Last night I ran 15.73. I recently converted to electric fans, took off my tailgate and spare tire thinking I would get a new best, but last week I ran a 15.498. I'm very confused. Hope it was the weather!!

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OO L Black, Superchip R9, Airaid FIPK and Tonneau cover 1999 F-150 Lariat SC Flareside, 2WD, White/Silver 5.4L, 3.55LS, K&N FIPK, Power Pulley Set, 16" Permacool electric fan, Flowmaster 40 series, Superchip, Captains chairs and tow package

 

Could have been the weather. Could have been fuel. Could have been the tire pressure. Could have been driving technique. Could have been you gained a lot of weight in the past week?

 

Hi Mikey,

Don't worry about that at all, as you can *never* compare times run on different days, as you'll never have the same atmospheric conditions.

These vehicles can easily vary in their ET's by +/- .5 seconds, easy, just based on weather.

Staging technique must be done exactly the same each and every time, or that will cause a variance of anywhere from 1 to as much as 3 tenths in these vehicle's too, depending on how much effective "rollout" distance you had by virtue of how "shallow" or how "deep" you staged, etc. There are a number of variables, and that's why a very specific procedure has to be used when doing 1/4 mile comparison times for modifications, etc.

In fact, we include a drag racing tips sheet for Lightning owners in every Superchip we ship for Lightnings, and if you'd like a copy of our latest tips sheet (which is very basic, it's for those who are not experienced doing sound bck-to-back testing at the strip) and just gives you a sound format for testing, as well as describing how to stage as consistently as possible so you can get the most accurate comparisons.

You probably already have a copy from your R9 Lightning Superchip, but if not, or if you'd just like to have the latest version, shoot us an email and we'll attach it as a return to you.

In the meantime, don't worry in the least about slowing down a couple of tenths even after doing that additional work, I'm sure it was just warmer weather, etc., and your truck is running fine. Most likely, if you hadn't done those other mods like converting to electric fans & taking off that weight, you probably would have slowed down considerably more because of the weather, you could easily have slowed down a full half-second or even more, so you probably did very well in fact, for your conditions.

We've seen bone-stock Lightnings run as quick as 13.6's in Fall or Spring, but turn right around and run 14.2's in Summer heat, so this is perfectly natural, Mikey.

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Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
First National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer

[This message has been edited by Superchips_Distributor (edited 05-06-2001).]

 

.....could have been you installed the fan backwards......

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Hey Mikey.
Check my post (Sac raceway 5/9/2001) and check out my times. My Best was 15.7, and yesterday my best was 16.0. It was definitely hotter (about 30 degrees hotter), so I expected to get slower times.

The hotter it gets the more the ambient air expands (less dense). So you pull in the same volume of air, but it's density (eg actual number of molecules of oxygen in that given volume of air) is lower, therefore less bang for the buck, so to speak.

So don't sweat the drop off in times. You'll see as it gets hotter your times will drop further.

 

Woulda, coulda, shoulda, I'm back on top! WOOHOO!

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1999 Ford F150 Lariat RegCab 2WD shortbed 5.4L 3.55LS Towpkg Line-X
15.714@85.21

 

I hope that's all it was. Raoul, I might drive to a cooler climate to get a better time so I can get back on top of you!!! Ha Ha

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OO L Black, Superchip R9, Airaid FIPK and Tonneau cover 1999 F-150 Lariat SC Flareside, 2WD, White/Silver 5.4L, 3.55LS, K&N FIPK, Power Pulley Set, 16" Permacool electric fan, Flowmaster 40 series, Superchip, Captains chairs and tow package

 

Hey,mikey88

Raoul still can't mess with my "Vacherie Boys" time..15.66 ET.

 

15.73 : 15.498 is 1.015 -- meaning 1.5% difference week over week.

Even big-bucks dynamameters are not repeatable to that specification week over week -- and those who do testing for a living will admit that it's hard to dead-weight calibrate test equipment to that accuracy time after time -- and most calibration is done electronically (not as accurate).

Bottom line: You're within an acceptable range for "samie-samie" when you take into account the 'phase of the moon' and all other uncontrollable 'noise' in your experiment.



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Y2K™ Jim - N8JG@Hotmail.com

Toreador Red, Keyless XLT SC SB 5.4L E4x4 4wDisc/ABS, 3.73LS, Skid, HD 7700# Towing, LT-245's on Chrome, Tube-Steps, Captain's, 6CD, Tonneau, named: "Nick"

 

look at your timeslips and find where you lost your time.It was most likely out of the hole.This is where you should look to make your improvements. Also try to remember exactly what you do, do you shift a 4000 one run and at 5000 another? keep track of every run and compare slips see what works and what doesn't. A little tip for launching, alot of people hold the brake and bring up the rpm, don't!! let it idle and learn the tree, by letting it idle, then hammering it, you'll get a little more stall from the converter, not a whole lot, but anything helps. forget the tree and work on the run, the time doesn't start until you break the beam, and if your not running anyone, don't worry about reaction times until you have the run nailed down. You'll know when that is, because try as you might you can do no better and all of your runs are very similar.you'll be surprized when lose those 3 tenths and then drop another 3!!!

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2001 F-150 XLT S-CAB 4.6 "Fully equipt, and Superchip'd!"
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Well, I went out again last night and believe it or not there was a cool front that passed thru south LA this week, so it was cooler. Only made one run and ran 15.553. The track really hooked up good, so I'm sure that helped. Now for the really big surprise, there was a 2000 or 2001 F-250 crew cab with 4 big doors running 15.6. I saw it so I believe it. He ran several times and made it thru about 3 or 4 rounds of elimanaions.

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OO L Black, Superchip R9, Airaid FIPK and Tonneau cover 1999 F-150 Lariat SC Flareside, 2WD, White/Silver 5.4L, 3.55LS, K&N FIPK, Power Pulley Set, 16" Permacool electric fan, Flowmaster 40 series, Superchip, Captains chairs and tow package