LS3 Volvo 1/4 Mile Guesses?
10-31-2013, 11:00 AM
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LS3 Volvo 1/4 Mile Guesses? Here are some details on the Gearing of this car, and I am taking to a Test and Tune day at a local drag strip to get some 1/4 mile comparison times, so does anyone have any guess on what the outcome will be? I am running it on Street Tires (B.F. Goodrich G-Force 265/35/18's), and they seem to grip very well, but I will not have no where near the grip a set of slicks would have. I am wanting a comparison to the modern production cars so people can get a better idea of what the numbers mean, so I wanted to keep street tires instead of slicks for that reason.
I have some local drag guys that say that I will be lucky to break a 12.5 sec 1/4 mile, and that is due to the Power/Weight Ratio, Standard Transmission Option (Clutching Skills), and tire option and width, but a few of them said it would more than likely be at a higher top speed than the typical 12.5 sec time, because I will be able to make up some ground for top speed after the grip kicks in. This all speculation for sure, and I wonder if anyone might have some guesses as to what they think the time and speed will be.. I will say that I have honestly never been on a 1/4 mile track, so that will have a definite factor in the time, so you might take that into consideration.. I have done all the typical street hot rodding over the years, but I am sure there are some definite differences..
Less than 2600lbs
Engine RPM 6800
Axle Ratio 3.50
Tire Height 25.3in
1st Gear 2.87 MPH 50.95
2nd Gear 1.89 MPH 77.37
3rd Gear 1.28 MPH 114.25
4th Gear 1.00 MPH 146.23
5th Gear .82 MPH 178.33
I have some local drag guys that say that I will be lucky to break a 12.5 sec 1/4 mile, and that is due to the Power/Weight Ratio, Standard Transmission Option (Clutching Skills), and tire option and width, but a few of them said it would more than likely be at a higher top speed than the typical 12.5 sec time, because I will be able to make up some ground for top speed after the grip kicks in. This all speculation for sure, and I wonder if anyone might have some guesses as to what they think the time and speed will be.. I will say that I have honestly never been on a 1/4 mile track, so that will have a definite factor in the time, so you might take that into consideration.. I have done all the typical street hot rodding over the years, but I am sure there are some definite differences..
Less than 2600lbs
Engine RPM 6800
Axle Ratio 3.50
Tire Height 25.3in
1st Gear 2.87 MPH 50.95
2nd Gear 1.89 MPH 77.37
3rd Gear 1.28 MPH 114.25
4th Gear 1.00 MPH 146.23
5th Gear .82 MPH 178.33
Last edited by Swedishops; 10-31-2013 at 05:14 PM.
10-31-2013, 11:28 AM
#2
put a sticky tire out back and it'll run easy 10's
those bfg kd tires won't allow you to launch very well.
in Mazda Rx-7s with around 500 flywheel hp and similar weight they are going high 10's on slicks/skinnies with T56. On street tires mid 11's. You have 100hp more. That is with a 3:90 or 4:10 gear out back.
those bfg kd tires won't allow you to launch very well.
in Mazda Rx-7s with around 500 flywheel hp and similar weight they are going high 10's on slicks/skinnies with T56. On street tires mid 11's. You have 100hp more. That is with a 3:90 or 4:10 gear out back.
11-03-2013, 11:43 PM
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I took the car to the drag strip over the weekend, and I am very disappointed in the performance of the tires on the track. I am running a B.F. Goodrich G-force performance tire, and I thought it would be one of the better street tires to run due to being used on a lot of autocross cars, but not in this case at all.. LOL Track conditions were not the best either, so I had to start the car off in 2nd gear and slip the clutch while trying maintain traction, and I basically broke the tires loose all the way down the track to about the last 75 yards of the 1/4 mile. I was running a horrible 60ft time and 1/8 mile, but some how still did 110mph at a horrible 13.7sec in the 1/4 consistently at this track. Even though it was like driving on ice the whole way, the car stayed straight and stable the whole time, and there wasn't any wrangling the car to go straight at all. I will say the McCloud Clutch held up very well, and I got that clutch so hot that it actually had heated up the Dot4 fluid enough to expand and tighten up my clutch pedal to where I had absolutely now slack at the top.. LOL
I took the car to another track/show the next day, and the track was in a much better condition, but they only run an 1/8 mile there. The tires still didn't work there, so I still had to continue starting in 2nd gear and slipping the clutch, and was running a consistent 8.3 sec at 90-92 mph. These tires work great on real pavement, and I was a bit surprised with the performance on the drag strip, but I absolutely didn't have any of the launch I am getting on the public streets.
Here is a video below, and I hope it demonstrates some of what I am talking about with the wheel spin and driving on ice, and you can really see that in the 2nd frame of the 1st video before staging, because the two times I tapped the throttle with No Brake, the tires broke loose and I hit the rev limiter instantly.. Before anyone starts talking about too much horsepower is the issue here, I can honestly tell you that isn't the case on the regular streets, so I will have to do a bit more tire research for drag racing. I was really not wanting to get a set of performance slicks, because I wanted to do all my testing and setup with street tires for comparison reasons, but I suppose new car manufactures have perfect street conditions and private tracks.. I will say that the 2nd day on a better track, I was kicking the hell out of the new V8 Camaro's/Mustangs on a level playing field, because they were breaking loose as bad as my car was.. LOL
I do apologize for the video, because it seems the person I let have the camera didn't know the best way to do it.. LOL I did about 12 runs that night, and this was all I was able to salvage out of the footage.. This was just an initial trial, and the better coverage will be done during the day for better quality
This is the car taking off on the public highway, and you can see that I don't have the slipping problem I had on the strip, and all I had to do here is manage the throttle to get better results.
