HS professor

Just picked up a 80k mile 2002 Z/28 and was wondering what direction to go to help with some consistency. I've owned a 2001 ram air Trans am in the past and ran it a few times only to have it be a big disappointment in the consistency department. What are you guys doing that are bracket racing these things and how good can they be made to be ???

We have a dedicated bracket car, so we know what good is, but I'd like to have my son start out racing this thing to gain some experience before moving on the faster cars. I would like to give him a fighting chance though LOL ......

Tires are first on the list, what then ????




Thanks for any and all opinions !!!!!!






Bob

yota

iTrader: (3)

Is it an automatic? In my experience, a good auto with stall, good rear axle and suspension, and a good set of tires goes a long way towards consistency. I have a friend who, last time we took his 00 WS6 to the track, ran 8.04-8.07 at 88mph every pass with nothing more than an FTI 3500 converter, headers/y-pipe, and a drag pack with MT ET streets out back on 100% bone stock suspension

Ed Wright

iTrader: (1)

As for the tuning, kill torque management, deaden the knock sensors, run it on the lean side, and back the IAT spark retard way off.

Open the hood in the staging lanes in hot weather.

Do light burn outs. It cracks me up to see guys just sit there making tire smoke.
Roll though the water, don't sit in it spinning the tires. You don't water dripping out of the fender wells on the starting line. You want it to hook the same every time. Learn to count to yourself during the burnout. Counting to 3 @6500 before letting go of the button works for me. You need to find what works for a stock engine. I would guess 4500?
Tires with tread: Drive around the water and back up to the edge of it.

These are the things I see guys doing wrong on test n tune nights here locally.

HS professor

Thanks Ed, Just what I was thinking LOL ........

Is this controlled with a computer mod ????



Thanks for the tips Yota .......... Converter and gear was the first thing I was thinking.









bob

Ed Wright

iTrader: (1)

Yes sir.

95LSX454

iTrader: (1)

Practice makes perfect....keep doing runs down the track or street and u will get better with time.....

Kingc8r

iTrader: (21)

So Ed just to make sure, DRs have tred so only back up to the water with them? One of my local tracks only allows driving through the water or going around it.

zracer323

iTrader: (12)

No need to pull around the water with drag radials unless you are running a wide street tire in the front. Then you will be dragging water out with the front tires. A drag radial has so little tread any water it picks up will quickly burn off with a short burnout.

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Ed Wright

iTrader: (1)

Guys drive around it here all the time. You just do not want water in the tread. If they don't allow it there you have to do what you can. If you slowly roll through the water and stop just past it, RPM will probably sling it out of the tread. You sure do not want to sling water up into the wheel wells.
I have had guys signal me as soon as there is a whisp of smoke, so learned how long to count before letting go of the line lock. They should dry enough to pull the engine down well before the pre stage line. They tell me to not let the tires chirp before lifting. Supposed to be hard on the sprag in the converter.
I don't usually even see smoke behind me when I stage the car. Tire compounds these days don't need a lot of heat.
I see guys sitting there (Usually in the MIDDLE of the water box.) while making a big-assed cloud of smoke that envelopes the whole car, and I wonder "What the hell are you thinking?" LOL

TTA850

iTrader: (7)

Aside from what I feel are the basics like tires, shocks, rear suspension (trailing and torque arms), shocks, over converter and over gear, shocks, subframe connectors (repeatedly worth .03 in 60ft on my stock '98) oh and shocks lol So many people forget how important shocks are.

Buy a tuning program (I happen to like HP Tuners) and look in the tune, you will find ALOT in there to gain consistency read what the tables do and think about how it might effect your performance run to run.