When I ran my 75 shot on one step colder plugs I never saw any detonation. Maybe the fuel quality is no that good as you may think.

 

I wish I was - being a N2O addict, I've pushed too hard and broken engines.

With me, a full-power 150-shot pass in the 1/4 mile empties a 15 lb bottle after four runs. The forum guy you mentioned has to be spraying a 300-shot or more...

 

Good point - that's why I used only race fuels formulated for lots of nitrous and very-high compression engines - an extra margin of safety.

Sunoco 104 and VP Racing Street Blaze 103 are that type of fuel.

 

This was on 93 octane. I can't get decent gas where I live. Hess-Wilco-Trade pretty much has a monolopy in my town and they SUCK!

But detonation threshold varies a lot between motors. It even varies alot between the same exact engine.

I can't never hear pinging when I'm spraying nitrous. My car is just too loud. So I have to rely on soley reading the plugs.

Oh definitely. He is probably spraying a 300-400 shot. I couldn't find any information as to what his bottle size is or his shot.

 

Where do you get your fuel?

 

I only use BP and Sunoco fuels, everything else I do not trust. BTW, are you gapping the plugs down?

 

Yes, I am gapping them down. When I first installed the nitrous kit, I tried to spray a 35 shot with the stock gap, .043". It worked in 1st and 2nd gear. But when I tried to spray in 3rd gear, it misfired easily. Ever since then, I reduced the gap to .035".

And for the past few bottles, I've been cutting the ground straps shorter just like grey does.

 

The Sunoco 104 GTPlus is found at most drag strips around here. I have bought 5-gal cans from distributors.

http://www.buyracegas.com/catalog.as...&DeptID=238426

I have local distributors for VP Racing fuels. Here is their home page, which has a list of their major distributors.

http://www.vpracingfuels.com/index2.html

Use 5-gal racers jugs to store the fuel.
http://www.vpracingfuels.com/vp_07_a...s.html#utility

Read the specs to see what to look for.... there's a lot of good fuel out there for nitrous addicts..

 

So you have VP fuels locally? That's pretty nice.

 

Check with your local speed and tuning and dyno shops. Many of them stock race fuels - and nitrous refills - for their customers.

 

I'm lucky to get nitrous refills within a half hour of me. As far as race fuels, all that's available is leaded. If I want unleaded, I have to drive 1 hour to get 100 octane.

110+ leaded is easily available. So I will use that for now. Not on a regular basis, but only on my nitrous track runs. Plus, narrow and wideband o2 sensors aren't that expensive to replace. I can handle it if they die.

 

I was wondering how your car/sensors were dealing with the leaded gas since it's a pre 95

harold are you still using cats on your car or cutouts

 

Are you saying that OBDII cars can handle leaded race fuel?

This is actually the first time using leaded race fuel in my car. The engine runs great. There's no reason why it shouldn't. But it's the oxygen sensors than may die a premature death if you keep using it. I can get a new narrow and new wideband sensor replacement for probably under $120. I can get it cheaper if I'm willing to wire a universal one in.

 

I've got a full exhaust and 3" hi-flow cat, for the last 3 years. With the OBX header project, I added a 3" cutout - but still haven't used it.

 

You've got a lot of parts you haven't used yet. You have to wait until Spring?

This past TnT session was cancelled due to temps. It was going to get in the mid 30s by 9pm, so they just cancelled it. Next week is looking a lot warmer, so I might get a chance to run next Thursday or Friday.

 

So many things to try, so little time.....

Tracks close up before December around here, and my NATS cr*pping out kept me off a dyno this week. But, I'm running again, so maybe next week. The Kansas City strip is still running TnTs on Sunday thru November, "if it's at least 40* and sunny". Here's hoping it is...

 

Well, just to let you guys know how today went at the track. I only thing I changed really were the front wheels. I changed the MT 22" slicks from a 15x6 to 15x8 wheel. The contact patch is DRASTICALLY improved. I tried them out for the first time.

Today, the track prep sucked and my best 60 foot of the day was my first run with a 1.83 with the 75 shot launch. That was b/c the track was initially prepped and only a few cars have runs prior to me. Then after that, it was all down hill and I couldn't get traction! They even admitted it was a very poor surface for traction since they were asking everybody to turn the wheels over before getting on the track surface. But it was too late by that point.

I talked to the guys responsible for the surface and they said they didn't scrape the track like they should have and they didn't put down VHT all day except for just prior to the gates opening.

My best time was when I hit the 75 shot 5 feet after the launch much later in the day when traction was at it's worst.

