- Joined
- May 26, 2001
Welp, what can I say. There was a very nice turn out at Tri State, I believe there were 8-9 Turbo Buicks including Sarah, and about 6 Syclones and I believe 3 Typhoons. There was also a sweet looking supercharged blow through carb'd Malibu. This was on our side of the track, there were a lot of other modern GM machines on the other side of the track, not to mention some SRT-4s, 4 Evos, a couple of WRXs and tons of race cars. Very good turnout, I only wish they would have stayed open longer as the weather was absolutely 110% perfect racing weather. Got to meet some new people and see some familiar faces.
For this track visit, I ran my new ET Streets, aired to 11psi, boost was still at 24psi, fuel was un-touched as far as the numbers were concerned, but I did pull out - 3.1% fuel in 1st to help with spool up just in case. But, I upped the timing under WOT in 1st & 2nd to 26.3* and 3rd & 4th to 26.1*. Not having enough time to get my air bags installed or to get the rear brakes up to snuff, I knew it was going to be tough to launch with decent boost much less hook a high boost launch, but Dave and I put our heads together and went old school. We disconnected the drivers side front sway bar link and that really did the trick as far as weight transfer went. Nothing else has been done to the suspension, it's 100% stock at this point. Car # 97 and all runs made in right lane.
1st pass
.781 O2 Zero Knock retard, 24psi total boost, fp at 43.5psi, launched with 5psi and the car was all over the track spinning. I told myself, it felt like a 12.40ish pass and I predicted that it might run a 40 or 50 on the first pass.
12.459 @ 108.38 with a ehhhh 1.843 short time.
Not too bad for the first pass, now, let's get too tuning. I get back to the pits, pop the hood and the first thing I notice is, the tie down strap eyelet bolt was broken and the tie down strap was luckily still there. Dave actually predicted that it would break before we left the Fiscus Ranch. I hastily repositioned it and snugged it up. Let her cool for 1 hour and reset tires back to 11psi.
The next run I pulled more fuel out of 1st as she didn't want to hold more than 6psi before pushing. 1st gear fuel correction was adjusted to -8.6%, fuel under WOT was still + 15.6% and I turned the RJC boost controller all the way up until there was no more adjustment left. (standard actuator was still set at static with just enough pre-load so that you could pull it onto the swing arm with your fingers)
2nd pass
.761 O2, 1.6 Knock retard, 25psi total boost, fuel pressure the same. Launched with 6psi and she still spun badly. But I told my self going through the traps, well, maybe another tenth or two better but not much considering the boost only went up 1 psi.
12.283 @ 109.83 with an almost identical 1.849 short time. Pulling fuel and the 1psi of boost definitely helped the et and mph.
For the next pass I wanted to get serious with the tune and decided to let my boy Dave make a pass. Kinda stacking the deck in my favor as he is actually about 150#s lighter in the weight dept that I am. Timing left the same, pulled -9.4% fuel out of 1st and added +17.2% fuel for WOT. I tightened the actuator up 6 half turns (3 full turns), hoping the boost would go to 28psi. This whole time I'm making these tuning adjustments I was talking to my car, yes I will admit it. She didn't have a problem with any of it. I told Dave before he even got in the car that he was going to run an 11.99 on this pass. I just had a feeling....
3rd pass
.617 O2, 3.8* Knock retard, 27.5psi total boost, fuel pressure un-touched. Dave said he launched with 9psi and it just blew the tires off.
When the score board lit up, all my friends were like, Damn Patrick! You nailed that one! Needless to say, I was very pleased. 11.991 @ 112.61 with a wonderful 1.81 short time with stock suspension too boot.
It was getting close to shut down time and I wanted Dave to make one more pass. I only got to give her 37 minutes of cool down and the Stock location intercooler was still very warm when I shut the hood. For this pass I upped the WOT fuel to +18.8%, left the 1st gear fuel correction at -9.4%, left timing alone and boost alone, but Dave lowered the tires down to 10.5psi in the staging lanes, hoping that it would help a little.
4th pass
.136 O2, 6.1 Knock retard!!!!
The run was looking very good until she went through the traps.
