New personal best last night (6-29), but I still need traction!

[d0n_3d]

Well I finally broke a new best with the ball bearing 67 turbo, 11.07 @ 125 mph. I was running 100 octane pump gas, 25 psi, 5 psi launch spinning a little on the 255/50/16 MT drag radials (1.76 60 ft), only 20* timing, and a total car with driver weight of about 3525. Still searching for a damn 10, but I know I will get it with slicks and pure race gas and higher timing. I just hope the damn stock bottom end holds together! This turbo is a killer on the street too. Just wanted to update those who cared. I'm not trying to set records or anything...just wanting a reliable high to mid 10 second street car.

 

[d0n_3d]

I forgot to mention this was at U.S. 41 Dragway in Morocco, IN. Temps were in the high 50's. It was their annual "Mardi Gras" night. There were some hot topless girls...pretty crazy night. They are having another one at the end of July.

 

[John Wilde]

Don,

Congratulations and thanks for making it hard for me to not buy one!

 

[TurboDave]

Congrats Don. I think you're finding out the hard lesson I learned several years ago. 16" tires (even drag radials) will NEVER achieve the good traction of a 15" tire of the same diameter.
The 16's sidewall is too small to allow any appreciable flex. I never got any 60's in the 1.6's while I was on the 16" drag radials. I even tried ET streets, still 1.7's

When I went to 15" slicks the 60's were in the high 1.5's and those were little 26x8-15 goodyear slicks.

 

[Pronto]

Hummm, topless girls at the dragstrip, now that's an interesting idea.:biggrin:
Are those 255/50/16s a 28" tire?

 

[d0n_3d]

Hummm, topless girls at the dragstrip, now that's an interesting idea.:biggrin:
Are those 255/50/16s a 28" tire?

yeah that's what I said too...LOL I'm only 24 and single so I was all for it.

TurboDave...you are correct on the 16" wheels/tires combo. My friend Patrick says I'm just pissing in the wind with that kind of setup and I know. I've been on a limited budget this year and it's all I got right now. I'll have wheels and tires by the end of the summer hopefully. I ran the tire pressure on these things down to 15 psi and they still won't grab 100% although they do a very nice job on the street! These tires are BARELY 26" tall btw. My fronts are only like 23.8" tall which is not good either. I've been told many times that my 120k miles stock worn out shocks and springs up front need to go and I need to get the nose of the car out of the ground and raise it like 3 inches to get it level so it will weight transfer better. I don't have an adjustable rear suspension either with stock uppers and bushings.

Hell last year on STOCK GN wheels with 28x9 slicks, I ran very low 1.5x 60 foots with a best of 1.51. If I can do that again...this damn car might run a 10.60! It's definitely screaming up top though...trapping at 125 mph. I'd thought I never see this day of my car going that fast in the quarter.

 

[Bens87tr]

Great MPH! Can I buy my converter back now?

 

[d0n_3d]

Great MPH! Can I buy my converter back now?

Are you the one who sold me the 9"? Man this converter rocks! I mean the 61 I had on there before spooled FAST. But this ball bearing 67 spools the exact same as the 61! When I launch the car at 5 psi...it's at full boost as soon as I let go of the brakes. Even on a highway roll in OD, I can moved the boost gauge needle wherever I want with the throttle instantly. It's crazy.

The car ran 101 MPH in the 1/8th with a 7.17 ET. So it gained almost 25 MPH on the 2nd half of the run. It's screamin! I can't wait to see what it does with light weight wheels and slicks and higher timing! Bye bye stock crank! LOL!

 

[19TTA89]

255-50-16 MT Drag Radials need air in them...I would run 24-26psi in mine...And would 60ft 1.51-1.53 all night long.

Im not sure where the misconception came from that you have to have a 15" tire to get traction.You may have to change your launching technique a bit...but the tire is more than capable of going low 1.5 60's.

If you cannot get a good 60 on that tire...It is you..your track...or something your not doing right..Not the tire.

I would roll up to the line...never through the water box,Always around it,Lite burnout...A little smoke not killing them.2-3 lbs of boost....and mash it when the lite dropped.Car would hook and Leave...1.5x everytime.

