Drag raced tonight... fun! (updated with video!)

I took my clapped out heap (30 Ford coupe) to the local track tonight. I had a blast. The car actually did better than I thought it would. I think the track prep was much better than usual. (Island Dragway in NJ). My best run of the night was 14.1 at 98 with a 2.37 60 ft. LOL it was so much fun though. I've had little OT turbo cars that were far faster but this was just so much cooler. I only managed to get three runs in because so many people wanted to talk to me about the car.
I'd like to see this beast get solidly in to the 13's without spending a mint on it. It's got a '69 400 Pontiac running through a TH400. The engine was rebuilt using stock components.The valve seats were replaced and I'm fairly certain the compression ratio is no longer 10.5:1. The weak link is definitely the open 2.79 rear and 29" tall radials. HAHAHA.
Just a little background - This car was thrown together with a mish mosh of parts totaling about 7500$. It has a used Edelbrock 750 that I never even rebuilt. (god only knows what jets are in it) I have an Isky Mega cam in it. I *think* it's a 280 but it might be more mild. Doesn't make a ton of Vacuum. I have a crappy chinese ebay HEI on it. And a crappy ebay torque converter that is supposed to be 2500 stall. (probably not though lol) Honestly it seems to run pretty well. I don't hear pinging and I've checked the plugs which are always a nice brown.
My driving style is like this - foot brake to about 1600 rpm and GO. No spin to speak of. I think the tall gear and tires take care of that. I really can't foot brake harder cause she'll wanna creep through. haha I cruise through the traps at around 3400 rpm feeling more like I'm in a big old Grand Prix than a hot rod. All the action takes place in second gear. The rest of it is just a sunday drive. LOL I'm not shifting the trans. I'm letting it do it's thing. I have an adjustable vac modulator on it but I never messed with it.
Now... without even getting into carb, timing, cam etc (can of worms there) do you think I can get it in to the 13's with just a shorter tire? I have a set of 27 inchers I can throw on it.
Regardless, I'm interested to hear what you guys think. I'm gonna try again in a few weeks and see if I can hit that 13.9

 

give it more gear, it'll smoke the tires. So get some sticky tires of some kind first, see if you can find any kind of used slicks, drag radials, McCrearys, etc. And run some 3.50 or so gears. Should be well in the 13s with just that.

I went to a testntune at the Tucson strip last friday, drove my 55 up, watched a friend run his late model....yeah, I kinda got the bug to go and run some more. It's been almost two years. And I'm thinking of going on drag week so I need the practice!

 

But gears cost money! haha... wait that's not a joke, I have no money. That's why I was thinking about that shorter tire. dropping from 29's to 27's would have to do something right? By the way, I owe you a thanks - you've helped me more than once with my questions about various hot rod build questions. You're definitely 'one of the of the good ones'

 

What rear do you have in it? Maybe you could borrow a set of gears to test?

 

It's an 8". Yikes. You don't find 3.55 gears for that thing just laying around. haha but I bought the whole rear for 50$ so...

 

I would have to say if the timing is off, adjusting the timing will improve your 60 ft. times. And with the timing properly set, the carb might need to be adjusted. The milder the cam the more vacuum you will have. How much vacuum do you have @ idle? Hate to say it, you might be running out of fuel on the big end. Adjust your leave so that you "flash" the converter. Do you have a reliable tach in the car? To improve the performance of your car, you have to tune it. One step at a time. Does the car have headers? What type of rear end does it have? Yes, running a shorter tire will help. One step at a time.

John

P.S. First things first. Get the timing squared away. Then put on the short tires. See what happens.

 

Thanks for the input. I've got timing at 36 all in by 2800 or so. Pretty standard I guess. I make about 13" of vac at idle. It's very steady. I've thoroughly checked for leaks. What makes you say I'm running out of fuel up top? The car pretty much purrs up there. Never breaks up or pings. Flashing the converter is gonna take seat time. I've never done it. The tach is a good one. The car has lakes style headers with 1 5/8 primaries. I picked up a 1/10 second by bumping the timing a little and uncapping the headers. The rear is a Ford 8" with an open 2.79 ratio. (obviously the weak link)

 

You failed to mention your mph..There might be enough horsepower there but you may be the hold up.Et is driver mph is hosepower,Simple math will dictate what minimum is needed to move a x weighing object in y amount of time.
When i dragraced my street bike in 97 it was a 103 shovel first time out i went 12.0 at 125.I thought what a stone.
My mph told me the bike was making power it was the iddiot riding it.That was me.
Two years of humbling at the track my combination was nearly as i started but 10.60 at 125 was the norm.
Keep flogging it and make suttle changes,you will get there,be safe and have fun.

