I have an idea:

Anyone who has a stupid question (any topic) can ask it here.
It can be any topic, any subject matter.

Aloow me to start it off with "Stupid Question #1":

Ive seen this a few times and could never "get it"

At the drag strip (1/4 mile) How does it happen that the person with the lower time, can also have a lower MPH for a trapspeed?

I always thought the lower time, meant a faster speed, and would result in a higher trap speed. I hope I'm making sense here.

Can someone explain please?

Thanks!
Habibi

 

Might haul off the line but the loser might have a slower vehicle off the line with a higher top speed.

I have a stupid question... How in the hell do I aim my headlights? Do I move around the 3 guide pins on the back of them? Also, what are the 3-prongs for on the front of the lights?

 

eposey,

Thats not a stupid question, so far 26 people have seen this thread, and nobody has answered (me included) so dont feel bad LOL

 

Just switched to the SilverStars on my '03 L. For the fog lights and headlights. 9005's in the fogs and 9007's in the headlights.
Will start by say YES, it is very easy to scratch the surrounding plastic/paint when going in and out with the headlight. I got a tiny scratch (compounded out easily) and then stopped and used some wide masking tape over the plastic to keep it from scratching during the procedure. Anyway, be sure when you reinsert the headlights that you have the 3 adjuster threaded rods that stick out the back of the headlight assembly back into the holes they belong in on your L. They stick through the headlight housing so you can make headlight adjustments. Knowing they are in the holes be sure to latch properly BOTH the black bracket retainers that you pulled up to remove the headlight bulb. They kinda double click as you push them down. Would be easy not to get them to latch properly. Be sure after you think you have ghem in right to take a close look and see if the headlights seem to be sitting right from the front and in right.
You could have them in crooked, etc.. Once you are 100% sure they are in right, park your L on level ground and about 15 ft. from a wall, garage door, etc.. To adjust the headlights up or down you find the adjuster rod on the top back of the headlight housing and you turn just that adjuster only. Adjust each headlight so the beam on the wall a head of you is equal. I found that adjustment was necessary with the SilverStars. Not sure if it was because of the SilverStars or adjustment just went a bit a muck with the headlight in and out procedure. I fine tuned my adjustment of the headlights once night fall came and after I drove the truck. Carried a small ignition plier to make the adjustments. I could not get a socket in there on to the adjuster rod as the socket was to long to fit in there. I had no wrench that small. Ford has a special headlight adjuster tool you can buy for $10+. I found the small plier did the job if you go easy so as not to bugger up the adjuster. Oh, you want to adjust the headlights so tht when you are driving your low beams hit just below the oncoming vehicles windshield. If you are facing the side on an car going by you want the low beam light to hit just a tad below their side windows. The adjustment will be different with everybodys L as alot depends on the height of your L front and rear,etc..
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My Stupid question is how does the shift **** on the 5 speed come off??. bugging me...

 

Habibi,

The lower MPH could be attributed to a couple things. Assuming that the way they time at the track is not bracket style and are actual real time readings then it is possible for the MPH to be slower and time be faster. An example would be the guy that runs oh say 101 through the 1/4 but does so in 13.5 would be reaching his top speed or close to it way faster than the slower party. Another factor could be reation times, although one guys truck ran faster he sat on the line .4 seconds longer. All things equal you really have to look at 60 ft time and speed to see that hey maybe one guy @ 60 ft was already moving 35-40 MPH and the other was only going 30. Then at half track 1/8 mile the faster of the two was rockin out at 85 MPH and the other was only running 60 (all numbers being totally hypothetical) then at 3/4 way through, the slower time faster speed guy starts hittin his stride and accelerates hard, although not much good it will do him since the other guy being faster through the first 3/4 of the track already has him by 4 car lengths and he has to play catch up.

In this type scenario it seems that the faster speed lower time guy needs to take a serious look at either his reaction time or gearing. In the world of drag boats it would equate to your reaction time or prop but results are identical.

 

While we are on the subject of speed, here's my stupid question.
In the opening scene of Star Trek, the old Enterprise is traveling towards us at warp speed which everybody knows is faster than the speed of light.
How come you can see the headlights then? Eh?
Is the light going faster than light speed? Eh? Eh?

 

They just stopped for a traffic light and were beginning to accelerate to light speed again, the picture is actually taken by a red light camera while they were at less than warp speed.

