Off to the track part 3

[Hissing Cobra]

Well, I'm off to the track again tomorrow. It'll be the last time of the season. Also, it's motorcycle day so there won't be 10,000 cars to wait in line behind.

We're hoping that we'll get that elusive 12 second timeslip tomorrow. I've got my clutch problem solved (firewall adjuster was mounted backwards-my mistake .) It shifts real easy now and goes into every gear really slick.

I'm kind of nervous though, because it goes into each gear so easily, it'll downshift without you knowing it UNTIL you release the clutch! Is that normal? In all of my other 5-speeds, if you were going too fast it would be really hard or impossible to throw it down a gear.

Literally, the other day, I was on the highway and banging gears. I went to go from 4th to 5th, let out the clutch and found out the hard way that it was in 3rd! Good thing I have the rev limiter. This sometimes happens when going from 3rd to 4th as well. You'll quickly find out the hard way that you're actually in 2nd.

I'm seriously rethinking my decision in buying the Tremec. Maybe I'm overreacting? I don't know. Does anyone else have this problem? Even my brother, who has over 100 passes in his T-5 equipped GT has never experienced this before. Other than this, the car runs great. It doesn't happen all the time either.

Anyway, I'll let you all know tomorrow night how I make out.

[slickshift]

Good Luck

[795.0pacecar]

The trans in my dads 03 mach will downsift easily if you are runnin through the gears real fast, we were on the interstate once and he went from 4th to second (dont ask how, I wasn't shifting lol) the rpms instantly shot up to 7,000 rpms but he pushed in the clutch before it could do any damage.

[Hissing Cobra]

Yeah, it scares me. I'm not too worried about the engine (unless the rev limiter fails in the MSD box.) But, I've never had a car that did that. Usually, if the rpm's are too high for the lower gears, the shifter wouldn't go in. Oh well, I'll just have to be as precise as I can be when throwing the gears around.

[1hot86gt]

lol i went from 5th to 1st one time at 50mph needless to say i was squiling tires at 50mph . i was tring to go to third , i hadnt been driving a 5 speed long .

josh

[slickshift]

How'd it go at the track today Hissing Cobra?
It was pretty cold really felt like fall
Didja get any 12s?

[Hissing Cobra]

Yeah, it was kind of cool (weatherwise). But....we finally got our elusive 12 second timeslips! We got 10 runs in today (definitely have to go up on motorcycle day everytime.)

Five of those runs resulted in 12's (with a best of 12.88 @ 110!) Four of those runs were in the 13.00-13.20 range and one was a 15.0 @ 94 (missed shift.)

All in all, it was a great day. My brother's best time out of his 8 runs was a 12.82 @ 108. I then took it down twice, resulting in a 12.88 @ 110 and a 13.0 @ 108 (surprizing the Hell out of myself!)

My brother's the BEST!

[slickshift]

That's great news

[5 Liter Mustang]

congrats man, im in love with your car

[Hissing Cobra]

Thanks guys! It was a blast. Today is the first day that I've been able to actually enjoy the car at the track. On the previous two visits, the car just would not shift correctly and I left in a bad mood. It was nice to leave with a smile on my face!

[fordfreak300]

my T5 will shift that easily. If i really wanted to i could shift into first at any speed. Although it would lock up the rear tires and I would be taking a crazy trip spinning.

[AaronATX]

Awesome, congrats! Practice practice practice, it aint that hard

Are you powershifting?

[SVTWannabe]

Beautiful and 12's? sign me up. congrats man.

[fordfreak300]

congrats on the 12's If your running a carbed car do not power shift, you have to let up on the gas pedal at least half way to get teh acceleraotr ump to shoot again. yuo need to half powershift half speed shift. You have to lift you foot somewhat. With out using the accelrator pump yrou nto using all the fuel your carb needs.

