Why is my car so DAMN SLOW????

Seriously. This has been drivin me nuts since the HAMB Drags.

She ran a 13.40 @ 101.9 mph. That doesn't sound so bad, but I've got 408 cubes and 2400#s. Kind of a wuss gear, 3.25 w/ 30 inch tire.

Since the drags, I have been keeping an eye on other guys times and now I'm REALLY self concious.

The closest I have found to my combination is a dude who has almost my exact Pontiac motor. (Same heads, cam, etc. Makes 465 horse at the flywheel.). He's also got a 3.25 gear and 30 in tires. BUT- His car is a 3600# mullet car Firebird. He runs....12.50s @ 110 mph.

What the FUCK!!!????

Ryans big assed skinny block ran low 13s' too, BUT he was crankin off 116 mph spinnin the tires till the eight mile mark. My car was hooked up pretty well, I thought. It's just FUCKIN SLOW.

So what do you think? Was the 104 degree temp killin the motor? How 'bout the 1000 foot altitude? What is my "corrected" ET? Would that make me feel better? Or, do I just need to hang my head in shame and park this sumbitch.

Slowly out of the closet, -Abone.

 

you probably need some stickers.
my civic used to be slow, then I added a couple of NOS stickers to the winshield... now it's real fast!
HC

 

Don't worry A Bone(as I hand him my favorite Crying Towel)You still have the Coolest looking car at the track(or on the street)Style points alone outweigh your less than stellar time slip...Charlie

 

When i built my mustang i was told to start at the rear end and work up to the motor...

it doesnt matter what you have for horse power if you dont have the right gears and tranny combo.

I would move to lower gears as step #1

I ran 3:73's and a T-5 with a kevlar button clutch... that alone shaved OVER a second off my ET

Tuck

 

NO.......30.9 is SLOW......

 

sounds like your A is twice as fast as burndup's truck.

 

It is so a word!
slip·per·y    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (slp-r)
adj. slip·per·i·er, slip·per·i·est

1. Causing or tending to cause sliding or slipping: a slippery sidewalk.
2. Tending to slip, as from one's grasp: a slippery bar of soap.
3. Not trustworthy; elusive or tricky: “How extraordinarily slippery a liar the camera is” (James Agee).

 

You need to have Rickyracer help toon up your car. My coupe ran 13.6 at 2700 above sea level at palmdale. I would agree with ryan 13 second street car is really fast. My coupe scares me and most people who ride with me..

 

my cousins car is a little better though,. He has a street driven 66 chevelle he built all himself that runs 7s in the 1/4 mile. he has a 622 in it. He got it when he was like 13 and has been improving it for about 15 years

 

here is another shot of it. He isn't satisfied yet he took a year off and plans to do another engine that makes about 200 more horsepower

 

Lets finding a set of slicks and a set of gears and see what it will go even if it is only a 1/8 mile track. If it is still a baby then give it a bottle. your still one of the fastest in town, just dont miss with that red Honda Civic...

Ryan, I respectively disagree, mid 13's, is not fast for a street car ... decent yes but not fast especialy for something under 2800 lbs.. I say this as back in '84 I had a 67 camaro with a 355 sbc & 4sp with high gears (273's) and it would run 13:80 to 13.95 (1/4 mile) depending on the track temp with street tires and except for the highschool kids (which I was) I would get my ass dusted all the time on the street Maybe the Portland/Vancouver area just had some fast cars so it twisted my concept.... It took something in the 12's to be considered quick and 11's to be really fast..

I still think it takes 12's to be respected on the street.

 

[ QUOTE ]
You need to have Rickyracer help toon up your car. My coupe ran 13.6 at 2700 above sea level at palmdale. I would agree with ryan 13 second street car is really fast. My coupe scares me and most people who ride with me..

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I love that picture!

My humble opinion would be to change the rear end gear. What was your RPMs through the traps? What's your redline? Also, weight distribution plays a role. Did you rebuild your tranny? Maybe it's slipping.

 

See, dammit? Even Boones' mulett car is hangin with me.

I went with a puss gear, smaller cam and tight converter so I would be able to drive it where ever when ever, But I still think this thing should run a high twelve in full street trim.

What really chaps my ass is the damn Firebird. The EXACT SAME motor as me with the same gear set/tire dia. Even with 1200# more weight he's KICKIN MY ASS BY A FULL SECOND!!!

Damn mulett cars...

How bout the temp thing? Would an 80 degree day get me in the 12s?

I know using your "corrected ET" sounds like you are a pussy, but if it will get me into the 12s, my fragile little ego might stay intact.

Help me, guys. I'm gettin made fun of.

PS. Savage, that's a bitchn' shot of your coupe.

 

are you running an automatic? whats your stall speed if you are? probably just need a little more gear and a higher stall

 

-Abone, the sedan does have the aerodynamics of a barn,,, Try a different gear that should step up your times!HRP

 

The Mulletbird probably has an advantage in weight transfer, traction and aerodynamics.

They sound like little things, but as you get faster and faster, it takes alot more to keep getting faster...

(It's easy to take a 21 second car and make it run 18s, but it takes more effort (money, etc) to make the 18 second car go 15s...and then to get that 15 second car into the 12s takes an even BIGGER step...and so on!)

In short, you are at the point where you will have to tweak and maximize several things to get noticeably lower ETs...traction and gearing will help you overcome whatever you may lose to aerodynamics, and a multitude of other factors will help creep you closer to your target times as well.

