At 08:47 PM 4/11/98 -0400, you wrote:
>NYIRP opened up today and Jon and I were there to kick off the new year.
>Beautiful day and lots of cars and trucks. Also picked up my new hood from
>Jon's delivery service. I only got in 4 runs but Jon and his friend Ed were
>chowing down and then planning to run some more. Jon was pretty discouraged
>with his first run or two but then he settled down and started knocking them
>off. First runs were 16 + but then he ran a couple of 15.6's and may have done
>better after I left? That was a pretty good jump from his last years 16+ runs
>and he was a happy camper when I left. I think he's hooked though,said he is
>coming back on the wednesday evening runs for sure. It was a good day and good
>to see Jon again and meet his friend Ed who was tearing up the track in his
>Nissan (I think).
Yep, a Nissan Sentra SE-R. He was dissapointed; never did break into
the 15's, though he did have a couple of 16 flats. Its got 70,000 miles on
it though, so its probably a little slower than its published specs when
it was new. I was surprised to see Bill's son running 15.6-15.7's in his Neon!
Once he gets all 4 new tires on there he'll probably go even faster. Guess
I'll have to work overtime to try to keep ahead of him! :-)
Yep, a good day of racing. :-)
This was my second time to the track. The first time was last year.
My first run (last year) was a 16.063, but then I couldn't get below
16.3 for the rest of the night. That was stock. Over the winter, I
added a 14" open element air cleaner (K&N filter), the MP computer, and
a 180 degree thermostat. I was pretty sure that would drop me into the
15s somewhere, but I wasn't exactly sure where. My first run this year
was a 16.3. (Couldn't get the darn 5-speed to shift into 2nd or 3rd)
Needless to say, I was dissapointed. I shifted a lot better on my 2nd
run and pulled off a 15.616@87.5mph. Gettin' better! :-) My next 4
runs were all 15.6 to 15.7. Somewhere in there, Bill commented to me,
"I smell a 15.5!" :-) I told him I'd be pretty happy with that. However,
15.6 - 15.7 was all I could do. After getting some lunch (during which time
Bill left), I hopped back into the Dak and ripped off a 15.343@89.10mph!!
I was *quite* happy with that one!! I got right back in line and did
15.538@89.10mph. I made 5 more runs after that, two of which were 16+
because I screwed up (either through shifting problems or failing to feather
the throttle and losing all my traction) but the other runs were in the
15.4 to 15.6 range.
So, the short story is that the K&N, computer, and thermostat took
anywhere from .7 to a full second off my 1/4 mile time. Not too
shabby, IMHO. :-) (This is a Club Cab with a 3.55 rear and suregrip)
My major problem (next to shifting) was traction. It doesn't hook up
at ALL in 1st, and hooks up about 1/4 of the way through 2nd. I think if
I could get some traction, I could do low 15s... I did let some of the air
out of my tires, which helped a little. Most of the times that I screwed
up the traction, I let it rev too high in first or jumped on it too hard
at the start instead of feathering it better.
So, I was feeling pretty happy until I got back to the pit area and
discovered that some low-life had stolen my gas can (with 5 gallons of
93 octane in it)!!! :-( Bill: I'm REALLY glad now that I decided to
leave your hood in my truck instead of leaving it in the pit area and
racing before you got there!!!! I'm still burned up about the gas can,
but that can be replaced a lot more cheaply than your hood!
Speaking of which, have you taken it out of the box or test fitted it yet? :-)
BTW: When you asked me if it just bolted onto the stock hinges, it completely
slipped my mind to mention that you might have to crimp the hinge a little to
keep it from digging into the hood. There's probably a note taped to your
hood from Terry about this, but it is a little hard to understand. I talked
to him on the phone about it, so if you have any questions, just drop me a
line and I'll 'splain it.
The "ram-air" hood and a fiberglass tonneau cover are on the way, then
its no mods for me for a while 'cause I don't have the cash! So, hopefully
those two items will drop my times down a little bit and then I'll have to
spend some time on my technique.
By the way, one thing that I noticed was that in 4th gear, the power
doesn't "really" come on until just at the line. I get a nice surge of
power after I cross the 1/4 mile line, but of course, its no good there.
Maybe I need some more power in the low end?
-Jon-
.--- stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu -- http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/ ---.
| DoD# 1038, EAA# 518210, NMA# 117376, USUA# A46209, KotWitDoDFAQ, RP-SEL |
| '96 Dodge Dakota v8 SLT Club Cab, '96 Kolb FireFly 447 (#FF019) |
`-------------------------------------------------------------------------'
I do not speak for the SUNY College at Fredonia; any opinions are my own.
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