I had changed the pistons and camshaft, as well as the complete fuel injection, and ignition system.
I knew from the dyno readings and my own laptop logs that the EFI/ IGN system I had changed to
was not the problem. The fuel and timing curvers were right were they needed to be. The pistons I
used were a point higher in compression and in my mind that only meant it should make more
power. So I was left with the camshaft as the culprit. It was hard for me to accept that the cam would
be the reason for the horsepower loss as I had went with a recommendation from a large camshaft
company. I had given my combination information to them, as well as discussing how the car
would be used. A lot of street use, with driving to and from the track. The camshaft that was settled
on was a shorter lift grind than I had previously ran, with different lobe centers to be more "Blower
friendly". It was later suggested to me that my Idea of "street drivable" is probably very different than
theirs. I also never really experienced any improvements in the drive ability or cooling either.
I had just managed to turn an 8.90 car into a 9.30 deal. The only thing left to do was to switch back to
my old camshaft and see. My intentions were to change it, and get back on the dyno to see the
results. Then I got to thinking too much. The car had never 60 footed like it use to before the blower, I
really never could put my finger on that, even though the added weight of the blower and radiator
was well over 150 lbs, I was making more power than ever before. I had met my goal of 8.90 in
street trim, the way the engine was set up before, but I was at least a tenth to fifteen hundredths
slow to the 60' clock. Then I remembered that I changed the gear from 4.85 to the 4.30 just before I
put the blower motor in. To top that off, when it was time to buy new tires, I went taller by an inch. I
guess I figured the blower deal would compensate. So, instead of changing the cam and going
back to the dyno, I elected to change the gear back as well. I did intend on returning to the dyno
before I went back to the track but scheduling conflicts did not allow me to before the last race of the
year. And this brings me to the "bitter sweet" ending of the season.
It was the annual Turkey drag race held in mid November. There was supposed to be a forecast of
50 degrees by noon for it to be a go. If it made it to 50, it was barely. I figured the track was going to
be terrible at best. I left the same tune up in the car that I had on the 9.30 runs a few months back. It
was a very safe tune but I was going to monitor my AFR's very close all the same. I had decided to
enter the super pro class that day, and it was to be ran eight mile only. I figured after I got put out, if
the car was performing well, I would make a full pass before I went home.
My very first time trial was a welcome surprise. The track was unreal to say the least. The car left in
the air like it used to. About the 330 mark, it was like it came even more alive. I made a quick
decision to go ahead and run it to the end, in the hopes they had the 1/4 mile clocks on, but it was
charging so hard I thought, If I am running big mph I may have a hard time stopping without letting
the chute out. I quickly decided to lift at the 1000 foot and see what numbers I had if they did in fact
have the clocks going.
Surprise number two. 5.50's in the 1/8th ! at almost 128mph. Wow! Thats 10 mph up from a few
months ago. Unfortunately the 1/4 mile clocks were not on, but looking back at my computer log of
the run, when I let out at the 1000 foot mark I was at 7600 rpm. Oh man, I may have to click it into
overdrive when it is time to make a full pass, I thought to myself.
My second time trial was real close to the same. The quickest the car ever had been. The best ever
60 foot's @ 1.28! And mile per hours at the 1/8th nearing 130. I was happy!
The weather kept changing, with light sprinkles, clouding up, then the sun returning from time to
time, so first round of eliminations I had dialed an even 5.60. I was giving a spot to my opponent of
over a second, so when I let go of my brake button, instead of waiting that second, I stood on my
throttle and by the time my delay box let me go the engine was at full throttle long enough to get very
clean and crisp. When it did let go, the car instantly stood straight up in the air. It drove right through
the wheelie bars breaking the left wheel bracket and wrapping the bars up around my bumper
where they contacted my trailer hitch. On later investigation I think that the hitch may have helped
them to keep me from going on over. There have been several witnesses that have told me they
swear it was 90 degrees. I chuckle and say : I think it may have been 92. I really was not too
concerned while it was happening until the rear wheels left the ground and the engine raced on up.
Up until then I had not lifted and was not planing to. When that happened though, I thought I may be
in trouble. Once I lifted it did come down. And hard! Gathering my bearings I looked over at my
gauges for anything abnormal, out the rear view for any thing leaking on the track. Nothing seemed
odd so I idled down the track checking the steering and all my gauges again as I came back to
where I was pitted. Once I got out and shared the in car experience to the several that had just
witnessed it from where they were, It started soaking in of just how close to nasty that could have
been.
Borrowing a floor jack I assessed the damage underneath. The oil pan had taken a very hard hit.
The cross member was bent, as well as my new headers I had just built last year. Ouch! Of course
the wheelie bars where toast, but all in all it looked like everything was still intact, so I crawled under
the rear and removed the wheelie bars, air the tires back up and drove it home.
Off to the left are a few pics of the aftermath and a shot of it very early in the launch. Hopefully some
one got a shot of it straight up. If you know of any, send them my way please.
