FIRST time track results!

[Snorman]

I raced at E-town today (along with about 500 other cars). This is not only my first time racing the Regal, but my first time racing an automatic. All of my Mustangs have been 5-speed cars. The mods are as follow: Walbro 340 w/hotwire, Cotton's 93 chip, Postons air cleaner base lid, billet inlet bell, fan switch, 160* t-stat, convertor switch, 235/60-15 BFG DR's. I was running a 2:1 mix of Sunoco GT100 and 94. In colder temps, I had the wastegate adjusted to ~19psi. Yesterday, it was in the mid-60's with matching humidity and I was seeing 17-18psi. O2's were in the ~780 range with less than 1.0 KR. Raceweight on the E-town scale was 3,674 with me (~240lbs.) and nothing removed from the car (spare, jack, etc.) and 1/2 tank of gas.
My first run was...uhh...embarrassing to say the least. I went around the water and attempted a burnout. The tires bit and the car was pushing. When they broke loose, the rear started coming around on the left side. I staged the car and for some inexplicable reason, tried to launch it at 5psi. The car pushed through the lights and spun about 100 feet down the track giving the following...

60ft. 2.957
330' 8.069
1/8 11.667
mph 71.38
1000 14.566
1/4 16.974
mph 93.89

Talk about embarrassing!
I regained my composure and came right back into the staging lanes.
Run #2, staged with ~1-2psi, convertor unlocked

60ft. 2.067
330' 5.728
1/8 8.814
mph 79.30
1000' 11.508
1/4 13.808
mph 97.72

Run #3, again staged with 1-2psi, locked convertor

60ft. 2.020
330' 5.663
1/8 8.704
mph 80.47
1000' 11.347
1/4 13.603
mph 99.48

Run #4, staged solid 2psi, forgot to lock convertor

60ft. 2.005
330' 5.660
1/8 8.748
mph 79.63
1000' 11.410
1/4 13.669
mph 99.63

Run #5 (final run), staged 3psi, locked convertor

60ft. 1.924
330' 5.506
1/8 8.530
mph 80.88
1000' 11.160
1/4 13.405
mph 100.10

Like somebody told me, anyday you can drop 3.5+ seconds in ET is a good day. Note that it seems locking the convertor gave me a solid 2 tenths and almost 1.5mph.
I feel confident that without even touching the car, it'll go 13.0's. The DR's are hooking, and the car is holding solid at the line. I'm pretty sure it'll hold 4-5psi on launch and will get my 60's into the low 1.8 range on these DR's. Also, in better air I'm sure to pick up 1-2 tenths. It would figure today would be ~25* warmer than every other day this week.
How do these times look for the mods? Any input?
Thanks.
S.
BTW-Why am I typing this at 5 am? It's my night to get up with our 1-month old son.

 

[Ross L]

I'm also used to mustangs and yesterday was my first trip in my GN. Did you wire in a switch to lock the converter. How does the transmission shift "feel" when locked vs unlocked. Also, what size DR's are you running. Good times!!

 

[TurboDave]

Actually I was looking at runs 3 & 4. One run locked the other not.

Don't worry about whether the torque converter helps with the ET locked or unlocked. It won't make that much difference at all. ET is made in the first couple hundred feet (long before you lock the converter).

If you look at your 60' times, you'll notice a direct correlation between that and your ET's.

The true tale of how your torque converter is doing is MPH. There was no difference in runs 3 & 4 ???? That tells me your torque converter clutch has probably seen it's better days, as you should enjoy a solid 2-3mph difference between locked/unlocked runs.

When are you locking it? Not on the line are you? The most efficient place to lock it is right after the 2-3 shift (a couple seconds, or around 80mph).

 

[Snorman]

Dave,
Glad you mentioned it...
On run #4, I realized that I forgot to lock the convertor just as the car was shifting into 3rd. I reached down and flicked the switch just after the car shifted. I know the speedo was in the 85mph range. That may account for the fact that here is little difference in mph from runs 3 to 4. I actually thought you were supposed to have the convertor locked in 2nd and 3rd.