 

First off, throw that cam out and drop a stock Pontiac #068 cam in, (standard Ram Air GTO cam) or a Summit .http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-2801/. Either cam will pull the power down where it needs to be. You didn't mention the weight but we can assume its pretty light weight. What intake are you running?

Joe

 

I don't quite agree with that....I'd say ET is mostly determined by how well matched the combination is for drag racing, while mph shows how much horsepower you have.

 

My best run was as follows -
60' - 2.379
330' - 6.081
1/8- 9.127
mph- 79.52
1000- 11.82
1/4- 14.112
mph- 98.43

As far as swapping cams to get the 'power down where it needs to be'... I thought I made enough power down low??? It seems like it needs more up top. Like I said, I'm going through the trap at under 3500 rpm. hahaha I'm running an Edelbrock p4b intake. I'm not sure how much the car weighs it's a fenderless steel 5 window. That Poncho motor weighs a lot though and I welded 16 gauge floors in it with quite a bit of bracing. I wouldn't be surprised in that sucker weight 2600 with me in it and half a tank of gas. I also had about 30lbs of junk in the trunk.
Thanks so much for the replies!!! This stuff is too fun.

 

I would expect you can get your 60ft's down into the 2.1 range pretty easy. If you can cut about .2 at the start, you may very well be in the 13.8 range. It has alot to do with technique (free, just practice), so I wouldn't start buying parts just yet.

 

I bet if you spent more time practicing launches you'll hit high 13's with the current setup. A set of 3.55's would put that thing deep into the 13's, a few tweaks here and there and you'll be knocking on 12's.

 

Yeah I guess it's all about seat time right?

 

Judging by the 60' time, those 27 tall tires will be a big help. If you have lighter rims use them.

Play with the timing. Small block Chevy's like 36-38 but that Poncho might want less. Back it up 2 then try the other way. Same thing with the Vacuum advance. Turn it in a turn, then out a turn.

Pump the front tires up at the track, 40 psi or so. Add some to the rears too, unless it spins.

Run with and without the air filter. This may tell you if you are rich or lean.

Stage the car as shallow as possible. Keep the wheel as straight as posible on the run.

If you have automatic adjusters on your brakes, make sure they are not dragging.

Thats all my cheap tricks to help E.T.

Drag racing is bitchen ain't it.

 

Yes it is and thanks for the tips. I can adjust my shift points a little with the vac modulator right? Which way do I turn the screw to get another 100rpm?
The car drives straight as an arrow. No shimmy, no speed wobble. Very mild mannered. When I aligned the car with a tape measure and string I must have done something right. haha

 

gears, gears, gears

you have $7500 in the car, you really can't spend another $100 and buy another 8" with better gears? it's cool to work with what you got and all but sometimes it just gets silly...

mini spools are about $50

and why wouldn't you just shift manually?

 

Something's very wrong with your combo. The torque of the 400 Pontiac combined with the light weight of a 30 Ford...with non posi should KILL the one rear tire regardless of your ratio. (you wrote...no spin to speak of)

 

I believe you turn it in (clockwise) for later shifts. Just like the other things I mentioned, track testing will be your friend AND its fun.

Orrrrrr,
you can watch the tack and manual shift it which is even more fun if you have the right shifter.

 

Drag racing is a BLAST and I think lots of guys overlook their local drag strips - it's a shame. Texashardcore's on the money.

Getting it to hook up (indicated by your 60 ft times) is another one of the most often overlooked aspects of going fast. More horsepower is of little use if it all goes up in smoke. You should be able to get your 60 ft times a lot closer to 2.0 - I used to work as an EMT at the local 1/8 mile strip - we also handed out the time slips, seems that's where a lot of 'street' cars were.

