so i took my truck to the strip for the season opener, and the first time i drag raced the new truck. Its a 1998 ram 1500 sport with a 5.2. I left it bone stock to get a base line for when i start doing stuff to it. Im on street tires with an open rear end. The video is of round 2 where i red lighted by .003 seconds. I love how consistant the truck is with its times and starts once i got used to it.

I love the consistency of the runs i made and how the truck performed. the only annoyance was the open rear end, but my launches were good anyway.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkNbM5E3ZiI

Dont know if you can read these time slips or not so im just posting the link to keep it as big as possible. my best time was 17.56 with a .016 rt. Im Car #302


http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g8...gkaos/day1.jpg


Here she is



Im a very happy dodge racer
-Chris

 

Soo now that you have a "baseline". What are your plans to improve on it?

 

Ill be getting an exhaust because the stock one is rattling and doesnt sound how i want it. I have a 180* thermastat that i put in when i got home yesterday.

Im debating whether or not I want a round air cleaner yet, i might wait till i get a good hood scoop or get a cold air intake, but im not sure how much of an improvement over stock they can be since stock is already a cai.

I will definatly be getting a closed rear end, either Auburn or Detroit. It launched great but i dont like killing one tire during burnouts.

This is all going to be over the year, because having a "fast" truck isnt the main thing in my life, i just like to see it consistant.

 

The stock CAI sucks, trust me. Way to restrictive.

The CAI vs. 14x3 round open element cleaner has already been discussed many times, as I'm sure you are aware. A good ram air setup would be best but the most expensive (but worth it if you have the $$$). I like my enclosed CAI that still gets its air from the wheel well (outside the hot engine bay), but others would still prefer the open element, and its cheaper. I admit, it also looks cleaner. Of course, I got my supposedly "$400 retail value" CAI on sale for just over $200, and I wouldn't personally recommend spending any more than $250 on a CAI if you do decide to go that route. They're overpriced when they're on sale, ridiculously so when they aren't on sale.

 

yeah, im not trying to start that up. it all depends on money for me. its ridiculous how a peice of pipe and a paper filter cost that much.

Right now it seems like the next step is the exhaust then an o2 sensor, cause it threw the code for it today.

 

That was slow.

 

That was slow.. Hmmm- you forgot your smile so he would know you are being sarcastic.

Boardingkaos- on street ties doing a burn out will not help but actually hurt. They are radial tires and the more heat into them the worse they will perform. If you want more traction, just go around the water do a little hop to clean any dirt/dust off and line up.

Your 60' times are hurting you. If you're spinning, back off the throttle jst a bit.

 

i never slid off the line and i just slammed it to the floor to keep the consistancy.

As far as it being slow goes, it weighs 6400 lbs and even though that was sarcastic, i hope you noticed i care more about consistancy than speed.

For burnouts i drove around the water and then spun to get the dirt of like you said.

How does heat hurt street tires?

edit:
i just reread it and i sound likea dick but thats not how i meant it

 

yes and no. On regular street radials you do get a "grease" that extracts itself under heat generated by burning out and stays on the tires making it harder to get traction. Though, if you have a set of tires you dont care about, you can burn them for about 10 seconds, after two runs or so youll have very very tacky tires. But good advice otherwise. Sounds like you dont need traction anyways. Shouldnt with that time and 6400 lbs. Are you sure its 6400!? Mine was ~4900 when I went to the scales with everything on it.

 

Times are about bang on for your truck. Track buddy had your truck exactly and ran the same ets so dont worry, your not slow for what you have . Consistancy is great if your doing bracket racing andhaving slower ets can be an advantage. Hard to judge racing a much slower vehicle at the finish line (no offense intended here) Good rt and accurate dial ins are what wins races, n you have both [8D]

As far as exhaust, if the rattle is the cat, replace it with a h/f. The exhaust behind the cat will do next to nothing for your ets for what it will cost you. If you had a 97 or older then it would help.
14x3" open K&N will get you off the line faster(60'/better et)than a genII k&n(faster mph/slower et)will and are relatively cheap in comparison. Friends & myself got into testing this years ago when the genII first came out in 98. 14" was faster on the 1/4m as described. I got tired of posting this & arguements so seldom mention it now.
If you decide to switch to a ramairboxlater you canstill use the filter (biggest cost of 14x3) Ramairbox pays for itself in probably just over 1yr now(withgas costs)if you put highway miles on her (I saw 2mpg increase at least w/5.9)

As far as your weightgoes, yesDodge Rams are fat pigs but not that much.
6400lbs is the gross vechicle weight. Means with passengers, items in the bed& tongue weight from a trailer the most the truck is rated for is 6400lbs. Depending on options that means you can put about 2000-2100lbs between cab/bed/tongue weight. Weigh it on the track scales next time to verify this, should be around 4200-4400. My Indy (loaded) weighed 4455lbs my first time at the track with it back in July96 w/1500miles on odometer.

If you have no tire spin off the line then the lsd will cost you et. Dont add one till your fast enough to justify it. As mentioned, dont do long burnouts, just spin it enough to get any stones out of the tire and leave it at that. Radials get greasy/slippery with heat.
I havefair bit ofinfo on track setup for a Ram in my tech area as well as wt reduction and mods vs et reduction that may help you http://www.rm-indy.com/tech.htm

Sounds like you had fun with it n thats the most important thing. I couldnt wipe the grin off my face for weeks my first time.