RT .138
1.917
5.362
8.288 @ 83.650mph
10.741
12.949 @ 105.595mph

As far as the 1.83 60 foot that I cut, it would have been a decent run, but it was the first one of the day so I was cautious. I had a misfire for some reason and I instantly backed out of the throttle and somehow the engine stalled. So I coasted off the track and stopped. It fired right back up! I thought I blew something. Everything checked out ok and all my plugs looked just fine so I kept racing. Too bad that was the first and last 1.8 60 foot of the day.

Today, I did get a new personal best trap speed. My previous best was a 105.3mph. Not much better. But I knew I would making the power I needed in order to do 12.6-12.8s, but I didn't have ANY traction! I had to back out on every other run b/c it would hit the rev limiter on the launch. The car won't shift if it's spinning them this fast. It sucks trying to launch and having the slicks spin like they are on water! I was getting a bunch of 2.0s, 2.2s and even a 2.3! I can't launch on the 75 shot. It's just way too much power for this crappy track.

Before my next visit, I am going to have a progressive nitrous shot and an AFR safety switch. The 50 shot on the launch is able to hook up much better. Then I can ramp it up to a full 100 shot before 1st gear is over. It's the only way to go if I expect to lay down some more power on my local track.

If I want 1.7 60 foots, I am going to have to drive 1.5 hours to a much much better track that knows how to prep. I hope to do that sometime by Spring once I feel my car is ready for it.

 

I was talking about the o2 sensors and cat

 

How are 95+ o2 sensors any different than pre95 sensors? I'm not sure what you are trying to say. Sorry.

 

correct they are not any different, what I was saying is that most cars pre 1995 has less sensor/parts that are sensitive to leaded fuel. I know that parts like o2 sensors, cats and a few others parts (mostly post 95) the fuel will shorten their life and was just wondering how you were making out. I see you posted earlier that you are not really worried about the o2's cause they are cheap but like I said, I was just wondering if you started to have any problems. I never ran leaded fuel in my maxima mostly cause I did not want to kill my cat but I have used it on my 91 s10 which would not be a problem cause it's carb'd

 

NX makes a additive called Chemical X Power Boost for Nitrous. It contains synthetic lubricants that are released during the combustion process to help cylinder wall,ring and valve life. It also raises unleaded octane by 10-20%. A little expensive but worth it $17/bottle treats up to 10 gallons of gas.

 

for that price I rather get the racing fuel and replace the o2's when they do go and buy a cutout

 

Actually it less expensive than race fuel. The average cost for race gas is $7/gallon and that's is on the low side. The Chemical X is $17/10gallons of gas. One bottle last me three visits to the track I use 1/3 of a bottle to treat 3.5 gallons of gas each time. If you only get one gallon of race fuel you are spending for $21 for three visits and most people dump two gallons so now your at $42 for three visits to the track and still have to replace the o2 sensors and possible cats with leaded race fuel. Plus the chemical X is designed specific for nitrous applications. So with the price of race fuel and the potential problems it can cause I'll stay with the chemical X.

 

please keep us up to date on how this stuff works, I am mostly interested how well it works with high shots

just alittle afraid of trying new stuff when I know 104octance race fuel works for me

 

Aaron92se are you planning to hit the track again this year or will you this wait till next year for better weather

 

I gotcha. I don't have any cats in my car. I just have a wideband and the stock narrowband.

But, on the way home from the track, I think the stock narrowband is puking out on me. The reason I say it is b/c while cruising in closed loop operation, sometimes, I car would stumble and my wideband instantly reads LEAN. Then the motor would always stop stumbling if I mash the gas a little and go to open loop.

My o2 sensor is fairly new too with only 20K miles on it. With the temps in the mid 70s today, I am going to test a few things out and figure it all out. If the o2 sensor did die, it's very likely the leaded race fuel caused a premature death.

I have two spare functional Bosch o2 sensors that I can easily swap in to determine if the problem goes away. Or I can always use the narrowband signal wire from my wideband and tap that into the ECU. That way, I'll only have one o2 sensor that does both wideband and narrowband.

 

I don't know when I'll hit the track next. It could be in Dec or Jan. But I am going to stop trying to spray the 75 shot on the launch when I know it just spins the slicks. The 50 shot spins them, but it's able to hook up a little at my crappy local track. If I visit a new track, I may try the 75 shot launch again. But I am going to get a progressive unit and quickly work my way up to a progressive single stage 150 shot. I would like to see if the slicks will hold the full 150 shot before 1st gear is over. I think they might.

I seriously have no idea how it's even remotely possible that Jime can spray a 150 shot out of the hole and not get a 2.5 60 foot. He must have some awesome track prep! I know it can go a long ways, but a 150 shot launch is nuts! On several of my runs with the 75 shot, as soon as I launched, it hit the rev limiter before I could back out. Traction wasn't even close on some races!

