A night at the track...

[martini]

so I journeyed to the depths of Milan Michigan to get to the Milan Dragway tonight... figured I had some new toys on the car, and perhaps I should test them out somewhere other than the freeway...

all in all, I wasn't very satisfied with my (and my cars performance). This is realistically the first time I had ever been to the track. The night before, and today, I did a bunch of logs, set my timing right, etc to make sure the car was running fine. The tank was on E on my way to work today, so I put some gas in and started at the track with about a 1/3rd of a tank of 93 octane (shell and another brand).

As you know I had recently installed the WOT box and the JHM Shifter... I was very satisfied with both of these products.

I needed some practice launching the car since I had only done it a couple of times... however I was able to easily get a 1.8402 and 1.9421 60ft times which are respectable.... especially for a first timer.


Unfortunatley my 1/4 times were not all that impressive. When I finally got into the groove of launching, my car started to shit the bed. When my RPM's started to climb in 3rd gear (5k) my car felt like it was misfiring... it felt exactly like a dead coilpack, however the MIL was not flashing, and I had no misfire codes. I short shifted into 4th gear and pulled the rest of the way there... I ended up with a 13.9872 (with the 1.8402 60ft). I was logging during the race and did not see any abnormal lambda or CF readings... my thought would be a coil pack, but I have no idea.

I went back out again, and it happened again... started in 3rd, but this time continued in fourth.. I popped it out of gear and rolled across the finish... called it a day.

So my 2 'good' runs, which were not good were like this:

1.8402 60ft, 13.9872 1/4... "misfiring" in 3rd
1.9421 60ft 13.9289 1/4... don't think anything went wrong here.

'
Keep in mind, this car was as it is everyday... I had a full interior, 19" rims, street tires, my sub and amp in the back, my laptop, a video camera (with a dead battery ), spare tire, etc.... I didn't do ANY weight savings at all....



Now my opinion on the times? When I look at the database, the best time posted with 93 octane was by Tom at APR with his stage 3 kit... it was like this:

Tom/APR 2002 Quattro/5 93 APR Stage 3+ APR 550cc

gt28rs 1.921 12.930 106.85 APR FMIC BT-9


so a 1.921 60ft
12.930 1/4 mile at 106.85.

I guess I don't see exactly how that is possible being that my car has the same setup, and got (practically) the same 60ft time... however I don't know what weight savings he did, etc.... I don't think I did anything in my run that would have cost my 1 whole second... I'm wondering how 'tweaked' his car was.




As for the products: I am very happy with the WOT box, as it got me satisfactory 60ft times on my first day at the track, and the flat shifting was a lot of fun (and easy). The JHM shifter is top notch as well. I went from a Neuspeed shifter to this one, and am glad I did. The NS one got sloppy over the years, and you can tell the JHM is built to last.


i guess thats all i got.....



oh.. and I stopped tracking the car after the 2nd run with misfires since I was over an hour away from home.... however on the freeway home, I did some 3rd gear pulls, and 4th gear pulls... .NO problems...

WTF

[Don Supreme]

Harder than it looks huh?

[F16HTON]

Spark blowouts from the wrong plugs...

No weight reduction for Tom, he goes about 280 pounds himself.

Try it without the WOT box and watch your times drop to 13.4

[Don Supreme]

Try it without the WOT box and watch your times drop to 13.4

Try it without the WOT box and watch your times goes up to 14.4

[absolutegtr]

Granted I dont have a BT or have even ridden in one, a 13.9 is not respectable. Something is definitely up, IIRC a K04 car (someone on this forum) has gone a 14.1

I am still skeptical on the WOT box or whatever it is. Granted it was your first time at the track a 1.9 60' is absolutely terrible. I have said this before but I have gotten my stock audi to do 2.0 60' multiple times.

I'm definitely not trying to sound like an ass, some practice and maybe a little more tweaking, and you can drop the ET

[mike-2ptzero]

Try it without the WOT box and watch your times goes up to 14.4

Try it with a real drag racer and see it go 13 flat.


J/K


Sucks that the car wasn't able to handle the 1/4 mile.


What were your 1/8 mile ET and trap?


BTW anyone else watch Pass time today? They had a Evo9 on there with a GT3076r, he used launch control and bogged the hell out of the car on the launch and ran 12.83. I couldn't stop laughing.

[B6Lovin]

Spark blowouts from the wrong plugs...

