My son had his pack race and got 1st place. There were a couple cars close and I heard there are a couple cars that were fast in another pack. We have districts Saturday and I am trying to find some more speed. I am running standard wheel base and t her is a little gap and wood behind the back weight pocket. Do you think it would help any to cut it off so the cubes are at the very back? I won't be able to add the cutoff piec to the front which isn't an issue for the rules but I didn't know if cutting that off and putting a little more weight in my front pocket would help or hurt me. I'm also going to try to reduce some more weight toward the front. I feel like I should have thinned the car out a bit more to begin with. I have 12 cubes in the back with about a 1/4 inch of space I can take off behind them and 8 cubes in front of the axle. Thanks for any help.
More speed?
- Thread starter robo4881
- Start date
At this point I wouldn't cut off the rear of the car, especially if you don't intend upon adding to the front end.
If you watched the recent NPWDRL race, you would have seen a car with the exact wheel base as your car, make the finals in the Street Stock class. check out the video if you have time.
I just don't think I would mess with a winning car just prior to the district race.
Good Luck!
If you watched the recent NPWDRL race, you would have seen a car with the exact wheel base as your car, make the finals in the Street Stock class. check out the video if you have time.
I just don't think I would mess with a winning car just prior to the district race.
Good Luck!
V
Vitamin K
Guest
I've actually noticed more than one fast street stock car with the rear end protruding past the rear wheels. This trend is rather interesting to me...
There is no benefit to cutting off the back of the car if you aren't adding to the front, thus moving your weight back. If your CoM (Center of Mass) is more than 3/4" in front of your rear axles, you can move some of the weights back there. If the extra room is < 1/4" and your tungsten cubes won't fit, you can add tungsten putty in the void.
But do try not to fiddle with the car too much and end up snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
But do try not to fiddle with the car too much and end up snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Thanks guys, I didn't think I would be helping without adding it to the front. I am probably best to leave it alone. I was just expecting it to be a little faster with the parts and prep I used. I guess without a track all I can do is set it up as best I know and hope for the best. I wish I had room for one. Thanks again
What do you have for adjustable weight? If it's putty maybe you could grind a notch in the wood behind the rear cubes and move your adjustable weight there. If not maybe you could drill a hole between the rear axles and put some putty there. Can you remove a cube from ahead of the rear axle and move it to a hole between the rear axles?
We run one 1/4" cube between the rear axles and a little putty on either side of it.
Can you hollow a little wood out from the underside of the car to give yourself even another .10 oz for putty behind those rear cubes?
We run one 1/4" cube between the rear axles and a little putty on either side of it.
Can you hollow a little wood out from the underside of the car to give yourself even another .10 oz for putty behind those rear cubes?
Thanks for the suggestion. I took a little weight off from underneath and have some putty for adjustment. I don't know what I was thinking when I put the cubes in. I should have put them as far back as I could and had the gap on the axle side not the rear.I didn't have any tape so I glued them so I don't want to try and pull them out at this point. I'll put some putty in the car back and see what happens.
Your looking at this wrong, look at your axles, are they filed and sanded smooth? Can or are you riding a rail rider? What is the gap between the car and wheel? I think this is where to look for more speed
They are 92 axles from dd4h and nitro wheels both done with the polishing process as instructed. Gaps are small wheels seem to migrate like they should. 4" steer over 4 ft. Like I said without having a track to play with the setup some I don't really know what else I can do besides move some weight around. My com was around 3/4" so I digured Maybe try and get it around 5/8. I don't really want to mess with the alignment or anything because it seemed to run pretty good I don't want to take a chance and screw it up I just thought my com wasn't too agressive so I might be able to play with the weight placement a touch to get just a little more speed. I'm pretty new at this so I don't want to go tearing a decent car completely apart without having any way to track test it. From what little I know the axles looked really good and so did the wheel bores when I was done so I don't want to try reprepping at this point and take a chance making it worse. I thought moving the com a touch more back would be the least invasive thing I could do with the time I have. Maybe I should have just left it as it was, maybe I'm doing more harm than good but the OCD in me couldn't leave it alone knowing there were a couple faster cars going to be there.
