It has been a while!
I got a few things sorted out on the car. Found some clamps to keep the 5-point harnesses from sliding left/right on the roll bar. Got the driver's side 5-point belt re-certified at stroud for another 2 years. Oil change (VR1 20-50) which will probably be the last time. Possibly might start using 10-40 or straight 40 next oil change. Trans filter, electrical stuff/repairs in the dashboard, an so on. Electric vacuum pump is on and working when I turn it on. Also, installed some new sub woofers in the trunk area. Downsized from the very old two 12" subs to a nice set of JL audio 10" subs.
the clamps are from Jegs brand of clamps.
Installed a UMI bump-steer kit and had the alignment done on the front and rear. Brought it to a local autocross guy's house who has a big garage in the back with machine.
caster 5.1 (D) and 5.3 (P)
Camber -1.5 (D) and -1.4 (P)
Toe In 0.01" (D) and 0.01" (P) Total toe is 0.02"
After the alignment was done I was ready to get it to the track so I went to Island Dragway for the Test and Tune Friday night on May 24.
Kept all these values the same for all 5 passes:
Rear tire pressure 18psi
Rear Air Bags: 6 psi (Drivers side) 18psi (pass side)
Rear Koni yellow Shocks: 1.5 out of 5 on each side (so basically pretty loose)
93 Octane pump gas and for the nitrous passes I added some Race Gas concentrate
Nitrous Bottle Pressure: 950 psi
Nitrous jets: .063 (nitrous) and .027 (fuel)
Pass 1: All Motor (with 34 degree timing all in)
This was just a shakedown pass to make sure the car held together after 6 months of not going fast. Did a 5 second burnout and footbraked to a 2647 rpm launch. Converter flashed at 4912 rpms, I shifted 1-2 at 6164 rpms, shifted 2-3 at 6022 rpms, and across the finish line at 6055 rpms. It was a clean run, despite lots of heat soak on everything but the car felt good, about a tenth off from where I expected it to be.
Timeslip:
Datalog:
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp8A5x6x5Dc
Pass 2: progressive 150 shot
Added Race Gas Concentrate and turned on the bottle. Did a 5 second burnout and footbraked the car to a 2605 rpm launch and it launched real good. Converter flashed at 5091 rpms and I shifted 1-2 a little late at 6363 rpms. It sixty footed real well and I Shifted 2-3 at 6073 rpms but then I immediately realized that my new electric vacuum pump switch was not on....the bottle heater LED switc was! So I stayed WOT, but took my hand off the nitrous button, reached over and turned off the bottle heater switch and turned on the vac pump switch, and then got back on the nitrous. Datalog shows that this all took 1.4 seconds. After I got back on the button, I then reached over with my other hand and turned on the converter lockup..finally coming through the finish line at 6362 rpms. Was surprised that it was a decent E.T. despite all the nonsense inside the car mid-track.
Timeslip:
Datalog:
Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uMkfxKhOhU
Pass 3: progressive 150 shot again
Another 5 second burnout and a footbrake launch from 2707 rpms. (I can't ever remember it being able to footbrake that high either, usually its low/mid 2000s, but today I had good luck with higher than usual footbrake rpms before the car started to creep forward). Anyways, at the launch, the converter flashed to 5017 rpms and then I shifted 1-2 at 6357 rpms. Shifted the 2-3 shift a little earlier, at 6026. It got into 3rd gear and felt weak (see datalog, red trace is its almost flat-lining, and actually only gained 100 rpm in 2.13 seconds of 3rd gear, and thats on the spray at WOT! what the heck? But then when I Activated lockup while on the nitrous, it began to climb to finish at 6415.
Timeslip:
Datalog:
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9MO6a7QUEQ
Pass 4: Progressive 150 shot again
The usual 5 second burnout. Footbraked the launch at 2267 rpms and converter flashed to 4798 rpms. Shifted 1-2 at 6442 rpms, shifted 2-3 at 6262 rpms, and then hit lockup almost right away this time. (the 2-3 shift dropped rpms from 6262, to 5355 in 3rd gear, and then the lockup dropped rms to 4605. I pulled my finger off the button for .8 seconds after this, and then got back on it, crossing the finish line at 6344 rpms with the converter locked in 3rd gear and hitting the top end nitrous limiter cutoff.
Timeslip:
Datalog:
Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4EJ6qyguk0
Pass 5: Another progressive 150 shot. Same tune file all day.
Same 5 second burnout but right at the end of it, the engine seemed like it did a weird rpm flare and wanted to stay high rpms for a moment. Lined up and launched from 2535 rpms. I was a little lazy/cautious on the throttle pedal and it did sound liek the engine had a flare pulling through first gear. I kept in it and shifted at 6203 rpms into 2nd and it seemed to miss a little bit more early in 2nd gear but then cleared itself up well before shifting into 3rd at 6306 rpms. I let it be in 3rd for a moment before locking the converter at 5882 rpms and eventually crossing the finish line at 6382. I was confused by the engine breaking up early in the run, but definitely happy to see that my back-half of the track is picking up 24 mph, which is promising (typically its about 20 or 21 mph the whole back-half) . If you listen to the videos, its pretty typical for me to be at the red-line nitrous rpm cutoff with about 100 feet to go in the pass, so despite TCC lockup working well, if I want to go faster I am going to have to figure out the best plan for how early in 3rd gear to activate TCC lockup, or if shifting into the dreaded Overdrive is a better solution while on the button. It does seem like 3rd gear (which is 1:1) is a lazy dog compared to when the converter is locked, so I am back to wondering about converter slip etc.
Timeslip:
Datalog:
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVpXoxiOs_0
Drove home with no problems and no sign of that engine rpm flare resurfacing. Caught a lot of bugs that night. Too early to tell if there are any gains at the track from the electric pump, but there is no doubt it pulls suction enough where I cant get the oil fill cap off or dipstick out when its running and engine is running.