That was with a HR bar,Stock boxed lowers,And stock uppers.No front sway bar.

Here is a little video of the car...Only one I could find...The 2nd pass doesn't show the 60' but it was 1.53...First was a 1.58...That was when I was still playing with air pressure and so on.

Video - My full weight power everything 20mpg 255-50-16 Drag Radial Cruiser. "whistle of Death"

Good luck...and get those 16's to hook...Nothing better than the look you get when you rip off a low 1.5 on a little 16" tire...Lots of believers around here now...:biggrin:

 

[ttypewhite]

Congrats Don, thats excellent news!!

 

[d0n_3d]

Wow that is very interesting...I know my car isn't weight transferring right now because the front end sags and has small tires up front. I know that is why they aren't hooking. When I saw the video of my run, the car left "level" instead of the front end coming up. I'll have to play around and see if I can get the car level and then maybe see if I can hook those tires again. Thanks for the info!

 

[d0n_3d]

255-50-16 MT Drag Radials need air in them...I would run 24-26psi in mine...And would 60ft 1.51-1.53 all night long.

Im not sure where the misconception came from that you have to have a 15" tire to get traction.You may have to change your launching technique a bit...but the tire is more than capable of going low 1.5 60's.

If you cannot get a good 60 on that tire...It is you..your track...or something your not doing right..Not the tire.

I would roll up to the line...never through the water box,Always around it,Lite burnout...A little smoke not killing them.2-3 lbs of boost....and mash it when the lite dropped.Car would hook and Leave...1.5x everytime.

That was with a HR bar,Stock boxed lowers,And stock uppers.No front sway bar.

Here is a little video of the car...Only one I could find...The 2nd pass doesn't show the 60' but it was 1.53...First was a 1.58...That was when I was still playing with air pressure and so on.

Video - My full weight power everything 20mpg 255-50-16 Drag Radial Cruiser. "whistle of Death"

Good luck...and get those 16's to hook...Nothing better than the look you get when you rip off a low 1.5 on a little 16" tire...Lots of believers around here now...:biggrin:

DAAAMN! That is a fast car on those tires! I can tell your car weight transfers better that mine. Maybe that's all I need. What was done up front suspension wise? I don't run the front sway bar, and everything else is stock. The rear has HR lowers, stock uppers, ATR rear bar, and air bags in the stock coils...everything else stock.

 

[19TTA89]

Oh yeah...And congrats on the new best...:biggrin:

As far as the front...No front bar...Just a regular shock...Nothing special,Just dont recall the brand right now,But I can check...And stock springs.

Play with the air pressure...bring it up to around 20 psi to start...Your turbo should spool plenty quick...So just bump up against the convertor,And mash it...If you move the air pressure...move it up,It has been my experience that the tires like pressure in them.

I had an HR bar..no airbags.

Again,Best of luck...I just mounted up a pair of 235-60-15 MT's on my stock T wheels last nite....I am going to see what I can get them to do within the next few weeks...Tiny little things they are....

 

[d0n_3d]

Thanks...after seeing that video, you just made another believer out of that tire size! LOL!

Thanks for all the support guys...I know I'm not the fastest guy in the world but I'm slowly getting there. I can remember when I was running 12.20's on a stock turbo and never thought in my wildest dreams I would be where I am today knocking on the 10's door...after I made my pass Friday night, I was driving past the crowd by the time shack and there were a group of people bowing at my car like I was some god or something...LMAO! that was a priceless site.

There was also a FAST black Supra there. I was told he was running a 71 GTQ turbo and is capable of 9's and it looked stock and drives in locally around this area. That's where I want to be a few years Hell I probably sold him the damn turbo when I worked at PTE!

 

[John Wilde]

Don,

Have you measured your pinion angle?
You may want to consider adjustable uppers.
If you have non solid bushings try about -4 to -6*.
With a solid bushing you can -1 to -2*.

 

[d0n_3d]

No I've never known what my pinion angle is. I don't even know how to check it!

