Tips for dragging.

[S2Knott]

hey guys, i havent been around in a while ive been working my ass off saving for a tune and new wheels as well as fixing a few other things, i had a bad fan relay that was causing my car to overheat because the fan didnt come on, i drove with a/c on for a few days then figured it out and fixed it.

anyways, hopefully i shall be ordering my tuner this thursday, and getting it further tuned and dynoed at UTI, then going to the UTI student drag day oct 14th.

so im just looking for tips on how to get better times but MORE importantly, not to do damage to my car.

im pretty sure that im going to slip the clutch because i get too much wheel whop. and im going to tow the car up there with my roomates truck.

anyways, so throw out some saftey tips or whatever as well as some faster timing tips.

and people with 3L;s whats an expected 1/4? if i can drive good enough (1st time probably cant) id expect maybe a mid to high 14 sec.

i just want to have fun, get a decent time and not break anything, and i just want to prove that my csvt doesnt suck, because alot of honduh *******s think my car is ugly and slow... but they dont know much.

so i think im getting a set of temporary eOs from a ceg in norwood i forget his name Nick98 or something.

 

[bagged]

 

[novellino21]

I dont even know how to drag these cars, i think they're very difficult to drag. I've never done it before but if I were you i would make sure you got some sticky tires and just run like hell!! I was actually thinking about doing a nitrous setup b/c getting these cars off the line are very difficult w/out break'in stuff.
But good luck, let us know your time(s).

 

[svtkev]

hope you have a built tranny, otherwise i wouldnt recommend dragging it, i broke mine the first time at the track, and i was trying to take it easy

 

[Bugzuki]

I think that the key is to take it off the line a little slow then gun it from a little bit of a rolling start. If you try to jump on it at 4000 rpm you will just get wheel spin. I have never tried slipping the clutch to get a faster start. That sounds like a lot of money when the clutch overheats and descentigrates(sp?).

I have never been to a 1/4 mile track, we have an 1/8th mile here in Monroe. I got a 9.115 my fastest time. According to the very quick/not extremely accurate formula I found that would be like 14.31 in the quarter mile. (1/8 mile time * 1.57 = estimated 1/4 mile time)

 

[ryanblacksvt]

I have dragged 1/4 mile soo many times I cant count, before and after my Torsen. My best time prior to the tranny work was 15.23 and that was with a slipping clutch and severe wheel hop. I only launched at 2500rpm prior.

After I got my tranny done, I noticed I have a slight vacume leak from my rear valve cover and I had an exhaust leak. I have been a few times after the tranny was done and with those both I ran a best of 15.43

I havent been since I got my exhaust or optimized tb, but hope to go soon. I havent gotten to fix the vacume leak yet, that will be done when I am overseas and the car is under the knife.

My best 1/8 was a EXTREMLY cold morning at Fun Ford Weekend this year and the car wouldnt hook for crap and it was a 9.987. My reaction times are right on par but I realllllly need to work on my 60 foot times.

 

[svtkev]

I think that the key is to take it off the line a little slow then gun it from a little bit of a rolling start. If you try to jump on it at 4000 rpm you will just get wheel spin. I have never tried slipping the clutch to get a faster start. That sounds like a lot of money when the clutch overheats and descentigrates(sp?).

I have never been to a 1/4 mile track, we have an 1/8th mile here in Monroe. I got a 9.115 my fastest time. According to the very quick/not extremely accurate formula I found that would be like 14.31 in the quarter mile. (1/8 mile time * 1.57 = estimated 1/4 mile time)

im not sure on the accuracy of that cause i did a 9.19 1/8 and ran a 15.3 1/4

 

[Pope]

If you are good enough with a stick, launch by perfectly timing the smooth application of the throttle with the smooth release of the clutch. If you get the timing right and are fluid enough in the maneuver you should accelerate at or near the limit of your tire's adhesion level without over-reving the clutch, causing excessive heat and wear. Your goal is to give the engine just enough throttle not to bog, just enough clutch not to spin the tires (or break something) and doing both fast enough not to become unsynced and burn the clutch.

That should get you rolling well enough. Next comes shifting.

