hooleyboy

As that old Zombies song goes.. "Its the time of the season"

Today, according to the weather forecast, makes the last day of 100 degree temps here in the Phoenix area. That means its safe to head out to the dragstrip and get your chops up or in other words get some passes in to knock the rust off. I wouldn't expect great times, ad the DA will be around the 3000ft mark until about 10pm. It just might be the right temp for those fast E55 out here to not get kicked off the track.

Here are some things I'm doing to prep for the race season:

1)I'll start with literally blowing the dust off of my slicks and inspect them for any dry rot that could have happened when sitting in a dry garage for 5 months.

This year I'm getting my slicks "road force balanced" since I will be going well over 100mph on them. I dont even know what RFB is, but i hear its really good.

2) For those who dont run race fuel, I would recommend running a tank full of 100oct and burn off any build up on your piston tops. After a borescope view of my pistons on 100oct they cleaned up nicely from the slower burn. This Arizona summer blend of gas we get out here in AZ is not good at all. So not only will race gas help clean up your piston tops, you will get a nice little advance in timing for some added power. I've been running race fuel for some time now and have never had had an o2 or cat issue.

3) a good ol' dyno run. IMO its worth spending a half hour on the dyno just to see if any timing is being pulled. I look at it as a Doctors visit with out the invasive exams.

3) fluids: yeah change your oil, but for performance and temp consistency I like to do a cooling system cleaning. My car for some reason my car has a slime that builds up and I can see it in my split cooling systems reservoir.

Also for those who havent split their cooling system its a cheap mod and worth doing. You dont need a huge ice chest, a small one will work good too. The Ice chest is nice, but for those on a budget and just want to reap the benefits of a split system you can just do one that fits under the hood. On a side note. if you split the system, have the small reservoir as the highest point so its self bleeding.

I dont have a LSD and maybe I should, but switching to some aftermarket diff fluid i've seen some added lockup at the rear wheels and it made for some nice launches. Sure the jury is still out on that, but its cheap enough so might as well.

4) buy a torque wrench, If your swapping slicks at the track its a must.

5) make sure your helmet is in spec with the right date and DOT/Snell approved. Also If your like me and keep your helmet in your garage check it for spiders. I found one in my offroad helmet last week. Good thing I checked.

Remember if it isnt on film is only a time slip. Cant wait to race with you guys this season.

jangy

I will be sure to visit the AZ crew at least once this season...

hooleyboy

Nice lets do it. I just opened my sunroof last night for the first time in a long time. My goal this season is to get kicked off the track... for good reasons.

RenntechE55

well hit me up when ur going my cars ready along with my Brother In-laws 600rwho SRT10.

komp55

It is the only way to have your wheels/tires balanced. Here's a link to Hunter's technical information regarding their Road Force Balancing technology:

http://www.gsp9700.com/pub/technical/index.cfm

Find a shop that has a Hunter GSP9700, and preferably a Hunter GSP9700 Certified Technician to go with it, that actually knows how to operate and take full advantage of the machine's capabilities. There are far too many tire shops out there that have GSP9700's, but won't spend the time on your wheels and tires to do the job right.

blackbenzz

Nice writeup! Soon as I get my car tuned its on! Can't wait to get back to the track. Weather is much cooler here now but 9.0:1 AFR's are no good for drag racing

Exotic-metal55

I like reading the humorous truth about racing..

Spiders? I figured you desert dwellers would have to check your helments for Scorpions and Gila monsters..

I think a lot of 55`s are going to be needing to look into Roll cages. Sux getting kicked off the track all the time.. AMG leather wrapped, of course..

e1000

yeah

basically, it uses a hub to measure tire runout vs wheel runout and lets the installer match up low/high points to help cancel out imperfections in the wheel/tire combination. Really is the best way to get a balance done.

