What's up guys, here's my story

The car has been running really ****ty since comming to AZ. Rough idle, lack of response etc. I thought it was just the change in altitude, but here's what I think now:

Running through the high altitudes I must have run so rich that I fouled some plugs and hence wasn't running on 8 cylinders the whole time

When me and my buddy changed the spark plugs and oil, the plugs didn't look great. So we changed em. This plus Nitto Drag Radials were used this friday.

before tune up, DR's : best e/t 16.782 best mph 83.00
after tune up, DR's: best e/t 15.962 best mph 88.12

This is at firebird international race way which is 1500-2000 ft. Using http://www.speedworldmotorplex.com/calc.htm I gained the equivalent of 32hp from changing the plugs and oil plus DR's. My sixty foots only went down .086 with the DR's! This is why I think I was only running on 6-7 cylinders or so. My biggest problem now is getting traction. Wheelhop is really really bad. I hope to install the rear end and control arms to help that. Tell me what you think

T-bone

 

My 89 truck (when stock) ran high 15s @3000 ft alt, so your numbers could still stand to be improved. Good gains though on your times. Shoot for 14s now

 

What was your 60' after the drs? 88 mph is good to be looking right down at 15.1 - 15.0 on a dead hook. I went 15.8 @ 84 with kuhmo's and just about your same mods, you're kicking my *** in mph lol! Good job man!

 

From here on in every tenth is a challenge to gain.

Your mph is good for the altitude, which means you can hit around 90 mph.

I'm making 92 mph at around 750 ft above sea level on street tires.

As for times work on getting that 60 ft down and you could push into 15.6xx area.

With that trap speed you've got the power to hit 15.1 that's true, but you'd need serious work on the traction end, SFC's, LCA's, Panhard rod, torque arm and drag radials and a higher stall TC to make that happen. Realistically a mid 15 is still possible.

 

My sixty foot was a 2.356 which is down from 2.439.

I don't get why you say that every tenth will be tough to get now. I still have to put on that rear end which I think will get me about .5 since I don't have posi, and the new gears should help too. Plus I still have the chip, VAFPR, spacer, LCA's etc. I plan on buying headers, pulleys, panhard, sfc's, shocks and springs soon as well.

anyhoo, thanks for the comments

 

Posi and gears aren't worth 5 tenths.

Sure gears will help somewhat, but you end up with more power per revolution of the tire which leads to wheel spin. Realistically look to gaining around 3 tenths from doing something as drastic as going 2.73 to 3.73.

Even on a dead hook, virtually no wheel spin I didn't do any better than feathering my launch. Although posi would be beneficial to me (and believe me I want a unit) it won't change the output of my engine. It'll just make launches a bit more reliable and consistent.

I meant to say that with every tenth you try to gain, it'll cost you in parts.. that's the hard part about getting it down from this point. You have to do more serious mods. $$$

 

ah, ok

yeah, If all else fails, my engine will be laughing through 2nd and 3rd gear and part of 4th .

 

what do stock 305 TBI RS camaros hit in the 1/4????

 

Looking at mid 16's, witht he stick capable of low 16's high 15's.

 

Nah, with drs that have some tread on them I dont see why a 2.1 isnt possible. I cut 2.24 with 245/50/16 Kuhmos, and I know I coulda done better. I dont want to argue with Slade here, but I'd say that your car has at least a 15.3-15.4 in it the way it sits on a good hook. 15.1 was optimistic, but I dont know where the hell you're getting all that MPH from. Damn you guys make me feel bad!

You dont have all that much power adding stuff onto your car, and like I said with those same mods on street tires I was cutting 2.24s. Although I did have Norwalk...

 

You should correct your times to compensate for that high altitude. You might surprise yourself.

 

Make some real use of those nittos and put a carb or tpi on there....

 

Oh get the hell off our board ;P

 

I love it when some kid in his 350 TPI with headers wants to race my truck, the TBI opens a few eyes.

 

Damn i come on this board and make a friendly suggestion and look what i get. A "kid with some tpi and headers". Try my lil vette with "tpi and headers" and see what happens.

 

Im not doggin anyone on here, cause I know you guys work with what you have, and I respect that... but dont ya thinkg 15.9's on DR's is a little... uhm... harsh?

 

i love tbi , for reliability . thats all im going to say i dont feel like getting castrated

 

Please do not post non tbi tech related stuff on the tbi board. Im sure if he was curious about switching to carb or tpi he would have posted about that on the proper board. However he did not.

 

not every rs is made equal!!

first time at track a couple years ago:

rs with hypertech chip, edelbrock cat back, open element and no cat ran a 15.8 @87.5 and this was on old bald goodyear eagle IIs

 

RedFirebird ,

My comments were not directed at you, if you got more mods than me then so what, and ya you lil' vette is lite and probably fast, so your win in a race, but lets chain our rides together and see who pulls who..... well thats a stupid comparison anyway.

My point being, don't come on the tbi board and make stupid suggestions. This guys got a tbi car, I remember when I first hit the 15s too, its exciting.

 

Whoa, easy fellas

The thing is:

1. This was my first time using the DR's and I can't properly heat them up (no posi, car goes sideways on burnouts)
2. The wheels hopped REALLY bad, no matter how I launched it
3. Is a 2.356 sixty foot really THAT bad with my setup?
4. I did gain .8 and 5+ mph

I know I can do better by doing better burnouts and working on my launches.

Thanks for the tips/complements/criticism

Tony

 

Welcome to the 15 second Club.

Lon

 

C1500,

Sorry i took it the wrong way. I was making a suggestion, i guess I can see how it would be viewed as out of line. TPI certainly isn't the end-all of performance either so we're all in the same boat.

Now since i've posted in this thread three times i might as well say something pertaining the topic. Yes a 2.3x '60 isn't very good. How were your RT's? A car without DR's can pull sub-2.0 '60's with a decent driver. I'm sure not having a posi hurt you a little, but even then a car that traps 88 mph should have controllable wheel spin. You really answered your own question in the original post and that was doing some work on the rear suspension, which probably needs attention anyway. Yes you gained in both ET and mph. No doubt the DR's helped you in ET, but it was the tuneup that helped your trap speed.

 

R/T will win you races, but I hope you don't think the r/t has anything to do with his 60' or e/t.

Lon

 

well to put your times in perspective..
NO POSI,2.73's,and JUNK A*S 205/65 tires
-2.19 60',15.6@88. mods in sig.....

How many miles are on your car?I still think something is wrong with it if youre only getting 2.3x 60's.i think i ran like high 2.2x's when i was totally stock.And i dont think 1500-2000 ft would make that much of a difference,unless your car is badly out of tune.anyone else care to comment?

 

Yea a 2.3 is bad, almost as bad as 2.4 . Like I said I was cutting 2.24's and that was even with a little wheel spin... did you wet the tire at all before you tried to do your burnout? I was able to not get sideways when I did my burn outs.

 

I like my 15.4@92 mph on street tires, stock cam, stock heads, intake,stock tbi,stock headers...

I can cut a 2.2 60 ft on street tires, imagine dr...

I think the hardest part for the tbi engine in general is the 2500 rpm-4000 rpm range. The dyno shows that compared to all engine the curve is one hell of a curve DOWN in torque and that's the most important range to have power for 2.73-3.73 gearing.

This spring I'm going to figure out the cheapest way to improve that rpm range's power band and weigh the options, most of it is via cam but I know there's a bit of work that can probably improve it.