Track Trouble
 

I went the the track this week and was having all kinds of trouble. I have an 01mustang with a 5.0 high compression stroker, 5sp, all bolt ons, exhaust, upper and lower control arms, frame ties, sway bars. I have 373s in the car. Car made 283hp and 339tq. I have a new set of the NTO5r(315 35 17s) and have them aired down to 19psi. I tried all kinds of launches. I tried slipping the clutch, dropping at 3k, 4k, and starting from idle. Each time the tires spun very bad in first and second even after a good burnout. Car ran 14.4 at 87 and 14.3 at 87 with 2.2 and 2.3 60s. The car should be quicker than this and i a decent driver. What could i be doing wrong, the miles per hour seem super low. I didnt even get a chance to run the nitrous, because all motor runs were killing me. Any ideas would be great. Thanks

NT05Rs don't seem like very good tires to be launching off of a car with 340tq.

It's more of a street/strip tire, not anything like MTs.

Soooo...that may be part of it. Otherwise it's suspension. Weight transfer? Are the springs and struts still stock?

If you're running a 14.3 at 87, you're definitely having some traction problems. Like 08mustang_gt said, do you have any suspension mods? Also, I wouldn't be surprised if slicks alone would drop you into the high 13s.

Your low MPH is probably from short shifting. You are short shifting because you are spinning so bad in the first 3 gears. The track was probably too cold for your car too hook up. I noticed that when air temps are in the 50's even my MT DR's stopped hooking even with a long burnout I would see a 1.8 60ft out of them or I would blow them off with a 2.0 and peddle it.

thats kinda what i was thinking with those times. I bought the nittos because they had awesome reviews in the Mustang5.0 mag, with that 600hp car was hooking with the 315s and he was hitting 1.6 and 1.57. I dont have anything special done to the supension. The car is lowered, has eibach racing springs, upper and lower non adjustable contol arms and replacement stock shocks.

Next time you go disconnect the front sway bar to help with weight transfer. I went from upper 1.7 60fts to low 1.70-1.72's. I also noticed that drag radials dont like to be shocked you have to slip out your clutch for them to hold well. You'll figure them out its taken me about 15-20 passes on my new softer DR's to get them to hook consistently.

Is the car your daily driver as well?

Went to the track tonight and got a little better results. I rewired the nitrous to a button on the shifter and it makes a difference. I still have low traction in first and some of second. I used the spray in third and forth. I got 13.27@107with 2.0 60 and 13.09@109 with a 2.2 60. Also i am starting to wonder if i should go back to my 3.27s instead of 373 that way i can spray in second and more of all the gears. Also what would be a good set of rims and slicks to get(specifics)
Side note: Last race was against a newer roush 427r and was an awesome race. Everytime i shifted he pulled on me, but as soon as i hit the spray i would pass him. He ended up getting me by 2/10ths of a second. He looked at me a little different after that. Still not bad for a 11thous car against a 50thous:p

since you have a lot of torque run a 15X10" with 5.5 backspace rim with a 275/60 MT drag radial or run a 28" by 10.5 slick. If you can afford front drag rims get 15X3.5" with some sort of 165 tire. Thats what my plan is right there

I know that a lot of people look at the Hoosier DR's as a "cheater slick" but I have never once spun out of the hole on my Hoosiers and I launch @ 5k and drop the clutch.. Not sure how they are going to do when I start spraying out of the hole, but I think they will do well.

I also run lower pressure in my DR's. Somewhere around 12-16lbs depending on whether or not I feel like doing a burnout because the Hoosiers actually seem to do better just giving them a quick spin to remove debris from the surface of the tire..

Oh and PS. I run my Hoosiers on 17/9 FR500 wheels.

I am kinda wondering whats up because the HP numbers are really really low.

Im not following the what u mean by the low numbers. The kit i have is a 4.6 block with a 5.0 high compression kit in it. I still have stock, heads and cam, stock headers with all the other bolt ons. The nitrous really kicked the things up with 474rwhp and 629rwtq the first tune and dyno, and then a few weeks later was retuned at 440rwhp and 579rwtq under more of a load on the dyno. Number might be lower than some because i havent opened up and of the head,cam, headers combo but i think those numbers should close to expected. The nitrous feels like a beast. From motor to nitrous that is 157hp gain and 240tq gain, so what it lacks in motor in gain in spray. :)

anyone think that the lower gears would help? They would give me more time with the nitrous on. Found a good set of prostars and slicks also.

I didnt have any trouble gripping the track and I was on street tires. Then again i dont have much HP.

My friend in a Mach had a hard time gripping the track on his tires he was running 15's

I think the problem is that amount of torque along with those gears running it through the RPMs so quickly.

Try the prostars and slicks. And then if that doesn't work go with some 3:27s and then you should hook for sure.

With that much tq by like what 2k rpm? Yea that'll kill it for sure. You should be pulling some way higher trap times though. With a sub-500hp car you should be trapping much higher in MPH in my opinion.

really, do the cheap, easy and free mods before you waste a day of labor switching out gears. I use pro kit eibach gears and those absorb a lot of wieght transfer but my 400 lb ft of toque stays planted for a 1.70 60. Stop jumping to different conclusions on what you think is wrong. I feel you just need more seat on the track with those tires and power.

Edit: incoherent drunk post.

I have the same power profile as you...I found 3.55's to be as far as I could go and not have the car break loose on the 2-3 gear change. 3.27's might be a little long but 3.55's should calm it down a bit.

I've had to learn to pedal the car out of the hole. As soon as it starts spinning there's no stopping it.

You're also using what appears/sounds like a street suspension, not a drag suspension. Street/lowered setups will always spin hard compared to drag setups.