KYWes

In about a month I'm going to London Dragway (1/4 mile) to make some runs. This is not my first time but it will be my first time going all out with everything working. See my sig for car information. Some other information not in the sig. I have a , I have dyno'd at 417/425 rwhp, I have a BMR adjustable torque arm that bolts at the body not the transmission, LCAs and adjustable panhard rod,LS1 driveshaft, and QA1 coilovers. I'll have a shift light installed too.

I will have some drag slicks a friend is letting me use. Some questions;

1. What can I expect different with the slicks?
2. I plan on doing some high rpm clutch dumps. Again what should I expect?
3. What general suggestions do you have? Should I start with some lower rpm starts? If so what progression do you suggest? I can take my car at least to 6,400 rpm with no valve float.
4. I'm considering getting some skinny tires for the front. What are they like racing on?
5. Any recommendations on coilover settings? Soft, hard, different front/rear.
6. Tire pressure

Presently I have 255/40 ZR 18 on the car. I plan to swap tires at the track. I have a 5 gal air tank and a 3t low profile jack.

KYWes

Disappointed that there's no helpful feedback on tires and what to expect. It's hard to believe there's not some experience out there that could help.

It may be a moot point for this year as the car may be in the body shop. I need the driver's quarter panel, driver's fender, and both bumper covers replaced so I may not get to the dragway as planned.

Injuneer

You do realize that activity on this site is close to ZERO? I respond to 90% of the posts. I also am an administrator on Firebird Nation, and pitch in frequently on LTXTech.com.

I remember reading this and wanting to think about it, and hoping someone else might pitch in in the meantime. I tend to focus on the LT1 engine tech questions, because that's where I feel more comfortable. I'm having major problems with my eyes, with two surgeries scheduled for August. It’s not easy staring at a screen for hours at a time.

Apologies…. I'll see what I can do when I get back from my ophthalmologist in the afternoon.

KYWes

Not trying to bust any body's chops. You do great. I've seen some talking about drag racing and hoped they'd share what they've experienced. Maybe nobody who checked in uses drag radials or skinny front tires. I appreciate all you do and hope you get doing better.

Injuneer

I've thought about this. It's been 15 years since I went to a drag strip. Definitely been major changes in tires since then.

I ran BFG Drag Radials, 315/35-17 on the street, never tried them at the track. Didn’t prevent much wheel spin on a hard hit.

Running mostly normally aspirated, similar to your build, still had the T56, 3.73 12-bolt, McLeod Street Twin, Hoosier QTP 26x11.5-15 on Weld 15x10 Prostars, rim screws, Moroso DS-2 26x4.5-15’s on Weld 15x3.5 Prostars. Hooked fine, never broke them loose, and that's with 5,000 RPM clutch dumps. Who knows if the QTP's are the same structure and compound 20 years later. I hated the clutch dumps. Huge bang on the drive train, but that's probably more likely due to the extreme grip of the Street Twin. I tried to insure all the slack was out of the drivetrain before dumping, but that was just another complication for a person with limited experience.

Eventually decided on the switch to the TH400. Advantage - less stress on launch, never a missed shift. At that point I had picked up a pair of M/T ET Drags, 28x10.5-15W, with tubes. Swapped in 4.11’s to compensate for the diameter increase. The guys that tune the engine told me the slicks were overkill, and probably costing me as much as 40 rwHP compared to street tires. I fooled around with various losses, but never had the ***** to launch on the full 300-shot off the line. Never had traction problems.

Not sure if any of this is helpful. The car is sitting on the Welds/20 year old drag tire in my driveway, collecting dust.

I’m still trying to figure out how close you are getting to running out of fuel with the 30# injectors. Are you running more than 43.5 PSIl

KYWes

Interesting info. I was thinking with my 3.73s that I should go with a taller wheel/tire to make the end result a taller ratio. Am I thinking right on that one?

I was wondering what the steering is like with the smaller tires up front. Is that an issue or not?

I went back to the road race track. I had no problem with lack of power on the essentially. I got me a fuel pressure gauge and have wired it into my HP Tuners rig so I can monitor pressure especially for drag runs. No I've not raised the pressure it's stock.

KYWes

Looks like I'll get to learn from experience. I've got a buddy who's going to let me use his BFG Drag Radials and he also has some Centerline skinny front wheels/tires. I'll try to post my experience if things don't fall through.

Injuneer

I live 8 miles from Old Bridge Township (Englishtown) Raceway Park, one time home of the NHRA Summer Nationals. Drag strip closed several years ago. They got tired of fighting with all the people who had built huge McMansions near the track, and didn’t like the noise. Track was there for more than 50 years. . Motocross and dirt road course still open. They also decided they could make more money leasing the property tp Copart to store thousands of salvage vehicles. The company I worked for had just repaved the track just a couple years before they closed.

.I had a trailer for serious track days, but once in a while I would get the urge and just jump in the Formula and drive the car to the track with the skinnies and slicks. Most of the drive was curvy rural back roads. I never had a handling problem driving legal speeds with the track tires. I would slow down for the serious curves. At that point I had both the front and rear roll bars in place. Later I removed the front bar, after Steve Spohn did the first instal of his 1-5/16 solid chrome moly “race” rear bar, with preload. Drove the car on the street a few times with street tires, and it was definitely not something I would want to push anywhere near normal limits.

KYWes

Sounds fun, the track I'm going to is a couple hours away so I'm planning on changing tires once I get there. I've got my daughter coming with her van to haul stuff. Also gives me a way home if I break something. ;-)