1st run on 98 TA
 

I finally managed to get some time and take my 98 TA to the drag strip. Last night I went up to Indy and made two passes on the ALL STOCK TA. My 60 foot times were very slow(2.1 seconds) and overall ran 14.19.

Now I never thought it was going to set the world on fire, but was hoping to be in the 13's, but thats ok... Just gives me more of an excuse to spend some money.

I'm already planning on puttin a 4.10 gear in it this winter and a 3800 stall, but what else would you guys suggest? I have long tube headers that havent been installed yet.

I really would like to be in the 10's in the next year or so. This car is strictly a race car. I dont wanna drive it on the street.

Also after the 2 passes I made the car got up to 210 degrees and was boiling out the overflow. Any suggestions on how to cool it off or why it may have gotten hot so fast???

1st do a complete fluid swap, if havnt done so, coolant , premium synthetic oil, (penzoil platinum here), check tranny fluid, fresh plugs ( NGK TR55's), MSD wires and fuel filter. check to see wiring is good for electric fans..U say this going to b a race car, then invest in a tuner or study a crap load of home tuning ie; HP tuners or EFI live Or F.A.S.T., so u can make adjustments to ur build. Hell u can even program ur fans to come on earlier!.but once deeply involved..u or the tuner can work majic..
DO ALOT of search on this site before U post a question, most like someone else has asked or tried something and gained or failed..good luck!

BTW 10"S is a far shot from 14's... so be ready for totally bare minimum heads/cam/intake swap along with supporting mods, tranny upgrades, Stall converter, suspension and maybe N2O..

I have already planned on transmission swap in the future and have my eye out for a Moser for the rearend. I just figured I would use what I have till it breaks or find one that I cant pass up. What heads would you guys recommend? Or what head/cam combo?

Wednesday night we also took a 64 Chevy pickup and made our first 1/4 mile passes on it. Those numbers were much better... 1.6 60ft and 10.89 overall.

14.1 seems slow. I am not sure what climate you were racing in, maybe DA was very high... but you should be faster then that. My buddy took his auto camaro with only a cat-back (loudmouth) to a 13.3 run on stock tires... granted DA was like 300 that day but still 14.1 seems a bit off from that.

Anyway a stall is going to be your biggest difference maker. Look for a .5-1sec drop with a stall and a DR.

About ur 1/4 mile time, it is a lil off. I have an 02 TA, and when completely stock, I ran a mid 13... 60 was similar to urs. The ls6 intake the 02 have might of given the edge. You may want to get it checked out to b on the safe side before any mods... Good luck!

For a 98 your not that far off i went 13.6 in a 98 Z-28 then w/ a lid & no cats i went 13.2 !

I do have MT Drag steets on it and they are about 2 inches taller than the stock tires that were on it. That may have made a little more difference too. Just seems to me that if I could get it up and moving faster off the line its gotta help on the other end. If I get a chance I may put the headers on and try to take it up again this wednesday... That is if were not combining beans this week.

IF your wanting 10s be prepared to put out some cash,,gotta pay to play. It aint cheap believe me, as stated above, prepare for heads, cam, and probably the spray is the easiest cheapest way to hit that no. And all the power in the world is useless if you cant get it to the ground and down the track, which means, new rear, T/A suspension etc. It adds up quick.

id check out your cooling system before you do anything else.


it could be your tstat or something blocking your radiator. check for leaks.

that would be the first thing on my list as well.

I got the car cooled back down now... Don't know why, but seemed like the fans didn't wanna kick on till the engine got super hot. I hooked up a ground wire through the relay and now she runs when I turn on my grounding switch.

BTW I put a 160 degree t-stat in it and brand new radiator right after I bought it. Had to since the whole front end was smashed in.

I'm not really for sure what you guys think this car should be worth, but I bought the car with 83,000 miles on it and wrecked, but with a clean title. I paid $1250 for the car and after new hood, fender, radiator, front end and other misc. stuff I have about $3000 in it. I thought I have done pretty well so far.

Is the car a manual or automatic? 14.1 does seem slow. What was the elevation at the track? If you don't know, just do a google search for elevation on the nearest town, that'll be close enough. My first time out to the track with my car I ran a 13.59. Third and final run that night I cut a 13.57. I know I have the 2001 model though, has the LQ4 cam and the LS6 intake, which helps.

And 210 degrees is not hot. 195-210 degrees is the normal operating temperatures for these cars. Of course after you race it down the drag strip a couple of times it's going to be running a little hotter than usual! That's nothing to be concerned of.

My '00 T/A ran a 13.2 my first time out. All I have on it are longtubes and exhaust. 14.1 stock just doesn't seem right to me

I went up to Indy today and talked with some of the guys from Texas Speed... I think those guys have me on the right track. BTW I found out why it was boiling over after just a couple passes down the track. It's all because of my radiator cap. Guess it wasn't sealing up well enough and causing my water to boil too soon.

Those guys at Texas Speed are very knowledgeable. I got exactly the answers I was looking for. Even told me the combinations that I would need. Definitely will be spending lots of $$$ with those guys.

Get the car to hook up first, then slowly upgrade the power. Get used to it then continue on.