 

heres my stupid question.

what is fire, and what is the relationship between friction & causing a fire.

friction is everywhere there is gravity i would assume to varying degrees. if you can cause friction such as water running past a piece of seaweed, could you somehow accelerate or magnify that friction to even cause fire there. there is surface tension on a glass of water. theoretically, could you strick this surface with another material that could generate enough friction (oxygen is present) to cause flame. does fire always have to have oxygen as one of its components. i know you can stop one by removing oxygen, but does it have to be present for every single fire to happen.

you know, its stuff like this that keeps me up at night.

 

cgorris,

thanks for explaining that.
I first noticed this phenomenon in the Lightning forum watching videos.
I would see a L race against a corvette in the 1/4, the L would have a lower time, yet the corvette had a higher trap speed, so of course I'm like "WTF?"
I always thought reaction time had nothing to do with your results because they only start timing you once you leave, and not when the light turns green.

Anyway, I "think" I understand, but I will have to go read your answer a couple more times and work it out until I get it.

Thanks
Habibi

 

Habibi, you are correct. The clocks only start when you break the timing beam.
You could sit there for 10 mins after the green and your E.T. and trap speed would not be affected.
You have to remember that acceleration and ultimate speed are 2 different things.
To recap cgorris, imagine that you have a Lightning engine in your truck but it had a top speed limiter that cut in at 100mph. You could accelerate very quickly but you would top out at 100.
The other guy has a F350 Diesel which has no speed limiter but accelerates much slower.
You would probably beat him on elapsed time but your trap speed would be slower.
See?
To express it mathmatically
Speed(average) = Distance divided by Time
Acceleration = change in speed divided by Time taken (to change)

So, the car that accelerates faster (time taken) can have a lower E.T. than a car with a greater change in speed DEPENDING on the distance covered.

Over a 1/4 mile there isn't much distance to catch up to a faster accelerating vehicle.
Go to Bonneville and it's a different story.

Does that make sense to anyone? It works for me.

Now for billycouldride.
Yes, you always have to have oxygen present for fire.
Yes, if you can raise the temperature of an object (by any means) to it's flashpoint, you will set it on fire.
For a fire to occur you need 3 things. A fuel (to burn) Oxygen (to support combustion) and Heat (obvious).
If you take any one thing away, the fire goes out.
You can create friction with running water to raise temperature BUT the oxygen in it is not free to support combustion. It it bonded with the Hydrogen and will not burn.
The water would actually "blanket" the object and not allow free oxygen in to support combustion.
If you could do that, you could build a compression ignition engine (diesel) and run it on tapwater.
If you seperate the Hydrogen and the Oxygen, that's a whole different ballgame. The Hydrogen is the fuel and the Oxygen supports combustion. That's how a fuel cell works.

Blimey, I went on longer than I thought there. I hope you wanted serious answers. If you want a silly answer, I could do that too.

 

Wow, I've always been embarrased to ask this, but I'm really feeling open in this support group.....tear.... Where do baby's really come from? I'm still a firm believer in the stork, however, some things aren't adding up.

 

Another important thing especially about drag racing is “loosing traction” and “tire spin” this not only happens off the line but can happen anywhere down the track. You could two people with equal vehicles as far as ¼ times and speed. Yet one could be a bit faster with reaction time and then suffer some lose of traction or tire spin half way down the track. So reaction time is only a “part” of the quarter mile, time and final speed.

Anything could cause lose of traction, like some water on the track, bad surface on a part of the track, anything that breaks the traction between the tire and the surface. Remember there is not that much tire riding against the surface so it doesn’t take much to break it loose…

 

Another thought on the 1/4 mile issue:

As previously mentioned all your 1/4 mile time is how quickly your vehicle traveled 1320 feet. Traveling on the highway at 60mph you have a 15 sec 1/4, at 90 10.75, at 120mph 7.5. The key is how fast you get to a decent speed, not how fast you are going at the end. If you can get up to 75-80 mph quickly you can have a decent 1/4 time.

Headlights and fire have been covered pretty well, and I'm not going to touch where babies come from in a public forum.

WTF is up with Star Trek? Well, when you start out by violating the laws of physics you can make up any rules you want.

 

Well, I'm not sure where they come from for sure, but I do know around here you have to register them at the welfare office when you get them. They're prized possessions... you get a pay raise for owning them!

 

Okay, this is the stupid question thread, and I'm going to feel so stupid when someone answers this, but uh... what is an IAC valve?