The 14b Drag Race Discussion Thread

[91stocker]

Try an uncrushed one with the Gus/Dodge Garage mod, they'll hold whatever you can throw at 'em.

Think i could dodge mod the crushed one i have? With my current situation and how it leaks?

 

[SBstar]

Dodge garage modding a crushed one can cause issues with the bov not opening fast enough (causing surge). Provided you did not crush it too far it may work.

Also I have one bov that leaked, so I dodge garage modded it, still leaked. Not saying yours will be the same but it seems that if it won't seal at low psi, modding it won't help.

 

[1990AWD]

Mine was crushed and modded and it worked just fine.

 

[91stocker]

Guess i'll give that a go. Nothing to loose at this point. It leaks so bad that its holding me up on finishing my tune even.

 

[1SloEvo]

Even the smallest of leaks will cause a 'finished' tune to be thrown completely off. Until you repair all your leaks, how do you even know how hard you are pushing your turbo? If you have a big leak and are still making considerable boost, you are probably overworking the little 14b.

 

[SBstar]

Installed my summit racing seat today. Custom fabbed a bracket and made a solution for the seat belts. Overall 25 lbs. down! Not a bad start towards my goal of 100 before the next track venture.

 

[91stocker]

25lbs off one seat? Thats pretty good. Do you remove the passenger seat at the track?

Edit: Just seen your thread updated, those look pretty good in there. I've been wondering what the jegs seats would look like. The price isnt bad either.

 

[SBstar]

25lbs off one seat? Thats pretty good. Do you remove the passenger seat at the track?

Edit: Just seen your thread updated, those look pretty good in there. I've been wondering what the jegs seats would look like. The price isnt bad either.

From what I can tell the jegs seat is identical, i'm pretty sure their made by the same people. Of course I haven't looked at them next to each other. Yes, I remove the passenger seat at the track, the drivers seat weighs 47-48lbs or at least mine did. The Summit seat w/cover/cushion, slider rail, and homemade bracket weighs 23 lbs. So 24-25 lbs saved. If I had aluminum for the bracket and made it hard mounted without a slider I could probably save another 3-5 lbs. Also the cover weighs about 2lbs. For now it's worth it to me to have the slider and the cover for comfort.

 

[91stocker]

O for sure man. 50lbs off from seats alone is substantial. Plus there still some weight to loose with the harnesses.

I was worried about them being too tall, but they look nice in there. May have to grab a pair soon.

 

[SBstar]

For the record I only have the drivers seat. But yes, they match nicely if you plan on carrying a passenger. I just pull the stock passenger seat out after we get to the track.

 

[DJ23GSX]

I had problems with my crushed stock 1g bov leaking as well. I ended up trying the knock off bov that came with my punishment racing fmic pipes and after doing the spring mod its been holding up great with no surge or boost leaks at 20 psi on my 20g. I've blt'd it up to 25psi with no leaks. They don't list it for sale on there website but I'm sure if you sent them an email they would sell you one cheap cause they just toss them in for free with a fmic kit. My only problem with that knockoff was the flange wasn't perfectly flat (might of been the i/c pipe flange too) and had to use a little rvt on the gasket to seal it completely. I am not a fan at all with any knockoff parts but this one is pretty decent quality and I was in a pinch

 

[SBstar]

Just started searching, but figured I'd add the discussion here anyways. What kind of suspension setting is everyone using front and rear? I've had the Megan's set in the middle setting for both front and rear and I know there is gain there on the launch if I knew how to dial them in for optimal settings.

After a little searching it seems there are two trains of thought.

1. Set it up like a rwd car, softer settings in the rear to promote weight transfer and more traction in the rear.

2. The more popular thought, stiff in the rear, soften up the front (more like a fwd car). Promoting less weight transfer to the rear keeps the front tires down encouraging them to hook and help pull the car forward.

I think I'm going to stiffen the rear a few clicks and soften the fronts and see if it makes any difference. The spring rates on the Megan's are pretty stiff so it's not like it's going to make a whole world of difference but any little bit helps. I may play around with it a little bit and see what works. I'd love to get a close-up slo-mo video of my launch and see what it looks like, maybe some limiting straps like Nate C. runs would be in order.

 

[pneumo]

I prefer to set it up like a fwd. Keep it low and soft in front, high and firm out back. This method helps spread the power around to all 4 wheels which works better with a stock center diff. I usually cut 1.5x 60' times with slicks tho, nothing extraordinary.

 

[1qkfwd]

A trick for the rear is to put a zip tie on the shaft of the strut. Push it to the bottom and when you launch the tie will move up and stop. This is how I found out my car was hitting the bump stop. You'll want the rear to squat as far without hitting the bump stop. On slicks this car hit low 1.4s and as I kept dialing it in I hit a 1.3. Never made it back to the track.

After playing with my fwd you want a soft spring and the strut cranked up a bit. The less transfer in the front the better. Thus the reason you use limiting straps and traction bars. I never finished fully setting this car up but I got it hitting consistent high 1.6s.

So what you'll get is the front not moving then just the rear with a little squat. The car will then push out instead of up then out.

My buddies 16g car we have kinda dialed in to and he will hit mid to high 1.5s all day with 225-45-17 drag radials. Once he replaces bushings and we get the alignment in check it should do better.

