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The purpose of this thread is to chronicle my 220K mile 98 z28 drag race progress and get thoughts and advice along the way. I appreciate any constructive advice I can get.
Mods in sig. Unknown convertor and transmission rebuild. Car is pretty rough. I will try to add some video later but I'm not so good at the technology stuff. Some new front bushings, tie rods and brakes to make it safer, bunch of new a/c parts (Houston is hot), and radiator.
Came across a good deal on a pretty complete NIB Nitrous Outlet plate kit, NOS controller and LNC-2000. Added the new NO wiring harness, stand alone and extra bottle. I have twice as much in the nitrous kit than the car cost.
Drove 60 miles on DR's to RPR Friday night and got 9 runs in and left before 10:00 and drove 60 miles back home. It wasn't crowded like it normally is. Three runs on motor with a best of 13.673 at 102.34. My 60' was 1.974. Six runs on nitrous with a best of 12.805 at 106.52. My 60' was 1.936. That's right, an improvement of 0.870 on a 50 shot.
I have the controller set to come on at 3,300 and off at 5,800 so it doesn't spray through the shifts, just to be safe for now. I didn't know if the engine would make it but no problem with noise, oil consumption, transmission fluid, running hot, rear end noise etc. So a big success in my book.
No spinning out of the hole with a short burnout and DR's at 27.5 pounds. Stock 220k mile shocks and springs. I wasn't watching the tach on launch but it normally flashes to 2800 in my street testing. 60' were all about the same on motor and bottle. Bottle heater stopped working so I need to get that fixed. My plan is to go back with the same set up, get the nitrous pressure up with the heater, set the controller at 3,100 - 6,200 so it sprays through the shifts and push the car through the staging lanes to keep it cool. I think it has another couple of tenths in it.
I agree. It has an unknown converter in it now that flashes to 2800, but a higher stall would really help. I think the benefit would be multiplied on the bottle since the car would essentially be launching on the bottle. Right now, it looks like the nitrous is hitting right at the 60' mark.
I was planning on headers and a tune first, so I can get at the plugs to read them, but looks like I have a rusted front shock mount so I'll have to take care of that first. You have me thinking now that maybe I should change the converter before the headers.
Ran again last night. No changes to the car from the first time out, but heat and humidity cost me 2 tenths compared to last time out. Best time on the bottle was 13.003 @ 107.67 with a 1.965 60' and d/a of 2,245. Best time n/a was 13.702 @ 102.62 with a 1.965 60', and d/a of 1,845. Identical 60' because the nitrous doesn't come on until 3,300 rpm. Comparing n/a vs nitrous time slips I can see that I am definitely losing bottle pressure on the top end. I have some videos and am trying to figure out how to post them to youtube. Nothing exciting though about a crappy Camaro running 13's.
My Viking front coilover kit from UMI came in as well as a NANO kit and NGK wideband kit. I don't need the coilovers but I'm changing them because my stockers are rusted out. I'm hoping the NANO kit will help me keep consistent bottle pressure for better tuning.
I am researching converters, but thinking about a 4,000 or so nitrous converter. This is a strip/street car so very little street driving. Plus I plan on building a stronger engine when the stock 220k ls1 says no mas. Any insights on converters is appreciated but I'm about to read, read, read.
Sorry, the formatting of my table didn't come through so it's hard to read, but my 13.0 run picked up more mph after the 1/8th than my 12.8 and the mph was 1.15 higher. I think maybe the bottle pressure fell of harder on the top end of my 12.8 run. That and the d/a affected the 1/8th mile on my 13.0 run.
I would start with upping the jet , you already have the kit and you can use it to make up for the bad da then drop the jet when itgets cooler if you want.
Small shots of spray is like DA in a bottle where nitrous comes out of the bottle very cold.
I used to spray a 4door fwd grand prix that I didn't care if it blew up best I got full weight car was 12.1 @118 , melted a few electrodes but never burned a piston lol at least bump it up to a jet in the .045 range
Went back out last Friday. UMI Viking front coilovers installed and front sway bar removed. Full drag setting. My goal was only to make sure they were working ok. They made no change in my 60' but replaced the rusted out stockers for safety. The car gets a little floaty when you hit bumps on the highway with the DR's at 22lb's.
7 passes, 5 on the 50 shot. D/A on my best past was 2,019. 13.023 @106.71. Car weighed 3,385 lbs with 3/4 tank of gas with only the spare tire kit removed. Window is set at 3,300 - 5,800 and I wanted to widen it but my little NOS mini programmer thingy isn't working right. I guess I have to get a new one. My bottle heater wasn't working previously but it just needed to be adjusted to come on at a higher bottle pressure. The heater ran my battery dead so I gave up and went home.
Very cool! Looking forward to more results! I did something kind of similar. I bought a wrecked Trans Am with 160k miles, and swapped the drivetrain into a 99 V6 Camaro. If I were you, I'd get weight out of the car. Getting down to 2900, I went 11.68 with a stock untouched 160k mile engine!!! I did have a Yank SS4000 converter though.
Thanks Dirty! Weight reduction is one of the items I have on my list. I want to make a few more shake down passes to make sure nothing breaks before I do anything else.
I won't be out for a couple of weeks but stop by and say hi if you're around on a Friday night. My car is MBM with stock wheels and a big dent in the driver's fender.
And that's some high D/A right there for a track at sea level. I hope you had some cover from the sun.
Back out last night. Only change was to widen the window on my NOS mini controller to 3,000 - 6,400 so the nitrous was on through the shifts. Only 6 runs in because there were more cars out and there was a pretty long shut down at one point.
I got ticked off at myself because I keep the car in first gear for burnouts and didn't put it back in 3rd for the run, so I hit the limiter in first gear. I did this 3 times, so I had a good talking to myself in the return lane. I think the limiter is set at 6,500 rpms because it shifts into 3rd at 6,500. I'm glad the nitrous shuts off at 6,400.
Best run was 12.805 @ 108.51 with a 1.939 60' and 2,000' D/A. Time slip is almost identical to my previous 12.805, except I picked up 2 mph after the 1,000' mark.
Finally back out again tonight. I removed the seats, carpet, headliner and trim. Car weighs 3,255 without me in it. Also removed the air filter at the track. Otherwise the same as previous runs but with much cooler weather.
Best time was 12.332 @ 110.16 with a 1.861 60'! I was hoping for a 12.50 or better. This was way more than I expected.
The car is not consistent though. 12.64, 12.53, 12.57, 12.33 and 12.42, all on the bottle. No tire spin but the difference is mostly in the 60'. It's probably D/A going down through the evening.
Best run came around 9:00 after the track shut down for 20 minutes when I was next to run. I think there is some heat soak going on.
05-22-2016, 11:03 PM
My 220K mile 98 z28 drag thread 
