2000 Lightning to Be Delivered. Looking to go faster and not waste time or money testing aftermarket goods.

1. Has anyone tried a Vortech? If so, to what end.
2. What has worked best for Streetable traction? Has anyone tried racing compond treaded/slicks? And what about setting the truck up for traction.
3. Gears?
4. Light Weight anything? Hood Tailgate ect Has anyone tried to get the lbs down?
5. Cams/Porting, Increasing displacement?

Thanks

[This message has been edited by MNLightning (edited 02-08-2000).]

 

MNLightning,

With reference to your first question, do you mean replacing the stock s/c with a Vortech?

Answers to your question #'s 2 and 3 can be found by doing a search on this forum. The search button can be found in the upper right hand segment of this page. You won't believe how many times this has been brought up and you'd be surprised at the wealth of information available by doing the search.

Q4: There have been one or two who tried experimenting with taking off the tailgate altogether at the track. Taking off weight at the rear may actually increase traction problems at launch inherent to the mildly modified trucks (filter and chip) as it is. The hood, on the other hand is already aluminum and the aftermarket hoods made of fiberglass (from AAD) is actually heavier.

Q5: If there's anyone among the Lightning owners who'd dive head first in an attempt to increase performance by increasing displacement, that distinction would probably have to go to Wyldman.

Cheapest/easiest mods posted so far are chip and filter upgrade (PSP and Superchips for chips and PSP, Downs Ford and Airaid for filters are the most common) followed by exhaust upgrades (Bassani and JBA are most mentioned).

Cheers!

 

Take a closer look at the power band charts, and consider intercooling.

A centrifugal compressor is not as well suited for the street.

The roots type gives full boost at around 2000rpm. The Vortech gives 1.8psi at the same 2000rpm (approximate).

If you need more info, drop me a line at the link below.

------------------
'98 4.6 5-sp F-150
We've come for your Tundra.

Where we started.
http://www.mcmullenargus.com/gallery...ge=1165&pub=12
After a facelift.
http://www.zing.com/picture/ff/e9/b5...d.jpg.orig.jpg
trixters-playground@excite.com
www.truckinweb.com

 

The stock Eaton S/C's are good for 15 Lbs of boost, just need to get a filer kit (PSP), blower pully, underdrive pully, and headers. That should put you close to the full 15 Lbs, considering that with just the filter kit you get 11.5 Lbs of boodt.

 

I'm not sure how far you are planning on going MNLightning, but the factory units do produce a lot of boost with the filter kits and a pulley. Unless you're planning on running some serious boost, I wouldn't immediately switch.

In answer to people who have reservations about the Vortech over our Eaton, there is definately a gain to be had with the Vortech. The centrifugal type blowers are more efficient, and regardless of what the potential boost of our Eatons are, their CFM is pretty low. A Vortec S or T trim will run 1000-1200 CFM, as compared to our 600 CFM stock level or the 800 CFM level that they would produce at their design limit. Not only that, but with another supercharger, you could get a much more efficient and radical intercooler.

[This message has been edited by Typhoon (edited 02-07-2000).]

 

Yes I am planning on replacing the Factory Blower with a vortech. They are capable of making more power than the Factory Charger.

Not thinking of removing the tailgate. Would like to find some light weight parts though ie tailgate, hood, ect..

I will give searching the posts a try Thanks for the advice.

Dennis

 

My plan is to get the truck deep into the 12's and/or 11's. From reading the posts it doesnt look like the eaton is up to the task. Talked to the dealer already and had him order 4:11's. Searching the Post's didn't help to much in the traction department though. Thinking the plan is to use the widest racing compound tire that will fit. ie a Goodyear 315 40 18. The Tire dealer had to call the Goodyear rep, who will have to get back to me on availablity.. I saw some welded rims posted & saw the pics of the truck. Very nice.

 

The Eaton may be capable of it; I haven't seen anyone running all of the parts that are available for the Lightning all on one truck.