I took the car to another track/show the next day, and the track was in a much better condition, but they only run an 1/8 mile there. The tires still didn't work there, so I still had to continue starting in 2nd gear and slipping the clutch, and was running a consistent 8.3 sec at 90-92 mph. These tires work great on real pavement, and I was a bit surprised with the performance on the drag strip, but I absolutely didn't have any of the launch I am getting on the public streets.
Here is a video below, and I hope it demonstrates some of what I am talking about with the wheel spin and driving on ice, and you can really see that in the 2nd frame of the 1st video before staging, because the two times I tapped the throttle with No Brake, the tires broke loose and I hit the rev limiter instantly.. Before anyone starts talking about too much horsepower is the issue here, I can honestly tell you that isn't the case on the regular streets, so I will have to do a bit more tire research for drag racing. I was really not wanting to get a set of performance slicks, because I wanted to do all my testing and setup with street tires for comparison reasons, but I suppose new car manufactures have perfect street conditions and private tracks.. I will say that the 2nd day on a better track, I was kicking the hell out of the new V8 Camaro's/Mustangs on a level playing field, because they were breaking loose as bad as my car was.. LOL
I do apologize for the video, because it seems the person I let have the camera didn't know the best way to do it.. LOL I did about 12 runs that night, and this was all I was able to salvage out of the footage.. This was just an initial trial, and the better coverage will be done during the day for better quality
This is the car taking off on the public highway, and you can see that I don't have the slipping problem I had on the strip, and all I had to do here is manage the throttle to get better results.
Last edited by Swedishops; 11-04-2013 at 09:52 AM.
11-17-2013, 08:06 PM
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Here are a few video's of Volvo X on a 2.5 mile road course, and I will have to work on the camera positions just a bit more the next time.. For the first initial run on Daily Driver capable settings the car did absolutely great, and with a bit more camber and a sway bar that is about 30 percent larger in diameter than the IPD bar I have on there now, the car should do much better.
During this track session we are doing this 2.5 mile course at 2min 13-15sec pretty consistently and at 135-140mph on the longer straight sections, and that was basically lugging the car around a bit in 3rd gear most of the time rather than pushing the rev's of 2nd gear.. If you watch the video's a bit, you will find that the car is rarely near the 6800 rev limiter, and not heavy throttled at all off the turns because the car would break loose in 3rd due to the power. I will have to check with Wilwood to see if they have a bit more bit brake pads, because it seemed that we were quickly overrunning the brakes coming off the long stretches, so we did lose some more overall max speed potential due to having to keep the speed down for the brakes not to be overrun.
The preliminary idea for setup on the next session is to stiffen the front spring setting just a hair and see about getting more of a performance sway bar than is offered for these cars, along with a more performance/track alignment. Keep in mind that I have this car setup for daily driver also, and the car was driven over an hour each way to get to the track and back, so this is more of a neutral setting at this time. We can still play with the coil over Dampening and Rebound settings a bit more on the next session, but I wanted to get some hard runs for our base setting, and then see what we can do to adjust it to a more track friendly setting later. My driver is thinking that we can get the car down to about a 2:05 minute track time with a few setting changes and a better front sway bar, and that will be on street tires also, so times can get even better if I were to tune the car for strictly track use.
For the people that wondered about my intake system using the cowl vent was going to have a negative air pressure issue at high speeds, I think the wiper arms tell the tale.. I guess the wipers for these cars were not made for this type of activity.. LOL
During this track session we are doing this 2.5 mile course at 2min 13-15sec pretty consistently and at 135-140mph on the longer straight sections, and that was basically lugging the car around a bit in 3rd gear most of the time rather than pushing the rev's of 2nd gear.. If you watch the video's a bit, you will find that the car is rarely near the 6800 rev limiter, and not heavy throttled at all off the turns because the car would break loose in 3rd due to the power. I will have to check with Wilwood to see if they have a bit more bit brake pads, because it seemed that we were quickly overrunning the brakes coming off the long stretches, so we did lose some more overall max speed potential due to having to keep the speed down for the brakes not to be overrun.
The preliminary idea for setup on the next session is to stiffen the front spring setting just a hair and see about getting more of a performance sway bar than is offered for these cars, along with a more performance/track alignment. Keep in mind that I have this car setup for daily driver also, and the car was driven over an hour each way to get to the track and back, so this is more of a neutral setting at this time. We can still play with the coil over Dampening and Rebound settings a bit more on the next session, but I wanted to get some hard runs for our base setting, and then see what we can do to adjust it to a more track friendly setting later. My driver is thinking that we can get the car down to about a 2:05 minute track time with a few setting changes and a better front sway bar, and that will be on street tires also, so times can get even better if I were to tune the car for strictly track use.
For the people that wondered about my intake system using the cowl vent was going to have a negative air pressure issue at high speeds, I think the wiper arms tell the tale.. I guess the wipers for these cars were not made for this type of activity.. LOL
