is it me.... or is it the track?

[just4bob50]

what is your driving technique like. what rpm do you shift at and how fast can you shift. my buddy has an 02 4.6 stang and had all the basics covered with bolt ons gears and tune. his best time was 14.1 at 99. he wasnt sure if it was the car or him so he let me drive it once at the track and the only pass i made was a 13.74 at 101. now that hes learned how to drive the car he runs 13.50's with no changes to the car.

 

[luckythirteen13]

just came back in from testing the spark plugs. all 8 cylinders are firing fine. i upped the fuel pressure to 40. havent taken it for a drive yet though.
whats a good price for a pro-m?

what else could be wrong? i cant hear any vac leaks, and the gauge says normal.
compression and spark is fine, what else can i try?

i now realize why people praise the dyno tuners, tuning is hard work

oh ya, and i have an auto so its not that hard to launch. after i eat ill take it for a drive and do a nice burnout to double check the posi, despite it being brand new. i thing no one answered, is there supposed to be rubber caked all over the starting line? cause at my track there is. and everybody does there burnout in the water box so i would think that tracks water all over the place but i dont know

 

[willys1]

He's only trapping 97 mph, so it's really not fine. He should trap well over 105 mph regardless of his driving abilities. I don't find it that hard to believe that his 60 times are that bad if the track prep is horrid.

I went 97mph when I did 13.8,,,of course his mph is gonna be bad if he's spinning through first gear! An aod's 1st gear is ALOT longer then a 5spd's.

 

[NKau]

I went 97mph when I did 13.8,,,of course his mph is gonna be bad if he's spinning through first gear! An aod's 1st gear is ALOT longer then a 5spd's.

I agree that he'd lost some mph, but not 10+. I wonder if he might have some problems with his AOD?

 

[willys1]

Dude,lets focus on your driving for a minute. How are you doing your burnout? What rpm are you launching at? Do they use traction bite on the track?

 

[willys1]

I agree that he'd lost some mph, but not 10+. I wonder if you might also have some problems with your AOD.

Nick if he lowered his 60ft to a 1.7,dropping his et a full second would not be opserd!! The rule of thump is for every tenth you drop your 60,your et should come down 2 tenths.

 

[luckythirteen13]

thats whats always been in my mind about the 60'. if i ran a 1.7 in the 60' id run 13-13.1. i do a burnout in the water like all the other people do. i get nervous and forget to pull out of the water....could that be a problem? i just did a burnout on the street with my street tires. made lots of smoke. my sister stood in the back to watch the tires. when i aplied the throttle slow, the left tire begun spinning about a second before the right. when i step on it hard, they start right at the same time. the limited slip has about 10 burnouts on it. i have my battery on the right side in the trunk. not sure what im launching at. i just hit the gas right after the last light and just before the green i let off the brake. as far as traction bite goes i think so. before racing starts they spray stuff on the track that smells like grapes and high octane fuel but they only do it once and then not at all the rest of the night. i always forget to pull out of the water box before i do a burnout. maybe thats why i have never made any smoke before. the guys who have pure drag cars make lots of smoke but i make none :damnit:

 

[willys1]

thats whats always been in my mind about the 60'. if i ran a 1.7 in the 60' id run 13-13.1. i do a burnout in the water like all the other people do. i get nervous and forget to pull out of the water....could that be a problem? i just did a burnout on the street with my street tires. made lots of smoke. my sister stood in the back to watch the tires. when i aplied the throttle slow, the left tire begun spinning about a second before the right. when i step on it hard, they start right at the same time. the limited slip has about 10 burnouts on it. i have my battery on the right side in the trunk. not sure what im launching at. i just hit the gas right after the last light and just before the green i let off the brake. as far as traction bite goes i think so. before racing starts they spray stuff on the track that smells like grapes and high octane fuel but they only do it once and then not at all the rest of the night. i always forget to pull out of the water box before i do a burnout. maybe thats why i have never made any smoke before. the guys who have pure drag cars make lots of smoke but i make none :damnit:

R U serious or kidding? Dude thats why your spinning off the line.,,,,,,,,as your pulling through the puddle with the back tires just "tap" the gas so the tires spin just a little bit to get them wet.Wait till you get "out" of the puddle onto "dry" pavement to do your burnout.
Spin them till they start to smoke then stop.Pull up to the line and bring your idle up "just" above idle,when the lite drops nail it and keep it there!!
They shouldnt spin "at all"!!

