Single digit guys, how much power and what weight are you to get single digit 1/4 mile? especially interested in stick shift guys.

What I am building and my goals.

1984 z28 coupe
LSA, ported blower/snout
undetermined custom grind LLSR cam motion
undetermined cylinder head, possibly ported stock
e85/nitrous
custom built long tubes 2" primaries 3" collectors
3in x-pipe duals with hooker aero chambers dumped
built and faceplated t56
dana 60 rear with Detroit true track and 4:10s, maybe 4:30s, car will see street miles or id go spool
qa1 R series front struts, qa1 18 way double adjustable rears.
spohn rear drag race anti roll
spohn pro series trans member mounted torque arm
spohn chromoly k member and a arms.
spohn chromoly rear lower control arms
spohn chromoly panhard bar
spohn chromoly wonder bar
stock z28 springs front and rear
Everything spohn offers for this car in chromoly, incase I forgot anything, all adjustable as well.

Hoping car weighs in close to or less than 3250lbs with out me, 3500 total.
full factory interior, except rear seats, no insulation but instead lizard skin sound and heat control. a/c and heat, power windows manual seats.
10 point chromoly cage.
if need be I have a quote for lexan windows, sides roll up and down, ill go that route if I need the weight to get under 3250.
will have fuel cell in truck, no tank under car.

I want to run 8s with this car, hoping I can do 9s on boost and spray into the 8s. looking to make 800 wheel or better on boost and spray it 200-300hp.
ive seen 7xxwhp ctsv's run 9s and I have to imagine even on a diet they are considerably fatter than our cars.

Curious what power to weight ratio you guys are at and what real world results your getting, thanks for any input. I have all the chassis, suspension and transmission already, currently working on body work, going to be ordering rear end soon and then shortly after a used LSA engine to modify.

Basic 1/4 mile calculator says that to push your 3500 pound race weight into the 9's, you'll need to put at least 700 HP to the wheels.

My car is extremely gutted and my race weight is 3030 pounds. I run low 9's and have an estimated rear wheel HP of around 800. If I wanted to have enough HP to just get into the 9 second range, it would only need 600 HP. Keeping the same race weight, if I wanted to get into the 8.50 range, I would need to get around 950 HP to the wheels.

It's all about power to weight. The lighter you can make the race weight, the less HP you need to run a specific ET.A lighter race weight is also easier on parts.

All that and air conditioning too. Hmmm. The HP/weight ratios are one thing and assume you have the sticky to put it down. You want air con but no glass? Total weight is only half the equation, balance is the other. In other words, get rid of the front end weight and get as much of it over the *** of the car, then you're gonna need a whole bunch of tire to hook that 800hp, and keep it going straight....

I would prefer to keep glass but have gotten quotes on, 3/16th I believe it was, lexan windows for front rear and sides if I need to get more weight out. I do plan on driving this car a whole bunch and taking it longer distances, fuel availability pending, with the wife and I want her and me to be comfortable doing so. if I was just gonna drive it on Fridays and race it then I would ditch the air. I plan on running a 28x10.5 tire on my weld drag lites 15in rim. going to an aluminum block/headed engine, tubular k-member made of chromoly etc I should be light on the nose, I'm hoping anyways. having a dana 60 in the rear and the fuel cell in the trunk sump behind the axle should help. having that fuel weight behind the axle will exaggerate the weight some and help me hook.

Thanks for some real world data, what elevation do you race at? I'm around 1000ft at my local track. I'm really hoping I end up in the mid 800s to the tire on just boost, then add nitrous as needed to get to were I want to be track time wise.

I'm at altitude. Our local track shut down many years ago and it sat at 3200 feet. A typical race day was around 5000 feet density altitude.

My next closest track is at 2200 feet altitude. Technically if I race at sea level I should be able to run 8.6

I have a friend with Optic Armor lexan front window. It has weathered well over several years. He drove the car a lot too.

I've never bought one because... well... It's a lot of money for a little weight.

What trans are you planning on running?
That will effect your street driving and track plans.

My car with me in it is 3450lbs, full cage, full 10lb nitrous bottle, full interior, 1/3 tank of gas, and some weight reductions.
My engine dyno'd at 686hp, and with a crappy converter I ran a 11.13@123, Not sure what that is rwhp. Nitrous will be sprayed next year

It's alot of work to do, but the results are well worth it

Somewhere in the neighborhood of high 400's RWHP

Didn't see any mention of the clutch in your parts list, but managing clutch "hit" is just as important to a stick shift racer as choosing the right converter is for an automatic car. It will make or break your ET.

