how much $$ for 12s

[larryd]

ok I know this is a broad ?? that can be answered many ways and the goals can be acheieved in several different ways but here is my predicament..

I WANT 12s..

I have 2 options.. I can

A) Keep my car and continue to mod it and hope that I can get 12s with the addition of cams, tuning, quaiffe lsd, act 2600, and fidanza flywheel.. figure the price on that is around 3000.00 for everything installed

B) Keep my car, buy another DSM.. 1st gen AWD 5spd for a couple thousand and put the supporting mods on it to crank the boost and get a Big 16g turbo or Possibly FP Green pending on $$.. Figure this in total to cost around 5000.00 for everything

C) well Im not sure but Nitrous?? I would only be able to run Nitrous after I get traction well into 2nd gear and Im not sure that it would eb enough to get me where I wanna be, but possibly.. Also I know I would need head studs if I do this, not sure what else.

I need help guys.. Its making me sick that Ive dumped this much $$ into my car and Im getting beat by T25 equipped AWDs..

 

[Dannyboy1201]

I know what you mean.. Well you can keep dumping cash in to the GST or put it back to stock sell it! find your self a GSX and bamm there you go.. Its better to do it now then later down the road.. I know it sucks gettin rid of your car but.. hey you gotta do what you gotta do..

 

[Dannyboy1201]

Hey you can also talk to TurboSpyder.. he is running the same set up as i am.. other thatn the MASSIVE Injectors.. See what times he is putting down..

 

[larryd]

but i really really dont wana get rid of my car.. i love my car, its an extension of me.. besides I dont think they make the GSX in my color

 

[Dannyboy1201]

seriously if i had your car I would keep it as well.. Your car is just so clean lookin.. F--- it just trow a bigger turbo in there..

 

[larryd]

hehe.. ive had thoughts on that too, we shall see when that FP-30 comes out

 

[Atari007]

I dont know how feasable (sp?) this is, but how about just trying to change out your tranny with an awd... Im almost sure it can be done.... I dont know how much that would cost, but I am sure you can have it done somewhere......

 

[verserv]

Tuning and practice is what you need. I would get a 1g head swap done to add that extra top end your gst will need.
I recommend this in the other post you had.
Look for mods that transfer that power to the road more than anything, which often is alot of practice.

 

[NJGSX96]

I'd keep you car. It is in great shape, looks good, and already has some of your hard work and hard earned money in her. She will go 12s.

Practice your launches. Get a quaiffe and get some slicks. Quaiffe is expensive, but it is awesome. They used to have a warranty policy of replacing whatever broke in the tranny if you had Quaiffe. Don't know their policy now, but that wasn't too long ago. My friend had a Quaiffe in his 97 FWD and with a small 16G, supporting mods and slicks, he ran 12.9@108 on a 1.7 60'. In the process, he blew a slick so who knows how much better his time could've been.

I am not a big fan of nitrous but I don't think it will be beneficial for you unless you had more traction.

When you say $5000 total for a 1G setup, you mean mods only, right? not including car? If you think all of your supporting mods will only be $5000 for a 1G, think again. Maybe working the car around a Big16G, but not for a Green. Not if you want to do it right.

 

[99GST]

You know....we have a guy here by the name of Clay.
He has a 97 GST...same color as yours. He is running all the supporting mods and an IHI Turbo....ball bearing catridge, simliar to the 16GKiller.

He doesnt have an LSD, but does have slicks. Now, he consistently pulls 8.0 -8.05s in the 1/8 mile all day. And he is now starting to even get into the 7's. Last week he hit 7.8 in the 1/8.....which translates to a mid 12.5 (I think) in the 1/4.

How does he do it....he practices. He car is so damn quick that he hangs with a fully tuned GSR pushing 14lbs on a t3/t4 turbo (which is much much bigger than that IHI turbo).

SO, it can be done...you just need to practice, and get some slicks.

Oh yeah.....coincidence or not....his car is the same color as yours

Nathan

 

[Ludachris]

Larry you've already put some good time into that car. Might as well keep with it. I'd also suggest some headwork/cams, lsd, and flywheel -as you stated in your first option. You're not far off, and you'd probably find it tough to put all that energy (and money) into a second car.

 

[rdrkt]

Larry a few months ago I was faced with the same basic decision that you are going through now. I had a small 16g fwd car it made about 300 or so the wheels. I needed a lot more power I wanted to be fast so I bought an nx nitrous kit and cams and a few other toys. Before I installed everything I decided that this was a losing battle and I sold my car and bought my current awd racecar. I have quickly grown to hate fwd drag racing so my advice may be a little tainted.

Don’t get me wrong a fwd car can make a fantastic track car. If you are looking to go to the track bolt on some slicks and throw in some c16 with the rear as stiff as possible I’m sure you could get semi decent traction and get some pretty good times. Fwd pull some great times on the track where there is vht but on the street it’s a different story entirely. Everyone is going to tell you how well their friends track car did but I guarantee you if you take the fwd car and put it up against an awd car it will loose every stop light race.

But I think you are looking for a powerful street car. I will say this and believe me I am speaking from experience a powerful fwd car will never have traction. You can get a quaiffe and super sticky drag radials on wide rims and you will still burn 3rd on the street. The quaiffe is very expensive and while you are installing it you may as well get your trans rebuilt which is also expensive. The lsd really wont give you that much more traction you will just apply equal power to both wheels so instead of doing a peg leg you can burn both. Another problem is that you have a 7bolt motor if you get serious latter that is going to be a problem.