Things like front end alignment, tire pressure, transmission performance (good shifts, no slips, little parasitic loss, etc), and so many other items you can optimize.

Some transmissions (automatics) are giant heat sinks that really soak up alot of power. For instance, if you have a TH400 and your Firebird buddy has a TH350, he's using less power to operate his tranny than you are...the trannys which require less power to operate are usually not as strong, but you will go faster till they break! 727 Torqueflites and C6 autos gobble up LOTS of power compared to their more thrifty 904 and C4 counterparts.

Lots of things to consider in the quest for more...and every item gets more and more critical the faster you're going already!

Just takes time, patience, calculated effort and a solid game plan...you can get into the 11s with different gearing, better tires, maybe a converter change and some practice seeing what driving style works best...it's a science...but a fun one!

 

hey lets line it up against the shop truck and see how she does... or just forget about making it go fast and let your frustrations out on the Henry J.. That will have a better weight transfer, better tires and a little more engine set back.. and be street legal to boot...

 

With your 406 it's important to coordinate the drivetrain to compliment the "Sweet Spot" of your motor's torq and horsepower band.

It would be very helpful to know your cam specifications so that you can determine what gear set to use. Comp. cams has a hot line that can help you find the right cam for the car, using the gear ratio, weight, trany, tire height, and engine component combination.

You should match the distributor advance to the RPM's of your stall converter. Put lighter springs in the distributor so that full advance kicks in just before torq convertor lock-up!

My street driven 31 roadster that weighed 2,150 lb's (with me in it) with a 355 cu.in. turbo 350, 3,500 stall, MSD 6 and a 3:55 gearset in the quikchange ran a 10.92 @ 123 mph. all because I stayed with the right combination for that car.

Don't go changing gears around until you find out about your motors "sweet spot"! (you may have to Tickle it a bit to find it!)!

Mark

 

It needs a new gear, the 30" tires even make it worse. Try a 3.73 gear to use with a 30" tire. That gear will still make it real streetable.

 

10.92!!! Yea, that makes me feel MUCH better....

Does anyone know the sea level correction factor? If altitude and an 80 degree day would drop .40 off my et, I would live with that...

 

http://www.pontiacracing.net/altitude%20correction.htm

 

Man, I hate to say it, but it sounds like it's down on power! If you plug those #'s into a calculator, it says you're only making 198 HP (at the flywheel!) As others have mentioned, the tranny may be eating it, the convertor may be slipping, etc. Is the motor tight? Good compression, leakdown, good tune? Did you try running it "cold" (letting sit for a hour or two before you run it.)

I'd say take it back to the track and beat on it, experiment with tune and driving style and see where it goes. You didn't mention 60 ft, how did it look there? It sounds like the car is working, chassis-wise. 13.4 is a pretty good ET for 101.9 MPH. (A typical mustang is running 13.8-9 or so with those traps)

Also, I plugged in your gear ratio, and tire size into the handy calculator, and it says you're only hitting 3994 Rpms in high gear (1:1) at 101.9! If you want to maximize your 1/4 mile performance, pick the MPH you want to go, the max RPM you want to spin it, plug that into the formula (with your tire size) and it'll tell you how much gear you need. If you wanna do 120MPH, shifting at 5800 with a 30" tire, you need a 4:30 gear (roughly.) You'd be hitting your redline at the finish line in high gear.

I put the calculators on my old moostang website if you wanna play with it. http://www.sh3d.com/ss/calculators.asp

Shameless plug: I have some drag tree simulators I built you can play with there too...

-Scott

 

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... Could you drive one of those "street cars" to the HAMB drags from over 1000 miles away?



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Boy, that's the fucking truth. I almost shit when I hear flamed was driving all the way out there.

I know a guy who can barely get his car ten miles to work because it's a "race car". Runs 7.9 to 8.0 in the 1/8th.

Hold your head up.

 

[ QUOTE ]
sounds like your A is twice as fast as burndup's truck.


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Ricky speaks the truth, yet I have no "issues" with my vehicle's slowness.

My truck was designed to haul pussy, not ass!

 

too bad it only hauls one pussy, and hes the driver.

 

Yeah Flamed, you are tops in my book for what you did. What was that 2500 roundtrip AND pull off 13s all day????? No interior,insulation, side windows?!@!!!!!! Fuck, you are my hero. You will be god if you build that Henry J!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And BTW, that track was snot!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I heard 130 on the concrete from one of the locals. NOBODY could hook up perfect.

 

I would imagine the altitude definitely has something to do with it. I ran a 12.4 at palmdale waaayy above sea level...then ran 11.2 when i brought the car back to the east coast. I would also agree that you need to lower the gear ratio...your e.t's show that your loosing all that power somewhere

 

I have to agree, 13's ain't bad. BUT, I definitely agree, SOMETHING in your combination isn't right. A damn near stock ponch 400 should go 13's in a 2400# car. What's the word on your setup (Air cleaner, carb, intake, heads, cam, headers) ??? A lot of the things that you need to do to keep a car "streetable" don't really apply to that light of a car. And most magazine guys are pussies about what will be "streetable", so guys that listen to them usually err on the side of "way too small", instead of getting close to the ideal combo for there particular ride. I have a VERY streetable 3100# car that goes 10's on the motor. It sure wasn't built on a budget , but the combo's pretty damn close to ideal. Let's make with the details and we'll get you cruisin down the track in no time!