davidathans
Well-known member
well i mentioned a week ago or so that i was going racing on 10/27 and thats what i did...so here's a little story about last night...
First off i will say that a week or so ago my idle speed on the mustang changed by itself...it decreased to about 600-650rpm at idle which just made the cam sound clunkier and the car wanted to stall out easier when i braked really hard...so i thought something was up...anyways on the drive out to the track yesterday the exhaust tone didnt sound right and the GTCS ran like crap on the freeway...when i got to the Summit(elev 3250ft) i went to pass a semi and the car wanted to bog out so i had to drive about 40mph for a little while until the elev came down and then i could go faster...anyways even when i put my foot to the floor the acceleration didnt feel right, so i knew that something was up..
so i got to the track and put on the slicks and put in the 101 fuel turned on the elec fuel pump, stiffened up the rear shocks and was ready to rock and roll.
first run-->13.42 at 100.0mph with a 1.854 60' time
hmmmm that is 5mph slower than i usually run? lets try another run...
2nd run-->13.356 at 100.7mph with a 1.857 60' time
The car was barely turning 6000rpm through the lights in high gear...
3rd run-->13.569 at 99.7mph 60' of 1.934
4th run-->13.482 at 99.8mph 60' of 1.890
so i was consistently running slow...here's where the story gets better kinda..
There was a guy named eric who trailered in his 68 mustang coupe that was pitting next to me, so i went over for some friendly talk at the beginning of the night. I had seen him and his wife race the car a few times before but i had never gone over to say hello and find out what he's runnin. Well it just so happens that he is runnin a 347 stroker with RPM heads, same intake Performer rpm, Demon carb, Lunati cam (a little bigger than mine), 4.88 gears, 8" 5000rpm stall converter, Caltracs traction bars, 28"x9" slicks skinnys in front and he had a roll cage. His best times are 12.20 at LACR and 11.90 at a different track.
My setup is quite similar to this guys, except, no roll cage, im only running a 4.11 gear with 26"x9" slicks, Diff heads, little smaller cam, 10" 3500 stall converter, no skinnys...anyways...
Eric and his racing buddy Glen spent alot of time with me giving me Valueable racing tips...last night i learned how im going to go faster and i learned why my car was runnin 5mph slower and running like crap...here's the info...
on Erics 347 stroker...1. he had a PCV valve coming from the valve cover into the back of the carburetor which sucks out gasses from the engine and allows the rings to seat better. 2. He ran two electric fans, one to push and one to pull. 3. He ran an electric water pump. 4. He was using only an electric fuel pump and had a plate over where the mechanical fuel pump was. 5. He pointed out to me that the filters i have in the carburetor bowls where the fuel comes in are restricting my flow so i should just run a filter inline after the voltage regulator for the elec fuel pump when i take my mechanical out and take out the filters at the carb. 6. I need to get a 1/2" spacer that goes under the carburetor and adjust the springs on my hood at the back so that the back of the hood sticks up which will suck out the hot air. 7. I should put a new belt from the alternator to the crankshaft pulley only(currently my alternator belt uses the crank and cam pulleys). 8. I need to get a 3degree wedge to sit under my leafspring perches which will make my pinion angle better for the holeshot 9. I was shown where i need to launch the car to have the converter properly loaded up. 10. I was shown how to adjust my traction bars and that i should run my adjustable rear shocks at setting 5 rather than 9.
After i do all 10 of these modifications i will be going faster!! thats the best news.
They helped me find the problem i was having too. They listened in my engine compartment and heard a whistle and said "you have a vacuum leak" so they got an aerosol can of brake cleaner and sprayed it at the base of the carb. and the engine stalled, which means indeed the reason i was running 5mph slower that night was because of the vacuum leak leaning out my car. Basically the gasket under the carb must have broken...so now i need to get the 1/2" spacer and new gaskets to fix this.
i also learned that the vacuum advance setup on my distributor helps my streetable gas mileage but isnt ideal at all for drag racing....i see a new distributor and ignition in my future as well.
There was talk on this website of a So. Cal get together at the drag strip sometime in November to race GTCS vs GTCS...hopefully i can get this vacuum leak problem fixed before then so that i'll run 12s again in November.
