The warm weather in Michigan this summer provided some challenges to my goal of improving the ET on the 4Runner. I did pay a visit to the strip in July during 88+ degree temps with very high humidity and had trouble mustering better than 15.50 elapse times.
Well... it is much cooler now and on 9/25/99 I made it to the track again ! This trip provided a marked improvement in both ET & MPH! I changed from conventional motor oil to CASTROL Syntec 5W-30 for this trip to the track, that is the only change from last visit. Unfortunately, the track was running one of those $1000.00 payout street car races and many cars were in attendance. I was only able to make 4 passes all night ! My first race was against a really cool NISSAN 300ZX (non turbo, thank god !) owned by a fellow named Chin. I was able to cross the finish line .329 before him ! I must admit, he had more horsepower (90.56MPH to my 86.54) but I clearly beat his 15.627 with my 15.463. The reason: He could not hook up at all ! lI had absolutely no problem with traction but as you will see below as I experimented with the launch and improved my 60' times, the ET dropped substantially. xxxxx
xxxxxxxPASS TEMP 60' TIME 1/8 ET 1/4 ET 1/4 MPH
1
60
2.236
9.848
15.463
86.54
2
49
2.135
9.724
15.301
87.21
3
49
2.227
9.845
15.413
87.52
4
49
2.129
9.721
15.281
87.60
As you can see, the 60' time has a very big impact on the ET. As mentioned above, I had no problem with traction this visit and with each pass I tried to hit it a bit harder to improve the time. Given more time, I am confident that I could have dropped the 60' time to the 2.050 range. This could reduce my ET to approximately 15~teens.
All in all it was a very productive trip. It was worth the $ 15.00 entry fee even considering I could only make 4 passes. I guess we will see what next year brings. I am seriously thinking about installing the KB Boost A Pump and TRD exhaust over the winter.