[tortilla-flats]

Disappointing track day this past weekend. No real improvement overall.

Excuses:
-- I missed configring my car correctly and theortically that could have played a part. My preference is to set up in "Touring" mode, but left it in "Track".
-- Hot as all get out. Worse weather I've run in to date. Just absolutely miserable.
-- The Atturo drag radials don't seem to be any good. My 60' times were as bad as when I was on street tires. Plus they're a bit sketchy at highway speeds. Could have been the track temps. Maybe the extra HP. Who knows.
-- E85 content was down 15 points.

Some positives:
-- I did set a new PB on MPH in the 1/8th. Only .01 better, tho, lol. But the car did trap pretty consistent 94+mph so I know the potential is there.
-- MSD 2-step works like a charm and simplifies my staging process because I don't need to flip thru a bunch of screens while I'm getting ready to race.

My primary takeaway is that the Katech 103mm throttle body and JLT v2 CAI are a waste of money (for me). As has been stated a bunch of times by the tuning gurus on this board, the 103mm TB doesn't get you anything over a ported 95mm on an essentially stock motor.
Also, the airbox on the JLT doesn't seal up properly in my snorkle and I don't think it seals to the hood well. My IATs were almost 100* over ambient in the staging lanes.

I'll be going back to the ported 95mm and factory CAI. And Nitto drag radials.

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by tortilla-flats

Disappointing track day this past weekend. No real improvement overall.

Excuses:
-- I missed configring my car correctly and theortically that could have played a part. My preference is to set up in "Touring" mode, but left it in "Track".
-- Hot as all get out. Worse weather I've run in to date. Just absolutely miserable.
-- The Atturo drag radials don't seem to be any good. My 60' times were as bad as when I was on street tires. Plus they're a bit sketchy at highway speeds. Could have been the track temps. Maybe the extra HP. Who knows.
-- E85 content was down 15 points.

Some positives:
-- I did set a new PB on MPH in the 1/8th. Only .01 better, tho, lol. But the car did trap pretty consistent 94+mph so I know the potential is there.
-- MSD 2-step works like a charm and simplifies my staging process because I don't need to flip thru a bunch of screens while I'm getting ready to race.

My primary takeaway is that the Katech 103mm throttle body and JLT v2 CAI are a waste of money (for me). As has been stated a bunch of times by the tuning gurus on this board, the 103mm TB doesn't get you anything over a ported 95mm on an essentially stock motor.
Also, the airbox on the JLT doesn't seal up properly in my snorkle and I don't think it seals to the hood well. My IATs were almost 100* over ambient in the staging lanes.

I'll be going back to the ported 95mm and factory CAI. And Nitto drag radials.

Setbacks are inevitable, don't let it get to you too deeply. Hot weather and long staging lane waits are kryptonite for any car, especially heavier ones like ours. Despite all that, your trap speed is very promising.

As to IATs, if you were 100 over ambient, something is definitely not happy in that engine bay. IIRC mine were around 145-150 in 88-90 degree weather with a (basic 560 rwhp) supercharger setup.

One other thing I always did at the drag strip was to lock the suspension to Tour mode, that way I never forgot to set it again before my passes.

That said, if you're serious about drag racing, why waste your time with streetable drag radials? Go for Mickey Thompsons or Hoosiers, you'll never have an issue launching at these modest power levels.

[vince3]

Originally Posted by tortilla-flats

Disappointing track day this past weekend. No real improvement overall.

Excuses:
-- I missed configring my car correctly and theortically that could have played a part. My preference is to set up in "Touring" mode, but left it in "Track".
-- Hot as all get out. Worse weather I've run in to date. Just absolutely miserable.
-- The Atturo drag radials don't seem to be any good. My 60' times were as bad as when I was on street tires. Plus they're a bit sketchy at highway speeds. Could have been the track temps. Maybe the extra HP. Who knows.
-- E85 content was down 15 points.

Some positives:
-- I did set a new PB on MPH in the 1/8th. Only .01 better, tho, lol. But the car did trap pretty consistent 94+mph so I know the potential is there.
-- MSD 2-step works like a charm and simplifies my staging process because I don't need to flip thru a bunch of screens while I'm getting ready to race.

My primary takeaway is that the Katech 103mm throttle body and JLT v2 CAI are a waste of money (for me). As has been stated a bunch of times by the tuning gurus on this board, the 103mm TB doesn't get you anything over a ported 95mm on an essentially stock motor.
Also, the airbox on the JLT doesn't seal up properly in my snorkle and I don't think it seals to the hood well. My IATs were almost 100* over ambient in the staging lanes.

I'll be going back to the ported 95mm and factory CAI. And Nitto drag radials.

What day and time was the run? The weather has been brutal.

[tortilla-flats]

Sunday. 10am - 2pm

[vince3]

Unsolicited advice - before ripping out parts and having to change the tune again wait for better weather.

Harsh unsolicited advice - I know 21st is supposed to be the best or 1 of the best, the reality is Jason’s tune just preformed better (on a DA calculator that run would have been 124 mph in better weather vs this run at 122mph in better weather) and I’d probably have him look at the tune. I get it, you probably had 21st do the the headers and it was probably just easier to have them throw it on a dyno and tune it.