 

[Kevin Jewer]

My old 2g with Tokico shocks and ground control sleeves would do best with the rears full soft (found this out on a block set of shocks) and the fronts full stiff, IIRC. This car would get as low as 1.55 on all season dunlops with ~1.62s being typical, on 16g to 50 trim sized turbos. This was in 2002-2003, so I'm sure there are better parts/tires out there now.

My EVO got high 1.5s on snow tires with a stock 16g on pump gas and stock suspension, and it squatted quite a bit. I think the main benefit is from absorbing the initial hit giving the tires a chance to hook up. The stiffer rear settings seem to cause the rear to spin right away and skate around even with lower tire pressures. There's a limit though. Cars with lots of body pitch will need stiffer settings, and higher power cars that break axles if the rear squats too far.

The best thing to do is experiment. With the natural inconsistency of 5 speed cars it can take quite a few runs to see small changes though, so it helps to make a lot of passes. 90% of the 60 foot is in how you apply the clutch, so it helps to be able to do that the same way every time, which also comes with making a shitload of passes. And as always, this is just my personal opinion, and not necessarily "right."

 

[SBstar]

Hmm two answers for softer in the rear. I think Im going to change my mind and start the next trip that way. Thanks guys!

 

[Nate Crisman]

IMHO, I go with the "FWD" setup of trying to keep the front end down and have the rear suspension set to squat and absorb just enough shock to keep the tires hooked up. But not squat so much that the suspension bottoms, alignment goes to crap, and wastes energy.

I never really got a definitive test on the limit straps on/off to see what they were worth, but I'd still think that is a good way to go, especially a car with front shocks that aren't highly adjustable on rebound dampening.

Do as I say, not as I do:

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

that's my daily driver on 100% stock suspension with no sway bars. It did a few high 1.5's like that on slicks. I put GR2/Eibach profit suspension on it (free off parts car) and that dropped the 60 to the 1.51 range and it doesn't seem to lift the front or squat the back as hard. I'd like to still try the limit straps on the front.

 

[SBstar]

Thanks Nate, you can see your camber being way off with that squat! I had them set my rear camber so under some squat it should be perfect, can't remember the exact setting.

On another note dor my weight reduction I found a listing stating the Megan catback weighs 30lbs. Plan on dropping that and the straight pipe at the track next time 55 lbs off 45 to go.

 

[pneumo]

I took a look at my slicks and the rears are wearing on the inside edge after 2 years/ maybe 2 dozen passes. It's not a lot of wear, but I can see the difference. I have the rear suspension set up a little higher, with 1/4 degree positive camber to reduce the camber change at the back, I also use 375 pound rear springs. It still squats enough to wear the inside edge. I've been watching a vid of my car launching here;
20110612131805.mpg - YouTube!

Pause it at 11 seconds and it looks like the back end is off the bumpstops, but is it too high? Any other input?
Thanks!

 

[hubz91talontsi]

No one runs any spring rubbers?

 

[SBstar]

No one runs any spring rubbers?

I'd never heard of them so I went and read a tech article. Seems to be an effective way to try out stiffer spring rates. I haven't heard of them being used in the dsm world but they would seem to be a good solution if you needed to stuliffen up your suspension.

My spring rates are quite stiff, I'm fairly sertain the Megan's are the highest spring rates in the budget coilover segment. I'd have to look back to see what they are exactly. I'm more concerned about optimising what dampning adjustability they have as I don't have the cash to try different softer springs.

Looked it up 672 front and 560 rear.

 

[habitatguy187]

No one runs any spring rubbers?

I had some in my old fwd and although the rear end definitely felt stiffer my 60' times didn't improve a single bit. Sucks I put those in and made a dual-stage boost controller and still ran the exact same times when I went back to the track

 

[1qkfwd]

Dave try the zip tie trick next time your out to see if your really bottoming out. Ill have to dig up my 9.9 pass with my awd you can see how smooth it comes out for the 1.3 60' times.

As for the front if you get an idea on how much your car lifts you can set your front camber postive accordingly. Then there is no need for a limiting strap. Playing with my fwd so far I found that .25-.30 of a degree positive camber has netted me the best 60' times. Im trying to push it as fas as I can without limiters or traction bars. Then I can pretty much apply some of this over to my awd when its said and done.

 

[Phil1320]

Hmm two answers for softer in the rear. I think Im going to change my mind and start the next trip that way. Thanks guys!

While you're on street tires including drag radials, I'd keep it on the softer side, once you go slicks it's a different ball game....stiffen it up and let the slick be the only thing that absorbs or prevents power from getting to the ground, not the chassis and suspension.

 

[Nate Crisman]

While you're on street tires including drag radials, I'd keep it on the softer side, once you go slicks it's a different ball game....stiffen it up and let the slick be the only thing that absorbs or prevents power from getting to the ground, not the chassis and suspension.

Agreed, in my experience, with a lightweight 1g awd car and a bias ply slick...we literally don't have enough power to overcome traction. Launch rpm for me on slicks was getting close to shift rpm!



On a side note....I'm putting my yellow 1g back together this winter for 2013 season after spending 2012 fooling around with a red 92 auto streetcar (which is now so much faster than safety equipment allows that I can't run it anymore).

Im thinking that Im going to put a 14b on it and see if I can improve the 2011 times.

Changes:
2.3L bottom end...frankenstein/partout motor again.
single point dry nitrous...fueling it with DSMlink secondary map and big injectors
E98 fuel
Different intercooler setup...old system sold, but I haven't figured out a new setup....leaning toward a non pumped system similar to Jeff Bush's auto 1g.