My cars unusualy slow need help?

[RedLudeSH]

Ok this may be long.

OK I drive a 97 Prelude SH with 20,000 miles on it. I've made about 20 or so runs at tracks since ive bought it (MCIR & The Trails). So far my best time has been 16.45. My fastest trap speed 84mph. Everyone at Preludeonline.com agrees that something is mechanically wrong with my car. I'm hoping this is true since it can be fixed. Oh I've also let another 5th gen lude driver that gets consistant 15.4's and has a best of a 14.9 on his stock lude drive it at MCIR and he got a 16.7 and a 16.5.

The people at preludeonline suggested a compression check <- what whould this accomplish? Also how whould you go about getting it done. My car is Honda certified and has a 1 year bumper to bumper and a 7 year powertrain that still in effect. I can't really say well my car is a second slower than all other ludes at the track can I? What should I say or have them look for? Any suggestions?

The car is stock 5 speed with a brand new K&N by the way <-to eliminate the possibility my air filter was extremely dirty. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank You. -Chris

[integranator]

How's your traction and 60ft times?

[slow4now]

Honestly it sounds like your car is fine. Your trap speed is about where it should be, although you should be able to get your ET down to a 15.5-15.7. Stock Prelude SH's trap in the mid-80's so it doesn't sound like anything is wrong to me. smile.gif

[Scotty2Hotty]

Just seems to me you're possibly slipping. My accord trapped at 82MPH with 168K miles on it smile.gif I doubt there is anything wrong, but check your throttle body to see if it is clean, filter, etc...... It could need a lil bit of a tune up. Peace

[RedLudeSH]

Here's the timeslip from my best run yet.

This was at 10:30 during this weeks Grudge Night at The Trails. It was great conditions.

60'-2.411

330'-6.979

1/8-10.657

mph-66.30

1000-13.822

1/4-16.458

mph-84.35

This was with my tires deflated to 25psi as well.

All the other timeslips I've seen for stock SH's ave trapping at no less than 91mph that is what concerns me.

[supldys]

shit, if its still under warranty go in and say you were "trying to merge on the highway, and noticed the car isnt as fast as it should be" or soemthing to that extent.

a compression check would see if your head gasket and internals are up to par. I have a bad ring on my pulse and it EATS my horsepower away. im hoping to fix that problem with my tranny problem here pretty soon

-Jono

[SamZman]

I'd suggest a compression check also. Does the car miss or anything? My friend's Type R had a small miss and it turns out every cylinder was losing compression. His adjustable cam gear had broken and apparently his timing went out of whack and bent some valves. His car set some SES lights though.

 

You don't have any SES lights? Misses? Rough idle? Or anything else?

 

Here is something like you need from Sears. You'll need this tool and a compressor. I have an air compressor you can use if you get the tool.

 

You'll have to copy and paste the entire thing:

 

http://www.sears.com/sr/product/summary/productsummary.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0945533607.1027870937@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccidadcfkjkdjghcehgcemgdffmdfim.0&vertical=SEARS&bidsite=&pid=0090 2171000

 

[ 28 July 2002, 11:48 AM: Message edited by: SamZman ]

[Science Abuse]

Might I offer a suggestion?

Was this yor first time at the track with this car? if so...just go more. My rookie season I dropped a full second off my ET just by driving better.

Go to the track more, lear to play with your technique a bit, the ETs will drop.

[RedLudeSH]

Yea I have no warning lights coming on. It runs and idles fine as well Can anyone suggest a cool Honda dealership like that I could talk to about it being slow at the track that whouldnt be asses. I bought the car at IMMKE and I know there theyd be like "what you took it to a track, your warranty is void forever now!!!" So if anyone knows a dealership thatd work with me itd be much appreciated.

As far as the first time at the track thing unfortenately it wasn't I go at least once usually twice a week and have made over 20 runs each time trying something different. It's just frustarating thats all I wanted a car to take to the track thatd also be reliable but i seemingly got a bad one!!

[Scotty2Hotty]

Originally posted by RedLudeSH:

Yea I have no warning lights coming on. It runs and idles fine as well Can anyone suggest a cool Honda dealership like that I could talk to about it being slow at the track that whouldnt be asses. I bought the car at IMMKE and I know there theyd be like "what you took it to a track, your warranty is void forever now!!!" So if anyone knows a dealership thatd work with me itd be much appreciated.

As far as the first time at the track thing unfortenately it wasn't I go at least once usually twice a week and have made over 20 runs each time trying something different. It's just frustarating thats all I wanted a car to take to the track thatd also be reliable but i seemingly got a bad one!!

There are a couple guys out on west Broad called Xtreme Automotive that know an few things, you might want to contact them or my mechanic I used to go to worked for Roush honda 882-9911 ask him about your problem. Might just want to have the car checked out, seems like the car should be quicker especially with the H22 motor. WHat were you shifting at and how was your launch on the run? The cars are supposed to be low 15 to high 14 second cars. Good luck. Peace

[rl]

no offence, but my vote is for user error.

[Guest silver91talontsi]

I did a little research on your car and this is what I came up with:

2950lbs curb weight

195 bhp

Now, using these numbers I used a caclulator that takes into effect weight,et,and mph and spits out a hp rating for both. What I came up with was this:

15.23 @ 89.5mph

This takes into effect the 15% drivetrain loss for fwd. Here's the site for the calculator:

http://www.dsm.org/tools/calchp.htm

PS: its just an estimate and its not exact

[Science Abuse]

wanna find your cars performance limits, let me drive it.