Spiro99SVT is running a 13.0 with a Downs air intake, Superchip, and Flowmaster mufflers. If he added gears, a crank pulley, headers, and a full exhaust, he could probably run the kind of times that you are looking for.

In addition to that, ported heads and a new cam could provide even bigger gains. I haven't seen anything that said that the cam in our Lightnings was changed at all from the NA 5.4L's cam. The cam intended for a naturally aspirated motor is hardly optimized for use in a blower motor.

Basically, I think that for far less than you would have to spend for a Vortech and intercooler, you could run the kinds of times that you want to.

 

MN,

Dad ran a 12.85 ET friday night with sal's fiter and chip, headers. cal-tracks, DR's,and a 100 HP N2O.

I think with the pullys,a 150 shot of N20, real racing slicks, and a 4:10 read end; i think that should put you down into the low 12's maybee high 11's, but not sure.....

 

I have a question about those times. I read in Wyldmans other post that he ran a 13.97 off the juice. Are you guys at some extreme altitude or something, because his time off the juice is slow for a modified Lightning. Last time I went to the track, there was a stone stock Lightning running faster than that, and 4D Thunder's truck had just a Superchip and was running 13.5's.

This isn't a flame post, I just think that your dads truck should be running 13.3's or better off the bottle and, based on his 1.1 second drop in ET, low 12's with it.

 

Typhoon,I was wondering the same thing...I also think times should be deep in the 12`s...

 

I've been watching this post and was not really sure that I wanted to reply. Ah! but what the heck. Saw the mention of using the Goodyear 315x18x40 tires. These are the tires that I mentioned several times in past posts that I will be using on my Lightning. In fact they are the Eagle F1 Super Car Radials that are used by Ferrari. At a suggested retail price of $603.00 each and requiring an 11 to 12 inch wide wheel they are a poor choice for drag racing from both an economic and traction stand point. Yea, I do it because I like to build high Zoot type cars. They're fast, they handle exceptionally well, they look good and I pack them with one off unique features but they are not drag cars/trucks. As for the 4.10 gears I would wait a little while longer. No tire manufacture has short term plans for an 18" dia. 28" tall drag Radial yet. I have called and e-mailed them. So good luck.

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BABolt
SVT#290



[This message has been edited by BABolt (edited 02-09-2000).]

 

Thanks, according to most of the posts traction is a largest problem (ie 60' times) so giving up some boost at the low end shouldnt hurt. All things considered their is alot more to boost than just seeing a higher # on the gauge. Spining the eaton faster produces horse power on a declining scale. The T trim unit looks like the way I am headed or perhaps a turbo. Just to be different.

Off the subject this is a great forum..

Can't wait for delivery.

 

MN,

Houston Raceway Park is at sea level. There a 2 good reasons for my truck to run slow off the bottle.

1. about 400 lbs of add-ons and street stuff.

2. 348 lbs. of me.

I have been running at full street weight because I wanted to see how much I could get out of the motor w/o stripping the truck.

Once I get it consistantly running 12's, I'll start taking stuff for running on the track. I am figuring that I can take almost .5 sec off the times w/less weight. I am still trying to overcome traction issues.

------------------
Chuck 'Wyldman' Shelton
wyldman@houston.rr.com
Black 99.5 Lightning Build # 1273, DOB 5-14-99, NLOC #315
Best run to date 12.857 @103.48
CD Changer; Tow Pkg.; Lojack; Sal's custom nitrous chip; G-Tech/Pro; SnugLid; BedRug; Invinca-Shield, full kit; NOS KIT 100 hp shot (currently); Clear and smoke Lexan fog light covers; 3M Ti Window Tint; Bel radar detector (shouldn't be an accessory); PowerStack cone filter (a.k.a. supercharger waker upper); American Auto Designs ram air hood; Cal-Tracs traction bars; Bassani headers;Goodrich T/A Drag Radials; Muth Signal Mirrors, inbound

 

Man, 348 lbs? I thought I was a performance deficit at 260 lbs. The extra 400 lbs should explain most of it. Not much you can do about the rest!