No weight reduction for Tom, he goes about 280 pounds himself.

Try it without the WOT box and watch your times drop to 13.4

^that's what I was gonna say. I used to have the same problem on the GTRS before i put in those FR5DTC's

[martini]

Spark blowouts from the wrong plugs...

No weight reduction for Tom, he goes about 280 pounds himself.

Try it without the WOT box and watch your times drop to 13.4

I've been running NGK BKR7E's... they are probably due for a change and I had other ones in the car with me..

what plugs would you suggest?


If the launch was equivalent to Tom's, then I don't think the WOT box (flatshifting from that point) was really hurting the time... he is flat out accellerating faster... either hes making quite a bit more power (some additional tweaks), or his car was lighter... i wonder if his kit is 'out of the box' or if they dyno tuned it at APR... i would imagine it was fine tuned over there

[martini]

Granted I dont have a BT or have even ridden in one, a 13.9 is not respectable. Something is definitely up, IIRC a K04 car (someone on this forum) has gone a 14.1

I am still skeptical on the WOT box or whatever it is. Granted it was your first time at the track a 1.9 60' is absolutely terrible. I have said this before but I have gotten my stock audi to do 2.0 60' multiple times.

I'm definitely not trying to sound like an ass, some practice and maybe a little more tweaking, and you can drop the ET

check out the database... 60ft times are all over the place... and some of the best times put down had comparable 60ft times to what I put down

http://www.mjbmotorsport.com/sitebui...medatabase.htm

[B6Lovin]

I've been running NGK BKR7E's... they are probably due for a change and I had other ones in the car with me..

what plugs would you suggest?

check the gap on your current plugs before you go switching brands/models. maybe they're just out of spec. how long have they been in?

[martini]

try It With A Real Drag Racer And See It Go 13 Flat.


J/k


Sucks That The Car Wasn't Able To Handle The 1/4 Mile.


What Were Your 1/8 Mile Et And Trap?


Btw Anyone Else Watch Pass Time Today? They Had A Evo9 On There With A Gt3076r, He Used Launch Control And Bogged The Hell Out Of The Car On The Launch And Ran 12.83. I Couldn't Stop Laughing.

8.8189, 77.48
8.9580, 78.55


looks like tom's slip was 8.319, 88.83

[A4 TSCHUSS]

Tom is an APR employee so you never know what kind of tricks they had going on and I dont know how the weather was for you but when they were doing his times it was very cold outside. And to throw it out there I ran 13.35@ 100 and a few 101mph passes with the GTRS on 93 octane with no weight reduction with my 19s and my 70lb sub in the trunk. Had a few 13.4x and 13.5x that night as well and one like 13.8 or 9 sucks the car didnt want to cooperate with you. And so with the WOT BOX using launch control you get a 1.9 thats what I figured due to the lack of boost.

[actlsub9]

What did you trap?

[martini]

check the gap on your current plugs before you go switching brands/models. maybe they're just out of spec. how long have they been in?

too long for coppers... i don't remember exactly though.. I only drive the car a couple times a month.

I bought new plugs because I knew I was due.. but the car ran fine the night before so I didn't want to change them before getting to the track... it didn't even cross my mind that this could be a plug thing

[martini]

Tom is an APR employee so you never know what kind of tricks they had going on and I dont know how the weather was for you but when they were doing his times it was very cold outside. And to throw it out there I ran 13.35@ 100 and a few 101mph passes with the GTRS on 93 octane with no weight reduction with my 19s and my 70lb sub in the trunk. Had a few 13.4x and 13.5x that night as well and one like 13.8 or 9 sucks the car didnt want to cooperate with you. And so with the WOT BOX using launch control you get a 1.9 thats what I figured due to the lack of boost.

no complaints on weather... its was 60F out..

My plan for this trip to the track was to evaluate the WOT Box (on and off). I didn't feel like I could do it justice if I wasn't able to be consistent....once I got consitency, I was going to turn it off and try again.

the place was empty... i could have gotten 100 runs in if i wanted too... and thats not exaggerating..

[martini]

What did you trap?

do I have to answer this? I didnt break 100... grrr

[actlsub9]

How about the log from your best run.

[martini]

How about the log from your best run.

Ill have to check my work laptop... i think I only have the logs from the runs that were misfiring... after each run I was looking at the files and overwriting them... I may have kept/renamed one though...