We only race scout races and don't have the experience most here do. We went from not qualifying for Districts to taking 1st in Districts the next 2 years with stock parts using advice from the guys here. Since your wheels and axles probably picked up some debris from racing and from sitting around, unless you kept it in a bag, I would reprep. The following is how we reprep for oil. We have only built 5 cars and some say we don't have the best techniques but this has worked for us. It's Pretty quick and better than not reprepping I would think.
You may want to get a cheap battery operated metal etcher from Menards for $5.00 and mark your axles where they are in the car at the 12:00 position. Pocket knife will make a noticeable scratch too if need be, Take them out individually and keep the wheels mated to the corresponding axles and mark which corner they came from. I put the axle in the wheel then put some blue tape on the pointed end of the axle and mark the tape RR, RF, etc.
Doing one wheel/axle combo at a time, put your wheels and axles in alcohol and clean. Get the axles/wheels out and dry them with a lint free rag. Hit them with a hairdryer for a few seconds to make sure they're dry. Stand the axles up in holes in a piece of cardboard. Have the cardboard marked RR, RF, etc at the holes. If you have a magnifying glass or cheaters check the bores and axles for lint. Respray the axles with whatever you're using. We use 3M Dry-Type Silicone from NAPA. I'm sure there is better stuff but this works for us. Cover with a paint can cap or the cap from the spray. An hour later respray again and recover.
Wax and polish the bores of the wheels again. We wax and polish 3 times.
We let our sprayed axles set for a few days before we assemble but you don't have that time so I would say the axles would be fine an hour after being sprayed. We also hit them with the hairdryer for a few minutes before assembly.
Oil and reassemble. Have the etched mark on the axles in the 12:00 position as when you took them out. You can then set your steer. Your rear alignment will be the same as it ran in the Pack race. Fresh wheels, axles and oil. We then put the car into a large zip-lock bag with the end open until we transport to the race then we zip it up.
My OCD kicked in when we didn't qualify for Districts our second year and I came here and read everything I could. I think I've spent more time on this forum reading and studying what the fast guys do than I spent on my college schoolwork.
Good luck!
You may want to get a cheap battery operated metal etcher from Menards for $5.00 and mark your axles where they are in the car at the 12:00 position. Pocket knife will make a noticeable scratch too if need be, Take them out individually and keep the wheels mated to the corresponding axles and mark which corner they came from. I put the axle in the wheel then put some blue tape on the pointed end of the axle and mark the tape RR, RF, etc.
Doing one wheel/axle combo at a time, put your wheels and axles in alcohol and clean. Get the axles/wheels out and dry them with a lint free rag. Hit them with a hairdryer for a few seconds to make sure they're dry. Stand the axles up in holes in a piece of cardboard. Have the cardboard marked RR, RF, etc at the holes. If you have a magnifying glass or cheaters check the bores and axles for lint. Respray the axles with whatever you're using. We use 3M Dry-Type Silicone from NAPA. I'm sure there is better stuff but this works for us. Cover with a paint can cap or the cap from the spray. An hour later respray again and recover.
Wax and polish the bores of the wheels again. We wax and polish 3 times.
We let our sprayed axles set for a few days before we assemble but you don't have that time so I would say the axles would be fine an hour after being sprayed. We also hit them with the hairdryer for a few minutes before assembly.
Oil and reassemble. Have the etched mark on the axles in the 12:00 position as when you took them out. You can then set your steer. Your rear alignment will be the same as it ran in the Pack race. Fresh wheels, axles and oil. We then put the car into a large zip-lock bag with the end open until we transport to the race then we zip it up.
My OCD kicked in when we didn't qualify for Districts our second year and I came here and read everything I could. I think I've spent more time on this forum reading and studying what the fast guys do than I spent on my college schoolwork.
Good luck!
Are you sure your district allows lathed wheels ? I have been to a lot of district races and very few allow lathed wheels? I don't like the rule but it seems like someone always tries to sneak some by. I would read the rules closely and I would look at my prep for more speed. Good luck
Similar threads
