Whenever I'm down, rice picks-me-up

So I left the track early tonight after 6 runs of 2.4xx 60' times! I tried several methods of launching and I dunno if it was my nerves or the track prep, but it just wasn't happening tonight. On my way home, I spot a 99+ Celica GTS coming up FAST in my mirrors. He gives me a rev as he passes...which I would ignore 9 out of 10 times...but my track woes got the best of me. Knowing I needed a boost of confidence, I went over my victory checklist...

Stainless woopie cushion...Check.
White decals on 5% tint...Check.
Bass-less techno with treble galore...Check.
Wingspan wider than Yao...You betcha.

So open goes the DMH and I pull up beside him at the next light. He doesn't even glance at me at the intersection, so I thought I'd give things a rest. As the light turned green, I eased the throttle like my mother's mother's mother and decided to forget about Uncle Ben in the lane next door. Just as my finger reaches to end the cutout madness, Ben takes off from a 10mph roll! My foot knew what to do, and in the next few moments I made up the ~3 cars he jumped on me. All 4 cylinders gave me one last fight around 60, then I never looked back. We were lined up again at the next 2 stoplights, but I didn't hear a peep out of him after that. What a great night.

:lol: Good kill.

good kill

2.4's in an A4. Ouch. I'm sure things will go better next time though.

Good kill.

Dan

2.4 is probably on the slow range of average for his car...
it's a convert, with 2.73s and no power adder mods except the CAI which doesn't do that much by itself.

:lol:

uncle ben

love it...well done...and well written

hahaha nice kill :lol:

Originally posted by Detroit808
So I left the track early tonight after 6 runs of 2.4xx 60' times! I tried several methods of launching and I dunno if it was my nerves or the track prep, but it just wasn't happening tonight. On my way home, I spot a 99+ Celica GTS coming up FAST in my mirrors. He gives me a rev as he passes...which I would ignore 9 out of 10 times...but my track woes got the best of me. Knowing I needed a boost of confidence, I went over my victory checklist...

Stainless woopie cushion...Check.
White decals on 5% tint...Check.
Bass-less techno with treble galore...Check.
Wingspan wider than Yao...You betcha.

So open goes the DMH and I pull up beside him at the next light. He doesn't even glance at me at the intersection, so I thought I'd give things a rest. As the light turned green, I eased the throttle like my mother's mother's mother and decided to forget about Uncle Ben in the lane next door. Just as my finger reaches to end the cutout madness, Ben takes off from a 10mph roll! My foot knew what to do, and in the next few moments I made up the ~3 cars he jumped on me. All 4 cylinders gave me one last fight around 60, then I never looked back. We were lined up again at the next 2 stoplights, but I didn't hear a peep out of him after that. What a great night.

What are some of the ET's you get out of ur car? I switched to 3.42's from 2.73's and the car is 10X more fun to drive.

Nice kill

I hate GTS cars....try to out VTEC Honda and end up with a 15 sec 195hp car :confused: Did I mention they are geared to fall out of their powerbands? :rolleyes:

What a moron...goes from a 10mph dig vs. 5.7L guess he hasnt seen a toque plot for a 1.8L GTS motor :o

Stall and D/R's in your future?

Originally posted by CamaroGuy22
What are some of the ET's you get out of ur car? I switched to 3.42's from 2.73's and the car is 10X more fun to drive.

Did you notice any 1/4 mile improvement with the 3.42's? My horrible night at the track, I was running 14.5@97mph with 2.4 60' times. A couple weeks ago I was running 14.3@98mph with 2.1 60' times. My next mod will be a madwolf tune that Ion's working on right now. Then either gears or headers (can't decide yet). Finally, a full tuneup with a set of DR. My goal is to run mid 13's all night in my vert.

I havent been to the track yet, they are still closed. I bet i would pick up a few tenths with the adition of drag radials, the car hauls a$$ out of the hole now!

Originally posted by CamaroGuy22
I havent been to the track yet, they are still closed. I bet i would pick up a few tenths with the adition of drag radials, the car hauls a$$ out of the hole now!

Gears rule! I'm glad you are enjoying them. I'm still trying to figure out which ones to get for my car and find a reasonably cheap place to install them.

