EDgineered

Who's drag racing?


Went drag racing at Capitol Raceway again last night. Won 4 out of 6 heads up races and the two I lost were to the same trailered 9 second car. The 4 I won were against: A C6 corvette with exhaust, intake, intake manifold and who knows, an E55 with tune and pulley, a GT500 with DRs and at least an exhaust and I cant remember the last one. The first three all had higher trap speeds so they had the power I just out drove them. I even had 4 reaction times under .165, even a .001. I didn't get any personal best times, just dotted up 12.7x to 12.8x at 110.xx but win lights are what matter.


I typically go to Capitol because of where I live but it is usually heads up there. I go to Maryland International Raceway on occasion and their Midnight Madness on Fridays turns into bracket racing late. For the unknowing, bracket racing is where if a 15 second car races a 18 second car the 18 second car gets to go 3 seconds before the 15 second car and it becomes a drivers race. There are also categories for cars of certain ETs such as 11.99 and faster, 12.00 and slower. Heads up is the light turns green and go.


If anyone wants to be on my "I'm going drag racing" list in the DC area PM me your #, or if anyone wants to learn how to drag race I'm more than happy to give a tips...but only at the track If you have never ran a 1/4 mile you must and don't worry, in all of my years racing I've never seen an unmodified or lightly modified car break at the track.

benzslo

what performance modifications have you made to the car, if any?

EDgineered

Performance mods: Weight loss, K&N, 255 Yokohama S.Drives. Weighed the car at MIR yesterday, 3450lbs, no driver, 1/8 tank of gas, trunk stuff out and pieces out as noted below.


Resonator; Rear seat rear deck and sub out but upholstered these areas to look nice, center console out and working on a C230 console to make a very short cargo hold but keep the cup holder forward; radio out but double din blank plate to keep it looking nice, CD changer out. With the center console out the shifter is more fun and functional. Sometimes I even take out the front passenger seat to get a feel for when I have racing seats but the 3450lbs was with the front seats in.


Had a recent drop off in 60ft times to 2.1 to 2.4s, total junk. Thought it was my tires and got new rubber (ones with tread). Still could only get 2.1s. Turns out it was my motor mount. Used a chain and a bolt to lock down the motor yesterday at MIR and was back to 1.90 60s with a best 60ft of 1.874.

plain_old_d

Can you put me on the list I live down the street from capital.

EDgineered

Think I'm going be able to make some passes at Capitol on Friday. Want to get some runs in with my shorty headers before I add my underdrive pulleys and lightweight crank pulley next week.


Trying to get there early, 430/5ish, to get a good cool down and will be there for a few hours at the least if I do go. Racing goes until 11....


Anybody else think they can make it?




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CerBErusM113

Hey ED,

Would love to join but my C has been in the shop for the last few weeks. Maybe we can get something scheduled for the end of July though?

Vette Moto

That is some good times and a nice list of good kills. I'm curious how much of a difference it makes doing the weight reduction you did. I believe stock weight is at 3,540 lbs.

Also, where did you source your pulleys?

EDgineered

I'll be around.... will be ready for some more runs with additional upgrades later in the month, too. In the hunt for low 12's by years end...

Weight Loss:
I got about 125lbs out of it.

Center console out: MUCH more useable shifter, its like its a manual now, covered up stuff with thin matching black carpet while I make a one-off shorty console to end behind cup holder.
Radio out: Double din kit with blank plate
CD changer out
Back seat out: area recovered in thin black carpet
Rear deck and speakers/sub out: made a new panel and covered in black
Back door panels and speakers: recovered with thin black carpet

If you walked by my car in a parking lot you wouldn't notice anything was off or odd.

With this stuff out car handles and accelerates noticeably better. It really seemed to like the lowered center of gravity. Plus I typically run 1/3 tank or less of fuel.

Consistent 2 tenths and 3mph weight only if I hook.

The goal is 3300 or less but still appear stock. Still have a painted carbon fiber hood, painted sunroof delete, lightweight ~18lbs battery and racing seats to go, but probably not until next year....

Pulleys

These are tough to find so I decided to get sizes, parts #s and keep my eyes open. Compared sizes to other stuff, most German cars have same OE suppliers. Eventually pieced together a workable set for ~$85 off Ebay. Search online, Ebay, other "55" sections and subscribe to Performance section under the Classifieds under General Forums.

