RWD Talon runs 9s on its first full pass.

[MrBoxx]

Awesome run, Kevin. I'm proud to say I was there and saw that in person. It was great to see two RWD 1g's go up against each other. Congrats again!

 

[Ludachris]

@95GSXracer

Hey Kevin, I tied this thread to your car's profile. If you can post some updates after the Shootout on what you did to prepare for the event and how the car fared at the Shootout, that would be awesome! Best of luck this weekend.

 

[Kevin Jewer]

Just found this thread poking around in my profile. The 2019 Shootout was a bust for me, I broke a rod on the first pass.

Man, it's crazy to read those old posts. I can't believe how far the car went in that first season, I really had no idea WTF I was doing in hindsight. And then again how far it has come since then. It's a completely different car now. For the sake of maintaining the history of this car, I think I'll recap the years that I've owned it in this thread.

This thread pretty well covers 2008, my first season racing the car. It went 9s the first time I took it out, and went 8s a few short months later. It then got pretty well stuck in the high 8s.

In the offseason between 2008 and 2009, for some reason, I switched the car to compound turbos. Somehow, that paid off. The second full pass on that setup was back in the high 8s. I remained stuck there on that same setup for all of 2009, 2010, and 2011. Notably, in 2010, I spent a lot of time on suspension stuff and made mediocre progress. I also had a block crack and had to change that out. I reused all of the internals.

By 2011 that first compound setup, which I booger welded together with a 110v flux core machine and mild steel, seemed pretty rusted out to me, though it was still working. I didn't want to keep running it. I knew I wanted another compound turbo setup, incorporating everything I had learned over those years, but it was too soon to get into it. So I did what anyone else would do and tossed a 16g on it, . At the end of the season I started playing with that, and went 10.31 at 132. I still want to revisit that, I'm pretty sure I could get to 9s now.

In 2012 I started on the 16g again, matching the previous years performance, then quickly moved on to a string of single turbos of increasing size. First was an old cast wheel 35R. That went 8.89. Then a PTE 6766, which went 8.75 or so to break that years long 8.80 curse, and then 8.46 right before the SO. Right after the SO it went 8.23 or 8.26 breaking a piston in the process. That was too much for some old school off the shelf JEs that came with the car I guess. This was the engine that came with the car. Throughout that year I struggled with a mystery lean issue and learned a lot more about widebands and FPRs than I bargained for. I also switched back to ECMlink at the start of this season, from an AEM V1.

2013 saw a nice new motor, mechanical fuel pump, and a T3 FP Super 99. That went 8 teens right away, and then 8.11 at the shootout. By October, it broke into the 7s. Holy shit.

2014 the car continued to run 7.90s, and made the first 7 second pass for a DSM in competition there, that I'm aware of. Ultimately the turbine broke in the converter on a bye run and took me out. I believe at this time I finally upgraded the stock powerglide gear set for a straight cut 1.80 set. I was struggling with thrust bearing issues, which were trans related, and also with head gasket failures. Somewhere around 1100 hp the trusty old Felpro MLS started to just not work for me. In this year I sat down and went through suspension/chassis setup and really made significant progress. I also dropped down to a 28 inch tire to run in Hot Rod at WCF. Sixty foots were already as low as 1.16 previously, but the car just got much better all around. A rear gear change was necessary and unbeknownst to me at the time would cause years of torque converter headaches.

For 2015 I finally got around to building another compound turbo setup. I figured it was a good way to force myself to learn how to tig weld. This setup is still on the car today and has been well documented in other threads. It was initially non intercooled on methanol. It got pretty well stuck in the low 8s again with undiagnosed torque converter issues. In this year Intel closed my fab in Mass and I moved to NH and started Six Sigma Tuning.

In 2016 I bought a dyno, and promptly tossed a rod on the dyno a few weeks before the SO. This was the engine that came went in after the piston failure in 2012. We built a new motor for it in record time and redesigned the entire cold side of the turbo setup, now ice water intercooled at both stages and back on E85 for the shootout. We were welding on the car right up until we hit the highway. I broke in the motor in qualifying, and won the Pro RWD class that year, still stuck in the low 8s.

In 2017 and 18 the car continued to evolve in small but important ways. I made a major change to the heart of the setup, the adapter plate system. It now was able to run a standard chevy converter, and I've run it on a bolt together ever since. I finally got the cooling system working properly, after all those years. I didn't realize how shitty it was until I got it right. And I made some changes to the dual intercooler setup that knocked another 50 degrees F off the charge temps. There was also some interesting findings regarding crank case pressure that are too long to get into. The car struggled during this time with puking oil on throttle lift only, major pain in the ass. But it finally got into the 7s on compound turbos. It's taking a lot more power than it should. Throughout this season, Katie and I bought Marion County Raceway and moved out to Ohio, and put the whole shop into storage.

In 2019 we took over operations at MCR and the car saw very little use. I made a couple of half assed test passes but nothing worth mentioning. At the shootout, it broke a rod on the first pass (this was the motor that went into it in 2016), which is a major setback considering how little time and money I can divert to the car these days. The track takes priority.

But, the plan for 2020 is to get it back together on a different engine setup, and finally beat this 7.90 where I've been stuck for 6 years. Time will tell if I get it right.

 

[Ludachris]

Thanks for taking the time to give such an extensive update Kevin!

Running a race track probably isn't as glamorous as it sounds - but it does sound very f'n cool! Congrats on that purchase, and I hope it brings you guys some good ROI and enjoyment, even if it takes away from some of your racing time. I know most of my car money has always gone into business projects, so I feel your pain.

