RebekahsZ

Friday night TnT at Hwy 43 Dragway (Lawrenceburg, TN) got rained out. So, we went up on Saturday to try and mix in some TnT runs with the money bracket race. Well, they wouldn't let us. So, we hung out and watched a bit and learned a lot from looking at cars, watching the races (consistently won by within 0.01 of the dial-in), and talking to the drivers. I didn't see any stick-shift cars, although there were a great variety of cars from 4-second (we're talking 1/8-mile tracks) rail jobs all the way to 8-second family sedans. The temperature was dropping and I was freezing without a jacket. Called down to Jake's Dragway (Moulton, Alabama) and they were having TnT. Drove down to try to better my best ET. The air was so clear, cool and low-humidity, I knew there was a best time to be had. I learned a lot from my trip to Centerville, Arkansas, with wfritts911-one thing I learned was that air quality can make a big difference, as I saw my time drop 0.2 seconds over the evening, getting faster as it cooled. That night I set a personal best of 7.09. Tonight started with trouble. On the first run, the car stumbled hard coming off the line. I had intentionally left very little fuel in the tank in order to be lighter. Assumed the launch was fuel starving the pickup in the tank, I went to the truck and put 5 gallons in the tank. Lined back up to do second run-same thing-car fell flat on its face coming out of the hole. Decided that the roll control must be hanging up and killing the motor. Turned off roll control, then on third run-same thing, except that the car never recovered. Turned off 2-step and car ran like a scalded dog. Except, that coming out of the hole, the car wanted to spin, turn hard to the right and wanted to make love to the right-hand guard rail, although it never really got that close. Did that 3 times. Finally figured out that the water box was different at this track and that I was coming out of the water box with tires that were still wet. Started letting car roll out of the water with the tires still smoking and the car settled down on subsequent launches. Ran 3/4 of the 13 runs without roll control or 2-step and scored my best time ever: 7.080 at 99.53mph with a 1.497 60-foot. Without my 2-step, I was very inconsistent, but 2 runs later I bested that with a 7.044 at 100.02mph (another milestone!) with a 1.505 60-ft. Ran a few more runs that were all over the place and got frustrated, found a flashlight and figured out that the 2-step deactivation switch just needed some adjusting. Bumbed a 9/16" wrench and got that taken care of. As I closed the hood, I could here wfritts911 telepathing from Arkansas to me: "Turn-up the 2-step!", so I turned it from 3500 up to 4000 (I know SunnyZ broke his axles at 4500). Next run was a 6.972 (6's!!!!) at 100.11 with a 1.473 60-ft. Followed that up with a 6.960 at 100.02 with a 1.446 60-ft and a 6.986 at 99.68 with a 1.454 60-ft. I had been spinning out of the hole, so I let my air pressure down from about 16 to 13 and turned the 2-step down to 3800: ran a 7.111 at 99.16 with a 1.505 60-ft as the track was closing. Only rarely did anyone line up against me, but I did get to beat a stick-shift supercharged and drag-radial-ed 2010 Camaro (smoked that ask) and I got touched out by a nitroused 2002-ish LS Camaro with an automatic (a good race until I was late on the 2-3 shift and hit the rev-limiter and got walked. Videos to follow tomorrow. My first dyno tuning session is scheduled for Monday-I may not want to change a thing. Re-thinking the whole nitrous thing at least until I become a better driver. When I was a surfer, I used to thank God for a cold front coming thru-seems drag racers do the same thing. I bet I don't go that fast again until Fall.

Tried to go to Lawrenceburg TN for test and tune last night but it got rained out. Drive up today and they have already started main event. Heading to Moulton AL to not let the cool air get away from me. Report to follow.

Lots of guys were running Dunlop Durezza Z2 "star specs" at my last autocross and were kicking butt. I may be misspelling that. That will be my next street tire.

Yeah, I know. I'm just trying to avoid being down any more than I have to until winter. But I've got a seeping master cyl so I may be forced to pull something together. Did you relocate the pivot hole in the pedal to increase the leverage ratio?

Thanks!!!! Did you buy the plate or order it? How thick is it? Wanna sell one?

Need some rims for my race tires. Used is best, some wear and tear accepted. Other rims of similar size considered.