Since you are getting you car dyno tuned, you have an advantage here. Picking your shift points is more than simply a matter of shifting at maximum rpm, the trick here is to use your dyno graph to your advantage. Using the dyno graph and some math, the first step is to calculate the amount of rpm drop from one gear to the next for every gear (using the gear and final drive ratios), then plot each rpm span on the dyno graph, one at a time, so that the maximum rpm of the gear you are shifting out of and the new rpm of the gear you are going into cover an area of the graph with the greatest power under the curve. The point of this exercise is to ensure that you are not wasting time shifting too soon or too late. For example, say you make maximum power at 6200rpm, and let us say you loose 1000rpm in the 3-4 shift. If you shift at 6200 and fall back to 5200 the hp generated between 5200 and 6200 is all you have to work with to continue accelerating, now compute the average of the hp generate during that span. Now assume you shift the same motor at 6500 rpm causing you to fall back to 5200 rpm and compute the average hp generated within that span, and so on and so forth. What you are looking for is the span that will net the greatest avg hp. Shifting too late will result in the same problem as shifting too early, too little usable hp.

Now you should have your shift points for each gear and you have a decision to make: Either use these shift points, use quick, concise, smooth shifts and run the car close to as fast as it will go....

Or throw it all out the window and power shift at maximum power. If you build max power at 6200 shift at 6200, but keep your foot in the gas maintaining the engine rpm (or bringing it up a few 100), use the clutch just enough to free everything up, and nail the next gear as quickly as possible, stab the throttle and get off the clutch. This will result in the best times your car can run, HOWEVER, this will also result in weak parts breaking if done as violently as is proper.

Last, but not least, have fun.

 

[98TredSVT]

If you have stock motor mounts, ditch them and get Pole120's 94A mounts. I recently installed them in mine to replace the 122k stock ones and it made a world of difference in shifting. It allows me to shift much faster for some reason.

 

[svtpimp]

When I went my first time I had horrid wheel hop, it actually popped out of 1st. Quite scary. So the next time I went I used the clutch slipping method, figured it would be better to wear my clutch then grenade my diff. I slipped the clutch at about 4000 - 4500 rpm. Just giving it throttle as you release the clutch so that the rpm does not drop below 4500. Doing this to rate just about when the tires would start to break loose. I had no wheel hop or wheel spin this way. Also when your 2nd staging light comes on and so does your opponents I would "load" the clutch by letting it out a little so that when you do go there is minimal driveline shock which helps with the wheelhop. My times went from a 15.9 to a 15.2. Hope this helps.

 

[novellino21]

If you are good enough with a stick, launch by perfectly timing the smooth application of the throttle with the smooth release of the clutch. If you get the timing right and are fluid enough in the maneuver you should accelerate at or near the limit of your tire's adhesion level without over-reving the clutch, causing excessive heat and wear. Your goal is to give the engine just enough throttle not to bog, just enough clutch not to spin the tires (or break something) and doing both fast enough not to become unsynced and burn the clutch.

Ha ha i did that once at a stoplight on accident and was very surprised. I tried doing it again on purpose and couldnt do it, its very difficult to get down by memory. But if you can it will save the life of your parts at the strips.

 

[novellino21]

wait a minute, cant you just have them(the dyno shop) put a shift light in for you so you dont have to do all that math stuff junk on your own? That way you should get perfect shifts every time???

 

[Bugzuki]

Try practicing smooth (no wheel spin) start in the rain. Off the roads of course.

Getting off the line gracefully is the key to all the front wheel drive drags I have seen. What happens after you are moving is a little easier to control. But, when you are on the drag strip the time seems to fly by, so practice makes better.

Another thing I have notice is that the starting line of the strip is slicker then the rest of the track. I have street tires, so they heat up the soft rubber the the drag tires leave on the ground. This soft rubber does not seem stick to my tires. It just becomes a slippery mess.

 

[Pope]

wait a minute, cant you just have them(the dyno shop) put a shift light in for you so you dont have to do all that math stuff junk on your own? That way you should get perfect shifts every time???

you could, if you knew the exact rpm at which to shift which will result in the engine rpm's falling back the proper amount to result in the ideal usage of the power curve, hence the calculations. Truth be told, you really only need to calculate the rpm drop for the 3-4 shift that will result in the greatest avg. power reaching the ground, and then use that same shift point for the 1-2 and 2-3 shifts since maximum power in 4th will likely be most critical as a result of the comparative time spent in each gear and since the engine will have to work hardest to continue accelerating while in 4th.

