The Topeka KS track is completely rebuilt, and just opened last weekend for Division 5 championship. Quite a show then, so tonight was the first Wednesday Test-N-Tune since the rebuild. Heartland hosts the O'Reilly NHRA drags on Memorial Day, so the facility isn't bad. The three road courses are behind schedule, but the entire road course is being replaced. $15 Million bucks. !!

So, having installed the Jbars and going through two sets of NGK Iriduim-Plat plugs that burned down to stubs of the ground electrodes while on 104 race gas at Kansas City International (tonight I used NGK iridium-plats TWO stages colder and pump premium), this is what happened: (yes, the plugs lived)

50-shot on launch, + 75-shot floor-switch

_______Run 1_____Run 2_______Run 3____Run 4
R/T____-.086_____-.033________.194_____.166
60'_____2.199_____2.215_______2.197____2.128
330'____6.110_____6.133_______6.034____5.900
1/8_____9.221_____9.197_______9.084____8.945
MPH____79.82_____80.24_______80.86____ 81.03
1000___11.881____11.843______11.715___11.586
1/4_____14.177____14.075_____13.936____13.832
MPH_____96.80____101.16______101.54____ 99.55

OtherGuy_13.122___13.196______12.923____16.397

Tough crowd tonight, except for the 300ZX at the last.

My automatic doesn't have VLSD, and the passenger-side slick was doing most of the spinning tonight. Time for the infiniti VLSD tranny.

The car just wasn't pulling very hard once into third gear - too bad I forgot my set of NX jets - there would have been some changes made! It took me a couple of launches to figure out the new tree - but I got there...

On the third and fourth run, I hit the floor switch once the car was well into first gear, which helped, but the top end still went flat. At this point, the tranny did NOT like shifting from 1st to 2nd - even with the DR mod, shift were sloowww.... "Time for the infiniti VLSD tranny."

STUFF: Dual NX EFI kit, 15 lb Hi-Flo bottle, BFG G-Force DRs 255x50x16, MEVI, 3" WPS exhaust, modified INGEN intake, Walbro 255, Aero FPR, new coils, new plugs!, tranny DR mod, ceramic brakes, SS lines, etc......

I had absolutely no traction problems - no hop, no torque-steer, no problems with that part. Thanks, JClaw.

I really think a VLSD tranny will help on launches and help the 1/4 ET as well. Two slicks pulling gotta be better than one, and the llooonnnggg 1-2 shift isn't pulling the car - just taking up time.

And I got schooled by three open-header 'Merican hot rods.. Darn, their 60' were either 1.7 or 1.8 seconds.

 

Nice. Was this your first time in the 13s? What shot are you using?

 

What times do your run N/A?

 

What's the best local gas around Topeka? 92 or 93 octane? I'm coming out next week to Forbes Field.

 

Nealoc187, I was using a 50-shot to launch and a 75-shot for the second stage. Since I left my jets at home, I couldn't tweak anything, but I did run a previous 13.8 102MPH when launching with a 100-shot on the DRs. The tires rubbed so badly I gave up the heavy stuff until I got the front-end traction working right. JClaw got it right.

 

Jime, The first N/A times were 16.2s - later improved to 15.2-15.3 NA, but this '99 is slow. The baseline dyno was 145 hp with the MEVI and WPS exhaust.

I've rented faster cars. It does seem to like N2O, so learning how to deal with spray has been quite an education - and of course lots of tips and insights from the *.org....

The VLSD automatic and a winter conversion to a 2004 Maxima 3.5 is on my schedule next.... My personal goal is to beat a local pastor's '89 Mustang which runs 13.1-13.2 consistently. License plate is "REV RUN". Nice guy, too.

 

BEJAY1, the local pump premium is 91 octane. If you want, I can fill a couple of my 5-gal containers with 104-octane from a local speed shop for you. The shop is occasionally open on the weekends, but no guarantees... I'm swearing off the 104 stuff until I figure out why my plugs melt!

What's the occasion at Forbes Field, if I may ask????

If I can help, just PM me.

 

Pretty cool that you ran the same time (13.8) but with a 50 shot instead of 100 on launch. Also I think that if you could drop your 60' some more you could get 13.6's with the same setup. I got my street tire 60' down to 2.020 on my super worn 215 all seasons.

 

JCLAW, well, I used a 50-shot plus the 75-shot last night, so I had to work harder for this one. Launching with N2O still makes me sweat - I need to get into the nitrous earlier, but I just can't quite do Jimi's thing of flooring the pedal at the green light. Not yet, anyway. Of course, with the Jbars, at least the car behaves normally on launch!

If I could get rid of tire-spin on just the passenger side (VLSD) and jump into a 100-shot at the light, then 60' would get better, I'm sure. And the automatic 1-2 shift isn't quick - it spends a second or so getting into 2nd gear.

I see more and more why Jimi uses the Maximizer - the nitrous level needs to go up with car speed to keep accelerating hard. Oh well, something else to figure out.

 

91? I was already bringing a 2gal spare w 93 for safety but I'll keep your offer in mind. Guess I'll also bring what Toulene I have left.

