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Organized Drag Racing and AutocrossDrag racing and autocross discussions and questions. Techniques, tips, suggestions, and "what will I run?" questions.
So after a rough 2016 image try to hit it hard this year. In 2016 I had a new baby in April and that slowed racing season down. I also had to rebuild the motor late in the year. In Nov and December I manage to have two good showing but failed to make the money. In Dec a triple zero red cost me a bye to the finals.
2017 started at hubcity dragway. I been to this track once and I liked it. The tree is funny tho it has white covers on all the bulbs so it's hard to see the lights. First time trial the cars spins hard off the hit and runs a 7.41 rt was a .071 and I felt like I crushed it. Second time trial I get in the right lane and car goes 7.34 with a 20 light. That's exactly where I expected the car to be. First round rolls around I am dialed a 7.36. My opponent is a duster dialed 6.65. As soon as I leave the car spins again and I knew I was in trouble I hold it to the floor and run a 7.40 @ 95 with a .064 tree. Okay so in my mind I am thinking what's wrong with this junk! None of the guys I know are spinning. My car leaves soft 1.75 60 ft on the footbrake. It usually hooks on a dirt road.so I buy back and try to put a plan together. Second round I hook a s10 dialed 7.28. I dial up to a 7.42 to cover in case of a spin. His light starts with a .1 so I cruise to a easy 7.76 @ 78 mph. My light was a .052 not great but I take the win. Third round I dial a 43. My opponent in a Buick skylark dials 7.30. As soon as we start talking I realize this ain't his first rodeo. I am 52 to his 37 on the tree. I locked the tires up to take 005 and breakout. I decide to load up and not stay for the second race. I wanted to hang out with the family and was tired of fighting an inconsistent car.
so now I am wondering if it was track or tires. No one else with much faster cars were fighting spinning issues. I did add a carb spacer and think maybe the added torque is making the wore out slicks a problem. I am thinking of ordering some mt 3055s. It should help speed up rt some I would think. Any questions comments or advice is greatly appreciated
I just decided to start writing about my season today but I will start taking pics at the track. He is one of my first and third round opp. Yes they got down to three cars.
in Dec I was triple zero red and dead on 1 next to the red Chevelle so all three of these cars have whooped me!
Here is a pic of the ride. It's a budget car. It has a 406 sbc. I plan to speed her up sometime this year. I would like to get it to run 7.20s in the heat. I like being the slower car I just wanna close the gap a little. The majority of the foot brake cars seem to be 6.30 to 6.80 cars. I also plan to build a 9 inch at some point so I can hook the time brake up and start run super pro
as well. So any good deals on rear ends would be great. Also I have a 81 ford chateau van I plan to rebuild the motor in and use as my tow rig so I can sleep on a bed at the track.
The tires are beat. I don't know how old they are. I ordered a set of Mt 3055s today. I never bought new slicks before because I have always been on a very limited budget. Manifold is a vic Jr withe a 1 inch 4 hole spacer. I wanted to try a tapered but I had this one in the shop. I may buy a tapered later in the season.
Also does anyone have any experience with these tires? My car weighs 2950 with 275 button in the seat. I know my combo is not the norm. I know it could be faster but I just want it to repeat. I drive a 27 roadster also so I get my speed thrills from it.
The tires are beat. I don't know how old they are. I ordered a set of Mt 3055s today. I never bought new slicks before because I have always been on a very limited budget. Manifold is a vic Jr withe a 1 inch 4 hole spacer. I wanted to try a tapered but I had this one in the shop. I may buy a tapered later in the season.
Its probably a safe bet that it is the old slicks causing your grief. (assuming nothing else is broke.)
If all you have changed is the spacer since last year and you were not spinning then. I cant imagine it ( the plate )made that big of a difference.
Old slicks even if they have lots of rubber left on them can still be worn out if the rubber has dried out. Doing a waterbox burnout makes the tires hot. The oils in the tire make the rubber sticky when heated. If the oils have dried out, the rubber is too hard. New tires can make a huge difference. I know some stock eliminator racers will change out their tires as soon as their 60' time start to drop off. Bracket racers can pick up these tires cheap as for a bracket racer, they're still good tires.
As for your carb spacer, there are so many different types to choose from. Unfortunately, picking one and slapping it on may not do anything and can even make performance worse. They are a tuning aid and unless you do dyno testing, you'll never know which ones work and which ones don't. Each engine is different. One that works good on one engine may reduce power on another.