Crank pulley on Ebay, search AMG C55 pulley

This is a thread that can get you most of the way.

https://mbworld.org/forums/c32-amg-c...sizes-c55.html


I took a Boss 302 with at least a Cat back last weekend on two nice pulls at highway speed up through 4th, pulled on him both times....

In the video....SRT8 had exhaust work, not sure if anything else. I ran best 12.6x @ 111.9x this day but it was also 45F degrees out.

blackbenzz

Nice runs. I should have my car back together in the next month or so and will be down for some track runs. Also I will probably rent MIR a couple times this fall/winter

Vette Moto

Man, thats great. I had no idea a C55 can hold its own against newer V8s like the Boss 302 and SRT8. For being 125lbs lighter and with headers, your car can sure move! Makes me want to install my headers and take the car to the drag to see what it can muster up.

EDgineered

Are you going to install the Kleemans or go a different route?


Not sure what you use your car for but I only use mine to race and I try to always be prepared.


Few tips...



Drag racing
Hit the drag strip and work on your launches. The difference between a 1.9 60ft and a 2.5 60ft is .6 secs. So if you race a faster car, say a 12.5 sec car and you run a 13.0 but beat him on the 60ft you can beat him. Also, reaction time. If you learn to cut mean lights it really helps. Say you take .100 to launch and the other guy hasn't practiced and cuts a .600 light you already have .5 secs on him. So essentially you can have a 13.0 car and know what you are doing and race a guy with a 12.0 car that doesn't and you can still take him by .100 at the trap. S mode, trac off, dry spin once, dry spin twice, launch off idle, learn to work the throttle. At the drags its the win light that matters. spinnin' aint winnin'!


Closed Course Street pulls
Know your car and keep it light. I keep my car low on fuel (every gallon = 6.07lbs, 10gal = 60lbs, 10lbs = 1hp) and empty, maybe a bottle of water but that's it (yes spare and kit). Know the gears. I used to down shift to 3g and hit it where the TQ was but it was low on HP, that spool up power, now I make sure I'm close to 4g. If you are up against a car you know has more power or gears stay out of the dig, our sweet spot is xx and up, xx and up. Know the gears, start too low and someone else will walk on you. Start too high and your wasting time with a short rev and then into a shift. I keep it in S mode, Trac off but manually down shift as needed but let the car do its thing. Also, do the sneaky reset regularly (search it) and if you are on the hunt drive the car aggressively, they are very adaptive and will be ready when the time comes. To be honest I was surprised I was able to pull on the Boss so easily due to the hype but once I got home and checked their stock dyno sheet I noticed they didn't make the power we have through through the range. Start adding the power I have from the shorty headers, MAF grid delete, K&Ns and a 180lbs lower weight and its C55 FTW. Their lower gears, 3.73 to our 3.06, are great off the start but our AMGs are designed for the Autobahn

Vette Moto

Good tips. I use my car for daily driving, so I won't be doing any of the weight reduction items you've done. As for mods, I have secondary cats delete only, all exhaust pieces still factory, and Renntech airbox with AEM dryflow filters. I do have the Needswings DCAI, but do not like the aesthetic looks of the engine, even though it may(or may not) have better gains than the Renntech airbox.

I also have Renntech headers, which are to be installed at a later date. They are shorties and bolt up the same way as your AMS style headers. I plan on getting a Eurocharged ECU/TCU tune after the headers install. My goal is to get 330-340whp~410+ crank HP, high 12s 1/4 mile car on street tires. I believe with these mods, I should be able to get close to that. I love having a sleeper that could take out or at least hang with Mustang 5.0s, SS, and SRT8s.

So about 65/70, that would place you at the beginning of 3rd gear, right? I'm guessing this is the sweet gear that gives the best chance to kill muscle cars on a highway roll

As far the MAF grid, are you talking about the 2 fins that direct air down to the MAF or the honeycomb screen over the MAF? Did the MAF grid delete make any noticeable difference and did it cause any surging or RPM hunting?

EDgineered

Good chance I'm going to Capitol tomorrow (Friday 7/24/14) to test my underdrive pulley/lightweight crank pulley setup, hopefully someone else can go too.


Went Friday the 11th to test my Shorty headers. Was only able to be there from 5ish to 6ish but got in 3 passes against a supercharged/bolt ons WS6, Camaro SS with bolt-ons and a built up Monte Carlo, all C55 ftw.



Just the plastic honeycomb grid in the very top of the MAF but I also cut out the wire mesh in the air box. It doesn't add tons of power but the extra airflow at WOT helps. Cant remember if there was a down side....