This Sat & Sun is SCCA ProSolo finals

Tues through Friday is the Solo National Championships

Over 1000 vehicles and maybe 1400 drivers are gonna descend on your town starting tonight. Forbes, Expocentre, History Museum, etc. I'm coming in Mon and competing Tues & Wed. This is my first Nationals and I believe the very first time a Maxima has ever competed - ever.

 

Thats pretty agressive going with a dual stage, I ran for 2 years before I tried that so props to ya.

Something you might try if you want to jump on it at the launch is to try a 35 and nail it right away to bring your 60's down and then hit it with the 75 on the 2nd stage. The earlier you can hit it the better your 60 will be and of course the 1/4.

I know its a little intimidating and it should be so keep it down until you are comfortable and sure everything is functioning as it should.

 

OK - I hadn't thought of that - I guess the big thing is to get into spray right away, right? Do you think 2500 RPMs is safe for that 35-shot? The second-stage needed to be bumped up anyway - I just forgot my jets last night...

 

Daymn, the things I miss out on here at home! With SCCA headquarters here, there's bound to be more racing - when Heartland's road courses are completed. Heartland is next door to Forbes, on the south side of the field.

The Expocenter is now getting New Orleans' refugees, so that could be a mess... There's a Combat Museum on Forbes Field, and an outdoor museum for the Air Nat. Guard. Plus some interesting gentlemens' clubs within a few miles of Forbes. This town has about 150K population, kinda small-town.

The local Home Depot and Lowes have Xylene in gallon cans - that stuff is rated at 117 octane. I gotta see a Maxima tearing up a SCCA event - what are your scheduled events????

 

I spray mine starting a 1000, its not the rpm thats important its the ability of the motor to rev easily.

This is what NX says about it.

Q. How high must the RPM's before activating nitrous?

A. The RPM level is not as important as is the motors ability to rev freely when the nitrous is engaged, I.E. If the vehicle is in low gear, nitrous can be engaged at any time, but if the vehicle is in a higher gear moving at a slow speed when the nitrous is engaged the engine will detonate and damage will occur.

 

Thanks, Jimi - I'll try that soon.. I just couldn't quite do it Wednesday night..

I just pulled all the NGK plugs, and found three of them with the platinum ground straps burned off, down to a stub. I thought the last run was weak on the top end - and MPH was off a few...

This was on cylinders 2, 4, and 5. The other three looked fine! Number 2 even had the iridium center electorde melted down on the end! The center insulator on the melted three were intact, but whiter than the surviving plugs. Those looked normal to me. As usual, I put the OEM plugs back in... Those have survived several 50-shot + 75-shot runs with no damage. ??

Does anyone have ideas what is causing this? I have toasted three sets of new NGK plugs ( $70 each set ) leaving a gap of about 1/8 inch with the burned-off ground electrodes - but I still drive home on them. Each set lost 2 or three plugs, a couple with minor damage to the center electrode.

Those new coils must be strong, to handle such a large gap! I do have the FPR set down to allow the OEM regulator to manage fuel pressure, swinging from about 38 to 45 PSI. The Walbro 255 should be able to handle the fuel volume, unless the pressure drops under load??? Shoot, I need to check that, don't I? Do you suppose the mixture could be leaning out with both nozzles spraying? I have a fuel manifold with 5/16 hoses, passages, and tubing for all connections to prevent flow restrictions, but if the pump pressure is dropping under load???

 

Ya make sure they are at least 2 steps colder and you didn't mention the gap but reduce to at least .035.

Also you might try running one size or two larger fuel jets to reduce the a/f ratio see what that does.

Just stick to the singe stage until you get the plug problem sorted out it is definately detonating on you and thats a recipe for disaster. When you change the plugs check your compression as well to make sure all is ok because if you keep burning electrodes off you are going to burn a piston or 2.

Take it easy.

 

The gap was the stock .044 - I'll regap my remaining set of new plugs to .035. Is there a reason for the change? Is smaller better?

I'll rejet the fuel jets for the primary spray from the 50-shot jet to the 100-shot fuel jet, go dominate a couple of interstate on-ramps, then read the plugs. Once I see a definite difference, I'll adjust from there. Even the three plugs that survived are whiter than they should be, so I'll aim for a darker brown.

This is like playing with loaded guns in the dark. Thanks for your help.

 

I installed my last full set of -6 NGK (one step colder) plugs in the Max last night, with gap set to .035 on all.

Last night I jetted the 50-shot from 20 to 26 for the fuel jet, and for the 75-shot I went from 24 to 31. If these sizes mean thousandths of an inch, then I approximately doubled the size of the fuel jet for each stage. ( pi x r-squared). I then hit the interstate and made two full-throttle-runs from a full stop to over 100 MPH, then parked the car.

Today I pulled all six plugs and found no damage, although four looked stressed - the platinum ground was blued on them, and all insulators were white, not a friendly brown. Still, they all survived with no damage..

The first-stage launch of the 50-shot did seem weak, but with street tires, it's hard to tell. The 75-shot was strong.

I'm going to Kansas City on Wednesday for the Test-and-Tune session and we shall see what happens on a full 15lb bottle and launching immediately with N20 engaged. Heh.

Update 9-11:

I bought and installed a 300ZX fuel filter and updated to 3/8" hoses where possible - on the odd chance 1 1/2 year old filter was blocked.

Runs fine on the highway without nitrous - since both bottles are empty until Monday.