 

[jeffs89gt]

thats horible. trapping at 97. im traping at 95 with what i have done. what are u launching at? and hwoare u launching? are u slipping it or just dumpin it at like 5000. im gettin better 60 foots than you are to.... adn i have stock tires.....i think u have a proble. its automatic to right? u have heads and intake.... get a cam!!!!!

 

[luckythirteen13]

no im pathetically being serious. i attempt to do a brunout in the water. why the hell does everybody else do it then? im just copying everybody else cause i dont know a damn person in so cal with a mustang....or anybody who drag races for that matter. well ill try that next time. thats good to hear, fixing my driving is a lot cheaper and easier then fixing a broken car. what about all the rubber caked on the starting line....is that normal? this is the only track ive ever been to so i dont know.

 

[NKau]

Nick if he lowered his 60ft to a 1.7,dropping his et a full second would not be opserd!! The rule of thump is for every tenth you drop your 60,your et should come down 2 tenths.

I fully realize that. He should be dipping into the 13's with a sub 2.0 second 60' time. But he should still be able to run mid 13's with his current 60' times, and trap a **** of a lot more than 97 mph (a bad 60' does not come CLOSE to accounting for his horrid traps). Aside from his traction problem, he's losing a lot of power somewhere, and that's where my concern would lie.

 

[luckythirteen13]

where could that be? desparate need of a dyno tune? plugs are fresh and so is oil. thats the basics. good spark. what should the plugs be gapped at? ill check that tomorrow. all trans work was done by two guys. both friends of mine. one is a ford trained tech and the other works at ford and did the work there for me so i dont think im loosing power in the trans. it all seems to come back to a bad tune and no traction. maybe im wrong


EDIT: i think im just going to go to the dyno tuners in a week or so and let them figure it out. they have all the computer stuff for finding demons like this

 

[willys1]

I would focus 1st on your driving,get to be a good driver and go from there,see what your car can actually do,then go from there.

Nick I agree but I think its there but his driving is holding the car back

 

[luckythirteen13]

well thanks for your help and patients guys. i just set an appointment for thursday with the dyno tuner. getting a custom chip. he said its best to tune it before a supercharger and then after rather then all of it after wards so im saving for the blower and will be getting it tuned.
one thing i noticed is that at low rpms my car likes high fuel pressure...40psi. really smooth idle and no running problems. but 40psi makes me run 12:1 ratio. when i set the fuel pressure to 30psi i run 13.5:1 but the idle is ruff and the car doesnt like it. i want to be able to run a high enough pressure for good atomization but too high makes me rich. the dyno tuner can fix that. ill keep you guys updated

 

[QDRHRSE]

IF you're in Anaheim, which track are you going to? Who is the dyno tuner? Swanson Performance? I want to try the track out and I also want to have my car dyno'd again but I don't have anybody local. I'm not sure if R&E will do a good job.....

 

[QDRHRSE]

I've been looking over all these posts and I have another question. Why do you care about your AF ratio at idle? Do you race at idle? You need to check at at WOT. For whatever reason 24lb injectors don't seem to work well at low pressure and I'm pretty sure you need more FP. My old coupe used to run so rich at idle that it practically blew black smoke out the tailpipes when it idled but it ran perfect at full throttle. You also shouldn't be concerned with how your car ran when it was smogged- once again, smog tune and race tune are different. I'm not sure if you need a dyno tune if you have some type of wide band set up. All you need is friend to help you read while you drive and test. If money isn't an issue then I can't blame you for getting a dyno tune but you probably don't need it.

 

[willys1]

I could be wrong but being you have a stock cam I dont think you need 24lbs injectors..Get your driving down first before you get a blower and are disapointed!

Nick your wrong!

 

[Fishhawk]

Just one question. Are you sure your advanced timing is 13, or is that base, because if your advance is 13 you just found your problem. Try setting your base at 15 or 16 and your advanced should be around 36/37.

 

[mackey]

Just one question. Are you sure your advanced timing is 13, or is that base, because if your advance is 13 you just found your problem. Try setting your base at 15 or 16 and your advanced should be around 36/37.

If it is his base at 13 with no advance, the car will die at around 3.5-4k maybe even less.