[martini]

as for the plugs... I just read online a bit...

this makes me want to kick myself in the face:

"A very common problem that is seen time and time again is an application that runs smoothly until about 3,000 rpm. At that point, the engine usually sputters and the power that was being created has become non-existent. If you find yourself saying, "I can’t get this car to run…I have no idea what’s going on…it’s not running properly..." - Check the spark plug gap! More often than not, once you properly gap your spark plugs, all your worries seem to go away. It really is magic!"


I honestly had new plugs in the glove box that I could have put in... I wasn't using my brain obviously... I was thinking coilpack for sure

[F16HTON]

I would have sworn we talked about this?

[martini]

I would have sworn we talked about this?

negative...


ill have to go back to the track to see whats up... I should have just swapped the plugs like I knew i should have

[F16HTON]

[Don Supreme]

Based on the trap speeds the car isn't making any power.

[F16HTON]

I would think it would not be making power up top with misfires like crazy

[martini]

so i swapped my plugs yesterday and to tell you the truth, they didnt look bad at all. The gaps had opened to about 0.035, I typically have them gapped to 0.032. I will post a picture of them later

They had a bit of oil on the tops of them which I have had in the past when my valve cover gasket was shot. I swapped the gasket a while ago, but didn't change the plugs... so there is no telling how old the oil was. The oil was not in the cylinder though


I don't know if that was causing the issue though. I havent driven the car since wednesday

[Papachristou]

shouldnt you close that gap a little running the boost you do?

[mike-2ptzero]

Most likely was the problem causing blow out. Might want to try running a set of Bosch F6dtc tri plugs.

[texasboy21]

lol, ive got a 97 4x4 chevy pickup that'll dust your apr stage 3 from less than 60' through the quarter mile. that puts a smile on my face : )

barrett

[F16HTON]

Post up your timeslips

[Don Supreme]

.032 gap!!!!!! hells no...

Drop that down to to .026 or so.

[martini]

lol, ive got a 97 4x4 chevy pickup that'll dust your apr stage 3 from less than 60' through the quarter mile. that puts a smile on my face : )

barrett

"1997 Chevy K1500 5.7 stroked to 383 fully built"


let me tell you.... im quite impressed that your 5.7 liter fully built engine can outrun my 1.8 liter ...

[martini]

.032 gap!!!!!! hells no...

Drop that down to to .026 or so.

alrighty... ive always run the .032... will drop it and try again this week if the weather keeps up

[F16HTON]

.032 gap!!!!!! hells no...

Drop that down to to .026 or so.

APR calls for .029

[mike-2ptzero]

alrighty... ive always run the .032... will drop it and try again this week if the weather keeps up

There is nothing wrong with .032 if you dont get any blowout. Larger gap means more spark, smaller gap means less spark since there is less resistance. The trick is using the largest gap possible without getting any blowout.


I have always used .032 on all my plugs and all my different turbo setups and have never had an issue. Even the F6dtc plugs come pregapped at .032 and cant be changed.

[texasboy21]

hahah take it easy man ill find the time slip. You'd never expect it from the truck either cause its a PIECE!

[Don Supreme]

There is nothing wrong with .032 if you dont get any blowout. Larger gap means more spark, smaller gap means less spark since there is less resistance. The trick is using the largest gap possible without getting any blowout.


I have always used .032 on all my plugs and all my different turbo setups and have never had an issue. Even the F6dtc plugs come pregapped at .032 and cant be changed.

Mike, I am blown away at how many problems you don't have.

#1 No blown gears after 7 years of drag racing @ high power levels
#2 No spark blow out on stock gap. A friend of mine ran your plug recommendations (f6s) and he had intermittent misfire issues. I kept telling him to run the 7es gapped down. Eventually, he bought a set and I gapped it and NO MISFIRES!
#3 No 35r surge issues.....

Your car just runs flawlessly it seems. This is not an attack, I am just starting to realize a trend.

[martini]

any thoughts on why spark blowout (if this is spark blowout) would not trigger misfire and flash the MIL... wouldn't this be seen as the same thing to the ECU?

it still bothers me that the feel was exactly like a coil pack, but the car didn't set any codes when it always has for coil packs

[Don Supreme]

ECU doesn't pick up on all misfires........

[F16HTON]

ECU does not recognize misfires during open loop (WOT)

[AudiA4_20T]

ECU does not recognize misfires during open loop (WOT)

and there you have it