Advice for first Drag/AutoX?

[Emeraldage]

I'm attending the Import Alliance fall meet at beach bend and entering my vehicle in the drag and my dad might take it in autox. This will be my first time.

My mk3: ct26 albert 57trim @ ~12-14psi (Cheapo autozone meter that sits at -4psi), lex/550s, intake 3" exhaust with open cutout, Head has been refreshed and did a felpro composit with arp studs. Chassis/suspension: Every bushing replaced with energy bushings, tokicko illumia shcoks and H&R sport springs. Front tires 18" 225 with random tires that are worn, rear 18" falken azenis RT615 DOT 10" tires. W58 Trans with act 366ftlb full face clutch. No tune run rich af. I adjusted the manual boost controller to be just a tad bit under boost cut from the lex afm.

My car slips a bit onthe clutch on the low end when turbo first spools but holds fine highend and I can spin tires top of 2nd gear. I'm just worried about my trans as on a strip these tires will definitely stick. What do you reccomend launching? Usually I ride clutch a bit longer to avoid breaking the w58 (Doing a r154 someday but right now just bought a prius as a daily so don't have so much money to throw at the car) but I suppose if there is enough power the clutch will slip anyways?

Anyways I'm excited and scared any advice would be great especially how to actually drag! I think this is a high 12 car with a good driver, with me probably a 13 but we'll see!

 

[rhs]

Is your clutch pedal adjusted correctly? My 1JZ at 13psi with an HX35 doesn't slip my stock R154 clutch.

 

[black89t]

wish our drag strip was still open lol!

i can give you a couple tips. first depending on the side wall of your street tires air them down. my 255/40/17 rs3's like 25psi at the drag strip. if its a lower profile tire try 30psi. you just dont want them at autocross pressures thats for sure. fronts i do 40psi less rolling resistance. you can do a light burnout to clean the tires but don't do a big one cause it just makes street tires greasy. if your clutch is boarder line id do no burnout and drive around the water. then to stage light up the first bulb then just barely light the 2nd bulb. this is a old trick to get a faster et called shallow staging. then for a launching rpm you just have to play around. it depends a lot on how prepped or not prepped the track is and other variables. i usually have the best 60fts launching about 1000rpm higher than full boost in 1st gear. when going down the track dont forget to try to shift fast too. you dont have to go crazy but dont shift slow thats for sure. and i like to take out my spare tire, jack, sub, and any other stuff in the car. with drag racing every little thing helps :biglaugh:

for autox i run tires at 39f and 36r too btw could give your dad a place to start if he decides to run.

have fun!

 

[Emeraldage]

I think I'd just do a light spin tires to clean them off for sure. I'm just scared of the adrenaline making me screw uphaha, the car already gives me adrenline just driving it. When I launch I'm definitely gonna ride the clutch a little longer instead of a hard dump on the w58.

My clutch is pretty new but it'll slip a bit in the low rpm boost. It was even worse with the stock ct26 because it would reach full boost down load, but I don't even get full boost in first so I should be good.

 

[black89t]

yeah its a rush for sure. a very addicting rush lol. you want to slip the clutch some but not too much or you'll burn it up. the w58 is weak but not that weak from what ive seen. you have to be more careful once over 400whp with them im pretty sure. and i mean like whatever rpm you hit peak boost for 1st. like with my car its about 4200rpm when the turbo lights up so i launch at 5200rpm usually or around there. 1st gear never will make as much boost as say 4th cause it doesn't load the motor near as much. either way im sure you'll have a blast let us know how it goes!

 

[Emeraldage]

I just got done with my runs today! I was 'spinning' all the way down the track up through third. My dad and friend (Dad drove it once, spun a bunhc and gave up) says it's the tires. But to me when I slip and spin a lot you'd think you' dfeel some shutter or wiggle out of the rear but it doesn't slip around at all. Personally I think it's the clutch because I think there's no way my roughly 350-400hp supra can spin DOT track tires on a drag strip at 80+mph. But after running 5 times everytime powering through the 'spin' my clutch definitely has a bit of chatter now, had none before. I have a ACT stage 3 I think. 366ftlbs rated. I also did a test driving down the street from 2000rpm floored it in 3rd once I got boost the RPM ran right to 6k without the rear end sliding around.

Anyways here's my slips, every time I put up a way better MPH than I did time. I won every race though I'm right late. My 60' sucks but give me a break first few times don't wanna break anything!!

http://imgur.com/G0vWXii

Best run was last, 14.7s at 102, think that's pretty good for a bad clutch..


My dad was hilarious he just slammed throttle spun and smoked and just gave up and drove down the track, if I recall i'm pretty sure the smoke came from under the car not the tires...

