The 14b Drag Race Discussion Thread

[1990AWD]

Quick question, how will you open the doors from the inside?

 

[1SloEvo]

Awesome. Thanks for the pics! Other than the speakers and the door panels, I still have all of that to take out, so I'm hoping 30lb per door. That would be double the 30lb estimate I made for both doors.

You can actually leave a small piece of the rod attached to the door latch and just pull the rod manually without a handle. That's probably what I'll do. I'll just bend it down to make it like a handle.

 

[Arthris]

^I want ## door panels. They look sexy

 

[Nate Crisman]

ArcticTsi: could I bother you for a weight # on JUST the door support crash bar?

 

[GRNDSM]

Some 1G door related weights:

Laser Door (no mirror, manual crank, no power lock, simple ground effects) 68.1lbs.
Beam/crash bar 12lbs
Factory Glass 7.7lbs
Power mirror 2.5lbs
Speed Glass (1"oversized all the way around) 4.5lbs

I ended up keeping glass and manual crank in DS door for driver's comfort

 

[ArcticTsi]

Quick question, how will you open the doors from the inside?

Will end up attaching a strap to the latch mechanism, much like the ones that come on the race trim Porsches(see attached pic). Of course after the door is finalized.

ArcticTsi: could I bother you for a weight # on JUST the door support crash bar?

Here you go Nate, just weighed the beam seperately. I have a thing for knowing exact weights, personal quirk. The exact weight of the beam is 12.34 lbs. So for both doors should be 24.6 lbs easy.

I ended up keeping glass and manual crank in DS door for driver's comfort

I hear ya! But now I am to the point that when I get into the Talon, I want it to feel like I am getting into a race car. Unlike what it has been for years past, still full leather and trim, radio and all. Now she will be mainly for track.

 

[1SloEvo]

Great info on the weights. I did a little more work on my Laser today. Added some hood pins. I hate having the latch, especially since it's going to be 90% track car. The other 10% will be quick trips and car meets.

I also removed a little more weight. I pulled some wiring out from the interior as well as did some 'redecorating'. I pulled the wiring to the climate controls, radio, window motors, radios, seat belt tracks, etc. I also removed the center console brackets (the one's the ECU bolts to). I mounted the ECU on the firewall and cleaned up all the wiring! I also removed what was left of the dash. I just left the gauge piece (no surround) and the climate control portion of the center console that has my gauge setup. Nothing else is there.

All in all, I ended up removing another 24.6 lb, which drops the weight of the car down to around 2145lb. I picked up the piece of Lexan that Arctic mentioned for the windows. In the next couple of weeks, I'm planning to gut the doors and install the Lexan!

Anybody else planning to really push the 14b and possibly give a go at the record?

 

[ArcticTsi]

Great info on the weights.

Anybody else planning to really push the 14b and possibly give a go at the record?

That is one of the great things about the DSM community. We are one big family. Always willing to share what we learn or discover about our cars. No secret squirell stuff here. We are all on the same team is what it boils down to.

I personally dont see myself/car being a record contender. I autocross so my weight can only go down so much. I am AWD and I have alot of extra weight in suspension, oversized swaybars, strut tower bars, big brakes, big wheels, etc.

Any given day I am at the track, I am there for personal satisfaction. I leave knowing that Me and the Car gave all we had that day. Right now I am just looking to better my 12.1 run I did 8 some years ago. I have not run the car competitively since. We will see how it goes.

 

[1SloEvo]

Hey Arctic, did you get a pic of the Lexan installed in the doors yet? I am really interested in seeing that to give me ideas of installing the Lexan in my car!

And I do like how most everybody here will post up about their setups. Most people who are truly into modding know what it takes to make power. They might not know the best possibly setup, but they know the basics. Being on a forum where guys are willing to give out those details is where it matters...and this forum does a pretty good job!

 

[ArcticTsi]

Hey Arctic, did you get a pic of the Lexan installed in the doors yet? I am really interested in seeing that to give me ideas of installing the Lexan in my car!

Nope not yet. Been busy with the job. Have not made it to the autoshop yet to pick up a roll of window tint. By next week for sure should have it tinted and in the car. Will post up pics for sure.

 

[1SloEvo]

Sweet.

Here is a quick pic of the interior. You can see the only two pieces that I left for monitoring the vitals...other than the laptop!

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[Pirrofab]

1sloevo.... You sir are beyond dedication. You are a crazy! I mean that in the nicest way possible. Atleast the passenger still gets to sit on a seat. Its definatley clean though how u removed everything. I still DD my car so thats out of the question to go that far. I'll have to get creative to drop my car the next 200 lbs.

Question regarding the rear brace that goes along the floor behind the back seats and goes to the seatbelt brackets. How much does it weigh and it is safe to remove for a DD/auto-x/drag car and just have a rollcage bar welded across the rear strut towers? After doing this would there be any weight savings or gain in chassis stiffness?