[tortilla-flats]

No, I get it. Pretty much everything was working against me running any PBs. Especially the heat. Just hoping against hope.

I'm sure 21st tune was better for no other reason than I wasn't running a W02 when Jason tuned. Jason's work at the time was primarily to enable the Flexfuel.

My biggest dissapointment wasn't anything tune related, but the shitty 60' times. I've been struggling all year trying to figure out launching this car and thought I had it figured out with 2-step. Part of the problem is I need to hit a track day with nothing but test and tune to get that sorted out. Rather than trying to sort this out during competition with only a handful of passes.

I appreciate the feedback.

[vince3]

lso, the airbox on the JLT doesn't seal up properly in my snorkle and I don't think it seals to the hood well. My IATs were almost 100* over ambient in the staging lanes. - that probably killed any hopes of a decent run. Damn i had high hopes for the JLT and your dyno numbers showed it might have done something, but sitting in a staging lane cooking and with it not sealing shows the trade off.

[tortilla-flats]

So I did some evaluations yesterday to see if the gap between the airbox and snorkle made any difference.

Short answer, yes.

I ran a course that included speeds up to 50mph and extended idling in a parking lot. I did this back-to-back to keep ambient conditions as close as possible (it was hot AF!).

After I ran the course intially and established baseline specific speeds, timings and temps, I then taped up the gap^ and repeated the course measuring temps at the same intervals.

IATs ran consistently about 4*-5* cooler taped up. At idle, the longer I idled, the closer the gap narrowed towards zero but never got worse than 1* cooler. At no time or point did the taped session ever run as hot or hotter than the gap session.
Some noted inconsistencies between the two runs that actually favored the with gap session...
- Ambient temp went from 99* for the gap session to 102* for the taped session.
- The course required navigation through some traffic light controlled intersections and I found myself sitting at the lights longer during the taped session.
- FWIW

^ I taped around the gap using Gorilla Tape and shone (shined?) a flashlight all around to ensure that I was not seeing any light bleed into the airbox. That said, I did not attempt to calibrate how well the open top sealed against the hood when closed. It's therefore indeterminate what role that played in this test.

Another point, the body bracing under the hood near the front corner got too hot to touch with the bare hand. Lots of the high heat contact is right next to the airbox. I suspect that the thicker body of the factory airbox will stave off absorbing and transfering heat longer than the thinner walls of the JLT airbox. I'll repeat this once I swap back to the factory airbox and update this thread.

+++++++++++++++++

Air temp measurement explanation: I'm measuring the delta (or difference) between the ambient air temp and the IAT at predetermined specific points.

For example: Park and measure the delta after 1 minute of running idle.
Say the IAT is 128* and the ambient is 99*. The delta is 29*

Repeat after taping up the gap.
IAT is 125 and ambient is 100*. The delta is 25*

So the comparison difference is the taped session ran 4* cooler at that specific measured point.

[tortilla-flats]

This is a hard truth to admit. Especially considering my current employment situation. I feel like I wasted a BUNCH of money on mods.

To be clear, this is NOT a callout of any vendor, tuner or shop. This is 100% on me. The information is out there and I read it and/or watched the video(s).

My mistake was fooling myself, that because I was chasing drag strip performance, every little bit mattered. But I discovered that some improvements just weren’t sustainably consistent. I’ve got enough passes that I’m able to effectively average out the changes and the reality is the numbers don’t lie.

++++++++++

My baseline mods are E85, ported MSD and ported 95mm throttle body with drag pack. In the heat of summer my PB was…
– Best 1/8: 7.61 @ 94.2mph

Installed headers, 103mm throttle body, 5” CAI & U/D pulley. WO2 sensor & dyno tune.
– Best 1/8: 7.63 @ 95mph

Without any internal mods, H/C, CI+, etc to need more air, the 103mm TB doesn’t seem to provide any value.

Again, without internal mods, I don’t think headers are of any value. I believe any performance improvement in this space is coming from the elimination of the cats (or reduction to a single race style). Would probably be just as performant with a down pipe running a single race style cat.

At this point, it looks like my real improvements are going to come from weight reductions (3720lbs) and improving my 60’ times (1.78).

My next $$ mod will probably be a torque converter.

Thanks for reading my rant.

[SPLATT]

A camshaft will take advantage of the mods you've done.

[vince3]

Originally Posted by SPLATT

A camshaft will take advantage of the mods you've done.

That’s exactly what he is saying.

[tortilla-flats]

[tortilla-flats]

Latest update. Reverted back to the factory CAI w/Green filter and a Soler ported 95mm throttlebody. Fresh tune by Snackbar tuning (Thanks Jason!).

Last race of the season for the Texas Muscle Car Club Challenge (https://tmccc.org) this Sunday. Shouldn't lose anything and hopefully improves with some of the ideas I have for staging and launching.

This year has been more about getting this car to 60' than being able to focus on racing. Hoping this weekend closes that effort out and I can focus on racing next year.

.

[tortilla-flats]

Texas Muscle Car Club Challenge Season Finale at XRP.