AlkyIROC

What a crappy night. Got there early and got a great pit spot. Socialized a bit waiting for the first time trial. We were finally called up to staging around 7pm. Sitting in the staging lanes, they discovered that the top end timing sensors in the left lane didn't work. We sat in the staging lanes for an hour while they tried to fix the problem. They finally let us have a 1/4 mile pass in the right lane.

We then got called back up for the King of the Hill time trials only being able to run 1/8 mile. Doing a quick calculation, I figured I'd run a 6.0 something. First and only time trial I got a .015 light and ran 6.006. Traction sucks and I only managed a best 60' time of 1.379. First round of eliminations was about 30 minutes later and the air didn't change so I left 6.0 on my window.

For some reason, I don't know if I was asleep or my delay box screwed up but I got a .140 light to my opponents .038. I ran 5.996 breaking out by .004 and my opponent had a MOV of .0312. My opponent ran a 7.307 on a 7.24 dial so even if I had dialed 5.99 like I was thinking of doing, the slow reaction time still would have lost the round.

With only one 1/4 mile run on a slick track, I wasn't able to set a new personal best 1/4 mile time but I did set a new 1/4 mile MPH at 143.6. Also got a new personal best 1/8 mile of 5.996@116.35 mph.

AlkyIROC

Tuning aids. Always use the tuning aids. They're there for a reason, tuning!

One of the guys at work was at the track with his buddies watching me race. They all commented that the front end of my car comes up too quickly when it launches then bounces when it comes down. It was suggested that I try to install some front travel limiters.

While tinkering on the car tonight trying to decide the best way to install something as a limiter, I asked on a racing forum about limiters. One suggestion was to just firm up the extension on the front shocks. Now there's something I've never tried in all the years of having nice Koni SPA1 struts.

After deciphering the instructions, it looks like I may have dual adjustments. The first adjustment is compression but like typical adjustable shocks, you need to remove one end and compress it to turn the internal adjustment. I don't really know if these ones have that but I think they do and I'm not after the compression adjustment.

The rebound or extension adjustment is done at the top of the strut. Koni supplies a special **** which has been in my toolbox probably from when I ran 12 second 1/4 miles. Checking the adjustment, they were set at full soft. The shocks were so soft that I could grab a front fender and bounce the car up and down like it had no dampening at all. Tightening up the adjuster to full firm is 2-1/2 turns. I could barely pull the front end up at all. That should really limit the amount of front end rise on launch and help plant the tires. The SPA1 shocks have special reaction valving. If traction is good, they'll react and let the front end rise quickly. If traction is poor and the front end doesn't come up as quickly, the valving will readjust for it.

Now I need to find the best rebound setting and see if the car will 60' like it should.

IHI

iTrader: (1)

Be sure to post up how the car reacted to the stiffer strut setting, I bought a front end limiting kit, then went out and bought cable and clamps going to make something of my own design, but i'm coming up blank for a good, solid set up that is dual purpose and i'm still entertaining a set of adjustible struts like that....so let me know

Stephen, we've raced almost exclusively 1/8th mile this year due to our track being flooded and screwing up the top end of the track along with the shut down area, so our track pulled it back to 1/8mi and we raced a few times at the local 1/8mi track...i LOVE IT!!!!!! years ago when we did it i hated 1/8th mile, but as i've grown and figured in operating cost and whatnot, for our sport..bracket racing anyways...there just is'nt a better distance to race.

makes the drivers better on the tree becuase they have to be
cars really dont vary in the 1/8th mile unless drive screws up
it's face paced from start to finish so it makes you get on your game NOW
faster program since it takes less time to get pairs down the track
faster clean up if something happens
costs tracks less to operate since they're not spraying 1/2mile of taction compound, only 1/4 mile total
less fuel in the car
less wear and tear on the engine...most engines are lost after the 1/8mi mark
speeds are down for everybody so overall it's safer in case something bad ever did happen to either car

just sooo many advantages over 1/4mile racing, but we've all grown up with 1/4mi times so that's what we know/want...but i think it's safe to say, for the true bracket racers, they're finally catching on that runnig half track is were it's at...makes you a better driver, or you go home.

ross

I have the same struts and I never adjusted them untill I put the 8'' converter in and the car would pull 1.40 60 ft and yank the front end up I tightened thm all the way down as Stephen did I know still pull 1.40 60ft but with out all the drama of pulling the front end up high.