I run 32x16 slicks and a pair of them is not cheap but when I need them, I go to the local speed shop and put my credit card on the counter.
Yeah slicks came in today. The car 60 ft was same for et so I am thinking the spacer didn't change much. There is a race this weekend at my home track but I am be stuck at work. Hopefully I can get tires swapped next week and find a race next weekend.
Well I went this past Saturday. That's the end of the good news it was a rough day. I figured the car to be running between 7.33 to a 7.36 and it went 7.35 first time shot. I was -.04 red. Second time shot I am .062 and it ran a 7.37. I actually thought all was good here besides my lights. It warmed up some and the left lane is 1 slow at this track. First round I dial a 7.40 thinking it was a little warmer and I got in a little deeper. I am .049 he is .040 on the light. He runs a 6.83 on his 81 I am 43 ripping it to get behind by 009. I told myself do not rip it more than once but I seen him start dropping and I just kept ripping. Buy back round I dial 7.40 and turn it 005 red. All out it ran 7.44.
second race we get one time shot I am .053 and it runs 7.37. First round I dial a 37 and really miss the tree bad but he is worse. I rip it a few times and run a 7.367 on the brakes! Killed 4 mph. Second round I dial a 36 and crush the tree. I am .014 next to his 031. I flat foot it out the back door. He is right there with me. I run a 7.40 to his 6.84 on his 81 dial. Move is 0007 with him getting the win. Day over!
so my car ain't been that bad in a long time and neither have I. If it was running the number I was bad on tree. If I was good it was bad. I am lost. Luckily in two weeks I am going to the footbrake 150 plus 50. It pays 17500 both days. That seems like a good race to be testing and trying to get confidence back! Ha maybe I got a plug trying to die on me or something. I'm a throw a set in it and hope for the best. The tires worked great with 14 lbs tho.
Thank man. Yea hopefully i can go a few rounds next week. Hell just gettin first round win saves 100 on buy back second rd winners get 50 bucks. I put a set of plugs in the car changed tranny fluid and gonna drain the fuel out and start with some fresh. That should straighten out some consitancy issues. Ima take it wed night for test and tune and make some hits.
Last night was ****. Went to local track to test for big race this weekend and had issues. They run quarter mile on wed first pass i am .041 on tree runs 11.60 letting out around 1150 ft mark. The reason i let out of it was i looked down to see i had 20 psi on the oil pressure gauge! So i get it back to trailer and start looking at stuff to find nothing. So i make a second pass i am .045 on the tree and watching the gauge from the start. At bout 600 ft it falls to 20 and holds there. I let out of it and it falls to 18 just quick enough to flicker my oil pressure light. So after so serious thought and talking with my pops and a local engine builder i decide to change oil and filter and add a half quart extra. I have a stock pan and stock style miledon pick up. I also noticed i was about half a quart low. So i am gonna spend 350 dollars to enter tnis weekend hoping that the oil was jus gettin away from the pick up at speed. I cant make it loose pressure any other way. I even got on the chip for bout 4 seconds today to see and it was steady 65 psi. Hopefully i am on the right track here and can turn on some win lights this weekend.
Had a terrible weekend. Lost on the tree car is broke. Its bad enough that i was using my low oil pressure light as a spot drop at about 550 ft mark. Motor coming out this week.
One thing I've noticed about low oil pressure on the top end. Depending on the oil pump, nobody needs a high pressure pump. A standard pump will do just fine. Providing you don't have a bad bearing etc causing the low pressure, it could be something as simple as not enough oil in the system. At high rpm, there's a lot of oil in the top end of the engine and it can't get back into the pan fast enough.
One solution that I've done is to drill and tap into the back of the heads into the valve train area. Some fittings and hoses help drain oil directly back into the pan. Some fittings installed in the sides of the pan behind the middle main bearing cap so the crank or con rods won't make contact with the fitting or oil returning to the pan.
This way, there's an alternate route for the oil to get back into the pan instead of draining into the lifter valley then through the holes in the lifter valley to get back into the pan. People seem to want to put screens in the lifter valley or plug drain holes off to force the oil forward to get back to the pan through the timing cover. The longer it takes the oil to get back to the pan, the less there is in the pan for the oil pump to use.
I run a deep sump pan with just enough oil to fill the sump. All the oil is below the crankshaft. Nothing forward of the sump where the crank can touch it. I also run a 3 quart oil accumulator to supply extra oil to the galleries if the sump gets pumped dry.
