Track Rental-Houston
10-01-2017, 12:20 AM
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Track Rental-Houston
Just getting around to posting up about it. You guys gotta be getting tired of me telling you about how many times I DIDN'T get it done!!
STILL didn't get an 8 sec pass!!! Jeez!!!
So I went down to Houston the other day. Hung out with some of my buddies who got flooded out....took the 'Vette with them all to a local cruise-in car show. It was "Vette" night...so I kicked the car off the trailer with the slicks on it. We were cool and people dug it.
Headed out to Baytown on Sunday morning. The track is storing literally about 100K flooded cars out there but they still let us have our scheduled track rental. We were limited on where we could park etc. They actually had us all line up on the return road between the bleachers and the track.
It was a hot, nasty, muggy day in Houston! Didn't take long to see 95* on the thermometer and 80%+ in humidity. Not a good day for cars or people!!
But we made a few runs. Best was a 9.11@158+. Depending on how things went with traction I was from there on into the 9.30's-9.50's. I think worst MPH was 155....but most of the rest were 158+.
Changes made for this trip were to install the Viking coil-overs back under it to limit the wheelstands. They took all of that away. I had also backed off the clutch some more...and I think I could still go some more.
But the real thing is I'm going to have to make it pull harder in the 1/8th mile. It traps around 122 MPH with 5.90's-6.10 and then runs like a **** on the back half picking up 36 MPH. Considering the 1/4 mile trap speed I ought to be in the 127-128 MPH range in the 1/8th mile which of course would help the ET. I've been trying to do it with no boost off the line or any real controls. While the little turbos come on strong....and there's no real "lag"...just a whole lot of extra power hits hard and once it's rolling it's rolling! With the front end tied down....it was chattering the slicks when the boost came on which it's never done before.
So I'm going to try and use some of this whiz bang Holley EFI stuff. I've downloaded the latest V4 software. I went to the Summit store today to pick up a steering wheel button. I'm going to try and set up a two step which I've never used on it before and use it to get turbos spinning a little earlier. Don't want to get into a bunch of popping and banging...but I can jerk some timing out of it to heat them up a little. Seems like just revving the motor in neutral cools them down it takes some heat to get them going hard.
Certainly some cooler weather is coming soon and with some tweaking I might just get all of this to finally give up the ET slip!
Good news of the day was I beat the devil out of it all day in 95* heat and it never burped or spit. It just took the flogging and kept crossing the line just under 8000 RPM on every pass!
JIM
STILL didn't get an 8 sec pass!!! Jeez!!!
So I went down to Houston the other day. Hung out with some of my buddies who got flooded out....took the 'Vette with them all to a local cruise-in car show. It was "Vette" night...so I kicked the car off the trailer with the slicks on it. We were cool and people dug it.
Headed out to Baytown on Sunday morning. The track is storing literally about 100K flooded cars out there but they still let us have our scheduled track rental. We were limited on where we could park etc. They actually had us all line up on the return road between the bleachers and the track.
It was a hot, nasty, muggy day in Houston! Didn't take long to see 95* on the thermometer and 80%+ in humidity. Not a good day for cars or people!!
But we made a few runs. Best was a 9.11@158+. Depending on how things went with traction I was from there on into the 9.30's-9.50's. I think worst MPH was 155....but most of the rest were 158+.
Changes made for this trip were to install the Viking coil-overs back under it to limit the wheelstands. They took all of that away. I had also backed off the clutch some more...and I think I could still go some more.
But the real thing is I'm going to have to make it pull harder in the 1/8th mile. It traps around 122 MPH with 5.90's-6.10 and then runs like a **** on the back half picking up 36 MPH. Considering the 1/4 mile trap speed I ought to be in the 127-128 MPH range in the 1/8th mile which of course would help the ET. I've been trying to do it with no boost off the line or any real controls. While the little turbos come on strong....and there's no real "lag"...just a whole lot of extra power hits hard and once it's rolling it's rolling! With the front end tied down....it was chattering the slicks when the boost came on which it's never done before.
So I'm going to try and use some of this whiz bang Holley EFI stuff. I've downloaded the latest V4 software. I went to the Summit store today to pick up a steering wheel button. I'm going to try and set up a two step which I've never used on it before and use it to get turbos spinning a little earlier. Don't want to get into a bunch of popping and banging...but I can jerk some timing out of it to heat them up a little. Seems like just revving the motor in neutral cools them down it takes some heat to get them going hard.
