Help me with my ET

[subliminal1284]

I ran my car for the first time tonight at the drag strip. Its a 350 TPI engine I know I should of ran a better time so Im coming here for advice on what I need to do to improve it. I just gave it a tune up 3 weeks ago. I ran the car by just leaving it in Drive and didnt manual shift. Should I of manual shifted? I will post the results of my timeslip and let you guys diagnose it. Thanks!

RT- .408
1/8th mile- 9.19
1/4 mile 15.4
MPH- 90.4

I was up against what looked like a mustang LX I got the jump on him and but I spun pretty bad He had a 1/8th mile time of 10.1 with a 1/4 mile time of 15.399 he caught up to me and past me once we got past the 1/8th.

[juicedimpss]

nate,there are MANY things you can do to help it out,how much do you want to spend?

[PonyKiller87]

To tell you the truth, for a stock car thats not all that bad. The GTAs are on the heavier side for 3rd gens because of all the options so that holds you back some. Sounds like you need some suspension work or DRs if you were spinning, and maybe a TC lockup switch or something to get more out of the auto.

[juicedimpss]

what are your current mods anyway? its much easier to tell you what to change if we know what you already have.

[subliminal1284]

Its stock I know either im not doing something right or something isnt quite right with the car because most people with these cars are in the 14s 15.4 is what a 305 tpi would run. I wasnt asking what mods i should do. I was really asking for advice on my launch technique cause I think thats really where I messed up.



*Edit* You guys should of saw the first run I did. Now that was embarassing
I tried to shift it manually but had trouble getting it to shift. ran like a 19

[juicedimpss]

stay out of the waterbox with radial tires,small burnout only,too much heat makes them greasy.if the trans is shifting properly,leaving it in drive should be fine,and consistant as well. raise front tire air press to 40 for less rolling resistance.remove air filter if its a cheapo paper.

[theavenger333]

what was the 60ft

[subliminal1284]

You know for some reason it didnt show my 60 ft 330 Ft or 1000 Ft on my slip, Im not sure why it didnt????

[juicedimpss]

you must have ran in the right lane,i think the beams were not working,my one pass i made in that lane didnt really show much

[Myles]

cant you adjust the trans cable on the throttle of the 700r4 to make it shift different?

[theavenger333]

well either way, from what you describe you got plenty of wheelspin, you prob threw down a nice 2.0+ 60ft, which kills precious seconds. however your MPH was fairly accurate for a lower 15ish

[juicedimpss]

cant you adjust the trans cable on the throttle of the 700r4 to make it shift different?
yes and no.
its not really the right way to make the shift point change,as it alters pump pressure.the right way would be a shift governor kit,which is time consuming.

that being said,get some drag radials or slicks and hose the shit out of it,that will help your et for sure

[MT98Z]

that being said,get some drag radials or slicks and hose the shit out of it,that will help your et for sure[/QUOTE]

Werd :headbang

[TransAm12sec]

How many miles are on it?

A custom air intake is sure to help. I don't have time to find the links now, but thirdgen.org has plenty of info.

x2 for what juicedimpss said in his first post about the water box. Although I'd leave the air filter in.

I like this quote from the book Tune to Win, by Carroll Smith. The short version is small increments make the fastest car.

"The reason that Mario Andretti was two seconds faster than the second place qualifier-and four or five seconds faster than the tenth place qualifier-was not because of his engine, or his tires or basic chassis was that much faster. It wasn't because his driving skill was that superior-although, in this case, I must admit that driving skill was a larger than normal part of the picture - I'm a Mario admirer. The real difference was in the accumulation of a lot of tiny little increments of lap time-a tenth here and a hundredth there painfully gained through endless hours of testing and tuning. Once the car is basically sorted out that's all you are going to gain by tuning-tenths and hundredths. It's enough."

[subliminal1284]

its only got 105k on it

[sidewayzbimmer]

Seems about right time to me. But good advice from juiced. Stay out of the water box. If im not mistaken werent the 305's like high 15's low 16's?

[BadAzzGTA89]

Start modding the L98 and get the Nitto 555R's:devil
P.S that air intake system is for crap as you know!

[BigSnailBuick]

Start Modding!!! :banana1:

[Lash]

Hmmmmm....

Shouldn't a 9.19 1/8th mile be around a 14.0 1/4???

Or did you copy the slip wrong?

[subliminal1284]

Seems about right time to me. But good advice from juiced. Stay out of the water box. If im not mistaken werent the 305's like high 15's low 16's?


Yes the 305s were.... This is not a 305 its a 350 TPI.

I wrote down the wrong 1/8th its 9.9


Oh and after talking with people who watched my run and me trying to self analyze what I messed up on im pretty sure its the launch my RT sucked and my 60 ft was worse than the other lanes which was a 2.5. Need some more practice :)

[Bobby72GTO]

Spend a little money and get some drag radials. Juiced is right on what to do. Don't worry about your launch so much with a stock set up. Put it in drive with drag radials and go.

[WilliamZ]

I ran a 14.0@100 when I picked up my L-98 1991 Formula. It also had 225 wide tires on it. It was stock down to the filter and exhaust. I think it was a factory freak though.

[Poncho]

your RT does not matter, thats the last thing to even care about.

60' 60' 60. that dictates how the whole run will be, if you can get the pig off the line you'll be sure to have a decent run in an automatic.

also congrats you have the last surviving STOCK 350 tuned port car.

[BadAzzGTA89]

your RT does not matter, thats the last thing to even care about.