When you beat the 7.90 mark we'll be there to applaud the effort.

 

[Kevin Jewer]

Thanks Chris! It's been a weird ride for sure. There are times when I'm out there on the tractor prepping the track on a nice day and I can't help but think I've died and gone to heaven. Most of the time though it's far more trouble than it's worth, . Much easier to pay someone else 100 bucks to use their track. But hey, someone's gotta do it. We'll turn it into something eventually. The community supports our effort and that's one of the most important things. The upside on the car is that it's ready to go fast, and for the first time in a long time I know what's holding it back, I just have to get it done. So there's hope.

 

[Ludachris]

Much easier to pay someone else 100 bucks to use their track. But hey, someone's gotta do it. We'll turn it into something eventually. The community supports our effort and that's one of the most important things.

I can certainly relate to that perspective, believe me. Good for you for taking ownership of the track and keeping it available for the drag racing community.

 

[RWD4G63]

Thanks for keeping this thread updated. I've always followed your updated on the yellow bullet compound turbo thread, but to have them all in one place is even better. Looking forward to seeing this thing get down in 2020!

 

[Ludachris]

Any new updates with the car Kevin (@95GSXracer)? Feel free to reply and share some photos and/or videos. I know you're busy, but whenever you have time.

 

[Kevin Jewer]

Man, looking at my previous update, 2020 didn't really happen. I put a stockish motor and a 16g back in it for some fun though. Most of that story is in the 16g discussion thread, but it ended up retaking the 16g record (no nitrous), which I last had in 2011, with a 10.24, last summer. As the temps dropped I worked that down to a 10.02 or so. I'm gonna keep trying for 9s before it warms up too much. The current setup is non-intercooled methanol, which has some pros and cons, but should be my best chance for 9s due to the lighter weight. This car is a little heavy for 16g shenanigans at ~2350 lbs. Then I may step up to the XR 6156 from the mighty max to see what that little guy will do, and/or do some goofy shit like 3 16Gs compounded. I do have another "good" motor being built, but I can't say when I'll get that back in the car with the bigger turbos. That setup has already made more than enough power to beat my 7.90 PB, the trick there will all be in the trans/converter.

Since the 10.02 (or 10.04?) runs I've gone two stators tighter. I know at three times the power I need this, but we'll see what effect it has at ~450 hp. Chasing an incurable random misfire problem I swapped ECUs to my Holley HP. After doing that I found that my MSD DIS2 HO CDI box had failed. That's now an M&W box with 2-3x the ignition energy. I don't expect the ECU to gain me an ET or HP, but the stronger CDI box might if it lets me run it a little richer. I haven't made a real pass with these changes yet.

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[Ludachris]

It's funny how small the 16g looks in there. It almost looks out of place with this type of build.

Hopefully you're able to pull out that 9 before you change things up.

Would you happen to have an underside shot with the car up on a lift? That would be a great pic to have in the car's profile: https://www.dsmtuners.com/dsm-profiles/95gsxracers-talon-tsi.386/

 

[Kevin Jewer]

Now that you mention it, I've been meaning to get an underside pic. I get messages asking for certain details and I never have one. I have to move it out of the lift bay tomorrow, with any luck I'll remember to put it in the air and grab a picture first.

 

[Ludachris]

Now that you mention it, I've been meaning to get an underside pic. I get messages asking for certain details and I never have one. I have to move it out of the lift bay tomorrow, with any luck I'll remember to put it in the air and grab a picture first.

I don't think there are many underside photos floating around for RWD DSMs. Your car is probably the one with most archived information for it here on the site (or anywhere online that can be easily found). The more images you have in your vehicle profile like that, the more beneficial it would be for the community.

 

[Kevin Jewer]

I do have this shot of the diaper I made for it that shows some of the front end.

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[streetraceboi]

It's funny how small the 16g looks in there. It almost looks out of place with this type of build.

It looks almost photoshopped

 

[Ludachris]

It looks almost photoshopped

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[Kevin Jewer]

I think 3 of them would fill it out a little better.

 

[Ludachris]

I think 3 of them would fill it out a little better.

This is how rumors get started... I can just see the posts over on FB - I heard some noob over on toonerz is going triple turbo


I suppose it is April 1st. Maybe it would be fun to plant some seeds.

 

[Kevin Jewer]

Lol, all good points. There is a 90% chance this is going to happen though. It should run low 8s without too much trouble.

 

[Ludachris]

Lol, all good points. There is a 90% chance this is going to happen though. It should run low 8s without too much trouble.

Well in that case, let the rumors begin!

 

[import solutions]

Thats shinny converter

 

[Kevin Jewer]

I've wanted to do a triple turbo compound setup (all identical turbos) for a long time. Usually it's 3 35Rs, but if this 16g goes nines, I might as well see what 3 will do.

That converter is one of the best things I ever did. Being able to service it and make changes to it myself is huge.

 

[import solutions]

Kevin 3 turbo should be one compress after each other ?
Say
(Atmoxpr1xpr2xpr3)-atmo ?

 

[Kevin Jewer]

In order for compounding to work, the atmospheric compressor has to be biggest. As a very general rule of thumb I like the atmospheric compressor to be twice the flow of the high pressure compressor, so three turbos accomplishes that exactly. Two 16Gs in parallel feeding one 16g in series, if that makes sense. To use your mathematical example it might look something like (16g+16g)x16gxAtmo.

 

[Ludachris]

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[Ludachris]

Kevin, I see your name mentioned here in the forums quite a bit, but not everyone knows your username. Wonder if you should just change your username to your actual name. That'd probably be a good idea for several other well known DSMers too.