Alright I finally managed to take my 97 SE (stick) up to the 1/4 mile track. I made about 5 passes, my worst time was 17.7 and my best was only a 15.9. and my best trap was 89.61 worst was 83.75.

Examining my fastest pass, it looks like my reaction time was very slow at 1.110. This was my first time drag racing a stickshift. I could have had a 15.4 if I had brought the r/t down 1/2 a second.

My car has very few modifications. I have a K&N cone, and I did a throttle body coolant bypass. I'm a little bit dissapointed in the results, cause my mom's toyota camry v6 automatic ran a 15.443 last time it was out on the track. But then again, hers was easy to race being an automatic. In addition, last night was 80 degrees outside with a relative humidty of 95%. Last time I raced it was 30 degrees at 5% relative humidity, so I'm sure that made a difference. Also, my car is lugging along a 130 lb subwoofer box in the trunk.

I think almost in every run I had something go wrong. I missed shifts, and I didn't have very good launches. I did lift throttle shifts, cause I dont want to blow my clutch out powershifting.

So I guess I really just need to practice driving the stick. Anymore advice?

 

take it alllll off, subs, seats, door panels, speakers, passengers, glove compartment, and what ever you know how to take off. also clean your injectors, burn most of your fuel prior to the drag, fill up with the high octane gas at the pump by the drag strip, take out your headlight, run a pcv pipe from the head light to your filter. launch at 3,000 rpm. dont' dump the clutch. ease off the cltuch and ince with the rev up at 3000 and when your car starts moving then dump it. this will burn up some clutch but will give you less wheel spin.

 

i forgot to add.. go once the last yellow light dies.. don't wait for the green. that should cut down your reaction time.. my average was .5 looking for the green light. and i hit a .4 looking for the last light to go out. but i raced my max and it was auto.. dont' hafta worry about shifting, clutch blah blahblah.. but i got a slow slow slow 15.333. i still need work on my 0-60.. i hope all i said have helped.. oh as far as the pcv pipe. make sure you seal off the rest of the space where the head light goes so you get higher pressure air into the pipe. tape up you head lights, and all those cracks to help aero dynamics.. i did all but the tape and the pcv pipe when i dragged my max, but i did the head light thing on my bro's lude and i think he got a 14.7 it's pretty much stock. all performance he got at the time was the fields vtech controller, underdive pulleys, obx intake and took out his filter, greddy cat back and test pipe..

 

One thing to remember is RT has nothing to do wiht ET. You can have a 20 sec RT and still pull a 15 sec ET. Also find out what elevation your track is at. What kind of 60ft times were you pulling too? Now on to the racing. I believe the best method for a 5spd is to slip start at 3000-3500 when the car starts to move then punch it. Your shift points should be 6700rpm in 1-2 shift and 6500rpm in 2-3 shift, you will not shift into 4th gear. Don't do a burnout in the waterbox, it only makes things worse for street tires. Just drive around it and "dry hop" the tires to get the gravel and stuff off them. YOu should also lower your tire pressure to 20-25psi. I don't gut my interior so I see no reason for you to do the same.

 

I think those shift points are a little high for a 4th gen. Also, keep in mind that there will be a reaction time between when you notice on the tach that it's time to shift, and when you actually shift. I shift into second at 6400 and third at 6100, which with the delay keeps things nicely in the powerband.

Oh yeah, and if you're running on stock tires, that's a huge disadvantage there If you've got the Toyo's, you're screwed, and the RSA's aren't a whole lot better...

 

Actually, they're not that much off. I think its something like 6500, then 6300, then 6200, then 6100 or something like that.

 

Well, Andi figured 6500 for 1-2 and 6300 for 2-3, but that was based on his cars stock dyno. Every car is a little different, and once you throw on some mods your optimal points are going to be different. No way to know for sure unless you go get a dyno and see how your car does. But the 6500-6300 is a good starting point. The problem is the reaction time. If you actually watch your tac and shift when you see the tac hit 6500, your shift will really be taking place at up near 6700 which is probably a little high. You've got to knock a few hundred RPM's off to account for this so you land where you want in the powerband after the shift.

 

That is really bad. My worst run was 15.4, best (without the supercharger was 14.80 @ 94.6 mph)

Matt P.

 

Get this, I looked at my tires today, and it looked like the left back one had a long screw in it, and it was running a whole 9 PSI. I guess another lesson to check tire pressure once a week. No wonder my car was slow as *****, and no wonder it felt drifty and harder to steer on the ride home on the highway. I'm glad that I didn't have a blowout. I will go to the track again this friday probably, and see if I can do any better.

 

As stated before RT has nothing to do with your ET. The timer doesn't start until you wheels trip the beam... RT can however cost you the race, even if you pull of a better ET than the other car.

-Ramon

[Edited by Ramon on 09-03-2000 at 03:25 PM]

 

First (again), R/T won't affect your ets. Second, my shifts at the track are 6500 rpms (tach indicated), 2-3 6500 rpm, and 3-4 6300 rpm. Yes, I shift to 4th at the track. For some reason my car runs a better 1/4. I consistently get over .1 and 1mph quicker in the 1/4. I'm shifting to 4th just before I'm going thru the final timing devices. I've left my car in 3rd many times before and I'm right at 6500 as I'm crossing the line which is little high for 3rd.

My biggest problem at the track is traction. My track is very slick for street tires. I've found the best way to launch is to wind up to 2800 and on the last amber, slip the clutch and get rolling for a split second then pretty much dump the clutch and floor it. It works better than anything else I've done, but I still get lots of spin and my 60' are usually in the 2.4 range. Once I get some new 15' tires to replace my bald RSAs, I should be alright.

My track setup is no spare or jack, stock 15s in the front at 24 psi, rear 17s up to 42 psi, and 1/3 of gas. The trick is to run in good weather. I haven't run in weather cooler than the lower 80s and humidity less than 65%. Hopefully I'll run significantly quicker when the weather gets a lot cooler and drier. My track alititude is 1200 feet which technically corrects my ets to a 14.7-14.8.

Eric-
Don't feel too bad about your runs. Alex KC ran his 5 speed 98 Max for the first time at our track. He only ran once and he got a 16.2@90mph with a 2.9 60'!!! He had a sub in it, spare and jack, and 18s. His mods at the time were an intake and muffler. My first time to the track I only got 15.52@91mph with a 2.4 60' and that was with an intake, y-pipe, and muffler. Now with better driving and 12 more runs under my belt and a newly added b-pipe, I'm consistently in the 14.9-15.0 range at 93-94mph with the same pathetic 2.4 60'. There is hope. You just need to learn to drive a little better. I don't powershift. BTW, you will not be able to "feel" the difference between a 15.7 or a 14.9.

Dave

 

those times are pretty lame

 

 

Well.. Eric has came a long way now so he deserves some credit.

 

i should laugh though... my car is the slowest

 

don't run on a full tank. try to run with a 1/4 of a tank with sunoco 94. don't forget to take the spare and jack out.

 

old thread alert

 

Damn archivers .

 

emaill meeee

 

lol