An additional variable that frustrates things is the sidewall/bead design and "shoulder" of the tire. These variables make it almost impossible to answer the question often posted: "Will such-and-such tire fit my car?" For example, my cheap Khumos come straight up from the rim and roll gradually toward the center of the tread. On the same size tire, the Hoosiers project laterally from the lip of the rim a good 3/8" before going almost straight up to a very square shoulder. My tire guy calls that lateral thickness a "rim saver." Basically it is just a super thick sidewall starting from the mounting bead. Whether it is 100% true, I'm gonna personally operate as though the 245/45/16 or 17 is the widest thing I can fit on my car (understand that my car is lowered and the tire must fit INSIDE the fender) using 8" rims. I now have 9.5" of sticky tread on the ground-that's just gonna have to be enough. I just scored a used set of Hoosier A6s on ebay for $380 delivered. Project done-now I can move onto the next project.

Wish these wheel sellers would just use the term: BACK SPACING instead of offset. It sure muddies the water. Thanks madkaw.

Thanks fellas. I have installed shaft collars on the steering rack to limit steering travel. I checked for TC rod rub but I did not check the front portion of the sway bar. Will do.

Hey, thanks. That's not a lie-we call that mis-speaking now adays , haha. You can do that because of high ride height. Mine is lowered so I gotta fit INSIDE the fender. See my thread I started last night on 16x8s.

Car has coilover and camber plates set at -3 camber in front, -2.5 camber in rear, 5 caster. Measured tread width is 9.5". The sidewalls seem to want 9" wide rims instead of 8s, but the clearance between the "rim saver" portion of the sidewall is super close to the spring seat. I jacked the car up on the diagonal opposite side to compress the suspension to ensure clearance with a bump. Closest clearance is to rear spring seat. I think this is pretty close to the max tire I can fit on this car.

Oh, I get it! Its some of that heavy ask 280 shi.....no we ain't got that. Thanks for the clarification. I just have the metal little 2-hatch panel, no carpet, no particle board. I'll just bolt to the floor.

Yes, please. I'd like to see them. I'd love to be able to fit 275s on the car. I have a 245/45/16 that I am going home to test fit on my 16X8 +10 RBRs. I have no idea what a Roh Snyper looks like. I'll try to google it while awaiting a photo.

Yep, floor is the same. The guy I just saw with a 1985# 77 280z had cut that bulkhead with the little hatches out. He said that panel was worth 15#. I'm not cutting it out. I'm afraid I'm as light as I'm gonna get.

That's not rust as I define it - that is clean and pristine! Leave it alone and keep driving! Your Z is "perfect." It will take 40 years to have a problem with that as a starting point. Very jealous.

Yeah, looks really clean - Ima gonna copy when the time comes.

OK I see it, it wasn't there at first. Thanks! Looks great.

Just listed part of your list in the Parts for Sale forum.

Did you get the dates that I sent you via PM? Hoping to get a date set for some instruction. I just got some used R6s. If I don't hear back in the next few days, I'll give you a call.

A picture of it mounted behind the seat! Is your car road worthy again? or would you need snow tires still?

Pics of bottle (please)? I have seen info on which way to face the bottle and I can't see that it would really matter, so long as it is tilted at an angle. I really would like to locate my bottle in the same spot since inside the hatch puts it in the direct sunlight. I expect it will be fine as you have located it.

Does locating the air filter behind the radiator qualify as "forced induction?" Looks great-I like the red! You need some velocity stacks.

What chassis you putting this in? You better strip it, that means no interior at all, a lawnmower battery, dump the swaybars, light weight driver seat only, quit drinking beer and eat salads, 5 gallon fuel cell; cut everything out that you can. Put helium in the tires. Sub-11s isn't as easy as it looks.

Ah, you just need to finish that rear end so you can launch harder on some stickies.

And a little less than one oil change. If it doesn't smoke and sounds fine, what have you to lose-keep beating it. Seriously, you spent less on your whole car than I did for just my engine and trans. Even with the high mileage engine, you still got a good deal. I have noticed that my motor uses a little oil (it pretty much only sees high-load use). Maybe the guy before you had the same issue and just added oil instead of changing it. The pan did its job of catching the sludge. Don't you love the o-ring gaskets!