New Shootout 2026 scramble!

[thebearded1der]

Made it safe and sound and setting up. Have to tweak things on the car because of the elevation change and also lower it. Super excited to be among so many amazing dsms and evos.

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Have a fun and safe time Dusty!

 

[Ludachris]

Made it safe and sound and setting up. Have to tweak things on the car because of the elevation change and also lower it. Super excited to be among so many amazing dsms and evos.

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Enjoy yourself. And good luck!

 

[92AWDHX40]

I'm here I missed you in Detroit I'll find you in the morning

 

[Ludachris]

I'm here I missed you ok Detroit ill find you in the morning

Living vicariously through you guys. Please keep posting pics and videos for us.

 

[Dragon 3259]

Oh man I hope to see pics guys wish I could be there.

 

[FIBA M - EC17PSE]

Living vicariously through you guys. Please keep posting pics and videos for us.

You have to go next year! Would be awesome

 

[Dragon 3259]

Hopefully I can . If one ever comes to Arizona and my toy is ready oh you bet I will be there.

 

[LaserRS92]

Was there an issue with your clutch this weekend?

 

[Dusty Landrum]

Was there an issue with your clutch this weekend?

Yes sir! First it was the cam position sensor that randomly died, then it was the spark plugs were fouled out first pull, then blew through the clutch the second and third pulls. Lesson learned to properly break in a clutch before trying to stomp on it at a race track haha. Was supposed to put 1k-1.5k easy street miles on it and when I pulled it off the trailer it had 2. So already planning for next year and how I want to attack it.

 

[motomattx]

Yes sir! First it was the cam position sensor that randomly died, then it was the spark plugs were fouled out first pull, then blew through the clutch the second and third pulls. Lesson learned to properly break in a clutch before trying to stomp on it at a race track haha. Was supposed to put 1k-1.5k easy street miles on it and when I pulled it off the trailer it had 2. So already planning for next year and how I want to attack it.

Was that you that made two passes with basically a car that just revved out anytime you gave it throttle?

 

[Dragon 3259]

How's the shootout guys? Hope everyone is having a blast.

 

[Ludachris]

How's the shootout guys? Hope everyone is having a blast.

It wrapped up on Sunday. Check out the photos and videos people are posting here:

https://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/2024-dsm-shootout.547371

 

[Dusty Landrum]

Was that you that made two passes with basically a car that just revved out anytime you gave it throttle?

Yes sir! That was me. Every.. single.. gear just went instantly to redline . Just bloooowing through the clutch. Lesson learned though. Got it to come back around driving for about 60miles on the street around the track, but missed 12.5 elims having to do it. All good though, learned so much and got some seat time and that makes it all worth it.

 

[FIBA M - EC17PSE]

Yes sir! That was me. Every.. single.. gear just went instantly to redline . Just bloooowing through the clutch. Lesson learned though. Got it to come back around driving for about 60miles on the street around the track, but missed 12.5 elims having to do it. All good though, learned so much and got some seat time and that makes it all worth it.

yeah they say your meant to do 500 miles of normal driving but a lot of times no one can do such miles, more so if a race car! so the guys down the road do some slower track driving then just use the clutch as is. its almost impossible to do a lot of break-in procedures on race cars that don't see the roads.

 

[LaserRS92]

What clutch kit do you have in the car currently?

 

[Dusty Landrum]

What clutch kit do you have in the car currently?

Southbend stage 3 endurance, but I have a strong suspicion that I will be swapping that out for a twin soon haha.

 

[jamel16]

I didn’t get a chance to see you make it down the track, so I’m bummed about that. Next year I think I want to try my hand at some track time. Do you have any pointers?

 

[92AWDHX40]

It was fin seeing jaffrombile. Dusty, and Wayne and Jason among others Brandon so many at the shootout.

 

[Dusty Landrum]

Well it’s time for the shootout prep and re-cap. Figured I would sort out what actually happened and everything before I posted haha.

First thing is the thrash/scramble! It truly turned out to be both with very very little sleep trying to get the car together.. I literally had to paint a front fender in the driveway 18hrs before I was supposed to leave! Insane.

Next was getting the ACW poly windows drilled and mounted. HUGE and I mean HUGE thank you to @EC17PSE for helping with a template and all my questions.

Had a small alignment issue but got it resolved quickly thanks to Bobby!

Never knew there was a difference in window mount locations based on manual/electric and year.

Had a local shop mount the new windshield, carbon quarters and ACW rear hatch poly. Came out freaking amazing and the trim he used was perfect.

More coming in another post soon..

 

[Dusty Landrum]

One of the last things that went on were the handles with new billet handle parts.

Got the car loaded up and headed to my first stop in Omaha, NE to stay with my wife’s family.

Got a hot meal and headed out early for the next days drive to Detroit, MI to stay with @PLDSM and get some hang out time.

Unloaded the car at the shootout and instantly found out I had an oil leak, go figure. Turns out I had pinched the valve cover gasket when checking the head studs on the fresh build. No biggie at all. Next day woke up and started getting ready for the car show, only for it to get rained out and the entire day was a wash literally. Next day get up and get down to autoX/max effort.

