Made it out for the Friday night street legal races. I wasn't expecting anything big but just wanted some track time. I made 3 passes before calling it a night.

As per normal, first pass was garbage. Track was slick and the car pulls hard to the right on launch. The 4-link needs a preload adjustment. Actually all 3 passes did the same thing. People said I was spinning out of the hole and with 60' times at 1.516, 1.519 and 1.543 I'd say yes. Perhaps the new slicks need a little less air.

The 3 runs weren't record breaking. I still think I need more gear for these 32" tall tires. 4.86 should be good. last year I was shifting at 6800 and going through the traps at 7400. Now I go through the traps at 7200. MPH is down also. Not sure if it's because of the taller tires or if my tranny is slipping.

The 3 runs netted me a 10.085 @ 133.93, 9.896 @ 135.09 and 10.144 @ 133.43. The density altitude was between 3700 and 3800 feet all evening.

The good news is that there's no indication of tires rubbing, The engine never died at the end of the track and I was able to drive back to my pit every time. The engine is running a little rich and the hottest the coolant got was about 185F and that was on the first pass when I forgot to turn on the fan until I got off the track. The engine oil is still as clean as I put it in a couple of weeks ago. I did every procedure right including turning on the replay tach every time to record the run.

Reaction times are actually good considering the long off season. Started with a .134, second pass was great with a .017. Fell asleep again on the last pass with .166. No red lights

Time to update the log book, compare runs, do some tweaking. We're having an open test and tune this Saturday. I'd like to go if my tranny is ok and I can get time off work.

I took a couple of new pics. I'll have to see how they turned out first. Too much to do right now.

 

Just did a break down of my best run last year to my best run tonight

2006
60 = 1.404
60 - 660 = 4.844
660 - 1000 = 1.614
1000 - 1320 = 3.506

2007
60 = 1.519
60 - 660 = 4.889
660 - 1000 = 1.596
1000 - 1320 = 3.548

Although I lost a bunch on the launch which really killed the run. I lost a little more to the 1/8 mile then gained some back between the 1/8 and the 1000 and finally lost a bit from the 1000 to the 1/4.

 

I was thinking that would slow you down running those bigger tires down the track. If you could get more out of the launch compared to before, you might break even, unless it was dead hooking before? Did you do this to bracket race it for more consistency?

 

I was about at the limits for consistency with a 10.5" tire. Also the ladder bars were very limited for adjustments. I wasn't the only one with traction problems that night. I still feel I need some 4.86 gears. I have lots of rpm left going down the track so I could still use more gear. I also need to find out what tire pressure will work best. I only had 10 psi in the tires but may have to drop it down some more.

Today I changed my IC point of the 4 link bars. It's possible I had them set so I wasn't getting enough weight transfer. I put some preload in the 4 link which should help launch the car straighter. I also did a band adjustment on the tranny. I could have been losing some time from a slipping band. Last thing I did today was lean down the carbs a bit more. The car was still running too rich when I was out. With the density altitude at 3700 feet and the engine running rich, when a typical race day gets over 5000 feet, it will be even richer. I may have to drop the jets down some more when I get some more track time to tune. Changing 8 jets isn't a 5 minute job.

I figured going with the taller tires would slow down the ET but also thought the mph would be higher which it wasn't. By the numbers, I'm down about 100 hp from last year but then the car also isn't the same as it was last year. Putting in some 4.86 gears should bring the effective ratio back to what I had last year.

 

Glad to see you had a "clean" evening Stephen. Good to hear that you'll be ready to roll when the points season starts. Keep us updated with the progress.