Now here is the best news...the vacuum leak didnt stop me from creating CLOUDS and CLOUDS of smoke when i was heating up my slicks...and im proud to say that i had a professional photographer Chris Irwin take awesome shots of the burnout...so next years calender photo will be the best ever!!! Should i post these burnout pictures, or do you all want to wait until next year to see?? haha
First off i will say that a week or so ago my idle speed on the mustang changed by itself...it decreased to about 600-650rpm at idle which just made the cam sound clunkier and the car wanted to stall out easier when i braked really hard...so i thought something was up...anyways on the drive out to the track yesterday the exhaust tone didnt sound right and the GTCS ran like crap on the freeway...when i got to the Summit(elev 3250ft) i went to pass a semi and the car wanted to bog out so i had to drive about 40mph for a little while until the elev came down and then i could go faster...anyways even when i put my foot to the floor the acceleration didnt feel right, so i knew that something was up..
so i got to the track and put on the slicks and put in the 101 fuel turned on the elec fuel pump, stiffened up the rear shocks and was ready to rock and roll.
first run-->13.42 at 100.0mph with a 1.854 60' time
hmmmm that is 5mph slower than i usually run? lets try another run...
2nd run-->13.356 at 100.7mph with a 1.857 60' time
The car was barely turning 6000rpm through the lights in high gear...
3rd run-->13.569 at 99.7mph 60' of 1.934
4th run-->13.482 at 99.8mph 60' of 1.890
so i was consistently running slow...here's where the story gets better kinda..
There was a guy named eric who trailered in his 68 mustang coupe that was pitting next to me, so i went over for some friendly talk at the beginning of the night. I had seen him and his wife race the car a few times before but i had never gone over to say hello and find out what he's runnin. Well it just so happens that he is runnin a 347 stroker with RPM heads, same intake Performer rpm, Demon carb, Lunati cam (a little bigger than mine), 4.88 gears, 8" 5000rpm stall converter, Caltracs traction bars, 28"x9" slicks skinnys in front and he had a roll cage. His best times are 12.20 at LACR and 11.90 at a different track.
My setup is quite similar to this guys, except, no roll cage, im only running a 4.11 gear with 26"x9" slicks, Diff heads, little smaller cam, 10" 3500 stall converter, no skinnys...anyways...
Eric and his racing buddy Glen spent alot of time with me giving me Valueable racing tips...last night i learned how im going to go faster and i learned why my car was runnin 5mph slower and running like crap...here's the info...
on Erics 347 stroker...1. he had a PCV valve coming from the valve cover into the back of the carburetor which sucks out gasses from the engine and allows the rings to seat better. 2. He ran two electric fans, one to push and one to pull. 3. He ran an electric water pump. 4. He was using only an electric fuel pump and had a plate over where the mechanical fuel pump was. 5. He pointed out to me that the filters i have in the carburetor bowls where the fuel comes in are restricting my flow so i should just run a filter inline after the voltage regulator for the elec fuel pump when i take my mechanical out and take out the filters at the carb. 6. I need to get a 1/2" spacer that goes under the carburetor and adjust the springs on my hood at the back so that the back of the hood sticks up which will suck out the hot air. 7. I should put a new belt from the alternator to the crankshaft pulley only(currently my alternator belt uses the crank and cam pulleys). 8. I need to get a 3degree wedge to sit under my leafspring perches which will make my pinion angle better for the holeshot 9. I was shown where i need to launch the car to have the converter properly loaded up. 10. I was shown how to adjust my traction bars and that i should run my adjustable rear shocks at setting 5 rather than 9.
After i do all 10 of these modifications i will be going faster!! thats the best news.
They helped me find the problem i was having too. They listened in my engine compartment and heard a whistle and said "you have a vacuum leak" so they got an aerosol can of brake cleaner and sprayed it at the base of the carb. and the engine stalled, which means indeed the reason i was running 5mph slower that night was because of the vacuum leak leaning out my car. Basically the gasket under the carb must have broken...so now i need to get the 1/2" spacer and new gaskets to fix this.
i also learned that the vacuum advance setup on my distributor helps my streetable gas mileage but isnt ideal at all for drag racing....i see a new distributor and ignition in my future as well.
There was talk on this website of a So. Cal get together at the drag strip sometime in November to race GTCS vs GTCS...hopefully i can get this vacuum leak problem fixed before then so that i'll run 12s again in November.
Now here is the best news...the vacuum leak didnt stop me from creating CLOUDS and CLOUDS of smoke when i was heating up my slicks...and im proud to say that i had a professional photographer Chris Irwin take awesome shots of the burnout...so next years calender photo will be the best ever!!! Should i post these burnout pictures, or do you all want to wait until next year to see?? haha
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