AlkyIROC

So you cranked them down to full firm? I was going to start about half way and go up a quarter turn at a time. Our suspensions probably won't react the same. Launching off the transbrake at high rpms with a 4-link, if the front end doesn't jump up now when the transbrake releases, the energy should get transferred to the suspension and plant the tires. The suspension will then pull the front up instead of the driveline/transbrake shock. According to the other racing guy at work, I'll probably have to put wheelie bars on the car now.

IHI: I agree with all your points about 1/8 mile racing but it's over so quickly. At least when you 1/4 mile race, there's top end racing. You can't bumper race at 1/8 mile and it's hard to know if you should let off or not in the 1/8 mile because it comes up so fast. The "less wear and tear" on the engine is probably the biggest advantage. Even my engine is hardly working at the 1/8 mile mark. I shift around the 330 mark. It's been 2 days now and I still haven't looked at my playback tach to watch the last run on Wednesday night just to see how high the rpms go to when I finally let off.

One more point about an 1/8 mile track. Less land is required to build an 1/8 mile track so locations are easier to find around metropolitan areas.

There's Friday night street legal tonight but track conditions always suck on the street legal nights. The density altitude is also through the roof today. We're trying to convince the track manager to give us next Wednesday night as a T&T to ease some of the tensions from last Wednesday. No word yet on if it will happen but I doubt it. If not then my next track day is the night of the Aug 27 (weather permitting) then a big race that weekend. I'll probably burn at least 30 gallons of fuel that week. I'd love to get 3 Wednesday nights in a row.

IHI

iTrader: (1)

I used to think the same way, but the more and more i've raced 1/8th mile, it's just as easy...if not easier to race the stripe if need be since there is'nt such a huge spread in ET/mph...it's just getting adjusted to everything taking place in under 7 second, cut a light, shift twice and immediately look over your shoulder. Just takes some adjusting and it took me about 6 races before i settled in and now i love it LOL!!!

DIGGLER

iTrader: (1)

my spa-1's have been on full stiff since day one. the car was picking up the fronts chest high and carried them 60 feet or so. i put in comp. engineering cable style limiters and its much less dramatic now. 1.33 60's btw.

AlkyIROC

Well I know I can dial in the car for 1/8 mile. I was only off by .004. I do need to modify the speadsheet in my laptop to also give an 1/8 mile prediction based on 1/8 mile performance so I don't have to use a calculator next time.

It didn't help that the first round of eliminations was at night. I haven't had to turn my headlights on at the track for years.

It's weird. Because the front end comes up so much, the headlights were useless going down the track. When I let off after the 1/8 mile, the front end comes back down and the headlights were dim. As soon as I crossed the 1/4 mile mark, they went bright. At least that's what the video shows.

I'm one of the faster cars in the field. I'm always the hunter so I rarely need to shoulder check.

Ed Quay makes some nice adjustable limiters. I can easily copy and fabricate something similar if I need them. Tripping the 60' timers with the back wheels would be nice. MPH indicates I have more than enough power to get either a low 1.3x or a high 1.2x 60' time.

car_fixer

for cheap, adjustable limiters you could get 4 eye bolts weld them so they cant open and run some cable through them with clamps, using the strut mount bolt hole and the sway bar hole works really well and the cable does not bind, like using a short cable. Once i figured out the length i needed i got aircraft cable and made nice cables with thimbles, but thats really not needed. I also made a place to put the limiter when i dont need it.
top

IHI

iTrader: (1)

carfixer, could you throw up the other pictures you had of the lower a arm too please?