Also, I'm scared to try additives that claim to raise octane rating. You are taking their word and trying to do the math on what your final octane rating is. It's simple when I put in race fuel. You know what octane rating your getting. If my o2 sensor did die a premature death b/c of the leaded race fuel, I will probably start looking into higher octane unleaded race fuels such as 104. I doubt I can get it locally. There is only one speed shop in my area and they don't do anything with race fuel.

Also, 100 unleaded race fuel can be had locally. It's only $4.95/gallon. And 110 leaded race fuel is only $5.89/gal. If you start getting in to the much higher leaded fuels, it gets over $7 and 10/gal really easily.

 

Track prep is probably a factor, but what's your raceweight? IIRC Jim's car weighs 2500 lbs (without him).

Do you have the ability to retard timing off the line, and triggered back to full setting based on some variable such as time or wheel speed?

 

My race weight is 2750lbs with the nitrous system added and full bottle.

Race weight has a big effect on 60 foot I know. But I feel if track prep was as good as it was 2 weeks ago, then I would have gotten 1.7s. Two weeks ago, I got 1.80, 1.82, and 1.82. This past Sat, I got one 1.83, and a BUNCH of 2.0s and 2.2s and a 2.3 even.

I don't have a way to mess with timing other than just adjusting base timing. I feel a progressive shot will be best for me. I believe even on a horrible day like I had this past Sat, I could have made the 50 shot hook up somewhat. But I was strictly there to learn on the 75 shot this time.

After the track got slippery an hour into the session, I was able to still squeeze out a 1.91 60 foot by spraying nitrous a few feet after the launch. But the slicks still spun, just not as much.

 

Here is a video of the first time I ran a 100 shot and the first time I hit a 12 sec 1/4. As you can hear at the end my Son was pretty excited. You can hear the 1-2 shift, there is some squeal at the launch but most of that was in the other lane. That was my first perfect light back in 03.

My weight was higher then probably around 2900. The last trip to the track I finally got it weighed at a certified scale it was 2685 without me. I will have to work on that.

http://jime.homeip.net/maximase/Jim126.wmv

 

Thanks for that info. I must have watched that video 100 times seeing how your weight transfer is. Was that a 1.8 60' on that run?

I will get some decent track prep one day. I'll just have to drive to a different track that isn't so cheap. The track 1.5 hours away from me actually sprays VHT every hour or so. They even shut the track down halfway during the session to prep the track again for a half hour or so. That's what I'm looking for.

In that video, did you have your rear struts locked? I'm still probably going to experiment with the boat rollers I have. My rear struts are harder to swap over than the 4th gen, but I'll still give it a shot to see if it makes any difference on my car.

With a 1.8-1.9 60 foot, I think I can do a 12.6 with the 100 shot the way my car sits right now. I just might not be able to spray out of the hole. But I get 105 mph traps with the 75 shot, I should be able to get a 106mph trap with the 100 shot.

Also, did that 95 GXE have VLSD?

I found out this past weekend that mine is giving me problems.

:Edit: I found your timeslip that was posted on your website.

 

Ya that was a 1.8. At that time I just had some spacers in the rear, not very effective and the front was stock.

I had the vlsd from my 97SE in it. However as you have probably found they don't work worth a darn when they get warm.

My fastest 1/4 N/A was 14.6 so you should be able to rock with a 100 shot.

 

Yeah, I am just now figuring out that they don't work that great after I do a couple burnouts. My VLSD didn't stop working until after my 2nd or 3rd run.

Would lowering the tranny temps help? I need to do more VLSD research. I can easily lower the tranny temps a lot more.

In that video, your car appears to launch pretty flat. I'm surprised it's the stock front suspension.

Oh yeah, with my new 15x8 wheels and 13psi in my 22" MT slicks, the front end of my car is so low now that my front crossmember trips the staging lights.

Also, do you know if traction could be hurt off the line by running pressure that is too low? Maybe b/c it's putting more force on the outsides of the slick instead of even force on the entire contact patch?

I got my best 60 foot this past Sat with 16psi. I tried 13psi and traction just got much worse, but so did track prep. So it's hard to tell.

My best NA time ever is 13.79. My best (nitrous prepped) NA time is 14.0. That is with the timing not extremely advanced, with 2 step colder plugs (instead of one step hotter), a functional alternator, and a full nitrous bottle in the car. So my times went from 14.0 NA, to 12.9 with 50 shot, and 12.8 with 75 shot. I am very close to doing the same times as you with nitrous. The 150 progressive shot might not be enough for 11s. I'm definitely going to try for 11s by this Spring.

 

get to a track that has better track prep if you think the track prep is holding you back that much, and drop that tire pressure. if you're going for PBs then why bother wasting your time and putting wear on your parts at a track that isn't conducive to running the best you can.