12.109 @ 101.13 with a 1.769 short time, better. I told my buddy Ken, I bet he either lifted due to knock or it blew a hose off.
Dave comes back, gets out and says, I don't know what happened?.? She was on a good pass tho, but it was like the car just cut off at about 1000ft. Not cutting off, but just falling on it's face. I popped the hood and the first thing I noticed was that the hard plastic tube with the factory rubber connectors on the fuel pressure regulator had blown the bottom rubber piece off of the hard line. Basically when she fell on her face, she lost all fuel pressure and it went back to static level of 43.5 instead of 71psi. Luckily, I had enough octane with the gas I was using to only allow for 6.1* of knock retard. I checked the oil, it looked and smelled fine, checked the coolant, no problems there, no leaks and she was purring like a kitten. Guess I got really lucky on this one. The really interesting thing to note from the previous pass is, the car ran a 1.769 vs a 1.812 on pass 3, 7.626 @ 92.22 vs 7.677 @ 92.14 on pass 3 and a 9.960 vs a 9.999 on pass 3 at the 1000ft. I figured that she might have run a high 80 something on this pass.
All in all, I thought this wasn't bad considering everything that was working against me. No suspension mods, not locking the converter up and not having time to change the fuel filter. Trans was shifting perfectly with no problems, which was a very good thing to find out. So, I loaded her up today and drove her back home with zero problems.
At this point, I am very pleased with the way she is responding to the tune.
In two track visits and 7 passes she's gone from a 13.37 @ 105.37 to a best of 11.991 @ 112.61. I couldn't be more proud of her.
I am going to work on a few things and save her for Bowling Green. I would like to be able to run 11.50's to 11.40's at Bowling Green. If she happens to go faster, that would be sweet.
My game plan calls for working on the rear brakes, installing the rear air bags, removing the front sway bar completely, changing the fuel filter, plugs, oil, oil filter and O2 sensor. Getting a lock up switch and ash tray panel setup done, running pure C-16 and maybe installing a Metco rear sway bar. I might take out the sound deadening mat under the back seat to save a little weight, but not sure yet. But I do know that I gotta get busy as I've only got 22 days before it's time to race. I would like to say Thanks to Don Mudrich (d0n-3d) for helping me thrash this past Thursday night, my boy Dave for also helping and doing a good job of driving and Natalie for putting up with us during all this, she is awesome.
Thanks for reading and sorry it's so long winded.
See everyone at Bowling Green.
Patrick
For this track visit, I ran my new ET Streets, aired to 11psi, boost was still at 24psi, fuel was un-touched as far as the numbers were concerned, but I did pull out - 3.1% fuel in 1st to help with spool up just in case. But, I upped the timing under WOT in 1st & 2nd to 26.3* and 3rd & 4th to 26.1*. Not having enough time to get my air bags installed or to get the rear brakes up to snuff, I knew it was going to be tough to launch with decent boost much less hook a high boost launch, but Dave and I put our heads together and went old school. We disconnected the drivers side front sway bar link and that really did the trick as far as weight transfer went. Nothing else has been done to the suspension, it's 100% stock at this point. Car # 97 and all runs made in right lane.
1st pass
.781 O2 Zero Knock retard, 24psi total boost, fp at 43.5psi, launched with 5psi and the car was all over the track spinning. I told myself, it felt like a 12.40ish pass and I predicted that it might run a 40 or 50 on the first pass.
12.459 @ 108.38 with a ehhhh 1.843 short time.
Not too bad for the first pass, now, let's get too tuning. I get back to the pits, pop the hood and the first thing I notice is, the tie down strap eyelet bolt was broken and the tie down strap was luckily still there. Dave actually predicted that it would break before we left the Fiscus Ranch. I hastily repositioned it and snugged it up. Let her cool for 1 hour and reset tires back to 11psi.
The next run I pulled more fuel out of 1st as she didn't want to hold more than 6psi before pushing. 1st gear fuel correction was adjusted to -8.6%, fuel under WOT was still + 15.6% and I turned the RJC boost controller all the way up until there was no more adjustment left. (standard actuator was still set at static with just enough pre-load so that you could pull it onto the swing arm with your fingers)
2nd pass
.761 O2, 1.6 Knock retard, 25psi total boost, fuel pressure the same. Launched with 6psi and she still spun badly. But I told my self going through the traps, well, maybe another tenth or two better but not much considering the boost only went up 1 psi.
