LETS DISCUSS DRAG RACING A ZL1

[Bigtime53]

I guess he is not going to come back and get in a debate is he?

[mlee]

Originally Posted by Bigtime53

I guess he is not going to come back and get in a debate is he?

Probably a good idea..

[hognutz]

Originally Posted by Bigtime53

ANDY at ADM built the motor.It has the ported supercharger,ADM stage 2 cam for the automatic,injector dynamics 1000cc injectors,stainless works 2" headers,stage 2 ported polished heads,ati dampner,9:55 ring and he tuned it.It makes 711.59rwhp and 619.33 torque.Kinda wish it would have been around 750-ish but it is ok like it is.Andy does very good work and he is the only one that I will let work on the car.

honeslty I see coments like this all the time. 711 vs 750 at some point you have to actually hook the car up. 711 is almost 9 second power if you optimized everthing else. it can also end up being high 10 second power if your traction or converter is off.

don't be so concerned about the dyno just see what the car does in the wild.

so many people want these huge horsepower numbers and then they just overpower their chasis and tire setup. that is why you see so many cars with 9 second power and 10 second passes.

when I was in high school we drag raced for the school. I actaully lettered in it just like football. we won state championships and everthing. with a modest budget we took and 11.20 car to a 10.2 car with no real HP mods.

different slicks, fuel system tweaks, consistatly and tweaking what you have can be like adding 100hp sometimes.

the reason we had to do this is the teacher was so freaked out if we ran 9's someone would lose there s*(T that a highschool kid was driving so he would not mess with the hard parts. so we had to get creative but I learned quite abit about optimizing what you have and many people now just throw money at it and that works as well but sometimes it just makes a really expensive car seem slower than it should be.

To be honest once goodyear donated us a different size slick than we normal ran and we picked up .3 ha ha. we thought we had the perfect tire size and we were wrong.

in hindsight I am still pissed our teacher has so much sand in his vag as I have still never made a 9 second pass in a car only on a bike.

[mlee]

Originally Posted by hognutz

honeslty I see coments like this all the time. 711 vs 750 at some point you have to actually hook the car up. 711 is almost 9 second power if you optimized everthing else. it can also end up being high 10 second power if your traction or converter is off.

don't be so concerned about the dyno just see what the car does in the wild.

so many people want these huge horsepower numbers and then they just overpower their chasis and tire setup. that is why you see so many cars with 9 second power and 10 second passes.

when I was in high school we drag raced for the school. I actaully lettered in it just like football. we won state championships and everthing. with a modest budget we took and 11.20 car to a 10.2 car with no real HP mods.

different slicks, fuel system tweaks, consistatly and tweaking what you have can be like adding 100hp sometimes.

the reason we had to do this is the teacher was so freaked out if we ran 9's someone would lose there s*(T that a highschool kid was driving so he would not mess with the hard parts. so we had to get creative but I learned quite abit about optimizing what you have and many people now just throw money at it and that works as well but sometimes it just makes a really expensive car seem slower than it should be.

To be honest once goodyear donated us a different size slick than we normal ran and we picked up .3 ha ha. we thought we had the perfect tire size and we were wrong.

in hindsight I am still pissed our teacher has so much sand in his vag as I have still never made a 9 second pass in a car only on a bike.

That is bad a$$. Wish we could have added drag racing into the mix. Our class was two hours long and we got our grades based on the Chiltons manual. 6 grade points for every hour finished and had to do one complete rebuild to pass. We did have some fast cars though.

[hognutz]

Originally Posted by mlee

That is bad a$$. Wish we could have added drag racing into the mix. Our class was two hours long and we got our grades based on the Chiltons manual. 6 grade points for every hour finished and had to do one complete rebuild to pass. We did have some fast cars though.

it seemed normal to me at the time but one year we went to a national event just for fun up in seattle and eddie and ercie hill got the NRHA mag do a spread on the team it was kind of cool.

we had to run a throttle stop intead of just braket race so we got our a$$ handed to us since we just were green to that setup. it was still cool experience for me as a kid seeing the fuelers run for the first time and competing at the same event.

as an adult I realize that it was not a normal experience at all to get to tool around in 10.20 car as a high schooler ha ha.

twice we got .2 to .3 perfromance advantage by getting the wrong part donated to us from some manufacturer ha ha. So I learned that trying differnt things sometimes as opposed to thinking you know it all can be adventagous.

we picked up .5 seconds in tweaking tire size and fuel supply size by accident haha. after that we just started messing with stuff up and down. timing,converter stall, jetting, etc.

logic say xyz is the best what does the track actually say.

