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Author Topic: heartbreak at the drags  (Read 3820 times)

Offline sschung

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heartbreak at the drags
« on: 11:40:15 PM / 12-Jun-04 »
went for my first time on friday to the local test and tune. with all the work i\'ve put into the car i was *really* hoping to crack the 14 sec mark... but no dice. 15.318 was the closest i got. really disappointing.

mind you, it\'s the first time i was there so there was a lot to learn. my first run netted me a 16.8 time. a couple of my runs were blow outs because the car didn\'t run properly. and i had to take a break after i started to smoke my clutch (but she held up amazingly well).

it quickly became apparent how important the lauch is. i never did find the sweet spot to launch at. 3k was too high (spin) and 2 k is too low (bog). there were too many things going on to really feather the clutch. i think if i could really launch well i could have just cracked 14.

there were a few things i could have done to be a bit faster but didn\'t:

put on my \'free flow muffler\'
lower air pressure in the rear tires (running at 30 psi currently)
shift at 5500 instead of 6400? [- i think this would have helped as i just had no real power after 5000 rpm. too bad i didn\'t think of it while i was there.
and of course, up the boost.

couple of highlights:

some guy in a civic just ahead of me blew a tranny. had to wait in line for 15 minutes to get things cleared up.

another guy in a civic beside me ran a .501 reaction time! he was quick too at 14 sec.

car wasn\'t working right for a couple of runs. i\'d shift and hold the throttle open and the revs wouldn\'t climb. i\'d lost fuel for a second or two. the second time this happened i was messing around trying to get the fuel to come back on, missed a shift into 5th and smoked the clutch as the revs were way to high for the speed. i took a break after that. i\'m still running a temp sensor switch rig as the car does not run correctly at WOT. with the temp sensor off, it runs better (if super rich). i *really* have to find out what\'s going on with my car!

my friend running a 1.8t gti (modded) runs 14.5 @ 97. my last run was against him. he smoked me as the car wasn\'t running right and i couldn\'t build any revs for launch. it\'s amazing how smooth his car is compared to my s12.

i suck at staging. i always overshoot.

i didn\'t even bother to try for reaction time. my best was over a second. my worst was over 2.5 seconds!

happily, the car ran well on the highway. so that was good anyways. that and nothing broke (but my pride). i may be losing coolant (or maybe the system is still bleeding air for the past 500km!). another thing to keep an eye on.

the printer and time boards at st thomas dragway SUCK. all the 8\'s look like 0\'s. on one run, it looks like i ran 10 sec! woo hoo!

if i didn\'t burn my clutch i could have gotten 20 runs in. get there early and there\'s not many people there.

now i wanna go back and try for 14!

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Offline Johnnyfive

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heartbreak at the drags
« Reply #1 on: 12:29:16 AM / 13-Jun-04 »
First off congrats.  :banger:  It\'s awesome to see another turbo rippin\' it up no matter how fast it is. (i\'m sooooo cloooosee..... :x  )

I\'m no expert but there are a few tips I have.

Sort out the issues (correctly) with your car before trying again. No matter what a broken car will always peform below it\'s potential.

What kind of tires do you have. These can make a surprising difference in traction.

Those light sure go down fast huh?  :D   When i first ran I barely had time To rev the engine to launch before the green. To avoid getting tricked up by the lights, as soon as you stage and get prepped be ready to launch.

How did you launch? Did you just drop the clutch or did you slip it a little bit.

Clutch change is probably in order to. The stock ones don\'t hold up well

Do you have an A/F gauge?
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Offline Good Doctor

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heartbreak at the drags
« Reply #2 on: 10:13:34 AM / 13-Jun-04 »
dont worry about reaction time if you are just trying to go for an ET.  Test in tune nights really are about the time on the board, not your R/T.  That being said, if you want to cut a great light, launch when you see the 3rd yellow light.  Your reaction is not fast enough to move the car before it goes green, trust me.  If you launch on the 3rd yellow you will cut a very good light, trust me.

as far as the car goes, just keep trying to play around with it.  you will get there.  the launch is something you can practice on your own at any stoplight (free of police and other hazards of course).  Work on learning a RPM that your car likes to launch at and then work on consistancy.