12.283 @ 109.83 with an almost identical 1.849 short time. Pulling fuel and the 1psi of boost definitely helped the et and mph.
For the next pass I wanted to get serious with the tune and decided to let my boy Dave make a pass. Kinda stacking the deck in my favor as he is actually about 150#s lighter in the weight dept that I am. Timing left the same, pulled -9.4% fuel out of 1st and added +17.2% fuel for WOT. I tightened the actuator up 6 half turns (3 full turns), hoping the boost would go to 28psi. This whole time I'm making these tuning adjustments I was talking to my car, yes I will admit it. She didn't have a problem with any of it. I told Dave before he even got in the car that he was going to run an 11.99 on this pass. I just had a feeling....
3rd pass
.617 O2, 3.8* Knock retard, 27.5psi total boost, fuel pressure un-touched. Dave said he launched with 9psi and it just blew the tires off.
When the score board lit up, all my friends were like, Damn Patrick! You nailed that one! Needless to say, I was very pleased. 11.991 @ 112.61 with a wonderful 1.81 short time with stock suspension too boot.
It was getting close to shut down time and I wanted Dave to make one more pass. I only got to give her 37 minutes of cool down and the Stock location intercooler was still very warm when I shut the hood. For this pass I upped the WOT fuel to +18.8%, left the 1st gear fuel correction at -9.4%, left timing alone and boost alone, but Dave lowered the tires down to 10.5psi in the staging lanes, hoping that it would help a little.
4th pass
.136 O2, 6.1 Knock retard!!!!
The run was looking very good until she went through the traps.
12.109 @ 101.13 with a 1.769 short time, better. I told my buddy Ken, I bet he either lifted due to knock or it blew a hose off.
Dave comes back, gets out and says, I don't know what happened?.? She was on a good pass tho, but it was like the car just cut off at about 1000ft. Not cutting off, but just falling on it's face. I popped the hood and the first thing I noticed was that the hard plastic tube with the factory rubber connectors on the fuel pressure regulator had blown the bottom rubber piece off of the hard line. Basically when she fell on her face, she lost all fuel pressure and it went back to static level of 43.5 instead of 71psi. Luckily, I had enough octane with the gas I was using to only allow for 6.1* of knock retard. I checked the oil, it looked and smelled fine, checked the coolant, no problems there, no leaks and she was purring like a kitten. Guess I got really lucky on this one. The really interesting thing to note from the previous pass is, the car ran a 1.769 vs a 1.812 on pass 3, 7.626 @ 92.22 vs 7.677 @ 92.14 on pass 3 and a 9.960 vs a 9.999 on pass 3 at the 1000ft. I figured that she might have run a high 80 something on this pass.
All in all, I thought this wasn't bad considering everything that was working against me. No suspension mods, not locking the converter up and not having time to change the fuel filter. Trans was shifting perfectly with no problems, which was a very good thing to find out. So, I loaded her up today and drove her back home with zero problems.
At this point, I am very pleased with the way she is responding to the tune.
In two track visits and 7 passes she's gone from a 13.37 @ 105.37 to a best of 11.991 @ 112.61. I couldn't be more proud of her.
I am going to work on a few things and save her for Bowling Green. I would like to be able to run 11.50's to 11.40's at Bowling Green. If she happens to go faster, that would be sweet.
My game plan calls for working on the rear brakes, installing the rear air bags, removing the front sway bar completely, changing the fuel filter, plugs, oil, oil filter and O2 sensor. Getting a lock up switch and ash tray panel setup done, running pure C-16 and maybe installing a Metco rear sway bar. I might take out the sound deadening mat under the back seat to save a little weight, but not sure yet. But I do know that I gotta get busy as I've only got 22 days before it's time to race. I would like to say Thanks to Don Mudrich (d0n-3d) for helping me thrash this past Thursday night, my boy Dave for also helping and doing a good job of driving and Natalie for putting up with us during all this, she is awesome.
Thanks for reading and sorry it's so long winded.
See everyone at Bowling Green.
Patrick