Certainly some cooler weather is coming soon and with some tweaking I might just get all of this to finally give up the ET slip!
Good news of the day was I beat the devil out of it all day in 95* heat and it never burped or spit. It just took the flogging and kept crossing the line just under 8000 RPM on every pass!
JIM
Last edited by 427Hotrod; 10-01-2017 at 12:44 AM.
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Loren Smith (10-01-2017)
10-01-2017, 07:47 AM
#2
Race Director
I would guess some cooler weather will get you to the 8s since you are so close. I have a Lightning pickup with a little custom tuning and additional boost via smaller lower pulley and other stuff - far from what you are running though - but on a cool, dry morning it pulls so much harder than on a hot, humid day. It's enough difference you can feel it. Not sure if an Eaton-type supercharger is more weather sensitive than turbos but I suspect they respond pretty similarly since both are pulling air through an intercooler.
10-01-2017, 08:12 AM
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Great looking car!
Last edited by Easy Rhino; 10-01-2017 at 08:16 AM.
10-01-2017, 12:27 PM
#4
Safety Car
From your chassis dyno run posts, seems like you're making enough power at the wheels (1100?) to run mid 8s. No doubt you'll get there. It's really great you were able to put together a power train that takes that kind of beating run after run. You can experiment without worrying about blowing something up. Curious what the "two step" is that you're going to program into the EFI computer.
10-01-2017, 01:26 PM
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C2 of Year Winner (performance mods) 2019
2017 C2 of Year Finalist
Thanks guys. Even though it's "slow" out of the hole...once it's moving it's on a mid 8 sec run. The mid range and top end pull is fantastic. Most folks pick up only 30 MPH or so on the last half...I'm gaining 36 MPH! HP isn't the issue...just using it all. The guys at the track kept calling me "Back Half Jim" LOL.
There's a lot of weight that could come out...most with the driver! It still has stock 4 core radiator etc.....insulation under carpet, stock seats and console and on and on. I had looked into the fiberglass bumpers and getting them plasti-chromed like new cars...just haven't done it. With the aftermarket block, steel flywheel, scattershield, G-Force race trans, Dana 60 IRS and big halfshafts, steel spring with added leaves, stock fuel tank with sump and 2 big fuel pumps, all the fuel lines, turbos and brackets and plumbing, 3.5" exhaust etc etc...it all just keeps adding up. Just things like a killer shifter can add a couple of pounds.
The "two step" will be where I can hold a button and activate a rev limiter to control RPM to say 4000 RPM. Then, while it's activated I can pull timing and add fuel to build heat in the exhaust to get the turbos spinning before I launch. When I release the button it goes back into normal mode. Guys with automatics do it by engaging the trans brake to lock the trans. They then put their foot on the floor and the two step holds it at set RPM also. With the torque converter holding the engine back and the throttle wide open...the turbos spin fast and build boost at the line. They often pull timing/add fuel also or even use a 50 HP shot of nitrous to help get the turbos going. I don't have any way to load the engine at the line like a converter would...so I'll have to manipulate the timing (maybe even retarded BTDC) and add fuel to get it going.
JIM
There's a lot of weight that could come out...most with the driver! It still has stock 4 core radiator etc.....insulation under carpet, stock seats and console and on and on. I had looked into the fiberglass bumpers and getting them plasti-chromed like new cars...just haven't done it. With the aftermarket block, steel flywheel, scattershield, G-Force race trans, Dana 60 IRS and big halfshafts, steel spring with added leaves, stock fuel tank with sump and 2 big fuel pumps, all the fuel lines, turbos and brackets and plumbing, 3.5" exhaust etc etc...it all just keeps adding up. Just things like a killer shifter can add a couple of pounds.
The "two step" will be where I can hold a button and activate a rev limiter to control RPM to say 4000 RPM. Then, while it's activated I can pull timing and add fuel to build heat in the exhaust to get the turbos spinning before I launch. When I release the button it goes back into normal mode. Guys with automatics do it by engaging the trans brake to lock the trans. They then put their foot on the floor and the two step holds it at set RPM also. With the torque converter holding the engine back and the throttle wide open...the turbos spin fast and build boost at the line. They often pull timing/add fuel also or even use a 50 HP shot of nitrous to help get the turbos going. I don't have any way to load the engine at the line like a converter would...so I'll have to manipulate the timing (maybe even retarded BTDC) and add fuel to get it going.
JIM
Last edited by 427Hotrod; 10-01-2017 at 01:27 PM.