 

[TurboStreetCar]

All tires could use a burnout just some more then others. You can try it out on your own on the street if you'd like for next time. Just do a little one and then get out quick and feel the tires. You want them to feel warm and have a tacky surface. Drag radials or slicks will get very sticky.

Drag racing is all about quickness. Without a good 60' your ET will always suffer. A tenth on the 60' is worth approx two on the ET.

A small drag radial will hook about 10 times better then a large street tire. You'd be surprised.

 

[Emeraldage]

Yeah my 60s suck. I never really practiced hard launching on the street I'm often just way too easy on any car I have I have too much mechanical sympathy. But when I'm on the street and know for sure the rear is spinning in first, there's some feedback from the rear, wiggling jerking, little bouncey. Like in my mind there is no way my turbo upgraded supra is spinning 10" DoT track tires at 90mph on a strip, you need so much power for that lol. Anyways don't think a 57 trim ct running 12-14psi can burn tires that long. Pretty sure people do better than 14s on street tires.

I need to look at getting an r154 as well as figuring out what kind of clutch setup I need to run. And to figure out if I want to build or not. I'm going to keep this car for a long time and keep going higher and higher in power, but at th emoment I'm probably just going to get the most I can out of the 57 trim and stock block however high that is. Should I be looking at a stage 5 6 puck or something so I never have to worry about it again? It's not my DD but definitely still want it fine for the street.

Also wondering if I somehow installed my clutch wrong for it to slip the way it does, is that even possible? It's a ACT (Stage 3?) full face rated at 366ftlbs think that should be holding fine on ~13psi 57 trim?

I also need to learn what the r154 can handle if I just pick one out of some random supra lying around.

 

[Emeraldage]

LOL I looked it up aparently upfgraded ct26 57 trim running twice the boost pressure from factory runs 0.3s faster than oem turbo supra. Somethings probably wrong, clutch and driver mod needed.

 

[TurboStreetCar]

Well for reference this is what a 1.53 60' looks like. Any amount of wheel spin or drivetrain sympathy will rack up tenths on that pretty quick.

[video=youtube;N_udPzU0FII]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_udPzU0FII[/video]

 

[Emeraldage]

Aha that doesn't look like an r154 with street tires. Dang your thing hooked amazing not hop or spin at all. I'm gonna run it again today and this time remember oh duh me I have a knob to turn the boost down so the clutch doesn't spin! lol.

 

[TurboStreetCar]

Yea no that's a built th350 auto, manual valve body and a 275/50/15 drag radial hookin a 10psi launch ramping up to 30psi.

 

[Emeraldage]

Welp. Ran again today at 10psi. Looks like a rod bearing gave out on me!

 

[TurboStreetCar]

Why do you say that?

 

[Emeraldage]

Rod knock. Very minor still runs the same but you hear the tapping around 1600. Here's to hoping all I need to do is just replace those bearings!

 

[Janch]

if so then better do ir ASAP and maybe will only need to polish crank.

 

[Emeraldage]

Yeah it's very quiet I never noticed it happening and that last run I did wa sthe same as every other one. Gonna be a winter project I suppose, pull motor, fix starter fix block, maybe get a r154 and a clutch to hold up to maybe 500.

Can I just use my act HD pressure plate and got a stronger 6 puck disc from act to hold 15psi from a 57 trim on the w58? Or should I just find a r154 and work from that. Does the pressure plate have anything to do with the actual clamping force or isn't it just the material in the clutch plate?

Probably just going for the most I can get out of the ct26 57 trim for my 7m. Then maybe go big power twin turbo ls th400 one day beacuse my dad wants to put an ls in something lol. We'll see the future of my supra!

Also going to redo the 7m's crude oiling system that caused this in the first place!

 

[TurboStreetCar]

Pressure plate is the biggest factor in clutch strength. Its what applies the clamping force on the Clutch Disk.

 

[Emeraldage]

Ah okay, combination of the friction material and the pressure from the plate. Clutch upgrades are very expensive. So essentially looks like my car is going to be in a garage until I fork up ~1000$ for another headgaset and seals and oil system as well as r154 and clutch setup. Unelss I wanna do the r154 later and just replace my clutch disc with a 6 puck. Currently I have the ACT heady duty pressure plate with the full face disc. And that started slipping lately wasn't slipping as bad a year ago. So maybe if I just buy the 6 puck extreme disc with my current setup and put it back in the w58 it'll probably hold the 57 trim @ 14psi? Or would I have to run a extreme + 6 puck to get a low 13/high 12s car?

 

[Suprapowaz!(2)]

Beck Arnley stock pressure plate and ACT 6 puck sprung disc ran 12.90's.

Where would you say your clutch starts to engage? Near the floor, half way up, or near the top of the clutch pedal travel?