added 4.10 gears, lca, lowering brackets, removed weight....almost second slower!!

[torchred]

The car is an 2006 gt 3 valve. Since running a 13.3@107 (or 108 can't remember), I added 4.10 gears, N2NM WOT box, a 91 octane tune (versus old 89 octane tune from BBR), lca, LCA brackets, and removed a bunch of weight. Other major change was going from cheap Kumho's on factory 18s, to bfg KDWs on California special 19s. Similar temps and humidity, the car went 14.1@104. WTF!!!! Now I know I lost a lot in the 60 foot, but I still thought it would have added or at least equaled my previous MPH and at least clicked a high 13.

13.3 1/4 mile 60 foot was 2.25.

14.1 1/4 mile 60 foot was 2.43. YES i know, fuggin terrible, but everybody told me the KDWs would hook better than my old Kuhmos. I was so pissed off after running a 14 second time, I just left without trying a second pass because it just felt like no matter how I launched it would blow the tires off. I thought these damn control arms and lowering brackets were going to help things.

This is my daily driver so I'd really like to keep rain/snow friendly rear tires on it. Any thoughts on a rear tire selection? Or should I ditch the beautiful California special wheels and put some dark stars on it? The car spins really bad. From a 2nd gear punch on the street it was start getting sideways. I had no idea KDWs sucked this bad.

And yes i do expect a lot of "duh your running a street tire" comments, but how the hell did I see a bunch of much higher powered 5.0 mustangs running into the 12s on regular factory tires with 2.0 60 foots......

And question......what are 3 valve guys shifting at?? I'm used to the old pushrod 5.0 at the track (my last 88 ran consistent 12.40s with a 1.7 60 foot so I'm not a complete nube at the track), but on this 3 valve I'm shifting around 5,900...which seems high to me.

 

[stkjock]

U want to drag it, u need a tire


As to the 5.0s, they make 100 hp more... So they are faster

 

[fdjizm]

5,900 is not high on a 3v, they like to rev. That's time you're giving up right there.
I shift at 6800 1-2 6000 3-4th... bolt on with stock cams.

I'd say next time out go up to 6500rpm at least on the shift and see what the car does... also if you're on street tires you need to slip the clutch from a high RPM instead of just dumping. I used to slip the clutch from 6000rpm on street tires when I had way less mods and always ended up with a 13.1-13.2. with 60's in the 1.90x range.

 

[dysan]

You've got a lot going on there...and on street tires the 4.10's will hurt you at the track since it will be very easy to spin the tires.

Rule of thumb is whatever happens in the 60' is double by the end of the run so if you lost two tenths in your 60' then you will lose 4 tenths at the stripe.

As for shifting that depends on where it makes power to....Do you still have the stock air box or do you have a cold air intake on the car? I would shift mine when it was still NA on street tires around 6400 and all I had on the car at that point was LCA's and a JLT intake and I was running 13.0's with high 1.9 60's on the stock 17" pirelli's.

If I were you I would actually try to put some weight in the trunk of the car to try and get some more traction on those tires....Easy way would be to run a full tank of gas.

Last but not least, practice, practice, practice.

 

[psfracer]

That mph looks really low. Did you try to go back to the old tune to see any difference?

Even if you spin like crazy in the 60 foot, your mph should still be pretty accurate.

Get some rear wheels and put some M&H / M/Ts on them for the track and try again. Perhaps some friends have some rears you can borrow just to try out?

 

[07graygt]

I launch at 5000 with drag radials. I'm shifting at 6500 not letting of the gas. As cars as tires why not just get a set that you can bolt on at the track? I'm running m&h tires 275/50/17 on a factory 17x8. I pull 1.8x 60'.

 

[torchred]

yeah, I'm leaning towards just buying a dedicated track rear wheel setup, like maybe a stock v6 wheel with some M/T's on it, I just can't wrap my head around the much lower MPH......I didn't realize 4.10 gears would sap 4 mph out of your trap. And it feels like the $400 I spent on rear suspension parts did absolutely NOTHING. Car hooked way better with worn factory ish.

Oh and I do have a 2 step (the WOT box) but i didn't utilize it for obvious reasons....probably would have spun worse on the 2 step.

 

[stkjock]

My 3v had a blower, but I spun it to 6800 on no lift shifts.

Is the car lowered? R u sure your piñon angle and LCA geometry is set correctly?

 

[69Mach1-409]

Don't feel bad. I dropped alot more $$$$ on a T56 Magnum transmission, lw flywheel, twin disk clutch, and a new dyno tune.. then lost 7 tenths and 9 mph!!!

I agree with the others that you need seat time with the new setup and better tires.

 

[torchred]

Oh and did I mention I was NO LIFT shifting with the WOT box and still managed to lose MPH? I'm gonna borrow some drag radials, try another tune, and try again maybe next week. Next post will be either a picture of a car on fire in a ditch, or a picture of a time slip.

 

[NUTCASE]

you can get a set of rims used and a set of tires for not a bad price. just make sure with the rims you do it the right way the first time or you will end up like my car having enormous wheel studs for no effing reason. there are only certain wheels that will fit your car, there is a treasure trove of information on this in this forum. also, be reasonable on your tires size. yes there are guys running sick times on 275/60r15s, however you don't have that kind of power. a tire to big will just slow you down in the end.

also I do not trust canned tunes. any canned tunes. The only one that really works is if you get like an intake and tune package only. that is good, but that is about as far as it goes. canned tunes are a bandaid. there are to many factors in car, air, wear on motor, gas quality, carbon deposits in motor, ect that can change your tuning requirements. canned tunes are typically very 'safe' to account for all these possible conditions. the end result is a tune that makes less power then the car can actually make, and as I have seen in my own car, no matter how much you do the car will never be as fast as it was intake and tune only until you get that real tune.

also 4.10s are really for use with drag tire. if you did not want to put drag tire on you really should of kept the stock gears, or just not gone 4.10.

for now I say just get a set of DRs for the track and see where it goes. LOTS of people with street cars do this. If you are dead set on getting the most out of street tire as some people are try dropping down the pressure and experimenting with different launch RPMs. when my car had the stock tires on I could get consistent low 1.9s out of it. find a super conservative launching strategy and work from there changing only one thing at a time.

 

[lindertw]

check craigslist for a spare pair of OEM wheels, and consider M/T ET street (bias ply) for the track - they work well with stick shift cars.

which relocation brackets, and which hole did you install the LCA's on? stock springs/shocks, or is your car lowered? depending on the setup, your pinion angle or IC/AS might be wonky.

good luck!

 

[NUTCASE]

Next post will be either a picture of a car on fire in a ditch, or a picture of a time slip.

I know exactly how you feel. I had one car I did tires, intake manifold, full exhaust, weight reduction, and a bunch of other crap. went to the track and ran the same time as stock. then with this car doing a bunch of work and finding out that my butt canned tune is keeping me the same speed as stock except with lean moments and knock.

 

[roberts]

What weight u take out of it?

 

[95five-0]

I know exactly how you feel. I had one car I did tires, intake manifold, full exhaust, weight reduction, and a bunch of other crap. went to the track and ran the same time as stock. then with this car doing a bunch of work. nd finding out that my butt canned tune is keeping me the same speed as stock except with lean moments and knock.

I know the feeling too. Ran on street tires with a cold air intake and throttle body and got 8.6@84mph. Added a stall, headers, underdrives, 1 piece driveshaft, lca, drag springs, adjust strut and shocks, 4.10s ,and drag radials on a full set of 15s and it still ran 8.6@85mph. Thinking my Bama performance tune isn't right.