flyinbrian

That is a good piece of info to use for first timers. I was lucky, my dad raced R/SA, (Class "R", "S"=stock, "A"=automatic), in the IHRA way back in the day. My parents had me at the dragstrip in April of '75, I was born in February of '75. He took me to race my car at the High School Nationals at trails when I was barely 16. It was nice having a seasoned veteran answer all of my questions. I forget that not everybody grew up at the dragstrip and catch myself wondering why people are staging with their rear wheels, or doing John Force style burnouts on all season radials. Another thing I might add, if you are planning on actually bracket racing, bring a bottle of white shoe polish and remember to check your dial in on the scoreboard at the end of the track prior to staging your car. If it's wrong, don't stage, get the starter's attention and fix the problem. I've seen people miss out on round money because of not checking their dial-in. I can't preach one point that guy made enough... Don't do burnouts and/or drive fast in the pits or staging lanes. Don't be intimidated by the dragstrip. Everyone was new at it at one time. Just go, once you make your first pass you'll want to do it over and over and over. It's addicting. And who cares if your car is slow? You have to start somewhere. There is probably someone slower anyway! If not, who cares? I was one of the slowest at the high school nationals in 1991! 17.70s baby!! By the time I was 19, I had the car running 13.70s. Trails is like $8 race or watch on Wednesdays. Dah! Race!

I had a Dodge Dakota that I lowered 2/3 with spindles and blocks. I kept my stock shocks and had no problems. Try it out with the stockers for a while. Shocks are easy to do later if needed. I had no issues, (bouncing, etc), with my stock shocks. How did you lower? Front-spindles? springs? Rear-Springs? Shackles? Blocks? You must immedeatly get an alignment. Don't put that off at all. I've lowered two of my freinds s-10's. One re-used the stock shocks and the other I put Toxic shocks on it. I drove both of them and did not notice any difference. I think with such a mild drop it's not as big of a deal. Another thing you may want to watch is your factory bump stops. You may want to put shorter polyurethane versions up front if you notice them bottoming out often. Good luck!

There is replacement for displacement. 350, better yet a 383 stroker can be done on a budget too.

I've been there and one that with the heads. Personally, I wish I would have saved all the money I spent on inferior stocks and put it towards a set of new, aftermarket castings that outflow hogged out stockers straight out of the box. The nice thing is, this guy is doing it for little money. Since he has a flowbench, he can give you flow numbers. This will come in handy when you go to sell them once you decide to step up to better heads. I see no reason you shouldn't be able to make your $150 investment back whenever you sell them.

I go to Indianapolis all the time, they have a special unit of unmarked F-body's, Vette's, Mustang's, etc. just to patrol the freeway and enforce the law against aggressive drivers. Many of these cars have blacked out windows, so you wouldn't have any idea you had a cop closing in on you. They have their lights mounted towards the top of the windsheild, in front of the rear view mirror, and in the back window. I think they had strobe kits in the factory turn signal lamps and taillights too. The siren is mounted under the hood or something, not in sight, but you can easily hear it. I would definitely pull over for these guys. They do not screw around. They are in uniform too.

This is well thought out. I use the same tactics myself. Another one to add; Send a decoy. I love to see a guy blazing up behind me at 80-85 mph. Let him roll on past you, then once he gets about 1/8-1/4 mile ahead, match his speed. Watch his taillights. He will buy your ticket. The cop will see and clock him way before he even knows you are coming. I have used this one on several major road trips. It works. I also fought a ticket last week and won. It was a stupid ticket over going straight in a turn lane that was a turn and straight lane the day before, (long story). Anyway, it was two points and I have a Class A CDL and cannot have any points, so I fought it. I had them reduce it to an equipment violation, $115 after court costs and fine. [ 12 December 2002, 05:31 PM: Message edited by: flyinbrian ]

I like spydey's idea. Nobody has mentioned all of New Rome!?!?!!

The driveshaft is spinning at higher RPM's through each gear from first to fifth. It is the harmonics of certain RPMs that is causing the vibration under a load. You don't always feel the effects of a bad u-joint or u-joints in ever gear. I am not saying it can't be the tranny, but 145K on u-joints and those symptoms would have me checking u-joints before I did anything else. Cheap fix too!

Check the U-joints.

The turn around time is faster than any other shop in central Ohio. I can say this from experience, I have dealt with them all. If you have an hour of spare time one day, I can tell you stories of thousands of dollars spent, time lines not met, quotes of labor and materials not being anywhere close to the final cost, and lawyers getting involved. Trust me. My car is on it's second roll cage. I got to the point to where I decided to learn how to do the stuff myself, that's when I hooked up with this guy. He is honest and does quality work at a reasonable price. That's tough to find in this industry. I can line up a date/time if you would like to visit the shop and check out some work. Let me know. Here's a pic of my front end during construction. http://forums.screamandfly.com/pp311/data/506/414looking_down.jpghttp://forums.screamandfly.com/pp311/data/506/414the_big_picture.jpg

How soon do you need them? I good friend of mine builds everything from full tube chromoly drag chassis to custom roll cages to simple frame connectors. He is located south of Columbus, around Asheville. I help him build stuff. He may be able to do a custom one-off clean set for lesser money than the ones you are looking to buy. Let me know, Brian

He still needs to address the wheel having play in it?!?!?! It sounds like a combo of problems. BC-That's one that skipped my mind. You never think about the belts coming unglued. I've had that happen with a trailer tire.

When you move tug on the wheel and notice play, is it when you pull on the top and the bottom of the wheel? Or when you tug with one hand on front and one towards the back? The wheel would give when tugging top to bottom if you have a ball joint or a-arm bushings worn out. The wheel would give when tugging at 3 o'clock and nine o'clock if you had a tie rod or rack and pinion worn out. I would say the wheel would have play in it in all positions if you had a bearing going out. You would feel slop in the steering if you had a rack and pinion or tie rod going out. Summary- I think you either have a combination of problems, that being a wheel out of balance, bent, or something and one of the above mentioned problems. I may be wrong, but take a look at all of these and find the problem before you go buying any more parts.

This is what Wilwood says to do. I have their four piston calipers and pads on my car, it seemed to work well. To bed-in your brake pads, begin by applying the brakes at low speeds. Make a series of hard stops from moderate to slower speeds. Gradually, increase the speed and the braking until the pads reach a hot racing temperature. If any brake pad fade is experienced during the bed-in, immediately begin the cool down process. Drive the car at slow to moderate speeds while the pads begin to cool, and be sure not to drag the brake pedal. Park the car with minimal brake use and allow the brakes to finish cooling before subjecting them to race conditions. This procedure will minimize pad wear and maximize friction values over the broadest possible temperature band.

Newbie question- I looked at Brian's website and saw the Supra. Is this the same one at the top of the list? I am curious as to how he puts that power to the road. Does he race from a "dig"? What ET's does this car run? [ 27 November 2002, 01:10 PM: Message edited by: flyinbrian ]