There was a '40 Ford coupe at the 411 Rumble that kicked everyone's ass a few years back, he was running a basically stock BBC but the car was back-halved and that car really hooked up. I'm sure a lot of the cars he outran were lighter and had more HP.

Try launching at different RPM's or rolling into the throttle. You may be spinning the tires and don't realize it.

And as far as the carb and timing being a can of worms - huh? Tweaking and tuning's what hot-rodding's all about. Tire pressure's another freebie, just carry an air tank or even a small 12v air compressor.

Just document where all your settings are now - you can always put it right back where it was. Once you get your launches down then start tweaking the tune up - try one thing at a time and document the results - it's a lot of trial and error, but it's also a lot of fun and a great way to learn all about your car.

I bet you get it down in the 13's no trouble.

 

Drag racing is a BLAST and I think lots of guys overlook their local drag strips - it's a shame. Texashardcore's on the money.

Getting it to hook up (indicated by your 60 ft times) is another one of the most often overlooked aspects of going fast. More horsepower is of little use if it all goes up in smoke. You should be able to get your 60 ft times a lot closer to 2.0 - I used to work as an EMT at the local 1/8 mile strip - we also handed out the time slips, seems that's where a lot of 'street' cars were.

There was a '40 Ford coupe at the 411 Rumble that kicked everyone's ass a few years back, he was running a basically stock BBC but the car was back-halved and that car really hooked up. I'm sure a lot of the cars he outran were lighter and had more HP.

Try launching at different RPM's or rolling into the throttle. You may be spinning the tires and don't realize it.

And as far as the carb and timing being a can of worms - huh? Tweaking and tuning's what hot-rodding's all about. Tire pressure's another freebie, just carry an air tank or even a small 12v air compressor.

Just document where all your settings are now - you can always put it right back where it was. Once you get your launches down then start tweaking the tune up - try one thing at a time and document the results - it's a lot of trial and error, but it's also a lot of fun and a great way to learn all about your car.

I bet you get it down in the 13's no trouble.

 

I dont know how true this is ,but was always told that one inch of tire height is the same as one tenth rear gear ratio.If a factory set up was a 3:23 with a 23 in tire, then a 24 inch tire will give you a 3:13 gear ratio. Ive always heard this but dont know how true this is,if its wrong id like to know.........................YG

 

I say the timing and carb are a can of worms because of the mismatched, used and cheap parts I have. I put the car together really cheap and now it's biting me in the butt of course. Do you think 750 is too much carb? I could probably trade even up for something closer to 650. That chinese HEI is probably junk but I can't afford anything better right now. I might be spinning and not know it. I didn't have anyone at the track with me to watch.

 

Gears and traction will help immensely - my only concern is that 8" ford - if you get it to hook you may be walking home.

 

dont worry about the 8". i run one with 450 hp spool 4.62 gear with a trans brake and it lives. try a smaller carb 650 from past motors ive had never had a eldbrock carb perform at the track try to borrow a holley should pick up . my 2 cents

 

Check out the HEI stuff on MSD's website. They have a module that is a huge improvement over stock. The also have a cap that uses a separate coil. These two mods will really help your ignition system but now were spending a few bucks that you were trying to avoid. I think the 750 is fine but from the sounds of things, your cam may be a bit to big for your combo. If the cam is a solid lifter, add some lash and that will tell you.

Here we go, the hook is set. Say goodbye to all extra income you would have ever had. You, my friend have the disease. LOL

 

Sound like you never get it "on the Pipe" If its got a 280 cam in it, shift it manualy shift out of low at 5500 or so, then grab second, with your gearing you should be going through the traps in second gear, or just getting into third. Hold it in second till 5k plus. 3500 that cam isn't making any power.

Wind that bitch up see how it feels then

 

I had a 67 gto 4b ,400, 3.55 gears ,auto,a/c no posi,15.00in 1/4 mile second gear,if I power braked it it would fry the tries.Lots of torque.

 

thank you so much for all the feedback guys. I'm definitely hooked on this now. I'm gonna try as many of these free mods as I can and I'll report back in couple weeks with my results. I'm pretty confident I can hit 13.8-9 without spending on anything other than gas. I think manually shifting the trans would do it.

 

Like you said manually shifting should do it. I looked it up with combination you'd only being spinning the motor at 4800 in second gear going through the traps.