Ok guys here's the deal.. I have an old buddy on the other side of the state that I keep in touch with. He's a really cool guy and is into cars aswell, so we have a bit of a friendly rivalry goin on.

Well we talked a few weeks ago, and he was voicing some serious doubts in the capabilities of my Rexer, basically saying I'd be lucky to break 14's. Personally I feel the car is faster then that, so we ended up making a bet.... He pays for my day at the track(food, track fee, etc) if I run better then a 14.5, I pay for him if I don't... Money isn't much of a concern for him as he just picked up a new WRX that he's going to be modding, but it is for me, which is why I'm here asking for advice...

I'm pretty confident that the car as it sits now is fast enough to win the bet.... However, I don't exactly feel like my driving is... This is going to be my first time racing from an actual drag tree, and knowing that I probably won't drive the best, I am looking for an edge... Just enough to pick up a couple tenths due to driver error.

I'm considering these mods at the moment, I'd like your advice on what to get first, or any other mods I should consider.

1. Clutch. I'm rocking the stock unit right now. Not sure if I should go here first as it seems to be doing the job fine right now.

2. Drag Radials. Due to my light weight I'm having a hard time keeping traction off the launch. I thinking these would be a remedy for that, and net a good time improvement. What would recomend I get? Nittos, bfgs???

3. VAFC/Dyno time. I definatly want to go this route first, but I think it will be the most expensive of the lot. Also, I haven't been able to pull up any good tuners in my area, so I'd likely be taking a crash course in tuning it myself.

I can afford to do 2 of these mods or more by the time we race next spring, what would you recomend I do first?

 

My friend here with an 89 CRX Si first gen B16a ran a 15.1 spinning through 1st gear and overheating down the track. He didn't run again because of that. I would assume he would of ran a 14.8 at the end of the night. He has a DC Sports header, VAFC (tuned by Secret Services), stock replacement exhaust with 2" pipes to the cat (I think 2") and an AEM cold air intake. Get some BFG drag radials and the VAFC with some tuning. After those mods you should have no problem pulling a 14.5.

 

if your clutch is still good.
a nice suspension with BFGs will help you alot.

 

drag radials + small dry shot of nitrous (25-30) and you will be very confident

 

my buddy has a 94 hatch with b16 and 17" rims w/ nitto neogens and ran 14.5's all day... this was on full interior, tokico blues/GC coilovers and i/h/e... you should be able to do it definately...

 

I ran a 14.9 with a bone stock B18b swap into my gutted EG. Gut your car and go practice launching in a parking lot or something. You should be in 14s np.

 

drag radials and you'll proabbaly get him in firsst gear!
but if your friend can drive then your gonna be playing catch up.

 

Yea I thought about the nitrous, but basically we agreed on nothing "too sneaky", so no n2o or boost for this race. I have plans for a custom 2-stage wet kit later on, though.

Since you guys didn't knock the VAFC, I think that I'll go with it first. That will gave me all winter to worry about getting it tuned, and I also won't have drag radials laying around that I can't use till spring.

Also, I was wondering if any of you have ever had tires siped? Would that be a good alternative to a drag radial? I can get my tires siped for $10 a piece, which would save me about $250 that I could spend elsewhere on the car.

Thanks, you'll probably see me asking for launch tips in the near future.

 

what is siped?

I dont see why you should break 14's with your current set up.....not so shure about 14.5s though.

Is it a HF? Si?

Drag radials at 22psi or lower maybe with good 60ft should lower your e.t

If your not confident about your driving "PRACTICE"

Why not go to the track before you go with your friend.

There are so manny things you can do.
You have all winter

Stiffin your rear shocks and get the cam gears tuned with v-afc
Bfg drag radials or nittos and put the car on a diet.
14.5 for shure IF YOUR MOTOR IS GOOD
I must stress do a leak down or at least a compression test

 

you said it yourself, get the vtec controller and the slicks and make sure you heat them up real good, since you got an lsd rev it high and launch it hard!

 

Siping, from what I've seen, is putting small slices all over the tire. Basically they have a machine that puts a small cut about 1/4" inch deep, from one sidewall to the other. They are spaced about 3/8" apart so you have a few 100 or so cuts in your tire when it's done. It's supposed to improve traction, and also increase tire longevity...

10-4 on the practicing chief! However, the nearest track is about 100 miles away so I can't just head to one at a moments notice. I do know some quiet back-roads though, so I can practice launches out there...

I'm gonna do some minor lightening, but will be running pretty much what "appears" to be a full interior.. Part of the "nothing too sneaky" part of the deal. I know I can get away with the drag radials, because he proably won't notice them when he's checking out the car for the first time.

My suspension setup right now is doing the job well. I don't think I'm gonna do anything else besdies maybe a jimfab, and some traction bars. Other then that I'll just be runniing the koni's about 4 up front and 5 in the rear as far as stiffness goes... I might put the fronts on 3 just to see if I can get it to hook better, but I'm unsure of the results I'll see from a softer front dampener setting...

Also, I'm not worried about the engine... Its previous owner put it through some ****, but I think I got all his goofs figured out, and the car is running much better from when I first got it.

I'm about 205psi in all cylinders right now, but my numbers are of because I didn't hold the throttle at WOT when cranking. I'm sure I would have posted up some better compression numbers had I done the test properly.

I'm gonna start shopping for a VAFC first, hopefully I can find a nice used one and save me a few bucks. Then after I get it installed I'll start worrying about the tires.. Thanks, Neil

 

have you tuned your cam gears yet?

 

No, no tuning of anything yet, all factory spec. Also, ATM the cam gears are off the vehicle as well. I found some damage on them I was unsure of when I was lining up the timing, and I didn't want to chance a belt breaking or other damage, so they came off. I should have the replacements here by early next week, thanks to a seller on the board.

 

from wat i can tell u should easily be runnin a 14.5, my friend has a B16a in a crx motor is bone stock other than intake and he has the factory like 1 inch exhaust, he ran a 14.7 in that and i think it could go faster. with that motor and all your mods u should easily hit a 14.5, if u dont get radials or something then either run on a set of 14 or 13 inch steelies in the front at about 24-26 psi. thats wat ive found the best with my car. im runnin a 95 coupe with B18c with intake and exhaust. i ran a 14.1 on the stock 13s last friday. launched around 3500. good luck at the track. also take interior stuff out if possible to get it light as u can