.teens or 20's at 102ish, based on 1/8th mile ET and MPH.

 

[10secgoal]

I would definetly go with a bigger spread. The size of the PVCR (small holes behind the power valve)in the metering block will determine the actual spread. But I would say 6 at a very minimum. I'm at 10 right now.

 

[washMO66]

try the DP, with 68/74 jets. Its an easy 5 minute swap, and who knows you might drop a tenth. Vacumm secondaries always leave me wondering, lol.

+1 on the carb.

When I first took my 66 to the track in 2003, I dropped just shy of a half second off my ET just by taking off my 670 street avenger and putting on a mighty demon 650..... I think a mechanical secondary carb is the way to go. Not saying a mighty demon is the right carb for your set up, I just thought the street avenger was not right for me.

Remain focused on your goals and keep good records of your changes, you will be amazed was you can get out of any set-up if you are patient and try new things. I have a spreadsheet that shows every pass I made over a three year period from my very first pass 12.60, to the last time I raced it last year at WFC8, 11.28. On the spreadsheet it shows every change I made to my 347 along the way and what gains it made as it relates to ET. The two biggest gains were the carb change and going from a performer rpm to a Victor JR intake.....

I also agree with the comment above about raising that RPM on the launch to get some better 60' times... They (not sure who "they" are) say that for everything you drop on the 60', double it on the big end.... I think that is almost close to being accurate..

PS - Still have not gotten my car re-caged nor have I installed & tuned my new race demon 775RS listed in my sig so no new times yet. With the new cam, stall and brake I'm looking for a 10.95ish pass, all motor, 3000lb street car.

 

[steel1212]

I would definetly go with a bigger spread. The size of the PVCR (small holes behind the power valve)in the metering block will determine the actual spread. But I would say 6 at a very minimum. I'm at 10 right now.

Do you mean switch to the DP?

Washmo, do you still have the same 5 leaf, shelby drop, grab-a-trac suspension? Thats what I have as well. I'm rebuilding the DP tomorrow and will have it with me at the track if I go this friday. Supossed to be in the 90s so that means about 100 on the track and I'm a puss lol.