You're right there, Shiftem. Car 60 ft's great, and in in good air, your MPH COULD possibly put you in a high 10.
Stick cars will MPH a little higher than an auto car, with the same ET. As I mentioned, I've been trying to get mine to 60 ft properly, for a number of years. My 3640 pounds going 123 MPH, is wonderful, but I just can't get below 1.60 60 ft.
Sure wish I could do those suspension mods you have.
As for your car twisting ?
Can't IMAGINE how that could happen on a rust free, no-miles car
I have an 8 point bar, factory body mounts. Car is straight as a milling table.
I don't think you ever mentioned any specs about your engine ?
Must be making good power to go that fast, with the weight you have
I agree. That car is hauling the mail and getting that first 60 feet down is the hardest thing to do. We've been chasing it for 2 years now! I guess it just depends on what your goal is but that thing looks like a blast to drive from your videos too.
The goal is 10.70 to 10.80. That would make me happy. Obviously another 75 horsepower will fix that. What have you done to get yours hooked? I know there is a lot of chassis work done and it looks beautiful.
We are going straight for 13:1. Why mess around? haha. I thought about the Edelbrock but honestly I don't like their attitudes and refuse to by one. Last runs I set the light at 6000 and it goes through about 6400. It has a 4.56 and 3.08 first. I think spinning it higher would be a waste given the cubic inches and flow limitations of the heads and intake. Plus keeping the rpm down saves the motor. Really like the idea of keeping maintenance down even if it costs a little power.aaaah, the engine is BIG !
Nice combination of stuff inside. I think upping compression to around an actual 11.5
would greatly increase mid range and high RPM torque. Perhaps a pair of 600 carbs ?
I think the Edelbrock intake would be a pretty simple bolt on of 20 HP as well.
What RPM do you shift at... and go through traps ?
Stock / Super Stock guys run on the ragged edge... generally crossing the traps a few hundred RPM higher than shift point.
What I'm getting at, is maybe a touch more gear in the rear ? Could improve 60 ft, and give slightly stronger torque multiplication all the way.
Your description of adjusting instant centers, etc, is a little over my head
Thanks, we're still working on getting it to hook up. Actually we've had a problem even getting a damn burnout with the thing. Finally realized it was hitting the rev limiter and forcing it to drive out of the water even spinning the tires. The very last pass we made (which I drove) made a nice burnout. I am not too familiar with the car yet so I launched at maybe 2,500 RPM at best just giving it a try and it went! We have been messing around with instant centers and pinion angle alot too to see what it will do. I'm not sure the exact lengths and measurements though. It initially started out right behind the front seat, but now it's out to about the pedals at the firewall. I think it was initially hitting TOO hard and shocking the rear end unloading the tires and causing alot of wheel hop. We're going to give it another go on sunday. Check the timing, put a new set of plugs in it, get the tires good and hot and let her rip.
I noticed you said you run 15psi hot on the tires.. is that where you start them at? I know when I talked to Hooiser (we have the same tire) he said start at 14 to get in the ballpark, and dropping the pressure a quarter or half pound will actually put a little more bite in it.
Sounds just right, shiftem
I run pretty much the same size tire ( M/T 29.5 X 9 "stick compound" ), and you're right... a little more air is better.
Has to be in relation to car weight. I'm at about 13.5-14 after a run.
Again, mine's a Stocker. No adjustable 4-links. I have the single adjustable QA1's, which I now know are not adequate.
My clutch is the same as yours, using an 11 pound flywheel. With 5.13's, I have lots of rear gear, but something else I learned... my 2.83 1st gear is not enough. That 3.08 that you have, would be just right.
That's intersting about the carbs
That sucks about the not being able to change mount locations. I know what you mean about the clutch. At 8 turns and the 11.5 grams on each lever, the shifts were HARD. We are at 6.5 turns now but am afraid to go lower and cook it. I am really anxious to pull it and measure the wear. If it wore more than .015 with the amount of turns in it we have and limited amount of runs I am going to be really ticked offThanks Dan, Yes, I had to re-contour about 1/2" of the rear wheel well lip at the front lower edge.
Nope, lower arms must remain factory stock. I DID re-do the lower bracket at the frame, utilizing the 63/64 "2-position" mount ( station wagons will use the lower ones... as I did, which does get the lower arm closer to horizontal ).
No warping of my clutch components. I do inadvertantly seem to run my a little soft sometimes. Seems to be a VERY fine line between relentless slipping, and hammering the driveline. With the stupid clutch slipping, here is the only in car video ever done during a 1/4 mile pass. This was Medicine Hat, summer 2010, NHRA Stock / Super Stock combo race. 2300 ft altitude, a barometer reading putting the air near 5000 ft, a head wind, and unbelievable humidity... 11.40 @ 119.49 MPH.
So when addressing the wheel hop issue... which way do you go with the rear shocks? I think we have the same setup on the rear with the dual adjustable coil overs and eibach 175lbs springs. I take video on the starting line and it seems the car will plant and carry the front tire, then it levels back out, then picks the front tire up again, then levels out, then picks it up and carries it until the 1-2. The 3 little "hops" happen all before the car even passes the christmas tree. I watch the stuff frame by frame. The tires have a nice wrinkle to them and appear to bite. I'm wondering if the shocks are still too soft allowing it to compress fully and rebound with the weight still trying to be transferred? I believe the lower "click" setting is just above the middle, 6 clicks, and the upper "sweep" setting is at 4. I'm guessing that's where all the 60ft time loss is at but I'm new to this stuff. I would think you want it to squat in the back and lift in the front and just carry itself out of the beams in a fluid motion before settling back in. Also I'd have to check with my dad but I believe it has a heavy duty RAM clutch in it. We initially had a centerforce in it and the clutch would actually stick to the floor and not return for a few seconds between shifts. This new clutch you really have some force on the pedal, enough to flex the firewall when you push on it. Thanks for all the replies and help with this stuff. It's a learning process and it's great to hear from someone with a similar setup.
I like this thread!
All you guys are just like me, we all just want to go a little bit quicker.
Aubrey, I was looking at this video of your car launching.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Cstock6409#p/u/14/FXjDb4fxxCY
To my untrained eye the suspension looks to be set pretty well.
It does look like the clutch was set to slip a bit too much on this run. I guess it's hard to hit that sweet spot.
Brian, That 1.737 60' time could be quite a bit better. Just to put it into perspective Jim's big fat 62 convertible ran a couple of 1.72's (with 9" slicks)
With a little work you should be able to knock a couple of tenths off that 60' time and that would translate to a 3 tenths at the end of the 1/4 mile.