 

[1SloEvo]

Silver - that strut support weighed in at 9.8 lb. If you are going to be getting a cage anyway, then yes, I would definitely take the time to cut that bar out. If you aren't going to get a cage, it might still be beneficial to cut that bar out and go to an aluminum strut tower bar. That would probably still save you 6-7 lb. Not much, but you can't pull out 100 lb without pulling out 1 lb first. It all adds up.

Thanks for the compliment as well. My car is still registered and occasionally I drive it on the street, to work, or wherever. Even as it becomes more and more dedicated to being a track only car, I still plan to keep it registered and go to car meets and car shows with it...or just drive it on small errands around town. I'm really wanting to push toward the 14b record! I know there have been many attempts at it and no one has really gotten that close to Bucci's numbers. I'm hoping I can get pretty close! I know that it's still a ways off and there is still a LOT I have left to do to even contend with his record, but that's the end goal!

 

[Kevin Jewer]

I found a 14b to throw on my car, but I'm not sure if I'll do it at the beginning of the season or the end of the season. I don't think I'll be able to hit the record based on what I've seen with the 16g. Well, if I can get the 16g into the 9s I'll feel better about it. Either way, I'm just curious to see what it will do.

 

[pneumo]

I found a 14b to throw on my car, but I'm not sure if I'll do it at the beginning of the season or the end of the season. I don't think I'll be able to hit the record based on what I've seen with the 16g. Well, if I can get the 16g into the 9s I'll feel better about it. Either way, I'm just curious to see what it will do.

That'll be fun to watch! Tuning is difficult since the 14b is on a whole different level of airflow, or should I say 'lack of airflow'

 

[Kevin Jewer]

I think the main problem for me will be that I'm launching at an RPM that is above the point where the little turbos are already dropping off. The 16g would leave at 6100 on this converter, hopefully the 14b will come in a good bit lower.

 

[pneumo]

Ha, yeah it's always odd when the launch rpm is higher than the shift points. Or is that just me?

 

[Pirrofab]

Kevin, What about pursuing some sort of low et's with the mightymax?

 

[shampoo]

Wow all these stripped lightweight cars.

Guess a full weight 14B powered 2G would not stand a chance! Haha

 

[ArcticTsi]

well looks like my stock ECU has finally got tired. Hopefully this solves some of the issues I have been having.

 

[Kevin Jewer]

Kevin, What about pursuing some sort of low et's with the mightymax?

This is definitely going to happen, either on my truck or Kait's truck. Both will get tested with small turbos to see how the torque converters work with them. Kait's truck is going to get a roll cage, so I'd like to see a 10 second 16g pass on that, but we'll put the 14b on too I'm sure. Her truck is a little way off though, maybe end of season. Mine is closer to being done (again), and once the small turbo stuff is freed up from the Talon, it will move over to my truck, so we could see some numbers there in the next couple months. To recap, both trucks run 3 speed autos, mine is a 2.3, hers is a 2 liter, both on V3. I'm glad the race car is back together already, that means we'll be working on the trucks very soon. In fact I just re-registered mine.

 

[Pirrofab]

Very cool to hear. How streetable are the trucks? I'm sure you told us once before but I dont remember and dont think I've seen many pics of them. One of these days i'll build one. right now my mightymax/ d50 1/24th scale slot car will have to do. It covers a scale 1000ft track in .71x seconds at 59mph.

How hard was the wiring to convert over on the mighty max for the 4g swap. due to the lack of torque from a 14b /16g turbo would traction be an issue?

 

[Kevin Jewer]

My truck was a blast on the street. Even in the rain with full boost in second gear the mickey thompson DRs held. I couldn't believe it. That was right after I left the dyno, it did 320 or something on a mustang dyno through the auto. With solid mounts there was a lot of vibration, but pretty driveable otherwise. I drove it pretty far to the dyno, to work a couple times, and ran it at the track a couple times, but that was as far as I got before pulling the motor to get Kait's talon running. I knew at that point I wanted a 2.3 anyway. I can't wait to get this thing running again. There are some pics here and some videos here.

Kait's truck hasn't run with us yet. We need to completely go through the whole thing. Needs some frame rust repair too. Previous owner drove it with a 14b or 16g and the manual trans and it reportedly lit the tired up all over the place in every gear. I'm sure with better tires it will behave better. The small turbos can actually give really good torque numbers, since they spool at such a low rpm.

Wiring isn't too bad. I gutted a 2g harness for mine, and extended and shortened what needed to be. There are a few wires that got tied into the truck harness, like constant and switched power, cranking signal, etc.

 

[e85_4g63]

Where are all the 14b contenders for the 2012 drag racing season? Anyone make any passes this year yet? Come on, we need some motivation!

 

[GRNDSM]

Gime me a bit time, our track just opened today!