0-60 Question
 

I was wondering tonight. I know my car is an auto, and it probably would have helped had I done the 1->2->D thing, but anyway I went to a stop sign and went to the Z's stopwatch on the clock, and then hit the button to start it and hit down on the pedal. You could just feel the car start to go and like bog just from all the lag, and then finally it hit boost and starts going. I stopped at 40, I just wanted to see how long that would take. It took around 6 seconds. So when they do their 0-60 times, are they getting the RPMs up so you pretty much launch in boost or are they doing it like I did and going from under 1k RPMs while you just wait for the boost to build? If I'd launch the car with boost ready I bet the car would do 0-60 in 7 or so seconds.

0-60 times are usually calculated from a dead stop (idle), to 60mph. It's not accurate if each car is rev'd or boosted then launched, as each car will react different to that condition.

So I'm wondering if that means that my car is just slow or has something wrong with it. I know from reading reviews and the test drives most things stated that the car would do 0-60 in under 8 at least.

Ha ha I tried that test too, I did it from a dead stop with my brother in the car holding a stop watch. My 0-60 sec time was 6.6 sec, might have done it faster if I didn't have a passenger. :D

When magazines do the 0-60 times
 

like R&T and such, they tell you how they do it. Read some and try to duplicate it. On stock cars (if you don't care about your clutch) the easiest way to get a fast time is to rev to your highest torque output and feather the clutch on launch so you don't spin the tires a whole bunch. Yes, I know this will destroy a clutch but its similar to what drag cars are doing when they "set up the clutch" and their clutches don't last long. Remember if you do this with your stock clutch you wont do it too many times before it starts to lose chunks.

I went out and tried it again, this time going to 60. I got on the freeway ramp and just came to a stop since there was absolutely no one around. I set the car's stopwatch and put the Auto into 1st. I hit the button and stomped on it, then let it rev up, then shifted to 2nd, and then D. When I hit about 60 I looked over and saw the clock right around 7 then go to 8. So It seems like my car can pretty much do it, I almost need a friend controlling it. I think I hit the switch then hit the gas rather than switch and gas at the same time I mean that transition is like half a second, and then if I shift it up too early, etc. I was reading some of these and one says 0-60 in a just a little over 7 and then the other one says 0-60 from a full blown wheel spinning launch in under 6.

Oh tickwon, when you did it did you go from idle or did you at least get the revs up some and then go from there?

It is said that the stock turbo 280ZX in auto had a faster 0-60 than the 5-speed. Probably because the 5-speed had to do one last shift from 2nd to 3rd (which is the trouble gear in the T5) and the auto was taller geared and used the torque better. The difference I believe was only a tenth of a second though. But the 5-speed of course was way faster in the quarter mile. :)

have fun drag racing your 3-speed autos, boyz :D

You're mean Bleach! I'm not planning on drag racing, I've just more or less concerned by my 0-60 time, just mainly because I'm not 100% sure if my engine is running exactly right. I mean my car seems to go good, it idles well, and runs pretty much without any problems. When I punch it my boost gauge will read about 7 psi. It just doesn't feel all that fast, I think it might be that I'm just used to it and I need more boost. I remember reading an article in Nissan Sport saying about taking their Z31 project car from 0-60, and that it ran right like it should have, but it just felt slow.

Like I said I'm using this as a benchmark more than anything.

yes, I am mean. Evil is more like it...

It was from idle...I didn't rev it. Now I did try revving it up some, it did nothing but spin my tires. :D I don't think the times was any better, I can't remember. I just try the 0-60 thing that one day. :)

I'll have to have another go at it with a buddy and a stop watch.

Anyway, I think a new issue has arisen, apparently my autometer boost gauge is faulty? I go out to start the car today and for some reason it's reading my vacuum as really low, I put it in D and it gets even lower. It generally reads about 18 inHG at idle with the air regulator open, and around 15inHG when I put it in D. Well for some reason it was reading 15 in Neutral and Less than 15 in Drive, and even after the air regulator closed nothing changed. I took out my regular vacuum gauge that I have and I was testing different hose connections on the manifold, everything read correctly. I tested the connection where I connect the hose for my autometer gauge, that read fine. I even tested the hose where it runs into the car and into the gauge, that read fine. So my gauge is crapping out?

You think your gauge is crapping out because the vac level changes?

No because it's reading way different from my other 2 gauges. My stock gauge reads fine, and I pulled out my autometer gauge and hooked up my vacuum gauge that bought from the auto parts store. It was reading 20inHG at idle, so I connected the autometer gauge back to that same line and it's reading 15inHG even when I'm driving it for some reason won't drop below 15 when normally I'd be driving and let off the throttle the gauge would drop to 20inHG and below, my other gauge does hooked to the same line.

hit it a couple times. See if it falls back to 20

I'll send you a J-pipe that you can use to beat on the gauge with.

Apparently the problem was the autometer LED that I bought is just a tad bit longer than the bulb it came with. So I guess it was pushing against the back of the gauge or something inside which was causing an issue. I was messing with it and I seem to have the LED in there and set better, but for some reason it's still not reading my vacuum correct while sitting in Drive.