Ok, with everything in my sig (plus pcm4less tune and 2.73 gears), my best track run to date has been 13.3x at 103.xx mph. 60' of 1.9 on nitto drag radials.

The last time i ran I would say it was pretty humid and probably mid 80's temps. I dont know the elevation of the track that we were at (its in Wisconsin... Great Lakes Dragaway).

I see people on here all over the place with my set-up or less doing high to mid 12's. I know the car is underachieving. Another problem i have been having is that when I launch, I cant brake torque any higher than 1800-2000 rpm w/o creeping forward and tripping the tree. Does this seem odd to anyone? I have a 2800 stall Vigilante.

The car feels very strong, i think the problem is in the launch. I guess I could probably get the tires stickier (since 1.9 doesnt seem all that great).

Help me out guys... how am I not hitting 12's already. I feel that it should easily be there with this setup!

 

That will be about right for the converter foot braking it. If you want to see closer to the rated stall you'll have to flash it, but thats harder on the parts than footbraking. Footbraking kind of preloads the drivetrain. I have a 3000 vigilantee and I'm lucky to see above 2000 footbraking.

I think the majority of your time can be made up with some gears, a 3.73 and a good launch will probably put you closer to the mark.

 

Yup, it's the gears. You either need taller gears or a bunch more horsepower to hit 12's.

I vote for both, and shoot for low 12's.

 

What do you mean flash it? Do you mean get the stall reflashed to a higher lock up? If so, no thanks... i like the stall where it is at.

Yeah, i am gonna go with 3.73's soon, hopefully that will make up the difference and put me in the mid 12's. If not... im gonna spray the **** out of the thing!!! LMAO

Thanks for the input guys... didnt know that footbraking would be so far off from the actual flash of the t/c.

 

Flashing the converter means waiting until right before you launch and punching the gas a moment before you release the brake, rather than bringing it all the way up steadily to the stall speed and just releasing the brake to launch.

 

wont i just spin hard doing that? Unless i have slicks, i dont see how that is gonna get a better time.

 

Every setup is different. Just experiment with the timing and the RPMs and everything and find what works best for you.

Some cars hook best when you flash the converter, others spin like mad. Likewise, some cars hook best when you stall it up slowly, and others spin like mad.

What kind of tires are you running? There are a few options between street tires and slicks...

 

those best times that i have gotten have been on nitto drag radials. I have heard good things about the bfg drag radials. I dont really want to do anything more extreme than a drag radial as i would like to keep my rearend from snapping...

 

It isn't the tire that causes rear end breakage, it is traction and driveline shock. I know we all commonly think of ET Streets as a way to break the rear more easily than a drag radial, but in my brain a pre-loaded driveline, a low rpm launch, and a more flexible sidewall may be easier on the rear than a high rpm launch on drag radials due to less sidewall flex in a drag radial than a bias ply slick design.

Basically, the better you hook the more likely you are to break something. Drag radials will generally not hook as good as a slick, especially on a track with questionable traction to start with so you are less likely to hook up and hence break something.

I generally got about 400 passes out of the stock rear between breaking it and noticed no difference between drag radials, Et Streets, manual or automatic, as long as I had the driveline preloaded and didn't do clutch dumps at 5000.

 

Thanks all for the input. I hope that the gears is really all it needs to wake up and get me my desired numbers. Just didnt really think that the 2.73's would hold me back this much...

 

Try gears, even just 3.42s in your stock rear will wake it up alot. The 3.42s seem to be the strongest as they have more pinion teeth. Your ring gear has 41 teeth and going with a 3.42 gear set gives you 12 pinion teeth which I was never able to break in 10 years. I've heard horror stories of 3.73s and 4.10s breaking maybe because of less pinion teeth. Also with the 4L60E you have a 3.06 first gear which is high (numerically) when compared to the 2.52 in the TH350 trans.

I have had a Vig 3600 since 1996 and I finally figured out how to get my set up to launch well. I had been loading up the converter to 2000 rpm and then letting it fly and, while I was able to get some high 1.6s out of it, most were in the 1.7s and was very inconsistent...Last year at a track rental I experimented with holding the brakes at the line at idle as to not roll forward...no preload at all and just floored it which let the converter, tires and suspension do the work..The result was consistent 1.55-57s to 60' all day long. Try not bringing up the rpms at all and see what happens...

--Alan

 

see, i would think that the 3.42s wouldnt do a whole lot. I thought making the jump all the way to 3.73s would be fitting for my setup. Do you think i can get just as good of results going with a 3.42 and maybe BETTER reliability out of it? Cuz id hate to get the 3.73s and have the rear end go out because it was just too much for the stock housing after a few HARD lauches...

 

I only have experience with 3.42s in a 10 bolt...Didn't switch to 3.73s until I got a 12 bolt. I can just say that the 3.42s worked great in the 10 bolt and never broke. 3.73s are a better gear for an A4, I'm just not sure about durability...

--Alan

 

yeah, 12 bolt funds are really not an option for me

wish i could get a 12 bolt...

 

isn't the mph alittle low?