[Coupester]

congrats on the 12's If your running a carbed car do not power shift, you have to let up on the gas pedal at least half way to get teh acceleraotr ump to shoot again. yuo need to half powershift half speed shift. You have to lift you foot somewhat. With out using the accelrator pump yrou nto using all the fuel your carb needs.

This makes little sense to me. That's what the squirters are for!

Every drag racer since the dawn of time has powershifted. Are you refuting the fact that powershifting consistently improves 1/4 mile times by 1-2 tenths?

You should rent a copy of Two Lane Blacktop ...

[Hissing Cobra]

My brother was "granny shifting" it on his 8 runs because he still didn't trust the shifting. He did good though with a lot of 107-108 mph timeslips. His best E.T. was a 12.77 and his best speed was 108.14 9 (two different runs.) Me, I just wailed it (not worrying about our past shifting problems.) I went 12.884 @ 110.08 and 13.00 @ 108.58. Because I'm not a very experienced driver, my .60' times weren't as good as my brother's. I hope to rectify that next summer.

I'm glad that I fixed the firewall adjuster for the clutch cable. It now goes into each gear easier than my '93 Ford Escort (although my brother did miss gears on one run.)

We think that there's a little more E.T. in it. Our season is done, as the track closes in two weeks. This winter, I hope to get it on a dyno to tweak the carbs some more and next summer, I hope to tweak the suspension a little better (experimenting with air pressures in the air bags/tires and possibly tire sizes.) We now think that we can get it into the low-mid 12's.

[Coupester]

We think that there's a little more E.T. in it.

There's way more ET in the car. 110mph is good for 12.30s-12.50s.

What are your 60 fts? With the weight of your car and those gears, you should definitely be pulling 60's in the high 1.50s, at the very slowest in the low low 1.60s.

As a reference point, my old 89 coupe went 11.91 @ 113 with a 1.59 60ft ...

[Hissing Cobra]

Coupster, my 60' times ranged from 1.71 to 1.933. We had a couple of runs where the wheels spun for a split second and a few where it bogged. Any suggestions to lower them? Does tire size play a role? Air pressure in the air bags as well as the tires? Educate me!

[Coupester]

Hissing, low tire psi is your friend

Don't be scared of the car "wandering" or "swaying" a little bit at the top end.

What tire pressure are you running in your slicks?

When you do your burnout, dump the clutch in 2nd and heat the tires for a solid 5-6 seconds (don't be afraid to wear down your slicks). Second gear will get the tires spinning much faster and will heat the slicks far better than in first.

What launch rpm are you working with?

To get your 60 ft times in the high 1.50s and low 1.60s, you're going to have to launch the car at approximately 6000 rpm. When I pulled my best of 1.59, the car was pegged on the limiter and I dumped the clutch. Don't be afraid to break it! If you're afraid of breaking things, you won't get the times you're looking for!

What is your tire pressure? I had mine down to 11psi in the slicks, the car was hooking beautifully.


Let me know a little more info, and I know we can get those times down...

Also experiment with a little gear banging ... don't be afraid to row gears (aka POWERSHIFT) that Tremec. That's what it is made for!!

Hissing, your setup is SO perfect for low ET's. 4.30s, slicks, drag suspension... the recipe is there, I just have a little premonition that you baby the car

[Hissing Cobra]

Yeah, with the problems that we had shifting due to my incorrect firewall adjuster last time, my brother had no faith (he didn't want to break it as we had to drive it two hours home.) I just let it rip and had no problems. Next time, he'll be doing the same.

As for the tires, they were actually E.T. Street drag radials (not slicks) and had 14 lbs of pressure in each one. My rear airbags were inflated to full capacity per the instructions (35 psi.)

It definitely was "swaying" as I went down the track (especially each time I shifted.) I admit that I was a bit nervous with that, but the car continued to "track" in a straight line so I continued on my way.

We were launching at 5,500 rpms and the car weighed in at 3,140 lbs (with me in it.)