[mlee]

...and I thought I learned a lot in my auto shop class. That's the best I've heard yet. I bet you're still close with those classmates too. I know we are.

[jessrayo]

Originally Posted by hognutz

logic say xyz is the best what does the track actually say.

I have found this to be true with all racing venues. And what works road racing could totally kill your 1/4. Gearing has been a nightmare for me with everything I'm trying to get my car to do. If I had the choice of a 3.43 rear gear for my ZL1 I know it would faster....lol.

No matter what, when it comes to racing, lighter is better. Every time I change a part I'm starting to ask, what does that weigh and is there something lighter available that will do the same job. One pound here and one pound there all adds up.

[Ledbetterjw]

Originally Posted by mlee

X2 and what other Camaro street legal platform would you start with?

You can build many different drag racing setups and run 9's and 10's for what a stock zl1 costs if drag racing us your only concern. I guess if money is not an option and you'really really rich then do as you wish. Just think it's funny seeing guys spend 55k+ on a car and then another 10k + in mods and still be in the 10's. Guess I'm just too much of a tight ass to spend the $ it takes to make these fast on a drag strip. I come from a family that has had many 7 and 8 Second rides and it just seems frivolous to me to start with a Zl1 when you can go much faster for less on many other platforms. Especially when you see people completely swap out a brand new lsa for a mod motor.....just don't get it. Fighting an uphill battle. I love my zl1 and have a few simple mods planned but by no means do I have aspirations to make my heavy zl1 competitive in drag racing

[Ledbetterjw]

Originally Posted by Bigtime53

WHY? Please explain your reason

The same $ spent on ZL1 + money spent on ZL1 mods could build a much faster dedicated drag car for less.

[JackalopeZL1]

You are right, for a dedicated purpose built drag car you would never economically start with a zl1..

It is really fun for me with my stock zl1 to go run a 11.95 and on the way home from the track hit a few twisties with the ac on, playing my favorite tunes, getting 19mpg

That to me makes this car so fun.. comfort, speed, and fun

[derrickmanx1]

Originally Posted by JackalopeZL1

You are right, for a dedicated purpose built drag car you would never economically start with a zl1..

It is really fun for me with my stock zl1 to go run a 11.95 and on the way home from the track hit a few twisties with the ac on, playing my favorite tunes, getting 19mpg

That to me makes this car so fun.. comfort, speed, and fun

X2 I love my zl1!

[Bigtime53]

I did not buy my ZL1 to be a drag car.I did not even think about buying a camaro until the ZL1 became available and I started reading about it.I would not have bought a regular camaro at all. I bought it because of the factory HP and the magnetic ride etc. Now adding the extra HP to me is a bonus because the LSA motor has been proven to be a stout block up to a certain point.I do not intend to go over that point. You are right on the traction part. I just ordered some new 17 inch weld wheels with some M/H drag radials and from what I have read and been told this is the ticket.We shall see. Sometimes more is less and I understand that on HP when it becomes a problem on getting the car to hook up. I really believe this is as far as I want the car to go.It is sure nice to drive now because I was worried adding this extra HP to it was going to kill the drivability of it but it still drives just like it did when I bought the car new.I am not sorry about the mods I have done to it and I sure like the feel of the extra HP when I give it the throttle!

[mrvenicess]

I too didn't buy my ZL1 to be a dedicated drag car but as an everyday driver, my only car, and one that I can tour with, just did a 3300 mile road trip, go to the track and have fun with. 10.6, so far, 200 mph, comfort and A/C and 17 mpg all for under $70,000. Not too shabby I say!

[Ledbetterjw]

Originally Posted by mrvenicess

I too didn't buy my ZL1 to be a dedicated drag car but as an everyday driver, my only car, and one that I can tour with, just did a 3300 mile road trip, go to the track and have fun with. 10.6, so far, 200 mph, comfort and A/C and 17 mpg all for under $70,000. Not too shabby I say!

What mods for 10.6 and 200 mph?