Final day at Island

[NJGSX96]

Today was the last day of the season at Island Dragway in NJ. Last trip to the track in the 1G I had some problems so I figured I'd go and tune my car on pump as best I could to get her all straight and ready for street duty. Went to the track with about 1/3 a tank of gas. This would haunt me later.

Staright off the street, no changes on anything, 21psi, I ran a 12.8@108 with a bogged launch of 1.85 and some real crappy shifting. Little bit of a disappointment as I was hoping to drive better and at least hit 110MPH. I was getting some knock, up to 19 count, so I richened it up at various rpms. Also upped the stutterbox from 4500 to 5000. Second run I ran a 12.9@107 with a slightly better launch at 1.79 and the same cappy shifting. Same amount of knock. EGTs were low, like 780° at the end of 4th and AF at .86. So since richening did nothing, I figured I'd ;ean her out a bit. I went and leaned it out up to -7 on the AFC and one click (-2) on the VPC gain. I lowered the boost to 19psi also... just in case. I also upped the stutterbox to 5500. That taller first gear requires a higher launch RPM than I am used too. Third run I had a buttload of knock, rising to 27 count and horrible timing, AF at .86, EGTs at 820° but ran a 12.5@110 with a 1.69 60'. Odd... so I figure WTF... up the boost to 21psi, lean out the AFC another -2. Fourth run, bad knock, 15 rising to 40 by the end of the gear, no timing (around 11°), AF of .84, EGTs hit 840° at the end of the run.... [email protected] on a 1.63 60'!!! My best time and 60' to date! Car just seemed to come alive. Really felt nice. At this point I am kicking myself. I wish I didn't have all this pump gas in here so I could throw in some race gas. After that run there was a decent mess on the track from a Porsche. Closed the track down for close to an hour. Next run, didn't change a thing and ran a 12.6@111. Spun through 1st and 2nd. There was so much of that powder crap they put down to soak up the fluids, it killed my run, as well as everyone else who ran. As I was pulling around I saw another mess, stopping the track again. Figured that was enough for the day. Prep is suspect enough there, cleanup is just horrible.

Overall, I am very pleased with the day. I wish I had the chance for some race gas and a shot at the 11s, but maybe I'll hit Atco before the end of the year for that. As it turns out, this internally gated 20G running 21psi on pump gas runs better than my 16G on race gas and 24psi. Now to get some race as and run 25psi and get myself some 11s!!

 

[Violater101]

Out of curiosity, for a 1g, what does a knock count of say 20 mean. How much timing would the ECU be pulling? I know that any knock is bad, but what do you consider tollerable knock? I mean sometimes it could be just false knock.

I don't understand why your et's went up as you were getting no timing??

 

[NJGSX96]

Knock count of 0-7 (tollerable) and the ECU is cool and gives timing. Anything more it will begin to pull timing, moreso if the count is higher. Count goes up to 43.

As fo my ET getting faster, driving has a lot to do with it as I drove harder, hit my shifts better, etc, but also, my car seemed to just haul some serious a$$ which I don't understand. I know a lot of fast guys who run with serious knock all the time and run their best with it too. At this point, I don' know, but I am looking for answers or help on why my car was so fast with so much knock.

 

[Violater101]

I know with the 2g ECU, per my datalogger, when the car knocks 3 degrees, it pulls 3 degrees of timing. I would like to have 0 knock, but was is usually deemed as not harmful? I realize sometimes its really false knock..I'm thinking everytime I punch it and the dumptube opens, I get like a hint of knock ..maybe .4, but its just a blip and goes away.

Thx,

 

[pneumo]

Let it knock! Well, at least up to a point. If you try to get zero knock you'l be stuck at 12 psi of boost or less. 11 degrees of timing will still make power. My car doesn't give me that "power loss due to timing getting pulled" feeling until it's at 5 degrees or less. and I've been there enough to know. I actually saw zero timing once. Not good, but it was only for a few seconds at the top of fourth, so there was no damage. 20 degrees is safe, and nice, but it just makes me want to turn up the boost more. At the track my best runs were made with about 15 knock sum and 8 to 13 degrees timing, give or take a little.
Our engines are so tough from the factory because the engineers knew it would get some knock. Strong parts can handle the abuse.