If you want to keep you car (which I can understand its gorgeous) and still want to have fun on the street than you need a big turbo so that when you finally do get traction you can make up the ground that you lost from spinning in the first 2 gears. This is only going to exacerbate your lack of traction issues. You are only ever going to want to go faster and the more hp you add the worse traction you will have plain and simple.

My vote would be for an awd car that is what I have now and I love it. My new car is making a bit more than a 100 hp more than my old. But I still have so much more traction in the first two gears than the old on could hope for. I do so much better racing from a stop light the awd launch is insane.

Here would be my suggestion. Sell you car and I bet you could make good money for it. Then take the proceeds and buy one of those awd 1st gens going for 2 or 3k. I would personally get one as cheap as possible condition really doesn’t matter. Then with all the money you save you pretty much have a blank canvas and a lot of bank to start off with. You can then spend all that money on a rebuilt motor (91 piston, 95 rod rebuilt head) rebuilt trans and a new paint job. A 1st gen will never really look as nice as a second gen but it will always be faster

Think it over

 

[DeezGst]

I have to agree to keep your car. You can hit 12's, it's just not easy with a FWD. Practice your launches etc.. I agree that ones car is an extention of ones self. No matter how often my car breaks or tears up I can't bring myself to sell it. I am pretty postitive I can hit 12's with my current setup if I can get my 60's down, getting 2.2's right now on 17"rims/street tires. Only time will tell though. My goal is 12's on street tires, which is by no means an easy task. Will it happen I don't know but I'm gonna try like hell. More so then E.T. being FWD you should look at your trap speeds. Speed costs money no matter which way you try and go about it. Getting your current car in the 12's IMO would be much more gratifing, then selling it and starting over. Good Luck!

Derek

 

[DSMSTYLE]

if you love your car and want AWD hook up spend the $$$ and make your car AWD? there is only 1 other person i know of who has done this.

 

[verserv]

Also, maybe an avc-r will help you control the boost at lower gear and rpm ranges so that you can transfer power to the road better.

 

[Boosted97GS-T]

keep your car its tight as hell, with the trap speeds you are pulling and with some decent driving i think you can pull it off even possibly with a set of nitto drags, i pulled a 2.19 60ft in mine, now i know you need better than that, but i was impressed with it for being street tires.

if i'm not mistaken you were pulling like 2.30s or 2.40s right?

 

[rdrkt]

Originally posted by verserv
Also, maybe an avc-r will help you control the boost at lower gear and rpm ranges so that you can transfer power to the road better.

While that is a partial solution it’s a lame one. Do you really want to make 30 less hp in the first two gears? Or do you want to be making power and having traction?

 

[verserv]

lame huh? thanx

 

[rdrkt]

I’m not calling you lame. I’m saying that having to take away 30hp in the first 2 gears to get traction is lame.

 

[verserv]

You dont nessecarily have to lose that much hp. Even if you did the car is grabbing the road which would mean that 30hp less got him faster in the 1/4 mile. If i remeber right he wants speed not just power.

 

[Violater101]

Larry, it all depends on what you want. If all you care about is at the drag strip and what times you run, then, YES, it can be done with your car and setup, but with those mod's you listed and practice practice practice. If, on the otherhand, your like me, and do most of your racing from a roll on the highway, then you got no worries as you putting down the power for 12's, its just your FWD. I think you could do some tuning on your current setup and still see better times. If I can run 9.3 in the 1/8th on pump gas and around 18-19lbs of boost, then I know your car should be doing the same. We are almost identical. Loren's FWD ran I believe 8.8@94 in the 1/8th and ended up with a 13.02@? or smth close to that in the 1/4 on the 28. Thats with cams and quaife. By just lowering your 60ft by like .2 seconds is like .4 in the 1/4 mile time.

I would personally keep your car..FWD's are a blast to drive :>

 

[OverBoost]

Hey what's up rdrkt I like your sig. The pic of you racing rx7.com (Ari Yallon). Is that your car? Did you beat him? Thats pretty tight running against someone like that.

 

[rdrkt]

Originally posted by OverBoost
Hey what's up rdrkt I like your sig. The pic of you racing rx7.com (Ari Yallon). Is that your car?

Yes that is my car, at least its mine now, that picture is about 2ish years old taken at an IDRC event at Maple Grove. I bought the car last fall.

Originally posted by OverBoost
Did you beat him?

Yes I shot out both tires while he was doing a burnout and then cut him off mid track . Actually the previous owner was out there on a 16g running low 12s at 114 on race gas. I believe the car in the other lane did a mid 10 at some crazy mph.

Originally posted by OverBoost
Thats pretty tight running against someone like that.

Actually it sucks. I have a pretty fast car some would even say very fast. The numbers in my sig was a half assed first day out on 94 octane on a poorly prepped cold track. If I went to the track tomorrow I think I could knock a few tenths an add 2 or 3 mph on pump gas. I am thinking I should run low 11s @ 125+ after some tuning with c16. That is barely enough to qualify for the quick 8 when the IDRC “street” class comes to my town and that is depressing.

 

[larryd]

well guys i really do appreciate all the help guys. I really dont intend on getting rid of my car.. I was thinking more along either drop the $$ to get this car into the 12s or buying another car to use strictly for the track so I dont start breaking stuff on this car..

So on Lorens 13.2 he had a 8.8 1/8th mile huh.. interesting..I ran a 9.144 on my 13.7 @ 109.. and I can see maybe .4 or .5 less on the 1/4 then which would put me at the same spot as him but then the ?? comes down to it, he had Quaiffe and Cams? that means thousands more to get the car to low 13s.. doesnt sound worth it..

 

[Boosted97GS-T]

well the way i see it, why would you want a car just for track, and just to show that you can run 12s, maybe its just me but i really dont care what my car runs at the track its on the street that counts for me