I just looked at my data log of that run and I am very concerned. The A/F ratio was in the mid 12's halfway down the track and then as I was crossing the line, it was in the high 13's. That is SCARY lean. No wonder it knocked. I had my target air fuel to be 11.3 in all rpm ranges at WOT so it was WAY off. I gotta see if my voltage to the pump is bad and then see if the translator is even trying to add fuel at WOT. I'll also have to change the fuel filter. I also crossed the line at 6065 RPMs which is kinda high for my liking but that is because of the 26" tires. Oh and my boost was NOT 25 psi...in fact it peaked at 28.8!!! So I have some serious issues I gotta figure out. I can't believe I didn't blow this thing up.

 

[RUQWKNF]

Congrats Don.
The car is definitely coming around. You just have a few little things to work out and I feel certain you'll be running consistent mid to high 10's very soon.
Here is the video. Quality is not perfect, but not bad for a simple camera.



That Mustang you beat was a pretty quick car. Looks like his shooter didn't take on that run, oh well good kill non the less.

BTW, here is a quick vid of that Supra Don mentioned. It has a PT71 GTS turbo, all bolt ons on a stock motor, cams, intake, full exhaust, etc etc and a Turbo 400 with trans brake. When I met him back in March, he said he had run 10.60s with a smaller PT67, but at the time was having converter troubles. I mentioned to him that he needed a much higher stall converter than the 3000 he had then, if he wanted to spool up the turbo, as well as possibly stepping down to a .81 A/R instead of the .96 that he had. Looks like he might have taken my advice. That car looks much faster than 10.60s now. He made a run earlier in the day that left a lot harder than this video, gotta love the locals.



It was a pretty crazy show. Lots of skin if you know what I mean, but unless you were at the top of the stands with a telephoto lens, you really couldn't see anything.

Congrats Don.

Patrick

 

[d0n_3d]

Pat comes through again...thanks!!! Gotta love Metallica and Godsmack being played in the background!

I pulled all the plugs out today and noticed the gap was tighter than what I set it at orginally which means detonation for sure. The plugs looked fairly clean though. The detonation wasn't severe. I saw it peak at 7 degrees while crossing the line. But it doesn't look bad because I drained the oil and it looked perfect, did a cold compression check and all cylinders were between 138 and 150 psi, and I drove the car all around the place yesterday and it ran great. I'm just glad I quit while I was ahead. I'm still learning this Translator Pro and this was only the 2nd time out this year with the new combo so I'm still getting used to everything. Next time I'll make sure I'm on good C-16 or alky and make sure the fuel delivery is there.

 

[GNRick]

255-50-16 MT Drag Radials need air in them...I would run 24-26psi in mine...And would 60ft 1.51-1.53 all night long.

Im not sure where the misconception came from that you have to have a 15" tire to get traction.You may have to change your launching technique a bit...but the tire is more than capable of going low 1.5 60's.

If you cannot get a good 60 on that tire...It is you..your track...or something your not doing right..Not the tire.

I would roll up to the line...never through the water box,Always around it,Lite burnout...A little smoke not killing them.2-3 lbs of boost....and mash it when the lite dropped.Car would hook and Leave...1.5x everytime.

That was with a HR bar,Stock boxed lowers,And stock uppers.No front sway bar.

Here is a little video of the car...Only one I could find...The 2nd pass doesn't show the 60' but it was 1.53...First was a 1.58...That was when I was still playing with air pressure and so on.

Video - My full weight power everything 20mpg 255-50-16 Drag Radial Cruiser. "whistle of Death"

Good luck...and get those 16's to hook...Nothing better than the look you get when you rip off a low 1.5 on a little 16" tire...Lots of believers around here now...:biggrin:

I too want 1.5 60' times. I was searching on the Mickey Thompson web site and could not find 255/50/16 Drag Radials. That size only comes in the ET Street Radial. Could you clarify if you have the Drag Radial or the Street Radial? Thanks!
Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels

 

[19TTA89]

MT drag Radial...(ET street Radial).

Here is a link to them on ebay...good price and free shipping.

eBay Motors: MICKEY THOMPSON ET STREET DRAG RADIAL TIRE 255/50-16 (item 120139115574 end time Aug-04-07 08:56:56 PDT)

Hope that helps.

Shawn