can't wait till your able to make a clean pass

 

Me too... Actually I came back about 1/2 hour ago from making some adjustments to the MAF airflow - with Gorilla Tape - and got the car dialed in very nicely. Throttle control and response is now very good -about what it should be - and I think some more nitrous launches are in my future. I need to order up about 100 lbs of nitrous for 8 bottles, because I have only one full one left. Once I use over 7 lbs from a bottle, the liquid turns into a type of gas and becomes mostly useless. Just the price of doing business, I guess.

Frankly, whatever happened on my second pass at Heartland scared the cr*p out of me. I do not like suddenly skipping the tires and sliding around the strip with no notice. That happens sometimes on the highway but on a prepped track that should never happen. Quick - somebody say "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" and make me feel better. I'm going to start packing a duffel bag of spare underwear if this keeps happening!

Besides this weekend, there are two more Test-n-Tune sessions in June right here in town, so when I get bottles all filled I'm going back. I hate running with just one bottle because one is only good for about two purges and two passes - then it's foam and not liquid nitrous and that's a waste of time.

Thanks for checking up on me - I wish I lived closer so I could eyeball your creations up close.

 

Tonight I spent some time tweaking the "wintertime" MAF and noticed this one is an OEM MAF, with flat heated bars in the tunnel.. I moved up the tape just a bit and got very good throttle response. Highway driving gave a Lambda of around .98 at WOT above 5000 RPMs. Pretty nice overall.

Then I got out the KramAir intake, which has a new style MAF with thermistor beads instead of flat plates, and re-taped this one for much leaner Lambda - twice. I got it too lean the first time, so I re-taped the sensor tunnel to allow more air and this made the car a tire-spinning fool launching in first gear. Dang... I like this one. Very fast throttle response with the beads.

I'll need to use my last bottle to make some spraying runs, just to be sure, and that's after I pull the plugs and see how they look - this takes about 1 1/2hrs to pull off the manifolds and nitrous solenoids, so tomorrow.

I do feel better now.

 

I pulled race plugs yesterday, and I'm pleased with how they look. The porcelain is white, of course because E85, but all ground electrodes have a clearly defined fire ring about 2/3 of the way back to the plug shell, and that is good. These plugs have been sprayed with both stages, a 75-shot and 150-shot, and seemed to have survived OK.

Next step, if rains don't happen today, is to put a little nitrous time on the car today.

 

Those plugs look great! Time to throw some more giggle juice at it haha

 

"That's the plan, Sam" .. Load two fresh 15 lbers, top up w/E85, mount some slicks, uncap the headers, switch the tranny into Kill mode, cross my fingers, and show some bad-azz 4dr Maxima action at the track! Heh....

 

That's what I like to hear! Hope the car does good!

 

It's been raining for a couple of days - hopefully it's done before dark tonight. I'm still waiting for some street spraying to test things out.

 

Wish I could go for a ride!

 

Wish I had a HLSD 6-spd in the car - then you could drive it. Given the right clutch and flywheel, of course. I've seen you drive. That would be very educational... besides, no one else has ever driven the Shark with nitrous engaged. Maybe I could get Courtney Force to drive for me if you're not available!

I just came in from eyeballing trigger wheels and crankshaft pulleys, and I noticed that the larger one (8 1/2") was too large - it would grind off the end of the oil filter! The 7 inch 36-1 wheel will clear the filter and the outside of the pulley just enough to leave the teeth exposed for the Hall switch. Back to the drawing board...

 

took a drive, tried some standing-start launches N/A, and ran into some POPs when I kicked the throttle at lower RPMS, like 2500 or so. Didn't spray, since I'm not comfortable with throttle response yet. Nitrous backfires at low RPMs can be messy - and expensive - so I need to move some tape and richen this launch up a bit more. Almost there, but not quite yet.

I still don't have my eight bottles back from the guy that fills them, so not ready to burn up my last bottle. Soon...

Otherwise, the car feels good - solid - and I'm getting itchy to go back to the track - any track. Time to get this show on the road.

Side note - in 4th gear, at indicated 70MPH tach was holding at 2800 with the torque converter locked - and it locks up hard.

 

so you think the tape is moving

 

It's not moving - just not quite in the right place yet. I did raise it up a bit last night, to richen the mixture a little, and the POP seems to be gone. I really want to be able to stall up to 3000 at staging and be able to go right into nitrous at launch.

I might be able to get out somewhere this weekend and burn some nitrous and see how close I am to a strong launch. Last night my guy delivered my eight nitrous bottles all filled and ready to go. 80 lbs of nitrous isn't cheap.

 

I went out tonight for a real test of launching, set the 275 M/Ts at 25 psi, fresh N2O bottle, transmission pressure set at Street and not Race (because it shifts so very hard in Race) and went to my "private" track for a launch. Stalled up to 3000, tapped into nitrous range with the foot pedal and went immediately down the road squealing like a stuck Texas boar, went into 2nd and then third gears while still squealing (and still on the ramp) and topped out in third. This works GOOD now !