Another thing I have notice is that the starting line of the strip is slicker then the rest of the track. I have street tires, so they heat up the soft rubber the the drag tires leave on the ground. This soft rubber does not seem stick to my tires. It just becomes a slippery mess.

If you are doing a burnout on street tires to warm them up, you are hurting your performance. With street tires you should avoid the water box and spin the tires no more than once or twice around to knock off dirt and debris.

 

[novellino21]

So staying in the "groove" would be beneficial with street tires? or does it not matter?

 

[pwnedbymyignorance]

hey guys, i havent been around in a while ive been working my ass off saving for a tune and new wheels as well as fixing a few other things, i had a bad fan relay that was causing my car to overheat because the fan didnt come on, i drove with a/c on for a few days then figured it out and fixed it.

Its a good thing it took you a few days to drive your overheating car to figure out what was wrong, and by a/c, do you mean heat, or cooling? If it was cooling, way to generate even more heat under the hood.

anyways, hopefully i shall be ordering my tuner this thursday, and getting it further tuned and dynoed at UTI, then going to the UTI student drag day oct 14th.

I'll believe that when i see it, I am sure if something stupider comes up, you'll jump on it instead. So you'll have a car that is tuned with bent control arms and among other damaged suspension items...

so im just looking for tips on how to get better times but MORE importantly, not to do damage to my car.

Interesting statement. You don't give a damn if your car gets damaged because mommy and daddy will fix it... Do you think there is one person who believes you here, that you do not want to do any damage to your car? Should have had that mentality, what, back in july or whenever you beat the snot out of your car illegally street racing at 140mph

im pretty sure that im going to slip the clutch because i get too much wheel whop. and im going to tow the car up there with my roomates truck.

You don't have some super stock car, its not a fancy corvette, mustang or heavily modified SHO, the only reason your trailering it, is because you won't fix it to make it safe before you go... Go fast trumps safe with you, no matter what.
anyways, so throw out some saftey tips or whatever as well as some faster timing tips.

Safety tips? Don't use your car, don't do it with other people on the road or nearby... Chances are you'll do something stupid and hurt someone... somehow.. You just don't seem to care about your surroundings..

and people with 3L;s whats an expected 1/4? if i can drive good enough (1st time probably cant) id expect maybe a mid to high 14 sec.

i just want to have fun, get a decent time and not break anything, and i just want to prove that my csvt doesnt suck, because alot of honduh *******s think my car is ugly and slow... but they dont know much.

that has got to be the quote of the year coming from you... they don't know much? lol I bet none of them have driven with their air box open to make a little noise.. or beat the hell out an untuned engine, or got chased off of car forums because pwned themselves..


Your car DOES suck though because you won't take the effort to make everything right on it...

Listen to your friends..

But why listen to friends when you wont listen to anyone else..



:shrug: I think maybe you should concentrate on your schooling. you need all the help you can get when it comes to mechanics..

 

[Ray]

Hi.. I'm Ray.

I have a couple of questions for you:

Who are you?
Where do you get off acting like that
Why is it that you think I will let it happen
Why didn't you take this UTTER CRAP to a pm?

We don't care what you think about him, or what you feel is right. Keep the personal crap personal.. got it?

 

[getsum111]

Just wow. I'm really kinda confused now.

 

[Redlineracer12]

Just wow. I'm really kinda confused now.

I believe S2knott owned a taurus before this... And this is a fellow Taurus owner?

See the first post by that user: http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?p=256057#post256057

I think I have it figured out... Either way, should be taken care of with PMs



But back on track, a lot of good fwd drivers will use the ebrake to pre-load the axles before the launch. That'll help you smoothen out the take off and avoid some wheel-hop when done correctly. I also agree on avoiding the water with your street tires. The burnout box is mainly for heating up drag tires.

 

[Bugzuki]

I never used the burnout box. I was talking about the starting line. If you spin street tires it gets slippery.

I did let a little air out of the front tires with success.