 

Well, 12psi is about as low as I can go with these tiny slicks. I don't know just yet if lower pressures will yield better 60 foots.

I am already making arrangements to visit another track. You're right. I've had it with this track. I thought they were going to hook up decently this past time, but I was mistaken. I just don't know when they are going to prep it or not. I'm taking a chance everytime I go out there. If they prep it, I think I can barely get a 1.7. I just don't want to keep taking this chance when I can drive 1.5 hours to another one.

 

I have never played much with tranny temps, I just got a fan last year for the cooler so I try and keep it as low as I can. Not sure if it will help or not.

I found that around 13 psi was best with the M/T's but higher with the M&H's, I run around 20 now but thats N/A I will definately reduce with spray.

My nitrous and N/A setups were the same because I couldn't play with the timing then and I ran just as well N/A with 2 step colder plugs.

I almost made the 11 sec with the 02 but the trans just wouldn't shift with the higher shots, the 4th gen trans is much better.

When its time for new slicks I would suggest trying the M&H 23.5's. A bit taller but I still ran my fastest N/A time with them and traction is superior to the M/T's, I still have a set of M/T 22's and 24.5's which I will use up when my M&H's are gone but after that its M&H's all the way.

I have no doubt you will hit 11's probably before me, I think I am going to stay N/A for at least another year. Now that I have the UTEC I can finally run consistent times and don't have to worry about the timing not being consistent any more. I am going to set it up for the 12.90 index class and run it the same for the brackets as well. Not difficult to vary though I usually leave the tune the same and just change the shift point. Last year I was shifting at 5300 for the 12.90 class so its pretty easy on the car.

I run 3 different series with a total of about 30 events so its a busy season so I don't want to keep playing with settings all year it messes up my consistency and my goal is to win all 3 series next year.

 

You are getting pretty good at typing. Are you using more than one finger now?

I currently have my eye on the M&H 23x8.5x15 slicks not the 23x7.5 ones. I don't know when I'll end up getting those. I have a lot of life left on the MT 22" slicks I have.

I am not competitively racing right now. I am just learning my car with nitrous and trying to get the best times I can possibly get. I was thinking about running in an 8.00 index 1/8 mile index class at my local track, but I am not happy with the track prep or the staff. They all have sticks up their butts. Plus, the day I'm running consistant high 12s and whooping almost every Mustang out there, I noticed in a couple of my videos that they play that "Uncle Bens - How to cook rice" sound effect ONLY when I pull up to stage. I can't help but to think that sound effect was played in a derogatory manner. If they don't want me out there, there are lots of other tracks that are happy to have me.

BTW, here are the videos that a fellow org member took for me this past Sat:

http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u...n%20Dragstrip/

 

2 Fingers now. It won't be long before I am back with all 10 though. I could type 80wpm before this accident. One hand is almost normal but the other is still very stiff and won't cooperate on command. By next race season all should be normal. I managed to put my (drive to the track) quiet muffler on the wife's 95 last week so I am doin OK. We are going to Fl for a month in Jan and going to pick up a used G35 for her so I will have a new playtoy when she lets me drive it.

Also I know what you mean about the announcer, I have been through that. One day when I pulled up to the line he said "this proves that you can bring anything to race. However by the end of the season it was a whole different story.

Good video's too I lost my video when my Son stopped coming, his wife always took them and got real good at it too.

Ya mine are the 23x7.5's I don't want to go wider with the 7" rims. However they have tons of traction I can't even squeak then N/A.

PS If you don't spend a whole lot of time on the street you can always weld the diff vs monkeying around with the VLSD.

 

So the 23x7.5s were better than the 22 and 24.5 MTs?

On a normal track prep day, I can't chirp the 22" MTs after a proper burnout. But this past weekend, the track might as well have had water on it.

I don't want to contact my track about bashing me. I don't want to burn any bridges just yet. I've met the guys in the tower. The only guy that seem to have a problem was the announcer guy you can never understand! The owner of the track was nice to me when I introduced myself in the tower but he was too busy to chat.

They still don't seem like they want my business. All b/c I'm not in the "club". It's a close knit track that doesn't like to welcome newcomers. Then they complain why business is slow. I can tell them, they just won't like the answer. So far 100% of the people I talk to at domestic and import performance shops in my area hate this particular track b/c of track prep and etiquette. I am starting to believe them first hand.

Keep typing away. It should be a good form of physical therapy. Get those fingers working independantly. I'm glad you're around to help me out.

 

Definitely much better than the MT 22's, I am not too sure about the 24.5's, I lost .3 in the 1/4 with them on the 02 but I will be ok with them now. May slow me down a bit but I won't have any problem running my index.