I took a longer ride to another exit, looped back on and went up a steep onramp leaving from a full stop and burning through three gears before merging into a blind lane of traffic. Same story - launch is great (def. gonna need the slicks) and throttle control of spray is something you have to experience to appreciate.

I definitely need to do this again tomorrow, with full logging running, so I can see what else is happening. You know, if the N/A engine makes 250 WHP and I spray the 75-shot WHP first stage and go into 2nd gear and engage the 150WHP second stage then this car could be putting down 475 WHP at a minumum. Hmmmmmmm.....

 

should buy a gropro

 

^yes... Some videos at your private test track could be of benefit here. Not to mention it would be neat to see some intense acceleration runs.

BTW, glad to hear the tranny is holding up as planned.

 

No street videos for me - if anything goes wrong, that's evidence in court. Ask any cop or TV show producer ... Once I get on a sanctioned track, that can change, but for now, videos are out.

The new transmission is great. The shorter final drive ratio gives more "dig" when launching, even though power isn't really made until over 4500. The internal pressure control solenoid in the transmission was also included in the build, and since I've always had a switch on that, I find that leaving the solenoid open(Race) gives such hard shifts that it feels like hitting the car with a large hammer. For street driving I leave it engaged and internal line pressure and shifts are more reasonable. Very firm shifts, but not scary hard.

My new tape location on the MAF really helped with launches too, although yesterday the temp and humidity went up a bunch from the day before and early evening launches were not as strong as the day before ?? Of course cool and dry air always beats hot and humid air. Further tweaks and tests are required.

The OKC Street Outlaws are back for another season on Discovery channel, starting June 23, which is a gotta-watch show for any drag racer. Funny thing is that I saw another drag racer show announced on Discovery yesterday named - are you ready? - Fat and Furious, starring four really BIG guys from somewhere in the South. I dunno about this one. The OKC guys are well known here in the Heartland as the real deal. Stupid fast, stupid quick and smart on the street. Their TV show, not so much.

 

Big Daddy Dave had his Sonoma at our local track last Saturday. I had a previous commitment so I was unable to attend. If I come across and videos I could pass them along to you if you are interested.
You are correct about having self incriminating evidence. So I guess we will have to wait until you get on the race track.

 

The Sonoma is FAST ! I betcha a YouTube video will be along soon - what was the name of the track? I hear one of them has signed up for HOT ROD mag's Drag Week, which is coming here for one day in September.

 

http://skyviewdrags.com/

 

Outstanding! - no pun intended - I saw him keep the wheels up for the 1/8 mile at Wichita, along with some of the other Outlaws. How was Dave received at that strip? Looks like he was making a bye run in the photo. This sport needs more excitement, and the OKC guys do that... I'm not sure about the new Fat and Furious show also coming this year.

 

It's official today, in the newspaper - Heartland Park Race Track is for sale, due to non-payment of bonds - many millions of $$ of bonds. The property is actually owned by the City of Topeka but managed by Jayhawk Racing, owned by Mr. Ray Irwin, who hasn't made enough revenues to make bond payments for years. Their track sweeping tractor has been re-possessed. The city is hoping for someone to purchase the entire property, or failing that, someone new to manage the racing at the tracks (drag, road racing, dirt tracks).

Rumor is that there are only two events that make big $$ in a year - the NHRA Nationals and a Mudder event. Never heard of Mudding at that track, so that's consistent with the lack of advertising from Heartland Park. Hmmmm... a sad day in Mudville ?

 

 

Yup - that looks like a "Sad" face... Hmmmm... is this gonna be like KCIR selling out? Lots more street racing and squealing of tires on public roads? Sounds good to me. Maybe we could hire some of those OKC street racers as consultants on how to increase our street racing here.

I see that Daddy Dave has posted a YouTube video challenging anyone to a street match - for a $5,000 grudge match on the street, in cash. That's a believer.

 

Heartland has a Test-n-Tune this Friday, and no rain in the forecast, so I took Friday off and plan on going. If all the parts keep working, and the crowd isn't too big, ( !! ) then I'll put on the 24.5" M&H slicks and open the headers up and see what I can do out there.

I aired up the slicks last night - put 20 psi in both and let them stretch out a bit, because they haven't been on the car for at least a year. They have been kept in the garage, in the dark and quiet, so they look OK. I don't know if the car will still go on the trailer with the shorter slicks and the header cutout tube mounted - never tried loading with both on the car - maybe I'll leave the M/Ts on the car until tech inspection, then change tires back in the pits. ??

I think I'll make a first pass with just the 75-shot nitrous stage, to see if anything falls off and I can get all the way down the track under full power, unlike last time. If that works, then I'll engage the direct-port stage and do it again until I run out of nitrous ( 2X 15 lb ) or time - or car.... taking extra E85 in jugs, so that's good.

