Well guys. I am trying my hardest to learn this new clutch and flywheel. I have 6 days worth of experience with it and am learning that it will definitely take a lot more.

Tonight at San Antonio Raceway I was running so inconsistent that I was becoming very frustrated. My best time before the clutch/flywheel combo was a 14.0 @ 99.xx with a 2.01 sixty foot. There is no doubt that the clutch/flywheel added a great deal as far as acceleration is concerned because my best run was a 13.7 @ 102.95 with a 2.17 sixty foot. Had I been able to pull off a 2.01 again, I would have more than likely been able to run around a 13.5 or possibly less.

I was having more than my share of traction problems. There is so much more on tap at launch time that I was spinning completely though my first two gears and a little in third most of the night, resulting in some 14’s and even 15’s when I’d get mad and let off. As a last desperate measure I drove through the water box for my first time ever with street tires. I also cleaned/heated the tires in second gear instead of first to get them turning faster. Out of nowhere, I started getting traction. To the point that since I had become so used to babying the launch, I was now starting to bog heavily with the same launch technique.

To sum it all up, I now know what I have to do to lower my 60 foot times. It was really too bad that right before they closed the track, I figured out how to improve traction.

I ran with just over ¾ tank of gas (going to the track was a last minute thought so not enough time to burn off fuel). I bogged heavily after I figured out how to get more traction and I can feel that I will now be capable of beating my old best 60’ of 2.01 by a considerable amount with practice.

With all of this factored in, do some of you think that a low 13 is possible as the car sits?

 

By the way, how did the other guy when? I know my reaction time was soooo slow that there was no way I red lighted.

 

yeah with a 2.0 60' you should get into the mid 13's with that mph easily. the other guy one because his reaction time was over half a second quicker than yours and your et was only a few tenths better.

 

he won off of r/t he had a .512 to your 1.17 you didnt make up enough ground to cover the time diff between his and yours. it seems like he let off at the end but i dont know. i think you will def. get a mid `13 with some tires. just get the tires,susp and as much track time as you can. look how long it took me to get my susp and air pressure setup decent enough to hook. good luck and welcome to the 13s the times will def drop. later jason

 

I was looking at your mods and thinking you should be running a lot quicker than that, even with a 2.17 60'.

Maybe you're getting some knock retard. I am thinking the temps were ideal, and the elevation wasn't a factor either, where you were.

You might want to reset the ecu and see if it runs any better.

I would also get some stickier tires too, maybe a set of rear DR's for the drag strip.

In my quest to better my stock time, I have to make do with the Potenza's, and that is a big challenge.

 

Thanks for your suggestions. Awesome times for a stock Z! As far as the ECU is concerned. It is still running a little whacky. I had spoken to 95civicgsr on my way to the track to tell him that I felt like my ECU was going through one of it's emotional stages because it didn't feel right.

The instructions that came with the pulleys stated that it would take 7-10 days for the ECU to learn the change and to settle down. Now when you consider that I did a lighter flywheel/clutch combo and pulleys at the same time, one could only imagine that the ECU is really going through some adjustments. I had only done the Crawford plenum about a week before that as well.

Overall, my biggest problem of the night was traction due to my inexperience with the new setup.

I expect the car to run very well once I get better tires, the ECU adjusts to the mods, and I learn how to drive it.