I've got customers that dip into the 9's @ 3100lbs using NA 302ci 435/400 factory sealed crate engines. Not sure how you might categorize that with regards to power/weight ratio, but I don't think anyone believes they are actually making 625whp. .

Grant

Stick shift needs more hp to run same times as auto cars, you wont out 60 and 330 a proper stalled auto
with that said, i’ve seen some ok 60, somewhat well driven 10.40’s at 131 or so mph at 3450 ish lbs and 530 whp.
My one buddy with a z06 was in the 9.90’s with mid 540’s whp i think but he can drive. They are 3200-3300 ish lbs i believe maybe 3400.

I think you would need closer to 600-650 whp to start. Well driven. Better the launch the better the chance obviously. Lol 700+ easily will do it

I agree its a lot of money for I think it was 86lbs if you do all the windows, but if I have to start hunting for weight to get rid of that's a option

As stated in my list above, faceplated t56, ill deal with the wear issues, I need the ability to no lift shift at rpm. I don't see why I shouldn't make 800 wheel with the set up I'm looking to run ill have a 10lb n2o bottle stashed behind the interior trim where the spare tire once lived. incase I end up needing more.

Your correct, I mention nothing of a clutch, I am a spec guy, not that I wouldn't go a different route. Planned on giving them a call when I'm ready for a clutch to see what they recommend me running. a slipper style clutch may be what I need to preform best at the track, but I need something that has a honest life span on the street as well. havnt done much research on clutch. if I need to manage with wheel spin vs clutch slipping, in order to get a good dual purpose clutch then ill learn to drive it that way. fastest stick shift car ive ever owned was a 99 z28, good for 12.9xs, couldn't get it there on a street tire, but it had a spec 2 clutch and I loved that clutch. I'm assuming your a clutch man, hit me with your thoughts, I love knowledge.

I'm aiming for 800whp to start, ill admit, while I think I'm a very good driver/racer the 2 fastest cars ive owned are my current duramax, mid 12 second truck, and my 99 z28 that if it had a tire and more passes with it I feel by mph should have got into the 12.90s. Its going to be a learning curve, I have drivin much faster cars/trucks but not on a day to day basis.

I cant totally recall the specs but 87_TA on this board used to run a 400 sbc that made 521 whp all motor thru faceplated T56 and ran a 250 shot. Believe it dyno’d 775 whp and ran 9.37 at 143-144? Something like that. 3200 ish lbs maybe. Thought it was a spec 3+ clutch. Boy can drive tho, very good 60 and a 1-2 shift with the front wheels off the ground lol

to contrast that with a slightly lighter auto, my car made 420-440ish whp n/a and went 9.44 @ 139 with a 175ish shot. should have been 9.30's as i was missing .06 in the 60' on that pass. 3050-3100lbs raceweight.

A Spec 3+ with a HitMaster controlling it's hit at the track would be a good compromise between street/strip, but if you want 8's I would go with a Level 5. There's no reason a stick shift car can't match ET with an automatic at this power level.

Grant

Grant, that is some really cool stuff! I will defiantly be ordering one of those when the time comes, I had no idea something like that existed, I would like to know how something like that does with street driving? I guess you could get the sweet spot figured out and add a mark on the threaded shaft to let you know where to start when you get to the track and then on street just back it all the way off so it engages normally? of course every track and weather will change the sweet spot so I would mark it with a noticeable marker color instead of adding a nut to use as a stop, that would be annoying messing with that nut at the track.

I would most likely die from happiness if I made the 1-2 shift while in flight lol

Check this guy out.
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/member.php?u=15204
Vids of his passes are pretty cool. Reminds me of Super Stock racing. A personal favourite but hard on parts.

The HitMaster is easily configured to be active on launch only as it is controlled electrically.

My personal car triggers the HM when the line-lock is released. From that point the system is only active until the timer times out about 1sec later. I also have a second timer that is triggered by a pressure switch for controlling slip on the shifts, it's typically set for the system to be active for about 0.50sec after the clutch pedal is released. If I want the system to be active on launch only and don't want it active on the shifts, I just un-plug that pressure switch. During casual driving the system is not activated, so no reason to change any settings.

Grant
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I went high 9's in a full weight 4th gen with 650 rwhp. It wasn't a manual car but was leaving off the footbrake with an 80E. Eventually worked it down into low 9's, high 5's 1/8th, with around 725 rwhp. It weighed 3600 with me in it at that time.