Quote:
Originally Posted by tgriffith
Ive got a 89 cavalier that I just cant get to hook up consistently,,,,,60`s are only around 1.90.....as long as the track is great, so is the car.....soon as the track gets marginal, the car will spin.......any help would be appreciated
its a 173CI chevy,,,,24 tall slick,,9 wide,,,the rear is solid so there is little to no weight transfer
need some help if anyone has any ideas
thanks
tim
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Tim,
I'm glad I saw this thread, because I race a Z24 Cavalier ('86) in NHRA's DF/S class (which is equal in index's to IHRA's EF/SA class), with (almost) the same engine yours has (mine came with cast iron heads and a lower hp rating). I agree with Steve & Mark about your not needing the spool with your automatic. However, I wonder (as Art did), what final drive do you have in your tranny. I run a nearly equal weighted car as Art's, and I have a 3.73 plannetary from a 4cyl J-car. That and an 8" converter from A1 (thanks Marv Ripes), that stahls to 3600 rpm, plus a set of Competition Engineering 3-way adjustable shocks, helped get my car to hook up great on good tracks even with the 20x8x14 MT slicks. Art, Steve, and Mark (amongst others on this thread), mentioned other aspects of your car that could be hindering your performance. I had a friend of mine help me ditch the pwr steering system (and the A/C as well). I gave up on the factory computer, and put an Accel Calmap in my car 13yrs ago, because I couldn't find any one who could burn performance chips that could give me the throttle response I got from a 350 V8 chip I tried from idle to 2400rpm (if someone could've burned me a chip that went to just 5600rpm's my car would've been a flyer, and I'd probably be running BF/S (NHRA's version of IHRA's BF/SA class off of the 14.95 index) still!!! For ignition success with your Chevy, I feel Performance Distributors makes a great (long lasting), coil that's high voltage and performes better for the dollar than the MSD unit I tried back in the 90's (sometimes you don't always get what you pay for). My tranny was converted to a non-lock-up to accomodate the converter, and my cam timing was retarded 3 degrees since the cam was so mild (.218 degrees duration). Although my car has the factory exhaust manifolds on it (headers for $1000 bucks...what happened to the Hooker header casting that created the headers that Linda Sherman used on her former Chevy Citation 173 V6 (now being enjoyed by the current car owner Randy Hyman)? Oh well, I have an X-pipe exhaust system that helps make up for the lack of the headers (somewhat), but if ever I can get a set of those on my car (w/o breaking my bank account), look out!!!
I'm surprised that 24x9" slicks fit in your wheel wells, because they don't in mine...thus the biggest tire size I can use would be the 22x8x15's, but I'd have to find some aluminum 15" wheels, and I can't afford them yet. I run my 20x8x14's on Cragar 14" wheels, at 20-22 psi. I'm also wondering if your car would grip better if you left the line just above idle (like I had to last weekend in Fontana, at the Jegs Pacific Sportsnationals), because I had tire spinning issues as well, but once I stopped stahling my converter, and did that, my 60ft's dropped by .13sec to 2.00-2.01 and a quarter-mile of 15.505 (which was -.395 from my 15.90 DF/S NHRA index), in crummy air of 3300ft @ a track that was 1100ft actual elevation (with a 5-8mph head wind)! I'd be scared to run as little of a tire pressure as you do with these smaller slicks, but if your engine tune, your tranny gearing, plus your rear suspension are more in harmony (if your cars back end drops when you take off, you need stiffer shocks to keep your car level...mine used to do that really bad, until I put the Competition Engineering shocks in it), then I think you'll pick up even more et., and have a better performing car...I wish you the best (from the west), with your Z from the east!!!