I went out and assembled my own parts list to do what you did, but i wanted adjustibility so i used a 6" eyebolt through the strut tower, that way if i wanted to tighten it up an inch, all i'd have to do is loosen the jamb nut and wrench away....sounds good right?? i thought so until it stretched my welded eyebolts into football shaped things and did not cinch the front end down like i wanted...just tooo much pressure for a standard eyebolt materials.

I had BIL grab me 4 forged 3/8" eyebolts from work....they're too short to have any adjustments, but figured i could allow like an inch of travel and see what that does...the cable is cheap so i could easily have pre made set's if i needed to test to find the borderline of keeping the front end down and getting max traction...but the Ed Quay set really has me thinking about buying them...exact principal i had in mind, but looks like he uses a heavy duty shaft for the adjustiment.

AlkyIROC

That's exactly what I'm about to do. I almost have all the parts now. I'd also like to see the adjustable end on the A-arm.

There's a tab on my Profab A-arms for sway bar end links with a 3/8" hole. I plan on using grade 8 NF threaded rod with a clevis yoke on one end and the other end goes through the tab and is bolted down. The threaded rod will allow adjustability through the hole. I just need to pick up the threaded rod tomorrow to have the last of the parts.

car_fixer

I used steel eye bolts, the one on the control arm is 2 1/2 inches...but it allows for about 3 inches of adjustment at the wheel, i have the adjustment on the bottom because it is the bigger of the 2 bolts ( 1/2 vs 3/8) I got them from this place http://www.mcmaster.com/ they werent cheap, but i knew what i needed by that point so i didnt mind paying for the good stuff, also this is less clunky and rattley than a chain type




I couldnt get a pic when the car was on the ground, but I have one nut on top of the control arm, and another on the bottom, to adjust, loosen, move , retighten.

AlkyIROC

Ahh. So at the bottom, you just have a similar eye bolt like at the top but it has a longer shaft on it for the adjustment.

I'll take pics of mine once I'm done. Only track time will tell if it survives.

How much do you limit the suspension to? I'd guess 2" of travel would be a good starting point.

car_fixer

That depends on the track i am at, if the track sucks, full extension, full loose on the shocks. or if the track hooks great, almost no extension, and it still carries the front wheels about 40 feet.

I used to run the struts at 1/2 turn from full firm, as the **** says lol for n/a
and when on nitrous i would go to 1/4 turn, that worked untill I crossed that magic hp number lol

AlkyIROC

Sounds like I should run mine at full firm then

Streetfire is busy processing a couple of videos from Wednesday night. Hopefully they'll be available soon.

AlkyIROC

Yay! Videos are ready. These runs were approximately 30 minutes apart. Camera is mounted to A-pillar bar with a good view looking over the hood. May try on the driver's side next time. I could probably take that first turn off just past the scoreboards but don't want to be too hard on the brakes. Feels funny taking the second turn off when I normally run it all the way down to the end.

First video. 1/8 mile T&T.
RT - .015
60' - 1.379
330 - 3.887
660 - 6.006
MPH - 116.24
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/1...***_177445.htm

Second video. 1/8 mile first round elimination
Dial 6.00
RT - .140 (asleep)
60' - 1.384
330 - 3.882
660 - 5.996 (broke out)
MPH 116.35
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/1...ace_177449.htm

IHI

iTrader: (1)

Looking at the huge spread in the 60' and then watching the incrementals and final ET is why i want to build a BBC if i continue this bracket racing thing...those pig blocks never get too excited about variance at the incrementals and almost always give you the number your after at the stripe

DIGGLER

iTrader: (1)

sounds like your hitting the 2 step during the shift, stephen.... or is it just the video doing that?

AlkyIROC

I'm not really sure why it does that. The tranny shifts at 7400 and the rev limiter is set at 7800. I could bump the rev limiter to 8000 to see if it goes away. I could also lower the shift point to the 7000-7200 range.