60' 60' 60. that dictates how the whole run will be, if you can get the pig off the line you'll be sure to have a decent run in an automatic.

also congrats you have the last surviving STOCK 350 tuned port car.
What mine is STOCK:devil

[Syclone0044]

I like this quote from the book Tune to Win, by Carroll Smith. The short version is small increments make the fastest car.

"The reason that Mario Andretti was two seconds faster than the second place qualifier-and four or five seconds faster than the tenth place qualifier-was not because of his engine, or his tires or basic chassis was that much faster. It wasn't because his driving skill was that superior-although, in this case, I must admit that driving skill was a larger than normal part of the picture - I'm a Mario admirer. The real difference was in the accumulation of a lot of tiny little increments of lap time-a tenth here and a hundredth there painfully gained through endless hours of testing and tuning. Once the car is basically sorted out that's all you are going to gain by tuning-tenths and hundredths. It's enough."
That's a fantastic quote!!! I saved it to disk in a file I keep for stuff like that. :thumbsup I tried giving you positive Rep for it but I guess I've reached my limit for today.

[TransAm12sec]

I need to finish reading that book. There is so much stuff to do, I've already pulled an all nighter.

Oh, the GTA is stock, besides a flowmaster catback. Judgethis, you should go to the thirdgen nationals next year. I forgot if I talked to you about that.

[PonyKiller87]

Judgethis, you should go to the thirdgen nationals next year. I forgot if I talked to you about that.


You could see this third gen that was mint,... other than all the holes the guy drilled in it, and it needed paint, and interior...... :goof

[BadAzzGTA89]

You could see this third gen that was mint,... other than all the holes the guy drilled in it, and it needed paint, and interior...... :goof
LMAO BURN

[PonyKiller87]

I knew one of you guys would appreciate that, If I had a picture of that car I would have posted it.

[TransAm12sec]

Here are a few pics of it. I just uploaded the pics from thirdgen fest. The owner of the madmax car was cool though. When someone asked him "What was the inspiration behind all this?", he responded "Boredom".

http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f141/TransAm12sec/Thirdgen%20Nationals%2006/

Pony and BadAzz, is this you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHAuoxbkN7U

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f141/TransAm12sec/Thirdgen%20Nationals%2005/IMG_2319.jpg
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f141/TransAm12sec/Thirdgen%20Nationals%2005/IMG_2320.jpg
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f141/TransAm12sec/Thirdgen%20Nationals%2005/IMG_2322.jpg
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f141/TransAm12sec/Thirdgen%20Nationals%2005/IMG_2321.jpg

[Poncho]

You could see this third gen that was mint,... other than all the holes the guy drilled in it, and it needed paint, and interior...... :goof

you really are a bunch of bitches.

:goof :goof

[juicedimpss]

wow,call child services,the has been a molestation.

[PonyKiller87]

Can't see the pics, work filters out file storage sites like photobucket, someone download and attach them to the post please.

But yeah the guy that hacked up that car wasnt all that bad. He didn't seem overly dumb or anything, I guess bordom does different things to people. I still though the biggest shock was when he told me the car still weighs about 3400 lbs, all that swiss cheesing and fiberglass and its still a heavy pig.



Judge, Im just given you a hard time, you got to addmit what you were saying was kinda dumb. Thats like saying this milk is fresh other than the parts that are curtled up. Anyways, I won't continue to beat that dead horse.

[Poncho]

i know you're just giving me a hard time.

it came out wrong, but basically what I was trying to get across was that the iroc only has 17k, is all original, not hacked up, cut up, smashed or beat up.

then that other than the fact that it sat in the sun, and it ate up the paint, that the body is perfect otherwise. not creased or dented, rusted, etc.

it would be the perfect car to build up, or redo, since time really hasn't abused it, it's been under a car cover for years.

sometime in 87 or 88 there was a flashflood, and the owners dad started it up to move it, but it was too late and the 305 got hydrolocked. when my dad got it, he took out the engine and trans, and sent the engine off to get rebuilt. thats as far as he went.

when it was out he started researching and found that -- ding ding, a 305 is worthless, so he quit working on it. at the time he and I were in the middle of restoring his '55 for the 2nd time around, so the car sat in the corner, plus I still had my '66 Impala, and I was slowly fixing that up.

that is what i never explained.

but if I can be the butt of jokes, it's better to be that than nothing at all.

[Prince Valiant]

Well, on top of the obvious stuff that'll get you faster (more power, better tires), and the stuff that juiced shared, I'll add a couple of things I didn't see:

1. For a better ET, stage as shallow as possible. This means barely tripping the 2nd staging light. It might not seem like alot, but that little rolling start before the timer actually starts can be .1 or .15 right there.

2. Practice, practice practice. As pointed out, 60ft times (IE launches) are critical for success no matter what you are driving. Keep a log of what you are doing for a launch, then record the 60ft time...when you find the technique that works best, there you go...continue with it until you change something in the basic combo (IE new tires, torque converter, more power, gears, etc). I suggest trying everything from just stomping on the gas from a dead stop to maximum brake torqueing the car at the start line (bringing the engine up against the brake at XXXX rpm's). The best for your given car/combo will likely be somewhere in there...but then I've had cars that prefered maximum brake torquing, and my last truck preferred just slamming it down.

Current valiant prefers holding the rpms @ 2000, and then coming off the clutch quickly, but not dumping it.

[Prince Valiant]

I ran a 14.0@100 when I picked up my L-98 1991 Formula. It also had 225 wide tires on it. It was stock down to the filter and exhaust. I think it was a factory freak though.
Doesn't seem too freakish...I saw a 91c car go 13.7 bone stock when I raced in the mid 90's :stare

[TransAm12sec]

Yea, you don't see that anymore. There are very few cars in the 12s with stock heads/cam/intake.