Thread: Kind Of A Drag

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I want to go as fast as my wife says it's in the budget!

OK Front drag shocks. 2 questions. Should I follow the spec setting the shock carton suggests? Like I want 90/10 on the fronts. The box says the back shocks should be 30/70. Right now the backs are set to 50/50. Right now both rear tires spin at the stoplights with no effort of doing that. Bout quarter throttle.
2nd question. Box says shocks not for street use. Is that a safety issue? I'd hate to change shocks every time.

Another question is about preload. Should I mix springs in the back for a stiffer right rear? Would that be not good for the street? How bout an air bag for the right rear spring? Same question for street use?

These and other questions would be known by you good people out there. Please?

PS, That Raceworks Drag Racing software rocks! Problem is i'm stuck with just using pad and pen for now. A lot of the stuff I got in my head anyway.

Originally Posted by Good Wrench

I want to go as fast as my wife says it's in the budget!

OK Front drag shocks. 2 questions. Should I follow the spec setting the shock carton suggests? Like I want 90/10 on the fronts. The box says the back shocks should be 30/70. Right now the backs are set to 50/50. Right now both rear tires spin at the stoplights with no effort of doing that. Bout quarter throttle.
2nd question. Box says shocks not for street use. Is that a safety issue? I'd hate to change shocks every time.

Another question is about preload. Should I mix springs in the back for a stiffer right rear? Would that be not good for the street? How bout an air bag for the right rear spring? Same question for street use?

These and other questions would be known by you good people out there. Please?

PS, That Raceworks Drag Racing software rocks! Problem is i'm stuck with just using pad and pen for now. A lot of the stuff I got in my head anyway.

Comment 1 - GREAT! Happy wife = Happy life!
Question 1 (a) - try it and log it... then try a different setting, Log it and compare!! Spinning the wheels from a stop light is B.S., dirty street/road won't prove much.

Question 1 (b) Could be a disclaimer to void a warranty.. could be a safety issue!?!? I'm thinking I'd try'em at 50/50 during the week.. but I'm not driving the car either!!!

Question 2 - try it and log it! Then change the setup and try it! Compare results! On some suspensions it'll help. But I can't say how your Monte is going to handle the difference.

Glad to hear you found a method of tracking results. Things like loading the right rear "MAY" help.. but it may make the car handle "funky"!!

In your database / program does it have a place to record reaction time? I just felt like asking you a question for a change!

My timeslips record my reaction time and it's disgusting to look at. No consistency and believe me i try!
I been playing Need For Speed Pro Street just to practice the drag races the game has. Problem is no recorded reaction times, I have to guess by my overall time which varies a lot. But it's better than nothing I guess.
If I can get the back tires to stick I can probably figure out when to launch. I know so far if I see the green light it's too late.

If it's a .5, 5 light tree you can leave on the last yellow and never see the red on a foot-brake car. Reaction time is the toughest thing to dial in on a bracket car. Just a question or two, how deep are you staging the car, and do you work the stage lights the same every pass??? I'm notoriously a deep stager, tends to fool the ET but that doesn't matter on a dial in car as long as my stage process is consistent. On a 3 light tree you can play some "stage games", but I've found that the only game on a long tree is consistency!!!! Been a number of years since I did many 00 lights, but I can still knock out some 0_ _ lights consistently, so all I've had to do is adjust the dial in based on my entire "package"--ie, RT, ET combined. Tire spin one time and none the other is going to kill any consistencies in either RT or ET, so that's IMO the first thing you need to eliminate., either through air pressure, suspension, or the tire itself.

and a final observation, my experience has shown it's almost impossible to make a "drive it to the track car" a top performing ET car. Street use changes too many things on the car during the week, so time trial runs on race day become a matter of learning the car all over again and not a matter of getting things dialed in for elimination!!!! If my maintenance is correctly done during the week, all I have to do on race day is dial in the changes that weather and track conditions dictate, then verify my adjustments with a time trial or two......

Hiya Dave,
Lately i been doing the burnout without the line lock and backing up to the staging lights. I think the biggest problem with reaction times is with me. If I could just practice enough I do get a little better but I get this nervous pit in my stomach and It throws me off. I tried deep staging but I can't seem to get the same spot every time. If I leave TOO early on the last yellow I'll get red lighted which is funny since the tires are spinning.

My tune and maintenance is always about the same but Like you said I have to learn the car over again.
Time trials I get about 2 passes before I have to mark my time on the window.

This year though I'm not entered. I thought my time would be better spent at the test and tune nights trying to make the car and me right before I compete again.

Well, the nervousness will probably never leave completely. Just that way for some people. My friend Rodney has been drag racing for 20+ years and still gets out of the car every pass with his hands shaking! It's not really nerves, but more a case of the adrenalin pump in your buddy going into warp drive!

Might want to change your burnout procedure a bit, too. Drive through the water slowly to get the tires nice and wet, pull out of the water a couple feet then do your burnout with the line lock on. When the tires get warm, come off the line lock and let the car roll out then lift off the gas and stop. Take about 3 deep breaths, then pull into the 1st light, let the other lane stage, then light the 2nd bulb and get ready to go. Whether you use this procedure or something else, leave time someplace between the burn out and staging to get a few deep breaths.

Dave gives you great advise! If you think you might forget a step, write it on a piece of paper and post it (tape it) to your dash so you can review it. Don't be embarrased about it, you'd be amazed how many pros do the same thing! Plus it gives you a break and something to focus on before the pass.

Great idea, I'll do that. Sometime I forget to purge the nitrous oxide or even flip the switch.

So far what I got is, put shoe polish across the tire tread to get the tire pressure, I got the shocks 10/90 on the front, 50/50 on the back, no rear spacers, and the speed shop had a cheap idea for right tire preload. Spring coil spacer on the back right spring Not the acorn nuts that fall out on the freeway but the adjustable bar ones. I used to use those to jack up my cars that had coil springs. As opposed to an air bag. You wouldn't believe how tight our budget is especially lately.
Now we'll see how the car does.

Right now Wallace racing calculator says if i'm running 9s in the eight then it's 14.08 in the quarter.
I can smell 13s coming.

The bummer part is how much I've spent on parts since I started and I only have gained 2 seconds? Two lousy seconds?
I did all to the engine as I can afford to do. all I can do is make the tires stick and loose weight.
Hopefully I can go out next Wednesday and give er a whirl.

Thanks for the advice everyone. If it works, it's all down to you.