Hi Vader,

I am sorry but I can't recall what year car you have.

If you have the newer type electronic transmission in it, you will not notice much if anything if you shift by hand unless you have a shift kit installed.

From what I understand, the newer transmissions will not hold the selected gears for safety reasons.  If you hold the car in 1st it will still shift to 2nd to protect the drivetrain components.

Now if you have a shift kit installed, it will hold the gear all the way to the point of a blown engine, tranny or both.

Anyways, that's what I have read around the net.

Good luck with your race, be sure to tell us how it went.

Doug

My last race i ran 17.350 ,reaction time was 1.035 the eight mile i think was 11.203...i finished the race at 80.965...the other car won with 16.853......first car i raced was a fixed up  camaro ss 200 some,second an old 350 fixed up caprice...and the last....WAS A #### IMPORT!!!!....im going to save up for a 350...im going to come back with a vengeance...i burned out my last two races,and when i took off my tires spinned too much i think

Thanks for the Advise Hawkfish.

ok, when my car was stock (also a 93) it wouldn't smoke the tires that much on a WOT start. it squeeled a little and just took off. I think it is set up to do this and not to just sit snd smoke the tires. Mine also would get a litle rubber going into 2nd. Now with all the mods it will smoke the tires for a long time in 1st (lol) real tricky launching. I have a transGo shift kit and they are great. It allows you to hold the car in any gear to any rev, it also makes the shifts real firm and fast. That along with a high stall converter (2800) and you will be smoking the tires in 1st.

Doug

go to page 3 of the drivetrain section. There is a post  called " what is a stall converter" rather than retype the messages just go check them out. it will help you out.

Doug

i have never raced on the track before...only on street (which i hate doing) but when i race, i just keep it on overdrive...this friday im going to race my car...do i put it on 1 gear and go up to 2 then d and then overdrive...or keep it on overdrive ?

I have a 93 and before my shift kit it would stay in whatever gear was selected. I usually start in 2nd, as 1st is too short, and I have had good luck at the track doing it this way. I now have a shift kit and I still do it the same way. since the kit and 2800 stall converter I have pulled off my best time with it in OD though and that was the last run of the day last time I was there. I want to try to do it manually next time. I think I can get a little more out of it this way. I would just try both ways if I were you .

Doug

2000 thousand i meant on the camaro***

Don't give up on that 305 yet.  ;)

I am not saying that a 350 under your hood wouldn't be a good thing but if you have traction problems now, there is a good chance that you will have even more with more hp and torque.

Also, don't forget, this was your first outing at the track.  I have seen reaction times of 1.35 from people that have been to the track many times.  Your 1.0 doesn't sound bad for your first time out.

I am no strip racer myself, but I would think that if you get some rubber on pavement and practice your launch, I would think your times would improve a lot.

I would hate to see you spend all that money and effort to drop a 350 in your car before you find out the potential of the motor you have now.

Doug

Oh yeah, it will sling sideways pretty easy too, but I am still learning and still afraid of the ditches!  Soon I hope to keep the right foot planted and come out of that power slide, but for now, I'm a puss about it!  This is the right place to be asking for advice about the auto-tranny driving techniques, right?  Come on you hot-rodders, help me out!  Also, is a shift kit all that I've heard it is?

Everytime i put it into a low gear when im going to race at the track my tire (i dont have posi) doesnt hook....i put it on first and floor it when the light turns green...am i suppose to floor it or how do i do this to get some extra rpms ???

It probably wont make alot of differance either way.Try it both ways and check the time slips.

i over estimated my car...i raced my 1986 Monte Carlo SS with its stock 305,K&N air filter,brand new hooker competition ceramic coated headers,flowmasters....and when i took it to the track (for the first time) my reaction time was like a second ...and i kept running 17's...i would have expected 15's...i was really sad,i took off after the third race with my friends.....i think im going to get a 350...my car totally bombed....i think i was the second slowest car their ...some mustang lx was running 20's...

yeah they were street tires,they are also worn out

Hey guys, I am in my first RWD V8 musclecar('93 Formula) and I don't know what is good and what isn't.  It is an auto, and as far as I know, tire spin is non-existant in a straight line wide open throttle start.  However, when it hits 2nd (I let it shift itself), the tires definitly break loose.  I can hear and feel it.  Is there something wrong here?  It has the 3.23 posi-trac rear end.  It seems to run strong, 1st pulls hard to about 35mph and 2nd does 70mph, but I want to boil the tires for my Mustang and Honda loving friends.  Other than power braking, is it possible?

If you do go with a convertor & shift kit,do them at the same time. It's a pain to put that kit in while the transmission is still in the car.

Tyler it isn't that bad! We always just droped the pan and valvebody to do a shift kit, but if your doing a converter you might as well pull it out. Blackbird Jon, a vigilante (which I have) is 轛.00 but you get a free stall speed chabge in the 1st 2 years. You can get some for about 跾.00 (yank converters) the LT1 seems to do ok with the yank, but I hear the LS1 doesn't like it for somereason (computer)

Doug

ok

Hi Vader,

Don't feel sad.  It was your first time at the track.  Don't get discouraged.  For the first time at the track, a reaction time of 1.0 sounds pretty good to me.  I read that .5 is pretty much tops.

Do you have any of the details?  60ft times?  What was the weather like?  Hot, cold, humjid, dry?  What was your 1/8 mile and speed at the end of the 1/4?  Did you spin the tires off the line?

Again, don't feel bad beause at least you tried.

Doug

Hi Vader,

If you spun the tires too much, that could be the cause of the lower than expected times.  With a 350 under the hood you might have even more tire spin when launching.  Since it was your first time out, I take it that you were running street tires and not slicks or drag tires, right?

I have a hard time launching without breaking the tires loose even having 2.73 gears along with my wife and son in the car with me.  My 60ft, with my family in the car, was 2.18 because of tire spin and 90+ degree weather.  At least those are the excuses I am sticking to for the high 60ft time.

One thing you might want to try is to safely practice your launch on the street with something like a Tazzo unit or G-tech.  I had the G-tech but replaced it with the Tazzo because it is supposed to be better.  

Here are links to both G-tech and tazzo if you are interested.

http://www.gtechpro.com/prod.html

http://www.tazzo.com/

Doug

i also thought monte carlo ss 86' ran low 16's and with the headers i thought it be better...but it ran low 17's...

Hey Doug, I know the shift kit is inexpensive, but how much money and trouble for the high stall converter?  How does the high stall converter compare to the stock unit?  Thanks for al the info!  By the way, what final drive ratio do you have to get those smoky starts?  Oh, I'll learn to drive it, just gotta have the hardest acceleration possible!  Wish I could afford a similar setup to the new Lingenfelter 'Vette with a 427ci motor and twin turbos that pulls 1.97 0-60 mph times!

Hey Doug, I believe in installing a series of upgrades whenever possible, so when I spend a good chunk of change on the torque con., the shift kit is a no brainer as far as I am concerned.  The cars that I have ridden in that have one are like night and day as far as the feel from the seat of my pants, and I'm sure that with the heavy duty torque con. it will be amplified.  However, I am ignorant when it comes to this piece of hardware, so help me understand the torque con. if you don't mind and what the different stalll speeds have to do with it.   Thanks,  Jon