Ross,
I wired a switch from the ALDL slot to ground. I forget exactly which slot it is, but it's a very simply procedure. You can also use a paperclip to ground the TCC slot in the ALDL to the ground slot on the ALDL. With the convertor locked, the car feels sluggish in 2nd gear at anything under WOT. The DR's are 235/60-15's.
S.

 

[TurboDave]

Locking the converter at the line will cause it to lock immediately on the shift into second. This creates far too much of an rpm drop and pulls the engine way down out of it's power curve, often resulting in "bog" feel at the shift. You've got the combination of the shift rpm drop along with the lock rpm drop. Too much of a drop an one time.

Same thing holds true if you lock it in second, the big drop occurs at the 2-3 shift. Too much of a drop on your average T/R motor.

It may be OK on a high screaming big rpm motor that doesn't shift till 6,000 or later, but not on the average 11-13 second car.

You should see the rpm curves on my motor when I tried locking the converter on the line or in second

 

[buzzman]

really good times, did not see any exhaust mods in your sig, are you running through stock exhaust? And do you feel the poston air set up helps?

 

[Snorman]

Dave,
Thanks for the info...maybe I'll try changing the point at which I lock the convertor and see what effect it has.

buzzman,
No exhaust mods, stock DP, stock cat.

S.

 

[GNSCOTT]

Those are very respectible times. Basically the only real go fast mod you have is a chip, and its a street chip. Try a Cottons race chip, some good gas and some boost. Its fun to try to break into th 12'sw/ just a chip. Good Luck!

 

[Snorman]

I'll be running again this week, either Wednesday at E-town or Thursday at Atco.
I'm not going to touch anything on the car, as the O2's and KR look good. I'm going to run a few more gallons of gas out of the car to drop a pound or two of weight. I'm also going to attempt to launch the car at 4-5psi of boost. IMO, with a better 60ft. and in better air, I'll see a 13.0.
After that, I'll put on the test pipe. I'm also going to get a RJC Powerplate to attempt to run more boost with the stock turbo. I'd like to get 12.5's out of the stock turbo/IC/DP/exhaust on these DR's.
S.

 

[kjhansen]

Originally posted by TurboDave
Locking the converter at the line will cause it to lock immediately on the shift into second. This creates far too much of an rpm drop and pulls the engine way down out of it's power curve, often resulting in "bog" feel at the shift. You've got the combination of the shift rpm drop along with the lock rpm drop. Too much of a drop an one time.

Same thing holds true if you lock it in second, the big drop occurs at the 2-3 shift. Too much of a drop on your average T/R motor.

It may be OK on a high screaming big rpm motor that doesn't shift till 6,000 or later, but not on the average 11-13 second car.

You should see the rpm curves on my motor when I tried locking the converter on the line or in second

My car puts about 375hp to the ground with the TC locked (dyno-run proven) and about 350 or so with it unlocked. Picks up a solid 2 tenths at the track with with the TC locked. The trans shifts automatically in the low 5000rpm range. This is a stock-block, stock head, stock cammed engine but with standard recipe mods and open exhaust. I'm not saying that locking the TC with a completely stock engine will accomplish the same thing, but I am saying that locking the TC works for me. Although something did eat the original TC pretty quickly after I started doing that.... could have been the lock-up, could have been the StageRight trans brake, who knows... but 2 tenths of a second and almost 2 mph for the price of a cheap switch was a good gain.

Keith
(time below was before addition of RJC Powerplate and TH downpipe)

 

[salvageV6]

Good job got about the same times with my 4000 lb. car and a lot more mods.

What color was your car?

Mine was the black GN.

Way too many cars there but I learned a lot.

I like the place, certainly not the drive there.

 

[Snorman]

salvage,
lol...in a sea of black cars...

Actually, I was there on Saturday, not yesterday.
My car is medium grey.
For me, the drive is only about 30 minutes.

S.