First experience at the 1/4 mile

[fiacco819]

Well I got together with a few friends a week or 2 ago to head to the strip for the first time. Attended the local track @ 982ft elevation, 70 degree weather, absolutely perfect! Was able to put down a few runs to get my best of:
60' 1.966
330' 5.595
1/8th 8.540 @ 83.62MPH
1000' 11.060
1/4 13.169 @ 107.09MPH

This was all on stock 225 street tires, which don't seem too bad for the 60' time. Only thing I noticed is I run 4th gear till the end, which puts me about 5500-5700 RPM and it just feels flat in that range. Not sure if I should try hitting 5th gear or not.
Then last night I checked my timing, and the previous owner had it around 7-8 degrees base, which to me seemed way wrong, so I advanced it to 12 (Checked, and no pinging occurred). Car seems to run better, hopefully improves the ET a bit.

Any other ways to get some extra power down for the next time? I heard indexing the plugs could help, and of coarse run on 1/4 tank of fuel.

 

[Cobra912]

nice times!

 

[mob]

Not bad, what are the mods?

 

[Cobra912]

whats the set-up / combo? sticky tires help, your 60ft is good for street tires. You don't need to index your plugs unless ytou are running a top fuel car. What's your launch RPM, shift points etc? I wouldnt shift it to 5th gear in the 1/4

 

[MY 85 GT]

Looking at his garage pic looks like a notch and here is his mods..
Weld draglites w/skinnies, X cam, Windsor JR heads, GT40 intake, full port and polish, 75MM throttle body, 24lb injectors, 3 core radiator

 

[Sharad]

Well I got together with a few friends a week or 2 ago to head to the strip for the first time. Attended the local track @ 982ft elevation, 70 degree weather, absolutely perfect! Was able to put down a few runs to get my best of:
60' 1.966
330' 5.595
1/8th 8.540 @ 83.62MPH
1000' 11.060
1/4 13.169 @ 107.09MPH

This was all on stock 225 street tires, which don't seem too bad for the 60' time. Only thing I noticed is I run 4th gear till the end, which puts me about 5500-5700 RPM and it just feels flat in that range. Not sure if I should try hitting 5th gear or not.
Then last night I checked my timing, and the previous owner had it around 7-8 degrees base, which to me seemed way wrong, so I advanced it to 12 (Checked, and no pinging occurred). Car seems to run better, hopefully improves the ET a bit.

Any other ways to get some extra power down for the next time? I heard indexing the plugs could help, and of coarse run on 1/4 tank of fuel.

Not bad. It definitely has 12-second potential with that trap speed, but you've got to lower the 60-foot time to get there. Tires and suspension are critical.

Oh, and don't shift to fifth. You'll lose ET by shifting before the stripe.

 

[Bullitt95]

Not bad. It definitely has 12-second potential with that trap speed, but you've got to lower the 60-foot time to get there. Tires and suspension are critical.

Oh, and don't shift to fifth. You'll lose ET by shifting before the stripe.

x2 on all counts. Stickier tires alone might be enough to get you into the 12s.

 

[fiacco819]

Yeah sorry, not sure how to get my mods into a signature yet.
306 with x-cam, Windsor JR cast heads, full GT40 intake with 1"spacer, all port and polished, 75mm throttlebody W/ 1" spacer, 76mm intake tube w/ mass air, 24lb injectors, BBK longtube headers, X-pipe, Bullet mufflers and under drive pulley's as far as performance goes.

Cars been lowered, front sway bar removed, Rear granatelli lower control arms , Weld wheels, skinnies front and stock size in rear (225/60R15), 373 gears.

I was launching from an idle, the car spins pretty good so I try to ease out of the hole, then 2nd gear is WOT! Eventually would like to run 255 ET streets in the back to help. But I think improving my time at the first end of the track, It will hurt me at the finish, seeing as the engine flattens out in 4th before crossing the line as it sits now. Therefore why I'm curious to see if hitting 5th will help by keeping me in the power

I'm also probably one of just a handful who wants to run without power adders. I like killing ricers with turbo's and saying "it's all motor" haha

 

[Cobra912]

how would shifting to 5th keep you in the power?

the more time you spend stabbing that clutch and out of the gas is gonna tack on time

 

[90mustangGT]

Unless you are hitting the rev limiter I'd say stay in that gear, but you can try. Overdrive is bad.

With my car, I've only run 1/8th but I am running similar times, 8.6@87mph, just at a bad track getting 2.060 fts. My engine being all stock probably has a lower powerband and my best run was when I did a 1D1 shuffle and let it rev all the way out at the end of the 1/8th mile. The next time I did it, put it back in D at the end and it cost me a 1/10th.

 

[fiacco819]

I know overdrive is bad (I.E. 5th gear) for ET times, and that shifting would slow me down some, but maybe the power would make up for it. I'm just going on feel, but it seemed I'd cross the line at nearly 5700 RPM, and from about 5400 or so the power dropped. The X cam is supposed to make power into the 6k range, but it didn't feel that way at all. But then again for some off reason the timing was set low, so that could have played a huge part in top-end performance. Not quite sure where the rev-limiter is on the stock ECU, but would love not to find it haha

 

[Gearbanger 101]

What are the valve springs on your heads rated to? Maybe you're getting some float at the top end of the tach with that cam?

 

[fiacco819]

I'm not sure what the springs are exactly. The previous owner had the engine sent out and put together at a local machine/engine shop that did all the porting and polishing as well. So I would hope they knew what spings to put in with the 1.7 roller rockers. With the cam and rockers, I believe to be at .613 valve lift if I did my math correctly.