Oh, I appreciate and respect the idea of a tech inspection, and I "inspect" myself routinely. I didn't go there with anything leaking or loose. I generally don't even leave the driveway like that, but there I was stressing about lug nuts and throttle springs when I don't think they did anything at that tech booth but write "62" on my glass. As for tire pressure, nope, I ran about 30 PSI. I knew better, I just forgot. I won't forget next time... That is exactly what we have here. That 14.7 run was the very first time I'd ever been that close to the Christmas tree. We KNOW the car has room for improvement but keep in mind so do I. I do have a 25" tire...
No argument. Just saying there's another way to skin that cat and keep the 3.00 gears if he wants them for the highway. Going to a 2.2" shorter tire for the track had the same effect as going from 3.00 to 3.2X. Worked for me. Also, since I have to drive an hour to and from the track, I save the drag radials by changing wheels at the track. Its an alternative.
Okay... Behold the shame. What I'm wondering... Why does "E.T." say 92.46, 93.76, etc.? I thought E.T. stood for "Elapsed Time." Is this supposed to be metric time, or does 93.76 sound more like MPH to y'all? And maybe 75.5, 76.1, etc. was my MPH in the 1/8th? Just guessing. Everybody's been saying my MPH sounds wrong, does this seem more like it?
Yes but the drag radials being suggested are 26" or more. With 26" tires I believe 3.00 wouldn't work so well at the strip. If you're not concerned about highway RPMs, then you won't be unhappy with the steeper gears with your street tires. I do enough highway driving that 3.00 is a good choice for me for my DD and the shorter drag radials work well on the strip. Just trying to share an alternative approach to 12 sec that keeps your current highway RPMs (if that's a concern) when your street tires are on.
...And y'all know I'm clearly not an expert but I do wonder if this played a role. The car started missing on the way to the track so when I got there I pulled into the pits and wiggled the wires, then it stopped and I went on and staged. It was missing again on the way home, and this is what I found and fixed the next morning. So maybe I ran on all 8 the whole time, or just the first time, or never. I don't know.
You have it right........maybe a glitch in the computer.........but your time (ET) was 14.786 and the speed at the end of the 1/4 was 92.46....yes, your 1/8 time (ET) was 9.49 at a speed of 75.56.
Oh I do appreciate it. Highway RPM is definitely a concern. If I change the gear i can't change it too dramatically. I'm not going to do anything in the name of racing that compromises my car's ability to be be a car. And for me, being a car means being able to run down the Interstate for a couple hundred miles when I want to.
You sure burn'd through that one...............don't start second guessing yourself..................just fix the problem so it doesn't/can't happen again and concentrate on next time (did you pull that plug and see what it looked like?)....................it's all "Water Under The Bridge", and a good learning experience......................IMHO
With a 3.27 gear in my car and a 28" tire i can cruise 70-80 with no issues Thats why i made my suggestions pick up a spare set of 15" wheels and run a 26" m/t drag radial Or if you want you can get a 17" nitto 555R they do good on lower power cars but dont expect to get 20k miles out of them.
Assuming the final drive ratio in your transmission is 1:00 and your tire height is 25", here are some approximate engine RPM's at 70 MPH: Gear: 3.00 = 2800 RPM 3.25 = 3050 RPM - You would have to drive 65 MPH to achieve 2800 RPM 3.55 = 3300 RPM - You would have to drive 60 MPH to achieve 2800 RPM Of course, an overdrive tranny with 3.55 gears would have you at about 2300 RPM at 70 MPH. Food for thought.
70 MPH in my Camaro with 3.73 gears and 25.57" tires equals a little over 3400 RPM. I get 12 MPG at 65 MPH - Amoco 93 octane.
Personally....................under 2500rpm is what you should shoot for. The gas mileage at 3300rpm would be interesting and if you have Flowmasters and the pipes cut off under the axle................I'd have to wear earplugs for that many miles..............and assume that if you took a 200 mile trip you would have to stop to fill up going, and then also fill up coming back. My 97 Mustang Cobra with 3:73's used to cruise at 65mph around 2300rpm and still pull down almost 24mpg............with almost 300hp at the rear wheels. In my book 12 miles per gallon on the highway is just insane and ludicrous. That's about what I get my 08 Dodge Ram pulling the car trailer with the Maverick on it!
Yeah, but you've got to look at Terry's car.....A 1969 396 big block, 4 barrel 4 speed, points ignition, low gears and short tires. Back then, that car wasn't built for gas mileage, it was built for speed. Most big block cars of the era got about the same mileage. Gas was less than $1 a gallon, so it wasn't a big deal. That's one reason so many big block cars got traded in when the contrived gas shortages happened. Now back on track............ I say, 3:55 gears would be about as low as I would go. The shorter drag radials or slicks would lower the effective ratio to 3:75 or so. I'd do gears and trac lock at same time, then try street tires, then go to the drag only tires. Slapper bars work good until you start making big horsepower. Like somebody said, do one change at a time, run it that week, take notes. That way, you know what changes do what. If you change two or three things at once, you don't know what helped or hurt.
Actually, although it's got a mean idle you can feel in your chest if you stand behind the car, and it sounds like the gates of hell opening up when I hit the gas, it blows my mind how quiet it is on the highway. I have 2.5" exhaust into 2-chamber Summit race mufflers then dumps at the axle. It shouldn't be, but except for the mild resonance at 1200 RPM, (which I'm only doing in a parking lot) it's surprisingly quiet in the car. Maybe it's the sound deadener I put in the trunk, really can't say. It shouldn't be quiet at all, but you can have a normal conversation in the car cruising at just about any speed unless I get into it.
