Well i took my car to the track last night. Considering it was my first time ever, i was really nervous. I only got 4 runs and my best was only a 15.00 at 92mph. I never really floored it because i was afraid i was going to break something. I basically spun through first and half of second. I just couldnt get any traction. I know i could do alot better if i could just hook up. Its weird because on the street, i almost never spin, i actually get better traction. My 60' were 2.4 which is REALLY bad! There was an LT1 camaro z28 with just a borla catback exhaust doing 13.9's...... I think i need to get my launch better, and also warm my tires up a little. This is basically what i did. Pulled up to the line, and on the 3rd amber, stepped on it. Then on the last 2 runs i held the brake a little and brought the rpms up to maybe 1200 rpms... yea i know not alot. I was just nervous. So does anyone have any advise for me? It is an auto. I didnt do any type of burnout because i kinda dont know how to lol. So im sure the tires were REALLY cold considering it was like 40 degrees last night. Im guessing i just have to keep practicing. Im going to be going back on friday so hopefully i will do ALOT better and be able to bring the time down. Oh yeah and i think my tires were down to 27psi-25psi. is that too much? should i lower it?? I dont know what it is but they seem pretty high. My mods are a K&N FIPKII and a flowmaster muffler... not the cat back... it was a b-day present from my dad... he thought just the muffler would be ok because he thought i wanted sound only lol. By the way this is a rebuilt LT1 engine with around 12,000 miles on it. I was hoping for some lower numbers than this So can any of you give me some advise on how to get my times down and my mph up?? Is there anything here im doing wrong?
Thanks
-Mike

My best with only CAI, gutted cat, and Flowmaster muffler was 15.112 at 91.03. The next time. I found that a almost full tank of gas I had better times because more traction. I air my rears down to 18 and the fronts up to 44. We are at 1500 ft elevation and it was hot that day. I got a 160 thermostat and did the TB bypass and 3.73. My best for the year is 14.145 @ 99.94. The 160 stat and the fan switch made it alot more constant. Don't do a burn out. Drive around the water. Don't get any on your tires. Power brake up to the point the tires almost start to spin. Like you said punch it on the last yellow light. For a quicker ET stop as soon as the second light comes on. To cross the line before the guy beside you run past the lights and back up. That is all the advice I can give.

P.S. Check out my vids. If you have a slow connection right click and save as:
WFO-Racing!!!Videos

P.S.S. Get the gears first. You will love them.

I drive around the water box and do a good smokey burn out. Hold the brake and give it gas! The rear wheels will come loose and you can sit there and smoke em'.Then the tires are a bit stickier and will grip better on the launch. You'll have to experiment with launch techniques. I find it's best to spin a tad,then right when it's about to grab stomp it to the floor. The 93 I used to have had a Flowmaster muffler and a K&N box filter and it ran a 14.52.Oh,it did have a shift kit in the tranny to.

Im just curious, would a clogged cat cause my times to be like this? I was outside listening to my car and i heard this really weird noise comming from the passenger side. I walked over there and kneeled down where the cat is and its making a weird rattling sound... I turned the car off and hit it with a 2"x4" and boy did it rattle! So is this a clogged cat?? And could this be the culprit for my times??
Thanks
-Mike

The insides of your cat have come apart and yes it can have a big effect on your 1/4 mile times. You should replace it as soon as you can.

Also you didn't say whether you were running on street tires or on drag radials (ie nittos or et streets). If you're running on regular street tires you don't really want to do a burnout with them per say just a slight burnout to get any garbage stuck to them off as street tires will actually get slicker instead of sticker if you do a longer/smoky burnout with them. Now if you're running drag radials, then yea, do a longer smoker burnout like Tyler says he does to get the tires heated up and sticky.

And I agree with Tyler, your cat is toast. Get a new one and you're times should come down a little.

I was on regular street tires. Im getting some Nitto's sometime soon. Now im not sure what to do because im going to be installing my longtubes soon so i dont think im going to replace the cat since its not going to be on the car anyways. Thanks for the help everyone.
-Mike

Once you get those Nittos and start using them you should see your times come down a little bit over when you ran with the street tires as they'll hook up better at the track.

As for your times - on street tires with a broken down cat and not really flooring it 15.00 isn't a bad time at all. My first time at the track the fastest I ran that night was 14.8 so your time isn't far off of that.

Also another thing im wondering. My car is an auto. I have been told by some that i should manually shift it. And then from others to let it shift on its own. Where should i put the shifter at?? My console goes like this...
P, R, N, D, 3, 2, 1. Do i put it in D? or should i put it on 3? I was told to put it on 3 because this is "drive" and D is "overdrive" When i went to the track, i had it on D. Should i put it on 3? What should i do?? Any advice?? Thanks
-Mike

I couldn't tell, but did you clean out the broken part of you're cat or are you still driving it?


Be VERY careful. All of my headaches stemmed from a clogged CAT. A chunk of the ceramics broke off and clogged the exhaust. Before we found it what it was, my car couldn't rev over 2000 RPM, top speed was like 15MPH, and she limped into the shop. All of my vacum hoses were thrashed and various other components damaged due to back pressure. A temporary fix is drilling it blowing it all out until you can get it replaced (or not, if you are building a track car), but be careful for that too. Even after drilling it can clog again, mine did.

Oh, and it does make you appreciate you're muffler.. turning the car on at idle with only the cat and the V8 rumbled across the neighborhood like an artillary barrage. Not many happy neighbors. Good Luck.