when i first baught the car back in the summer time it ran 13.6 @ 105 mph in the florida heat and humidity with nothing but a lid.

last night it was friggin cold as hell, no humiditiy, and i had a cutout open and i couldn't pull better than a 13.6 @ 103 with a 2.08 60 foot!


there is no way that my car should run those times, something is wrong. what should i check for? car is a 1999 SS with 51k miles.

 

have you ever changed the plugs? how bout the fuel filter?

what were your short times in the summer?

 

did you have similar 60ft's? were both runs at the same track?

 

Yeah, you would like to see some improvement with the air being better, but you're not going to see a huge difference. If you're 60' s were worse, it could simply mean traction was not as good. Or you could be making a little more power and getting a little more wheel spin than last time. Other than that, check the basics, air filter, fuel filter, plugs, plug wires. Really though if it were an ignition problem, it would probably be more noticeable. Could have been a little worse gas. Also, how was your oil temps? It's true that if your air intake is colder, you will make more power, but if your oil is cold, you will make less power. For instance, on the dyno the other day we made a pass in a Nextel Cup car with oil temps at 220 and then heated the oil to almost 300 (like they do for a quick qualifying run) and made 11 more horsepower.

 

Something is not right though because his trap is 3mph slower, even with a little more wheelspin trap should be higher than that. I'd suggest a tune up. Good Luck with it man!

 

Cold oil does = less horse power but 3pmh worth...?


That's a pretty good jump and I think there is only one fix for your situation..

Get a Procharger!

 

I know Scott, his 60' times before were 2.2s.

He has changed the plugs.

Both runs were at the same track.

 

The only time that my car ever mysteriously slowed down like that was when the PCV valve stuck open and it was sucking down a lot of oil. Burning oil reduces the octane level of the mix and causes knock and pulled timing. Replaced the PCV and it went back to normal.

 

previous times:

13.6 @ 105 with a 2.2 60 foot
high humidity, high temperatures in the florida summer. only mod was a lid.


friday night i could only pull a 13.6 @ 103 with a 2.08 60 foot
cold as hell, no humidity, with open cutout and a lid.

i've changed the spark plugs, fuel filter, just changed the oil 2 days prior, air filter is clean. oil temperatures were at normal levels because i don't have a fan switch or a low temp thermostat.

there is definantly something wrong

 

I never knew that cooler oil caused a loss of hp. I have only ran mine once but I always tried to let it cool down alot in between runs. That makes snese because the best run I had was immediatly after driving there. DA and PA will also effect performance alot. I don't know as much about piston engines, but I fly blackhawks and when we are doing sling loads a higher PA or DA could mean literally thousands of pounds that we can lift. Turbines are alot different though but still kinda run on a similar concept.

 

I didn't know that either.

 

Hey Omega9 where you at in lexington? I live there as well, right now I am in flight school in Alabama though.

 

The only time my car ever ran mysteriously slow was when I had a vacuum leak at the EGR fitting on the intake manifold. Was getting unmetered air in the engine causing it to run way lean. I'd check for the PCV valve sticking and check for any vacuum leaks.

Good luck man, I know how frustrating it can be.
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Do you have any way to scan the car? Stick with it, you'll get it figured out.

 

something i would check is the o2 sensors. cheap and kinda easy to replace but will definately kill power.

another thing ive read but only read once, is that the LS1 ECU will pull timing if the gas in the tank measures below a 1/4 of a tank. something about it helping with gas mileage. dunno if thats true or not or even if you were driving with a low tank of gas that night either.

 

the tank was almost at "E" and had the "check guages" light on



where are o2 sensors cheap? last i looked they were like 60 a piece