I was honestly VERY intimidated by the heavy hitters present but still wanted to try hard. Next thing though was that my cam position sensor all of the sudden died. Right there at the start and while pulling up for a run. Had to push the car out of the way and put up a flare for a spare. Luckily a vendor had one and threw it in. Did two runs and had soooooooo much fun! Slow, but fun haha. So far no other signs of issues… yet.

 

[Dusty Landrum]

While waiting at autoX I hear they call 12.5 index to the lanes. So leave there and do my first (and turns out only) qualifier run. During the pull the car is breaking up very bad up top and I am thinking maybe it’s the tune since I was more setup for Denver elevation. Get it back to the pits, do a street pull and turns out it’s just fouled out spark plugs haha.

Thinking that I will be good to go from then on, and boy was I wrong hahaha.

So part of max effort is the autoX and then three hot lap drags back to back to back. Here is where the huge issue arose. During the build and tune I never got to put any street miles on the car. No going through gears and working the clutch in. The spec sheet for the clutch recommend a 1500 mile period before launching or slipping or pushing the clutch hard. When I pulled the car off the trailer at shootout it had 2! Literally 2 miles of break in. Needless to say this did not go well.

During my first run the clutch slipped quite a bit, and by the third it was completely gone with no bite at all. After partnering with numerous people and seeking any opinion and guidance I could, I came up with a plan to try and scuff and bed the clutch back in around the streets near the track. After about 60ish miles the clutch felt really good and came back fully. When I pulled back into the track and pits I had found out they called 12.5 index and started elims. That really bummed me out and sucks we lost a full day of everything because of the rain.

BUT, huge lesson learned on racing and part install haha. I got seat time and was my very first time every racing at a track to that was priceless. At the end of the day the car made it back on the trailer under its own power, not broken and in one piece. That is a huge win.

Made it home safe and sound and pulled it off the trailer and up into the garage on its own power.

 

[Dusty Landrum]

I didn’t get a chance to see you make it down the track, so I’m bummed about that. Next year I think I want to try my hand at some track time. Do you have any pointers?

I have TONS of pointers haha! Was a huge learning experience being a racer this time, and not just a spectator.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Waiting for my southbend clutch to break in before launching it or racing it has been a struggle, so I feel you on that. It's at 120 miles and the evil kermit meme in my head is like "that should be good enough, send it".


Glad you managed to make it and make a pass, even if it wasn't ideal. That's a bucket list for me too, but I'm worried honestly that eventually the shootout is just gonna be like every other drag day before too long. Maybe one or two DSMs and the rest just various imports and domestics. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[FIBA M - EC17PSE]

While waiting at autoX I hear they call 12.5 index to the lanes. So leave there and do my first (and turns out only) qualifier run. During the pull the car is breaking up very bad up top and I am thinking maybe it’s the tune since I was more setup for Denver elevation. Get it back to the pits, do a street pull and turns out it’s just fouled out spark plugs haha.

View attachment 743596

Thinking that I will be good to go from then on, and boy was I wrong hahaha.

So part of max effort is the autoX and then three hot lap drags back to back to back. Here is where the huge issue arose. During the build and tune I never got to put any street miles on the car. No going through gears and working the clutch in. The spec sheet for the clutch recommend a 1500 mile period before launching or slipping or pushing the clutch hard. When I pulled the car off the trailer at shootout it had 2! Literally 2 miles of break in. Needless to say this did not go well.

During my first run the clutch slipped quite a bit, and by the third it was completely gone with no bite at all. After partnering with numerous people and seeking any opinion and guidance I could, I came up with a plan to try and scuff and bed the clutch back in around the streets near the track. After about 60ish miles the clutch felt really good and came back fully. When I pulled back into the track and pits I had found out they called 12.5 index and started elims. That really bummed me out and sucks we lost a full day of everything because of the rain.

BUT, huge lesson learned on racing and part install haha. I got seat time and was my very first time every racing at a track to that was priceless. At the end of the day the car made it back on the trailer under its own power, not broken and in one piece. That is a huge win.

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Made it home safe and sound and pulled it off the trailer and up into the garage on its own power.

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Glad i could help dude. You know I am always here for anyone for any reason!

 

[d1prospect]

Been a little quiet with the updates but here is what’s going on with the build. I am still really really pushing to paint the car before shootout but it’s not looking good. Running out of days . But finally got the car driving and now tuning. Had some hiccups during the first start ups that were of course installer error. But nothing major and now the car is starting WOT tuning.

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Ended up having vacuum leaks and a dead “new” alternator so the entire intake/injector rail has to come out to get another alternator in.

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THEN, during the first test drive the freaking rear DSS axles were popping in and out, so ripped them out and built a set of oem with Evo inner cup axles.

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Next WOT pull and no axles issues or clutch issues. Here she is looking all sexy without some clothes on.

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And yes, she will be lowered , not looking like an SUV sitting there. But since I’m going in and out of my humped driveway a lot, she is raised up to avoid any unfortunate scrapes.

That was the one thing I hated the most about rear mounting my alternator. Beautiful build.