Chad82GT
08-08-2004, 02:25 AM
Took the 89 to the track for the 1st time Friday after work. Here's how the entire night went, was one minor (yet time consuming) set back after another. Nothing major, just working the typical kinks out...
Left the house late because there was more shit to pack than I realized. Got to my mom's (where the car is) late becuase of that damn construction (destruction?) on the highway. Got the car loaded on the trailer and it took some time to find the exact way I felt comfortable securing it. More delays. but eventually I was en route and all was well.
Pulled into the track at about 7:30 and unloaded. Car fired up and I did a quick warmup drive down the return road to the ET shack and back. All seemed cool and I was getting stoked. Did a few last minute checks, answered a ton of questions from bystanders and hopped in to go get tech'd. Drove it to tech and got the once-over by everyone... even the track manager seemed impressed which was cool since he owns some bad ass toys himself.
So I pass tech, go to fire it up and it wont start. WTF???? We push it to the side and I spend the next 45 minutes checking for spark, pulling/cleaning some plugs, checking fuel pressure, etc. Nothing worked. As a last ditch effort I figure ok, let's just try and jump it. Once we got the cables on, it fired right up perfectly (better than it had before actually).
After some head scratching I've come to the conclusion that the computer doesnt like to work if the voltage is a tad too low. The starter will crank but the computer won't squirt fuel. The car has hardly run and the battery hasn't been charged in the last 3 months, so I guess it was low. Lesson learned.
So now its running and I pull into the lanes. The starter takes everyone right up to me and then starts taking everyone else. Great. I don't want to shut it off but after 5 minutes of burning $11/gal fuel I have to choice (car was up to 200 too). So of course it wont start when its my turn, right? Right.
Push it to the side, again, and go get my truck to jumper it. It fires right up and the line dude works me in.
I do a lame little burnout on the drag radials (couldnt see shit as to where the water was and the line dude wasn't much help) and stage. Launch from idle at 1/3 throttle and get silly-sideways for about 300', recover, slowly lay into it, short shift 2nd and breaze through with a 13.5 (or so, dont recall) at 111.
So I drive back to the pits and put the cables from my running truck to the car and let it "charge" for 30-40 minutes while I mount the slix and eat dinner (at 10:30).
A little after 11 I go for run #2. By now some buddies have shown up and one guides me into the waterbox. I do a nice 6k burnout in 2nd gear (this is a powerglide trans w/ 3.27 gears... 6k is about 120 MPH) and stage. Again I launch from idle, pull a 1.99 60' and am motering along when all of a sudden the engine hits 4k and WHAM!!!! It was like I got rearended by a Mack truck!! This mofo came on HARD!! I shifted into 2nd at 7k and kept in it. On the top end I felt like I was moving pretty good and that it'd be a nice time to try the 'chute for shits n giglles. I popped it and it worked like a champ, hardly neeed brakes.
I hit the return road and hop out to put the chute in the hatch and when I get back in I notice the ALT light is on... hrm. I get some speed up and shut it off to coast to the ET shack cuz the temp was higher than I'd like it. So I get my slip...
60' 1.996
1/8 7.289 @ 104.94
1/4 11.003 @ 132.79
Like I said, she really kicked in at about 1/3 track.
The ALT light was the serp belt shreaded beyond use and it took the blower belt part way with it. So I loaded it up on the trailer and went home. Not too shabby for a 1st outting I guess. Could have gone a lot worse.
Left the house late because there was more shit to pack than I realized. Got to my mom's (where the car is) late becuase of that damn construction (destruction?) on the highway. Got the car loaded on the trailer and it took some time to find the exact way I felt comfortable securing it. More delays. but eventually I was en route and all was well.
Pulled into the track at about 7:30 and unloaded. Car fired up and I did a quick warmup drive down the return road to the ET shack and back. All seemed cool and I was getting stoked. Did a few last minute checks, answered a ton of questions from bystanders and hopped in to go get tech'd. Drove it to tech and got the once-over by everyone... even the track manager seemed impressed which was cool since he owns some bad ass toys himself.
So I pass tech, go to fire it up and it wont start. WTF???? We push it to the side and I spend the next 45 minutes checking for spark, pulling/cleaning some plugs, checking fuel pressure, etc. Nothing worked. As a last ditch effort I figure ok, let's just try and jump it. Once we got the cables on, it fired right up perfectly (better than it had before actually).
After some head scratching I've come to the conclusion that the computer doesnt like to work if the voltage is a tad too low. The starter will crank but the computer won't squirt fuel. The car has hardly run and the battery hasn't been charged in the last 3 months, so I guess it was low. Lesson learned.
So now its running and I pull into the lanes. The starter takes everyone right up to me and then starts taking everyone else. Great. I don't want to shut it off but after 5 minutes of burning $11/gal fuel I have to choice (car was up to 200 too). So of course it wont start when its my turn, right? Right.
Push it to the side, again, and go get my truck to jumper it. It fires right up and the line dude works me in.
I do a lame little burnout on the drag radials (couldnt see shit as to where the water was and the line dude wasn't much help) and stage. Launch from idle at 1/3 throttle and get silly-sideways for about 300', recover, slowly lay into it, short shift 2nd and breaze through with a 13.5 (or so, dont recall) at 111.
So I drive back to the pits and put the cables from my running truck to the car and let it "charge" for 30-40 minutes while I mount the slix and eat dinner (at 10:30).
A little after 11 I go for run #2. By now some buddies have shown up and one guides me into the waterbox. I do a nice 6k burnout in 2nd gear (this is a powerglide trans w/ 3.27 gears... 6k is about 120 MPH) and stage. Again I launch from idle, pull a 1.99 60' and am motering along when all of a sudden the engine hits 4k and WHAM!!!! It was like I got rearended by a Mack truck!! This mofo came on HARD!! I shifted into 2nd at 7k and kept in it. On the top end I felt like I was moving pretty good and that it'd be a nice time to try the 'chute for shits n giglles. I popped it and it worked like a champ, hardly neeed brakes.
I hit the return road and hop out to put the chute in the hatch and when I get back in I notice the ALT light is on... hrm. I get some speed up and shut it off to coast to the ET shack cuz the temp was higher than I'd like it. So I get my slip...
60' 1.996
1/8 7.289 @ 104.94
1/4 11.003 @ 132.79
Like I said, she really kicked in at about 1/3 track.
The ALT light was the serp belt shreaded beyond use and it took the blower belt part way with it. So I loaded it up on the trailer and went home. Not too shabby for a 1st outting I guess. Could have gone a lot worse.