Wheeee.....

 

can't wait for Friday

 

Yup, me too - I'm making a list and checking it twice....

 

update

 

It rained yesterday for three hours, starting around 2PM - so no trip to the strip for me. There were rain showers later, as well. Poo...

I spent about three hours in the morning trying to install the exhaust cutout pipe, but there was too much interference with the E85 plumbing. I'm going to have to re-think how I can safely open the 3" cutout without melting the E85 plumbing. I have some photos to post later. Right now I'm outside on the back veranda watching the rain and drinking Sangia - and my wife just brought me a cup of Bolivian coffee, so I guess I'm drinking that now.

Thursday night I went for a Test-n-Tune drive on my private racetrack and found the tip-in is working perfectly from a converter stall at 3000. Damm.. I left at 3K (with nitrous enabled) and went WOT in first gear - M/Ts broke loose and over-revved to 6500 and shifted into second in a blink, then I pedaled back from there since the direct-port stage was enabled. Since I have a blue and orange LED wired to those solenoids and mounted just under the lip of the hood, with program throttle control of nitrous, with the throttle just at the point where the solenoids are pulsing with a low duty cycle, the M/Ts broke loose in second and third with every pulse! I've never seen that before, but I shut down quick because I was running out of on-ramp. This was with about 60% throttle. This is another good reason to have the slicks ready for T-n-T. I weighed each wheel/slick and each is 34 lbs.

But we need the rain.....

 

well atleast the car is running strong

 

M&H 24.5x15x8.5" slick mounted on American Racing AR23 - 34 lbs each. Also have a pair of 23x15.8.5" M&Hs...


3" header cutout + insulated E85 lines. I still need to figure out a way to open the headers and NOT melt the E85 lines...



Trigger wheel - 6 1/2" dia, 36-1 teeth.



Same trigger wheel underneath stock pulley.




8" trigger wheel 36-1 , too big to clear oil filter.

[

 

It's kinda a hobby for the last 5-6 years. This is my most recent Gamo - a .177.Silent Stalker Whisper model with 3-12x 44mm scope and green laser sight. Uses a nitrogen cocked cylinder, with sound suppresor and 1200 fps with subsonic pellets. Because I can...

These Gamos DESTROY scopes after 200 rounds or so - the insides get knocked loose and aiming with the scope becomes very random - after eight "Air Rifle" scopes were blown out ($75-$100 each), I got the green laser for my Plan B. I use the scope as a spotter and the green dot is to aim with. Much better.

 

 

I'm ready for them zombies now.....

 

I think I'm going to need to make a visit to a competent machinist to deal with the trigger wheel thingie. I would like to have positioning tabs made on the inside face of the trigger wheel, so that I can drill holes in the wheel, place it against the face of the pulley so it centers, set the rotation so that the tooth gap is six teeth ahead of the 0* timing mark, then MIG-weld it into place. This way I don't need to take off the existing OEM pulley and still make this work. And, so can anyone else.

I've tried all sorts of combinations of custom spacer plates and drilling of holes, but I don't have the tools for all this. Holding up a premade trigger wheel with locating tabs installed and a 1 7/8" hole drilled in the middle to take out the crank bolt (just in case), then spot-welding it into place with a MIG ( or stick welder, if you're better than I am) would be much better. Mount a Cherry Hall-effect sensor just over the trigger wheel and you can connect it to a MS3-Pro engine computer - as soon as I figure out a cam sensor to work with the MS3-Pro....

Well, no one said this would be easy to figure out - but I want it to be easy to duplicate by another Maxima owner. This concept will work with any 3.0 or 3.5L V6. Just gotta figure out the MS3-required cam sensor - one pulse per cam rotation that occurs about 45* crank before the missing 36-1 tooth comes up.

Unless the zombies come in first....

 

sorry i havent been keeping up but why the trigger wheel?

get the pulley balanced with the welding and added mass

 

Because Megasquirt:

http://www.diyautotune.com/ms3-pro.html

http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/t...407538202994c0

With just a GM-standard intake air and water temp sensor, this box can monitor MAF and trigger ignition and fuel injectors under MS3 control. And a whole lot more, as well....

 

wait no more tape

 

Well, no, won't need the tape w/MS3-Pro - but then I'll have to really learn to tune, and I'm not sure I can do that.

 

I looked around on-line and found a Summit Racing pipe piece that is 3" in diameter and has a 3" radius 90 degree bend. It's in the mail now - looks like I can cut off the existing pipe from the mounting flange and weld in the new shorty 90-degree pipe. This will give the headers a dump back parallel to the 3" B-pipe and keep hot gases completely away from the E85 lines. If I can work out the bend correctly, I can weld on a short piece of 3" tubing as a short extension.