I had done some tinkering with my car, so in July, 2004 I decided to take it to the drag strip for a “dyno” test. I asked Dave, a long time friend of mine who has a SVT Contour, if I could borrow his tires. He has a nearly new set of BFG drag radials, while I had only the stock “Stones.” He offered to come with me. This is really handy, ‘cause then you have somebody to watch your stuff while you’re in the staging lanes.
Before we left, I removed the rear seat. When we arrived at Norwalk, we took out the spare, jack & even the radio antenna. I also made sure I was nearly out of gas. I’m a fairly experienced drag racer, having campaigned several cars in the past, including a Chevy 409 and a Boss Mustang, but it had been maybe 8-10 years since I had raced anything. I was a bit nervous. I’d never raced a FWD car, and was a bit unsure of my technique. We were signed in the “Sport Compact” group. I wasn’t really that interested in racing anyone. I honestly just wanted to see what the car would do, so I opted to run for time only. I’m sure I would have gotten my clock cleaned in sport compact anyway. For a Wed. night, there were a lot of cars there, and the SC class was loaded with Eagles, SRT Neons, etc.
There were fairly long lines in the staging lanes. I opened the hood & put ice bags on the intake manifold & shorty cai. I chatted with other racers, looked at their cars, kicked tires, and we all told lies. I did a conservative burnout & went to the line. I was matched up with some guy in a black Buick turbocharged GS 400. His car was so loud I had to look at my tach to make sure I was running. He pulled a HUGE hole shot on me, (not that it mattered, because he was running in the high 12’s). I got off the line by dropping the clutch at about 5000 rpm. Man, those BFG cheater slicks are great. Just a chirp. Went through the gears, power shifting at between 6800 & 7000. I was surprised at the time. It was a 16.2. Better than I had expected. I was happy. Went around & got in line again. Iced the intake again. This time I went off against another Focus, a sedan with an atx. He pulled a hole shot on me, (again)!! I ran 16.1, he went 18.2. Next time around I raced the Buick again. Jeez! How demoralizing is that? He was so far ahead of me at the finish, that he was turning into the turn-off lane before I reached the stripe. I ran 16.1 again. Because the lines were so long, I decided to go just once more. This time I was lined up with a blue Camaro, probably mid 80’s vintage, but looked like new. It was a six, but I don’t know if it was a 5 spd or atx. OK, let me be honest here…this one pissed me off. I ran my best time of the night, a lower ET than him, and lost because of my RT. He had almost 2 car lengths on me ay about 60 ft., but I was catching him fast. I just couldn’t drive around him before we got to the line. It was close enough that I really couldn’t tell who won. Ah well, that’s what 62 year-old reflexes will get you. My time was 15.937. I was real happy with that, but I really, really wanted to beat that #%**%# Camaro.
The performance mods on my 2002 ZX3 at that time were:
UDP
9 mm wires
Intake manifold
Short shifter
Shorty CAI
Throttle body
Shorty headers
Magnaflo Cat Back
BFG DOT radial drag tires.
Since then, I’ve made a few more changes. I’ll probably go back in the spring & see what difference they’ve made.
____________________ If you can't read this, you're illiterate.
That sounds like me every time I go to the track. Only my camaro was driven by a girl and I watched her put her helmet on. hahahaha she was gonna break 100mph in the 1/4.
Do you have an ATX or 5sp? A friend was pulling mid/high 15's with a long tube CAI and bored out TB. 01 S2 ZX3 5sp with 2.5" drop and 15's.
I've made a couple of more mods since then, and I've been thinking about spraying. I've never had it before, & know next to nothing about it. I've heard it's pretty risky to use, in the sense that you might lunch the motor.
Tell me about it.
____________________ If you can't read this, you're illiterate.
all you do is hook up the kit with whatever size jet you want. like a 35 shot jet for nitrous and say the 35 or even 50 jet for fuel. get some colder plugs, and a tune that retards the timing appropriately, and youa re good to go. there are also safe guards like te WOT switch, window switch, and HO2S moniter. the WOT switch prevents you from spraying at partial throttle, the windo cuts off fuel above and below your selected RPM window, and teh O2 moniter cuts off spray in case of lean out. while none of that makes it 100% safe, it is in fact pretty reliable.
The kit that I've got is a NX (Nitrous Express) Stage I EFI Wet System. After talking with several people (TXFO being one of them...Thanks again) I'd suggest getting a wet kit versus a dry kit. I've also got an MSD RPM Activated Window Switch, NX Purge Valve, NX Fuel Pressure Safety Switch, NX Wide Open Trottle Switch, NX Bottle Header, Nitrous Pressure Gauge, Air/Fuel Gauge, and I'm replacing the "dummy" oil pressure gauge in my car with a working one....I'm sure there are also some other things that I'm leaving out. Anyways, I've got everything for safety that I think you can get plus some extras...like the gauges. The only thing that I can think of that I don't have is a remote bottle opener which I'll end up getting as well.
I planned to install the kit today (it's been sitting in my closet for over two months now), but the weather didn't permit it. Since I don't have a garage, I'm hoping for a nice day this week so I can get it installed before classes start again.
While I'm not driving the Focus anymore, I expect to be in the mid 14's (hopefully lower). I'm sure you could expect the same.
Last edited on Wed Jan 5th, 2005 07:50 am by manninej