Gears and a stall would get you in the 13's no problem. Actually I bet a stall and some sticky tires could dip you into the 13's. You dropped 2 tenths by just getting your 60ft down. DR's would probably drop your 60ft another 1-2 tenths and then you'd be hovering very close to 14's flat. Try some sticky tires first. A stall would help get your heavy conv. outta the hole better than gears would I bet. Gear's would probably be a little more fun to drive with overall though.

Originally posted by Steve Y
Gears rule! I'm glad you are enjoying them. I'm still trying to figure out which ones to get for my car and find a reasonably cheap place to install them.

Also steve, it depends on what you use your car for and what you plan for it. My buddy has 3.73's in his stang and absolutely loves them, but his gas mileage suffers greatly. I went with 3.55's in my 93 stang and was glad I did when the SC got installed. I would never have had traction with 3.73's. 3.55's are great all around gears. Just like 3.42's for F-bodies. Both stangs were 5spds btw.

Originally posted by Jay-Roll
Also steve, it depends on what you use your car for and what you plan for it. My buddy has 3.73's in his stang and absolutely loves them, but his gas mileage suffers greatly. I went with 3.55's in my 93 stang and was glad I did when the SC got installed. I would never have had traction with 3.73's. 3.55's are great all around gears. Just like 3.42's for F-bodies. Both stangs were 5spds btw.

What year Stang is the one with 3.73s? I can't believe gas mileage suffers much with them. What was his before and after mpg? I had a '95 Stang GT with 3.55 gears and a 5-speed. Those gears were great all around for that car. The mod motors need more gear because of less low rpm torque and better revability. They say 3.73s are best all around for my car, but 4.30s are best for a serious drag racer. I will probably go with 3.73s or 3.90s since I drive 11,000+ miles per year of high speed freeway and city driving. This is my only car and I only drag race it once a month or less.

Both car's were Fox bodies. My buddy went from 2.73's( think the lower of the two available stock gears) to the 3.73's. He also did 30lb injectors around the same time so that might have something to do with it. His car wasn't making nearly enough power to need that big of injectors. I'm sure his right foot made a difference. But when my Z was stock I'd cruise at 75-80 down the highway and he'd do no more than 55-60 cause his car revved so high even in 5th. Yeah I bed with the mod motor 3.73's would be perfect. I wasn't thinking about it when I typed I guess but the tq of a 5.0 made a lot of difference in gear choosing.

Originally posted by Jay-Roll
Both car's were Fox bodies. My buddy went from 2.73's( think the lower of the two available stock gears) to the 3.73's. He also did 30lb injectors around the same time so that might have something to do with it. His car wasn't making nearly enough power to need that big of injectors. I'm sure his right foot made a difference. But when my Z was stock I'd cruise at 75-80 down the highway and he'd do no more than 55-60 cause his car revved so high even in 5th. Yeah I bed with the mod motor 3.73's would be perfect. I wasn't thinking about it when I typed I guess but the tq of a 5.0 made a lot of difference in gear choosing.

I have always heard that going to 3.55s or 3.73s in 5.0s keeps the gas mileage about the same because the cars were undergeared from the factory. Yes stock gears were 2.73s or 3.08s. 30 lb. injectors are way to much for a nearly stock engine. The 19 lb. ones will take you safely to about 300 rwhp n/a. 3.73s at 70 mph in 5th gear is only 2300 rpm with a .675 5th gear. That doesn't seem high at all. What was the deal with his car?

I wondered the same myself. His car was definately very very quick, but not as fast as I thought. I think it was just the higher tq of the 5.0 that made it feel strong. He had Mac headers,off road H-pipe, flowmaster catback,3.73's,pro 5.0 shifter, 30lb injectors, K&N CAI,also I think a couple other things but I can't remember. The day I bought my 95' Z I was bone stock and we raced. It was over for him before we got to 45. My car is an auto also. Almost the exact same launch. Then we switched drivers. We both agreed I'm probably a little better driver with the 5spd. The outcome was about the same accept it was just a little closer. Held my own with his car til about 60. I have no idea why his car revved so high but it did sound very very mean. Even with my cutout when we both were on the E-way his sounded much much better. Mostly because it was louder though. He got horrible gas mileage, like 10-14mpg. We were comparing to my Z which averages 20-25+mpg so it was obvious his looked even worse than it actually was, but still it was bad. FYI in my stang when I went from 3.08's to 3.55's I also went from auto to 5spd at the same time. I actually think gas mileage improved when I wasn't on the throttle all the time.