good job on your first day at the track.
Jeff Hester
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Offline Nemisis

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heartbreak at the drags
« Reply #3 on: 12:18:51 PM / 13-Jun-04 »
My reccomendation is to: 1) Get a higher grip clutch, maybe a twin plate if you can find one for our cars. And 2) get some 15 or 16 inch rims that are not that great. Maybe some stock aluminum rims from another car that has the same bolt pattern. Pop those on the rear with some goo drag radials. Not drag slicks. Drag radials. Then you can rev higher and have more grip to launch off the line. Also you may need to tweak your rear suspension for the best setup for launching. Those 3 things should allow you to dip into the 14\'s. If you want to run any faster, you will need to work on doing some serious lightening of the car and boosting the power. I bet that if we had a CA18ET with a T25, FMIC and a colt cam, and completely gutted it, and used the setup listed above; I bet 13\'s would be easy. I think we would need about 275+ hp though. But It is possible. I dont really think these cars are ment for the straight line, but the twists and turns of a road course. Thats why there is a bunch of neg. camber on the rear stock!
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Offline Nebuchernezzer

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heartbreak at the drags
« Reply #4 on: 12:30:43 PM / 13-Jun-04 »
Quote
1) Get a higher grip clutch, maybe a twin plate if you can find one for our cars

A single plate is completely adequate, i\'m running a single plate full face organic clutch in my car and it holds up fine for drift and drags.
Quote
I bet 13\'s would be easy. I think we would need about 275+ hp though

Around that much power at the fly should easily net you 13s, i have run 14.2@104mph after 1 practice run on my street tyres on the road and only have around 230hp at the fly.  My mph inidicates i can probably get a 13 with alot of practice even with that prower.

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Offline bartc_j

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heartbreak at the drags
« Reply #5 on: 04:49:32 PM / 13-Jun-04 »
hmm i know the way my car sits i can pull off a 14.1 or less but my driving needs some more work... and i make about 200-210whp... now as far as sticky tires... get some 205/50r15 bfgoodrich drag radials. they will fit on stock rims and are good for about a 1.960ft.. so far i have gotten a 2.007as my best on them but im still not launching high enough.. last time i launced at about 4800 but i need to launch at about 5500rpms next time
Bart
 '86 1.8L Turbo

Offline BullsEye

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heartbreak at the drags
« Reply #6 on: 05:38:08 PM / 13-Jun-04 »
Good job on the first try!

As for the coolant issue, if you have air in the system this could very well be the temp sensor problems that you are having. Bleed the coolant system. Air will give the sensors false readings. Also having air in the coolant system could cause adverse things to happen to the engine.
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Offline sschung

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heartbreak at the drags
« Reply #7 on: 08:01:55 PM / 13-Jun-04 »
thanks for the advice everyone! there are a few things i want to try next time.

-pop out the headlight in front of the intake
-240sx tb
-more launch practice
-shift at a bit lower revs
-boost to 11 or 12 psi

when my rears go (probably this summer sometime) i want to try 225\'s in the back. i only have the 1 set of rims so i\'ll probably try some softer kumhos or maybe even falkens. i won\'t be touching the clutch until next year or so when i rebuild my bottom end. but i\'ll get an uprated clutch then. right now the clutch holds well. i don\'t get any noticable slip from moderate launches and i only started burning due to me mis shifting.

i won\'t be stripping the car or doing anything drastic. this is my summer fun car but i still drive around town and on the highway occasionally. i\'d rather have some extra comfort than .2 seconds.

at this point i don\'t care about reaction time. once i get launching a bit better THEN i\'ll think about rt. it\'ll be a while.

right now i\'m probably running about 180-90hp at the flywheel or so. i faced a rsx type s (200 hp) and he beat me by a few tenths. i had better 60 times but his trap was a few mph higher than mine. i figure 210hp or so is about the safe limit on the stock internals.

hopefully i can get the car completely sorted as well. switching the temp sensor off really sucks =) it\'s really puzzling why i have that problem...
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