I knew from the dyno readings and my own laptop logs that the EFI/ IGN system I had changed to
was not the problem. The fuel and timing curvers were right were they needed to be. The pistons I
used were a point higher in compression and in my mind that only meant it should make more
power. So I was left with the camshaft as the culprit. It was hard for me to accept that the cam would
be the reason for the horsepower loss as I had went with a recommendation from a large camshaft
company. I had given my combination information to them, as well as discussing how the car
would be used. A lot of street use, with driving to and from the track. The camshaft that was settled
on was a shorter lift grind than I had previously ran, with different lobe centers to be more "Blower
friendly". It was later suggested to me that my Idea of "street drivable" is probably very different than
theirs. I also never really experienced any improvements in the drive ability or cooling either.
I had just managed to turn an 8.90 car into a 9.30 deal. The only thing left to do was to switch back to
my old camshaft and see. My intentions were to change it, and get back on the dyno to see the
results. Then I got to thinking too much. The car had never 60 footed like it use to before the blower, I
really never could put my finger on that, even though the added weight of the blower and radiator
was well over 150 lbs, I was making more power than ever before. I had met my goal of 8.90 in
street trim, the way the engine was set up before, but I was at least a tenth to fifteen hundredths
slow to the 60' clock. Then I remembered that I changed the gear from 4.85 to the 4.30 just before I
put the blower motor in. To top that off, when it was time to buy new tires, I went taller by an inch. I
guess I figured the blower deal would compensate. So, instead of changing the cam and going
back to the dyno, I elected to change the gear back as well. I did intend on returning to the dyno
before I went back to the track but scheduling conflicts did not allow me to before the last race of the
year. And this brings me to the "bitter sweet" ending of the season.
It was the annual Turkey drag race held in mid November. There was supposed to be a forecast of
50 degrees by noon for it to be a go. If it made it to 50, it was barely. I figured the track was going to
be terrible at best. I left the same tune up in the car that I had on the 9.30 runs a few months back. It
was a very safe tune but I was going to monitor my AFR's very close all the same. I had decided to
enter the super pro class that day, and it was to be ran eight mile only. I figured after I got put out, if
the car was performing well, I would make a full pass before I went home.
My very first time trial was a welcome surprise. The track was unreal to say the least. The car left in
the air like it used to. About the 330 mark, it was like it came even more alive. I made a quick
decision to go ahead and run it to the end, in the hopes they had the 1/4 mile clocks on, but it was
charging so hard I thought, If I am running big mph I may have a hard time stopping without letting
the chute out. I quickly decided to lift at the 1000 foot and see what numbers I had if they did in fact
have the clocks going.
Surprise number two. 5.50's in the 1/8th ! at almost 128mph. Wow! Thats 10 mph up from a few
months ago. Unfortunately the 1/4 mile clocks were not on, but looking back at my computer log of
the run, when I let out at the 1000 foot mark I was at 7600 rpm. Oh man, I may have to click it into
overdrive when it is time to make a full pass, I thought to myself.
My second time trial was real close to the same. The quickest the car ever had been. The best ever
60 foot's @ 1.28! And mile per hours at the 1/8th nearing 130. I was happy!
The weather kept changing, with light sprinkles, clouding up, then the sun returning from time to
time, so first round of eliminations I had dialed an even 5.60. I was giving a spot to my opponent of
over a second, so when I let go of my brake button, instead of waiting that second, I stood on my
throttle and by the time my delay box let me go the engine was at full throttle long enough to get very
clean and crisp. When it did let go, the car instantly stood straight up in the air. It drove right through
the wheelie bars breaking the left wheel bracket and wrapping the bars up around my bumper
where they contacted my trailer hitch. On later investigation I think that the hitch may have helped
them to keep me from going on over. There have been several witnesses that have told me they
swear it was 90 degrees. I chuckle and say : I think it may have been 92. I really was not too
concerned while it was happening until the rear wheels left the ground and the engine raced on up.
Up until then I had not lifted and was not planing to. When that happened though, I thought I may be
in trouble. Once I lifted it did come down. And hard! Gathering my bearings I looked over at my
gauges for anything abnormal, out the rear view for any thing leaking on the track. Nothing seemed
odd so I idled down the track checking the steering and all my gauges again as I came back to
where I was pitted. Once I got out and shared the in car experience to the several that had just
witnessed it from where they were, It started soaking in of just how close to nasty that could have
been.
Borrowing a floor jack I assessed the damage underneath. The oil pan had taken a very hard hit.
The cross member was bent, as well as my new headers I had just built last year. Ouch! Of course
the wheelie bars where toast, but all in all it looked like everything was still intact, so I crawled under
the rear and removed the wheelie bars, air the tires back up and drove it home.
Off to the left are a few pics of the aftermath and a shot of it very early in the launch. Hopefully some
one got a shot of it straight up. If you know of any, send them my way please.
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| 2010 recap.. Two thousand ten's goals with the Z were met with a little bitter sweet finale. Previous outings earlier in the year fell short of my performance expectations. I had made several changes over the winter hoping to help street drive-ability and still make good power. Early June Dyno tests showed that I may have made some wrong decisions. Horse power numbers were a couple of hundred lower than I expected at only 760 to the rear wheels, and a week later with 9.30 time slips at the track confirmed it. |