MRAMG1

Above all else my friend, I wish you VERY low ET's

Break another record and have some GREAT fun

hooleyboy

I was saying the samething about race fuel not cleaning the piston tops. But I was surprized to see my pistons looked so much better, Vitualy no carbon build up after I started running 100oct all the time. Also no black build up on the tail pipe. Its kind of a reddish, Brown color.

slikstang

I don't think many people got that part about being kickoff the track, but it's never a sad day when you get kick off. it has happened to me in several cars and I never get mad I just smile and watch for the rest of the night.

Marcus Frost

komp,

Agree 100% but wanted to clarify. The shop I use for all my MB stuff has a 9700 and I use them to do all my wheels. The roadforce balancing process is always measured but not always needed. There are instances when doing the initial balancing process that the roadforce measurement is within spec and therefore the wheel/tire does not need to be actually roadforce balanced.

Additionally, bent wheels or otherwise defective tires also will usually require roadforce balancing but most shops that I am aware of will not roadforce balance damaged wheels/tires.

I am not a GSP9700 expert, this is just what I've experienced. I think we are both on the same page. If someone observes an operator using a GSP9700 machine and doesn't notice anything special about how they did the balancing, it may be simply because there was no additional or roadforce balancing needed, not because they are just not utilizing the machine.

-m

hooleyboy

Dyno Comp brought in a guy (in house) with all sorts of tire mounting/balancing stuff and they offer true RFB, Might as well take advantage of having access to it.

RenntechE55

what are they charging to do a set?

hooleyboy

I think its like $35-40 a tire? From the people I know that have done it (My brother's CLS55, Ken's 335I to name a few) Say its worth it. So that why I'm doing it.

komp55

I think we're on the same page, too, but there are a lot of things that can be done with a GSP9700 to get a better result that normally are not. To name a few, most shops do not check the calibration of the balancer on any sort of regular schedule. There are two levels of calibration possible - a simple balance calibration, and the detailed calibration that also check accuracy of the dataset arms (for measuring runout, etc.). Ask them when the last time was that they calibrated the machine. Does the shop bother to do something simple like a centering check when they mount the wheel to the machine? More often than not, no, but it can affect the results. Are they using a precision flange plate adapter instead of a cone to mount the wheel on the machine? And do you know the easiest way to be able to say that no further work is needed to minimize RFV (road force variation)? Simple, you set the RFV threshhold on the machine higher. The customer has no idea what acceptable RFV measurements are, and the tire shop essentially does a dynamic balance only while possibly charging extra for a full road force balance. The machines are set at the factory with a default RFV value of 26 for P metric tires, but skilled operators will typically set a lower value, say 15 or even 12, and work to get the RFV down to the lower threshold. More work is required, but at least the machine is being used to its capabilities and the ride ends up being smooth as glass.

Another area that tire shops shortcut is not doing bare rim runout measurements when installing new tires. Doing so allows the operator to "Force Match" the tires to the rims in the most accurate manner possible. On some rims, you can take external runout measurements on the rim, but many of today's modern wheel designs are such that it's not possible to take an external measurement, so they don't get taken at all. There's more, but hopefully these examples are illustrative.

Some people ask - if the machine will do all of this, why don't shops actually do it? The most common reason is time. It takes additional time to do all of the extra steps to be precise, and frankly, it's a PITA to mount and balance a tire, only to discover a the RFV measurement is out of spec and that you need to break the bead and move the tire on the rim to do it right. When a shop is busy and they're trying to move customers' work through, it's alot easier to set the RFV spec higher and just do a simple balance - and move on to the next customer. My suggestion is that if you're paying extra for a true road force balance, make certain you actually get one.

OP, sorry to divert some of this thread into a discussion of road force balancing, but with the amount of interest in wheels and tires on this board, I was glad when you mentioned the value of having a road force balance done in anticipation of some high speed driving.

MRAMG1

The change in color is from other additives they use in race fuels. AH THAT SMELL, very addictive and I miss it so.

Any way, GOOD LUCK at the track

Busta Riles

Any of the Arizona guys doing any racing or meets between Oct 10-16 or Dec 25-Jan 8?

I'm going to be in town (unfortunately won't have my car, as it's a 26hr drive vs. 4hr flight) & would like to see some rides or have a beer (or 12) or whatever.