Yea i have a stock pan stock style pump. I have a deep pan for it. I added a full quart just to see if it changed anything. It was a really tough weekend. But i got to see i still have a ways to go before i fit in at a big money footbrake race. If you was not better than .018 and runnin dead on you were in trouble most rounds. I got to do alot of watching from the trailer at the finish line and it was a learning experience to say the least. So almost 500 in entry fees and i turned on one win light. So now i have to dip into my nine inch savings to fix whatever is broke. I am hoping to find the pickup screen laying in the pan. I did tach weld the pickup on. Its stock volume stock flow pump. I do have a question though. I stumbled upon a light weight spool for my center section i am building. Part number is for a circle track application. Is this strong enough for my car? Its 31 spline and i wont ever make more than about 550 hp with this car.
Yea thats kinda what i figured. I just hate to see it just sit on the shelf. Have anyone ever used quick performance for a rear end? I gotta get a nine inch built soon. I wanna hook the trans brake up so i can run some box races.
My 9" diff is out of an early 70's F150. I narrowed it and use Moser axles. I use an aluminum bolt through Moser center section, aluminum Daytona pinion support and an unknown brand aluminum spool. I can lift the center section in with one hand
Since I only use a powerglide, my first gear ratio through 4.86 gears isn't as high as a 3 or 4 speed trans would be with lower first gears and I only require 31 spline axles. If I wanted to upgrade to 33 or 35 spline axles, I would need to change the center section to one that uses larger side bearings.
Checking how much oil is in the pan isn't as easy in a SBC as it is in a BBC. The BBC has the dipstick mounted in the pan so all I had to do was level the pan on the floor, fill it to where I wanted the level to be then adjust the dipstick length so the full mark was at the level.
The SBC dipstick goes through the block. Although not hard to do, it takes a little more to determine where the full mark should be. Easiest way is with the pan off. Fill it to where you want the fluid level to be in the pan then pour that oil into a container. Install the pan and pour the oil back in then check where the level is on the dipstick.
Well new melling select pump new pickup and seven quart moroso pan ready to go back in the car. Oil was clean bearings look like they never been run before. Idk maybe that pump was just getting tired. I am gonna put oil restrictors in. I believe out the box they are 60 thou openin ima open them up to 80. Hopefully this will get the old hotrod right.
Well another race in the books. The car has oil pressure which is great. I am havin consistency issues now tho. Saturday i double entered it in electronics and footbrake. In 9 runs it was between a 7.51 to a 7.41 thats teŕrible.i was prettty decent on the tree. I missed it twice .056 .052 everything else was between .017 and .033 which i am happy with. I think i made a mistake with fuel and maybe thats causing some issues idk. I switched to av gas and as soon as this drum is gone i am going back to a 112 and 93 mix. My dad says he feels something weird when he presses the gas pedal so maybe something where it pivots or in the cable is scŕewy.
I check them periodically and the are always straight up. A couple years ago i caught the opening to far. I used to run the a little closed to keep the car at 11.50 and it would 60 better that way but run a tenth slow.
Sorry, I'm Johnny-come-lately on this thread. Interesting read.
Regarding old slicks, what most people don't realize is the rubber isn't fully cured when you get a new set of tires. That is deliberate. Two things cure the rubber: time, and heat. Time was already discussed. But, every time you do a burn-out, you put heat into them and cure the rubber just a little bit more. More heat, more cure; more cure, harder rubber; harder rubber, less grip.
I probably make more runs in a season than the average Joe (although I have backed down a little the last few years). And I run more tire than I probably "need", and don't do big smokey burn-outs. But I never go more than a full season on a set of slicks - usually get a new pair before the last race of the summer season at the end of August; then a few fall races on those tires, run them into the next season - then new again in August. Maybe someday I'll time it so I get new tires at the beginning of the season...
Yea i think ima start getting new ones every winter. I think i have found some of my cositency issue. I used to get a shallow as i could staging. But with 1.8 60s its hard to cut a decent light. Usually .05 to .06. When i was better than that i knew i anticipated the bulb. I dont wanna put to much strain on my 10 bolt since i do make a good amount of passes i dont wanna leave to much harder. I start bumpin in a little deeper. I feel as tho i was consitent with where i ended up in no mans land but truthfully how close could i have been to that same spot. After talking to a very sucessful foot braker i have decided thats some of my issue. So now its either leave harder or build some limiters or learn to deep stage.
02-13-2017, 09:59 PM
