I went to the drag strip last night and was kinda disapointed in what I was runing. my best time was 15.942. at the moment I am running completely stock except for a exhaust. I think one of the bigist reasons for the time was that I couldnt get a good launch, or a launch at all because of the skinny tires. I guess I just thought I would be able to pull at least a 14, but mabie with the wider tiers i can at least get a good 15 altho I did beat an elcomino and some other decent cars.

what are guy guys runing, and what are some simple things I can do to get my time down?

 

with out spending a whole lot of money? . . .weight reduction!!!! take out that passenger seat, change the driver seat to something light, spare tire, extra intiror panels, lose the ac pump ( wieghs a ton ), belts driving unneccesary things. there is a bunch of stuff, then again. if you dont wanan do all that you asked the right group of guys on how to tune your motor. only problem is which way to go. lots of options when you have the money

 

Are you naturally aspirated or turbo? Just wondering. If you're n/a then that's actually a good time. You can lower your rear tire pressure just a bit to make them have a little extra traction (just remember to reinflate them when you're done racing) and also raise the front tires psi a bit to reduce rolling resistance. Stage shallow to give yourself more of a "rolling" start before the timer engages. What are your 60' times? Anyways, those were just a couple tips to help, they won't drastically reduce your et, but every little bit adds up. If you're turbo, I can suggest a few more things, but anyways, glad you had fun.

 

a couple of quick questions for you 280ers out there as long as we are talking about weight reduction. As far as the ac goes I would like to take that out of my car as well to save a little weight. hell I don't use it anyways. Is there any way to discharge it safely.... Because currently my car doen't have an engine in it right now and I would like to get all of that ac stuff out of it while I can....
Also how about the power steering pump. I have driven (not purposly) without the belt for the ps pump before and I liked the feel of the wheel better than with it running. So I was wondering if there was any way I would convert to non ps by plugging the holes or connecting certain holes to one another and removing the pump without having to buy an older rack to put in.... suggestions are welcome
thanks

 

Speed costs money. How fast do you want to spend?

Actually, Apollo is right. If your car is not Turbo then you had a pretty decent time and without spending some bucks, weight reduction is the biggest bang.

Also, you didn't say what size or brand of tire you were running?

14's is actually quite fast. Most people over estimate their 1/4 performance because they've been brain washed by the automotive press into thinking 14 sec 1/4 mile is slow when this will beat most people that drive their cars to the track especially if you know how to stage, launch and you have a good consistent reaction time.

The new 350Z only does a 13.9 at 102 according to Motor Trend and that was made in a car with 287 hp and 274 ft/lbs torque by an experienced test driver that does this for a living. The average schmo off the street is going to be lucky to pull into the 14's.

Don't feel bad. You did fine and your car did fine for a 25 year old example with half the hp and even less than half the torque of the 350Z and you probably didn't pay $30,000 for it either!

Is a second and a half worth that $30k?

Ok, I'm probably the wrong person to ask that question...

 

yes I am n/a, and I am running on stock 6 spoke z rims. I have a turbo siting in my shop and need to give it some tlc before i slap it on and get some other things required to put it in. You guys never told me your times. what dose the advrage n/a and turbo run?

 

What size tires are you using?

My ST2 car used to run low 15's but it was setup for road racing not drag racing and it was mostly related to weight reduction as the SCCA rules for ST2 don't allow much in the way of modifications.

My first 3.0L ran 14's with a .480/260 cam, .120 overbore, 10.4:1 compression, cold air intake w/ K&N and 6/2/1 header no cat and a resonator in place of the muffler and a boat load of head work.

My current 3.1L turbo is just plain sick...

And don't forget, tires tires tires... Good drag tires will make you a winner. Anyone that shows up with street tires is going to get hosed by anyone that shows up with good drag radials or slicks.

Street tires don't have the right heat range or compound to get good traction in a drag strip environment. If you do a burnout to heat them up, you're more likely to go past the sticky stage and put them into slippery stage. If you don't heat them enough, they'll be too cold and hard. It's nearly impossible to figure out how many revolutions a street tire needs to get sticky before they get slippery. Again, the 'sticky' range is WAY too narrow on a common street tire.

For $200, throw a pair of these on the back and you'll understand:

http://tinyurl.com/3lfz6

These are also about a half inch shorter so it'll improve your final drive ratio.

They also have them in a 225/45/14 and a 205/50/14 but at 2.5" shorter than stock they might be a little too short and screw up your final drive ratio. If you do go with shorter tires, you'll want to go with tires of the same height on the front too. You don't want to get down to the end of the strip and have your front end off the ground!

 

Well, I'm running a turbo so I can't help you out as much as the people who are n/a. As for my times, here's a quick rundown of my best ones as I modded my Z. Bone stock my Z ran a 15.3@89mph. After adding an HKS catback and K&N cone filter my best et dropped to a 14.78@94. I added a boost controller and ran it at about 11psi and have ran a 14.389@98.

I haven't ran my Z at the 1/4 mile strip since adding an intercooler, but in the 1/8 mile track I've ran a best of 9.1@80 from which my previous best was a 9.3@78. Anyway, my times were run on my street tires (I don't own slicks or DR). In my experience so far at the strip, I run best with 28psi in the rear and 35 psi up front. My 60' times aren't that great though, ~2.2-2.3.

 

yeah i was getting ragged on once because of being such a huge nissan enthusiast, the attacker was saying how nissan sucks because the 300zxTT (mid 90's) only runs a 14 in the quarter . . . i didn't feel like arguing with an idiot so i was quiet and later on i was reading some car magazine where the 911 and C6 battle it out and the only run 13's. . . what the duece i thought, here we got a 300zxTT that'll cost approx. $8k compared to the C6 and 911 which are gonna cost 10 times that much and they're only a second faster. . . yeah yeah yeah they're newer nicer and got a whole bunch of useless crap ie traction control, spedo on the windshield, etc. . . .

 

Amen man I hear you! Why would you spend much more cash on a car that is supposedly more luxurious? I for one think the Z or ZX, is the one of the most expensive cars out there! Sounds crazy, but the value somtimes means more than what it is worth to maybe a collector or appraiser. I wouldn't care if my car was worth about as much as being in a wrecking yard! It is all about self worth. The Z car has been one of my dream cars, since I have been pretty much born! And you can't put a price on self value, like the owner's opinion to me. Means more than anything or what any one individual says the car is worth. My ZX is gold to me, no matter what anybody says! He is my boy, and he is getting the full restoration! Sorry about my rambling, I just had to get this off my chest. I get attached to my cars. I own 5 of them. 3 being sportscars, and the other 2 being muscelcars.

Anyway besides all that, I think your time is great! Who cares about another second. 15's are pretty good, considering you are pretty much stock!

 

My first time at the track I ran a miserable 18.02 @ 82mph, but I missed 2nd. The last time I ran I went 16.95 @ 88mph.....totally stock n/a.

from what I can gather, stock S130's run right around 17.

 

well it sounds like I did alright... Im gonna go back this friday hopefully with my friends stock rims from his 240sx wraped in toyo proxies. They are wider and i am assuming since they cost a little bit they are gonna be more stickyer. If i didnt have to spend around $240.00 for a power steering pump and a heater control valve I could get some parts and start to turbo , but hopefully I will run better just from practice anyway.

and how the hell did you get the z in the shadow???