Wanna find its mechanical limits, let rl drive it tongue.gif

honnestly dude, this car is a 5 speed right? Do you have any idea how much time can be made up with simple experience and pracitce? What RPM do you shift at? how fast can you shift? how do you launch? Dont spend any money on this "problem" untill you're sure there is one. The guy turning low 15s is likely no rookie, ask him how he drives it.

[RedLudeSH]

I shift at 8000 rpm's thats what gets me my best times I've tried at 7500 and its not as fast. Everyone on Preludeonline says 8000 for our cars. my 60' is usually 2.4 or 2.5 I had people post 15 second lude runs on PO (preludeonline) and some of theres were 2.6-2.7 yet they all trapped at 90+ and ran well into the 15's like low to mid. It's like I'm losing the time later in the run. My 1/8 miles are generally 10.5-10.6. I'd gladly let someone else that is a great driver drive it to see if they can lower the times. I hope it's just my bad driving. I'll be at grudge night tomorrow if anyone wants to drive a really slow lude. Yea I'm that desperate.... Looked at Motor Trend today at the time thing in the back 2002 115hp Civic LX 1/4 time 16.4.....very desperate!!!

Thank You very much everyone for helping me on this.

[Guest Hndaman]

What's up RedludeSH! How about spark/ignition? Spark plug gap? You are right, your times should be a LITTLE lower, but not much. Hey, next time you go to the track, let me know. I've NEVER been and would LOVE to see what she can do! Good luck!

[Turbo Ben]

How about this....don't deflate your tires. With having that little amount of power, you really don't need to. Also, I agree with Blackbird.....you need to practice more.

 

When I had my turbo MKIII Supra and first started going to the track with it, I was running high 16's. Then after a couple more times going, I figured out the perfect RPM to launch, and perfected my driving and ran 15.6's all day long. And that's what Car & Driver got out of the car when it was brand new.

 

Also, this was when the car was 10 years old, and with no mods. And I never did any prep to the car like deflating the tires, just drove there, lined up and ran.

[RedLudeSH]

If I don't deflate my tires it's UUUGGLLYYY I've ran an 18 before and a bunch of 17's without deflating. I wheel hop like crazy.

[Turbo Ben]

Try lowering your launch RPMs

[Mr. Jones]

Yup.theres a perfect point where you wont' bog....yet wont' spin outta control

takes A CRAPLOAD of practicing....but well worth it.

 

Hell I used to practice at every other light smile.gif

(with previous FWD Vehicle)

[slow4now]

On second (or third) you should trap higher than that, now that I think about it a stock civic EX should trap around 84MPH.......

Deflate your tires to around 20psi. The amount of weight, the relative humidity,and wether you chirp your tires when shifting or not can all affect trap speed. What kind of gas are you using? If you are using BP, start using Shell or Sunoco (realy anything other than BP). Also, what kind of spark plug wires are you using? If you arent using the factory wires that could be another problem. Are you using NGK plugs?You could also check your timing, thats free horsepower. Thats about all I can think of for now.

[RedLudeSH]

Yea I've got stock plugs. I don't think i chirp in any gear cept when I launch. I maybe need an awesome driver to make a run in it. Oh yea I do use BP gas the one on corner of Polaris and Worth. Galena. i think its Amaco there. I'll fill up at Shell acroos the street before i head to grudge night. I always use premium too.

 

[ 30 July 2002, 11:05 PM: Message edited by: RedLudeSH ]

[Science Abuse]

k, one more question...how much do you weigh? tongue.gif

Also, drag racing is bad on the clutch, so why postpone the inevitable, jam them gears!

[RedLudeSH]

I weigh 250. That was my first question to Preludeonline am I a full second off what I should be cuz I weigh 100 pounds more than other people who run low 15's in ludes. Everyone responded that 100 pounds at most whould cost me .1 to .2 seconds. Then a couple people with stock ludes that weighed over 250 posted mid 15 second timeslips. I wasn't convinced till a few weeks ago at the trails when I talked to this dude that was easily my size that was driving a 150 hp Accord EX same curb weight as the lude and he showed me a 16.0 second timeslip. I'm gonna try to get a much skinnier person to drive the lude tonight we'll see what that produces.

[Turbo Ben]

Well, BP gas is the worst gas you can get. I know a few people who's gotten bad gas from them. Like bigbabyjesus said.....use Shell or Sunoco. I try to always use Sunoco, because they sall the 94 octane. And for the weight issue, most people say that for every 100lbs it's .10 seconds. Like I said before, it's more than likely your driving, which all you need to do is practice. And another thought I had was the possibility that your clutch is totally roasted, and needs replaced.

[RedLudeSH]

UPDATE on my POS

Ok last night I did a little better.

I managed to get my time down to 16.31 my old best was 16.45. I was also able to get an 88mph trap. So I was feeling a little better. But the other dude with a red lude was there running low 15's like it aint no thing. It seems that with a perfect run i might manage a 16.2 still not good for a lude. The 2002 160hp Civic SI there last night ran consistant 16.2's.