took the car to the 1/8 track thursday for some shakedown passes with the new megasquirt and different rearend gears. made a motor pass, everything seemed ok, so i decided to spray it.
motor- 1.56 60', 7.17 @ 95.x
135 shot- 1.38 60', 6.65 @ 102 (went from 1st to 3rd gear and let out some)

for the final 135 shot pass, i came out of the burnout sideways and was out of the groove. i backed the car up to scoot it over and did not get staged straight. i was aimed slightly towards the left guardrail. with the front in the air, i realized i was going to land on top of the rail if i stayed in it, so i had to get completely off the throttle. came down fairly hard. i know i bent some header primaries, and the car is out of alignment. the k-member also scraped a 2" chunk of rubber off the track. i have to get it jacked up to look under there for more damage.

http://s165.photobucket.com/albums/u...t=CIMG2932.flv

 

yikes!

 

video doesn't make it seem like you got anywhere near the guardrail, must be the angle of it. Guess you don't have those SYABs, which Madman on ls1tech sells, which are "save your *** bars" which hang down just lower than the header primaries so they'll get eaten up instead of headers. Hope it isn't too pricey to fix.

 

syab's would be a good addition, but i didnt know they sold them for thirdgens. well, at least i dont think they were when i was doing the suspension stuff on the car 3-4 years ago.... lol

the angle of the vid makes it look like no big deal for some reason. but being in the car or behind the car it would look much different. you can sorta look at the black portion of the track and see where the front tire was when staged, and then see where the front tire landed in relation to the black.

 

Not sure exactly if SYAB would work. I doubt they would do any good on my car.

Rules for ground clearance state:
Minimum 3" from front of car to 12 inches behind centerline of front axle. 2" minimum for remainder of car, except oil pan and headers.

This means the only thing that can go below the 3" minimum is the oil pan and headers. All chassis and suspension components can't go lower than 3". If the headers are high enough that SYAB safely go below them then they would help. I think I'd hammer my collectors before a SYAB would help.

 

Try that with it on the rear bumper...hits alot harder, atleast i was in the groove and straight lol

I was told that ther rears were off the ground too, all I know is after i lifted it was really quiet and seemed to take forever to comeback down, and when it did it knocked the wind out of me, but I was able to straighten the primaries, replace the collectors with merge collectors and new upper strut mounts...they were shoved up about 1/2 inch, so maybe it isnt all that bad, i changed by bumpstops so they work like they are supposed to, so the headers shouldnt hit again, even if it does get too high, which it shouldnt lol.....said that 2 times before, stood it on the bumper both times lol

 

yikes...gotta love that narrow lane and grass between the gaurdrail and the track surface! i bet that makes for some scary rides now and then!

on a side note...do you like your hoosier front runners?

 

I noticed the grass too, theres a track in texas i think like that, its in all the crash video compilations on streetfire and such...grass and gaurd rails dont seem to work out good at all when mixed with a fast moving drag car

 

One of the things our local track was supposed to do before the IHRA would consider holding a big race here was to pave the track right up to the guardrails. We also have the grass strips. Good place to pull over to if you blow an engine but a bad place to get into if you drift off the racing surface.

I try to line up as straight as possible. Before I installed a rear anti roll bar, the car would always pull hard to the right when I launched no matter what settings I did with the suspension. Felt like I was always going to take out the tree when I was i the left lane. With the anti roll bar the car now launches so straight, I can almost let go of the steering wheel.

 

i REALLY hope i dont put it on the bumper anytime soon!! i wanted to up the shot to a 200, so it may be possible. i want to use a progressive controller just in case.
mw66nova- hoosiers have been great for me, however i have thought about removing the white letters from the tires lately. dont know if that would be possible though.

 

kool. i'm thinking i'm gonna grab a set of their front runners whenever i go to replace the ones on my car now. for whatever reason, i've always liked the hoosiers on the sidewalls. i'm also thinking of going to a 27" or 28" tall tire for the front

 

28x7.50 here but M/T sportsman pro because it's street driven

 

Measure real close. We had 27 or 28s on my sons 81 T/A, and when we switched cars last season they woudn't clear. We have a 96 bird now, but it was designed for low profile tires. Much like the 3rd gen cars. See if you can find somebody that has a set you can try before buying. Heck we can't even find a set of 3 1/2 or 4 " wheels that will work on the 96 with reworking the front suspention. Sticks the tires out too far.

 

I do have a progressive controller, just forgot how to use it lol
I can only start out on 20% and a 2 second build time, even that makes a nice 100 foot wheely with the front @ 3 feet up, still cant see all that well

 

thanks. xpndbl3 is running a 28" front tire on his without any problems tho. the only difference is i think my car is a little lower up front. i know i can stick a 27" up there with no problems. i'll see if i can find someone who has a set of 28's to try tho.