I know ..I know...if you tell it won't be a secret anymore As the season winds down and we start to think about things we would like to do to our cars for next season I was wandering if some of the the sages of the board would care to share some tips and secrets on gaining an extra horse or two and maybe dropping a couple of hundreths off the time. Any and all comments and/or suggestions or welcome... I've heard of indexing plugs...can anyone elaborate?
Check out this thread from a while back. About half way down the first page it explains indexing the plugs. Hope this helps! http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=2430&page=1&pp=20&highlight=indexing+plugs -Corbin
I'd say doing what you're doing is great start - asking. Although it's nice to do a change someone suggests and it works, actually understanding why something worked is much more satisfying. As fuel and spark are two main ingredients in go-fast, I suggest learning all you can about how to read spark plugs and, more recently for me, review the requirements for your fuel pump. These are two good links to start with: Fuel Delivery and Reading Spark Plugs If you're already an expert at it, revisiting the subjects to refresh your memory wouldn't hurt. Obviously there are many more aspects to getting er down the track asap (study suspension theory), these are a few items I recently had to review. It sure is hot down here in Houston. Gluck!
Horsepower TV gained 14 hp at the rear wheel via a complete swap to synthetic fluids, engine, gearbox and rearend. I have the synthetics in the trans and rearend, next year switching to 5w30 oil. Dan
cold = fast...maybe some dry ice in the air cleaner ...seriously though...a cold air intake in the front valence opening might not hurt, but that could get ugly with a carb system. A 200 dolllar plug reading tool...I'm serious but not that serious...I have one of the old picture charts that you look at your plug and compare to the chart...tells if something is not right.
Dan..did they say what brand?...I'm running Royal Purple in the motor and like it alot. Thats quite a gain just from a fluid swap.
Back in 1994, I worked for a NHRA Pro Stock team that ran Grumpy Jenkins power. Many times I stood and watched Grumpy read the plugs after a run with a simple lighted magnifier. Couldn’t find the exact kind but these are similar http://www.championsparkplugs.com/more_info.asp?pid=8625 http://www.powerandperformancenews.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=5326&Category_Code=TLSO&Store_Code=CC
Rick, I think they mentioned Royal Purple as well as some others. Guy I know oil starved his motor on a cold morning startup at MARS raceway. It was 50 F outside. We all have the same engine builder. None of us have lost a motor yet, mine being 12 years old and the oldest. He went back to the engine builder for some advice on possibly running a lighter weight oil. He advised all of us to run a lower viscosity oil. That is why I am going to 5w30 next year, actually will change oil in it this weekend. Someone told me that Valvoline now had a 5w30 racing oil now?? Dan Dan
I'm a firm believer in 'stickin with what ya got'. my routine was, make my first test pass then pull a plug from 1 and 8. make my jet adjustment (rich or lean). then I would make my second pass. I wouldnt make any more pill adjustments, period. whatever I ran on my second pass, that was my dial for round 1. also, I kept strict records of each run... temp, time, humidity, etc. it got to the point that I could tell you what my car would run just by reading the environment. that really freaks out the competition. here's a trick I learned from a old racer to help with consistent reaction times. when staging, if you look to the right or left of your bulb (only a few inches), you get more consistent reaction times. turns out that your periferel (spelling?) vision is more sensitive to light, but at the same time is less affected by ambient light (day / night). I run delay box, and when I went from day to night racing, I only had to add 3-5 numbers, while others had to add 15-20 to keep from jumping red. it kept me in the low .500's all season, day and night. I have also heard it helps with foot brakers too. its hard to beat someone that nails the tree. Im not sure if you run heads up or not, but handicap racing isnt a HP game, its merely knowing what your car is gonna do. once you've got that, youre unstoppable. I have put many a 9 second door slammer and 7 second dragster on their trailer... with my 11 second "Little Red Mustang", or so they called it.
Question....would an air/fuel gauge serve the same purpose as reading the plugs...or does it just get ya in the ballpark and some extra tweaking is needed from there.
Nothing like going straight to the horses (no pun) mouth. I'd think the a/f gauge is okay for idle or constant rpm (not WOT). The one I have (and other's I've seen) show 'rich' under acceleration regardless.
A/F gauge is fairly accurate, assuming it's installed in the right place. If you place it further back in the exhaust, it'll show one reading, move it closer, and it'll show a different reading...though you haven't actually changed anything else. Reading plugs is the ONLY true way to tune a gas motor. Alky=different story. The plugs never have any color, other than the heat markings. Only way to tune with alky is use of EGT, or seat-of-the-pants whichever works best for that particular racer. With gas, the best method I've found is to just go out on a test-n-tune night and tune the main jet sizes with trap speed MPH. Richen it up 5 sizes or so and see if mph falls off or picks up. If it picks up, go some more until it levels out then go back a couple sizes (Fords generally "like" a leaner mixture for best consistency) or lean it out and see if MPH increases. Usually Holleys are a tad rich as delivered, FYI....and I said USUALLY. Every combination is different. You can also play with timing the same way. I usually start at around 38 total and retard it until the MPH levels off. Take that reading (33 on mine) and record it for future reference. Then you can tailor the initial timing amount and/or curve to work well at the starting line yet still have the full MPH. I once picked up .3 (7.50's to 7.20's) by RETARDING the timing. Never had any problems starting or with detonation, but it's just what that motor liked. It was cold out too, below 50 deg F. Weight is the #1 thing that racers forget about in their quest for better ETs, and is usually the cheapest way to drop a few tenths. Light wheels/tires are a great way to lose 100 lbs or more (.1-.15 ET). Aluminum driveshafts help some...usually .05 second more or less depending on what you already have. Steel brackets that are not heavily stressed can be changed to aluminum. Mini-starters do double duty--lighter weight but make the car much easier to start (and add header/pan clearance too in most cases). Aluminum heads do the same thing. Loss of 60+ lbs from front end, plus the benefit of making more power. Picked up a total of a full second and 10 mph from ported C8OE heads to RPM aluminum heads. I just took a hour or so one night and looked at every nut/bolt/bracket on the Mav and asked myself how can that be lighter. Those bumpers are SUPER heavy, especially big-bumper cars like mine. They're close to 100 lbs in full dress....mine goes about 20lbs now (front). Last time I weighed the car, it was 2580 w/o driver in full dress w/351w. I have backhalfed it since and converted to a M2 front end, so I may very well have lost a good 200 lbs....but haven't weighed it since. With no changes to the motor, I instantly picked up .3 in the 1000'. Just keep using your head. What sets a good racer apart from a great one is attention to detail, both on and off the track.
