Well I went back last night to run the old LO3 again to see what the rockers and clutch did for me and the results are horrible again. I cannot launch my car on radial tires to save my life. I even lowered my tire down to 25 psi. Anyway on the first pass i spun severe and with a 60 foot of 2.6, my car ran a 16.2. Well I went back through and when I launched by basically stalling and almost having the engine cut off (it was chirping like when you are a new stick driver and you pop the clutch) here are the results.

60'---2.554
330---6.799
1/8----10.333
mph---69.91
1000----13.350
1/4-----15.91
mph----88.21

Now I figure from looking at this mph that the car could be a low 15 second car when driven right I guess. What do you guys think would happen if I could get my 60' down to a good area?

 

Nobody cares?

 

i care and i would also guess around 15.2/15.3 1/4 time. Decent trap speed their but, definetly not a very good 60 footers, couple questions for you though, is the rearend drum or disk, is it posi or open?

What rpm are you launching at? stick or auto, stock or stalled converter?

Anyways my opinions are this, with a 700r4 drum rear with 2.73s and overtightened rear drums i can sucessfully launch mine at 1800 rpms (all the higher it will brake torque at).

Basically what i'm saying is don't rev it to high when you start nor to low, i think 2k or so would be about right with better gears. Also if i were you i'd lower tire pressure to 15-20lbs myself.

 

Well the 60' definately sucks. With a T5 you will have to work on the launch to improve it. I bet a slightly slowed release from about 1,500 rpm would really help. Highway gears and a stick are tough to launch with.

FWIW, I recently picked up a 5,500 lbs 1991 chevy van TBI 350 with 3.42 gears, the stock 1,200 rpm converter in the 700r4, and P235/75/R15 tires that will cut 2.55 second 60' times all day long. Leaving it in drive, shifting at 3,900-4,000 rpm it grunts its way to 11.40s at 60.00 MPH.

 

My LO5 with the WC T5 I sat around 1500 rpm and let the clutch out fairly smooth (not dumping it at all)a little quicker than a normal shift but not much. I had about 22 psi in back 35 pounds in front with a 3.42 LSD disk brake setup. With that setup ran a 2.087 60 and ran 15 flat, My LO3 with 3.73 LSD drums left around 1500 also with the best of a 2.210 60 foot.

Just need to practice a little is the best thing mess around with the tire pressure a little, do you burn out at all or go around the water box?

 

Thats exactly what I was talking about on the clutch.

I go around the water box, heat them up a little, then pull up to the lights still smoking from the burnout.

 

Don't let the air out of your radials. You need to pump them up. My best times were with tires at 35psi. Less than that and your not getting a good contact patch. My best 1/4 times comes from slipping the clutch to get the car moving, then get on it. So I basically take off at around idle-1200rpm.

 

Doing something in the differential: posi, locker, or Torsen will help. Could also do gears. What happens on an open rear is that the more power you put to it the less traction there is.

The engine torque twists the rear on the suspension lifting the passenger side. Then the infamous one-wheel-peel occurs. The more torque (power) the more the passenger side tire lifts, the more peel and less go.

An air bag in the passenger side spring will help with this. May be a cheap work around to shave the 60' a little. Even with a posi/locker/Torsen an air bag can help even out the traction between the rear tires.

RBob.

 

Well I have a T5 with open 3.08 and I launched around 1500 the first time by dumping it, but it spun, so the second time i tried launching real low and it almost stalled so I need to find an intermediate point. I want 3.73 posi but i think the would spin worse??

 

3.73 posi you should be good, you'll see a big improvment over the open rear at least both tires will be trying to get traction rather than the one. My 88 had 3.42 lsd but was still highway friendly 90~ mph around 1800rpms.