Just curious for those of you with LS1 A4, do you run the quarter in o/d or drive? The best I could get out of a 98 SS A4 with lid and muffler is 13.8 in drive. My car almost seems faster in overdrive but I wasn't able to get another pass in to test this theory. I'm trying to figure out how all these people are running low 13's, high 12's "stock"

 

Elevation, track prep, temperature, etc all have an effect on times as well. Might as well just keep the car in OD, it's not going to hurt anything and if anything can only help in the case you need to shift to OD before the finish line. FYI, barely any cars have hit high 12's stock, and keep in mind a lot of people's idea of stock is different. Some would say a set of slicks on an otherwise stock car is stock.

 

Drive (3rd) or Over-drive (4th) makes NO DIFFERENCE. You're not going to hit OD anyways (I don't even hit it with 4.10's in the back).

Now, I remember hearing a "theory" that with the shifter pulled back into 3rd, that inside the tranny, it actually applies a little more pressure to the bands or something, but I've never noticed any difference either way. Also, it depends on whether you're manually shifting, or just leaving it in gear. *Personally*, I'd say leave it in OD, so then if you hold onto the shifter, it stays locked in 4th and won't accidentally pull back to 2nd or 1st. In Drive, it'll pull back without pushing the button down.

 

I am having the same problem. I went to the track and ran a best of 13.8 at 103 in OVERDRIVE. Now this might sound weird but the next day I was practicing launched since I was very dissapointed and found that from a dig my Drive would spin my tires and I couldent even spin them at all in overdrive. I was flooring it at the track and could only get a best 60' of 2.23. I understand that overdrive is just a 4th gear, but it doesnt make sense to me. I am defiently running again soon in drive though.

 

D / OD will have NO effect on how your car launches or whether it'll spin the tires!? The car still starts in 1st gear, so whether it spins or not depends on the surface and how the tires hook (or don't hook). Also, if you were doing back-to-back "practise" launces, you might have been heating up the tires at the same time?

 

Looks like this irks you as bad as it does me. It makes absolutely no difference at all in the selection of the gear. I leave mine in Drive so when I cross the finish line, the engine slows my car down more than it would in OD.

 

I used to do that as well 'til I got 4.10's. Now I usually run in OD, since it's getting close to red-line approaching the 1/4 mile mark (so when I cross the line, I let it shift to 4th, and I decelerate from there.....it's better than letting off from ~6000 RPM!).