How long before something breaks?

[GTOBobby]

I have a 99 that I have just started to take down the 1/4 mile. I do about 5-6 passes on a Saturday night in a 3 hour time frame. This is my first car that I have taken down the track. I only have street tires and launch the car around 2,500 rpm.
The car only has some bolt-ons. HAI(hot air intake, I live in Phoenix there isn't any cold air), flow-master cat-back and a SCT tuner. Everything else is stock. The motor has 33k on it.

Can this car handle this? Or do I need to re-enforce some things. Any suggestions would be great. BTW I'm terrible and just learning so my best is only a 14.34 1/4 mile.

 

[zPipes]

Teeearrrrrr it up!!!!! Your about to get tons of posts of what you should do in regards to susp mods, sfc, irs upgrades or solid swaps.. etc.. but you have my vote..

Rock on man beat it down!

 

[tistan]

On street tires you probably won't have to worry about breaking anything. If you swap to drag radials then you will have problems breaking half shafts.

 

[BlackVenom99]

If you drive through wheel hop no matter what tires you have... Snap.
That being said: a good head on your shoulder, some good drag racing tips, and the urge to have fun should be all you really need.

A friend of mine would say keep practicing with what you have till you can no longer go any faster, then and only then do you need mods. Then again some full length sub frame connectors could help the car overall as it is a convertible.

 

[01yellercobra]

If you drive through wheel hop no matter what tires you have... Snap.
That being said: a good head on your shoulder, some good drag racing tips, and the urge to have fun should be all you really need.

A friend of mine would say keep practicing with what you have till you can no longer go any faster, then and only then do you need mods. Then again some full length sub frame connectors could help the car overall as it is a convertible.

+1

I took mine to the track when it was stock and had no issues. I ran Nitto DR's for traction and if I felt any hint of wheel hop I got out of it. I managed to get down to a high 13, but I'm no magic driver. Try leaving at a higher rpm. I found 4k and feathering the clutch worked best for me.

 

[kxt]

w/ street tires I don't expect any problems except for wheel hop. Might want to think about front and rear diff. braces if you want to step up to sticky tires.

 

[Bite Me]

Street tires gave me serious wheel hop.

If your worried about breaking dont race, no matter what kind of money you put into your setup something can/will break. Just have fun and put money aside for broken parts and take it as it comes. Gotta pay to play.

 

[soccerman002]

Practice and seat time, practice and seat time, practice and seat time.

As someone else said, once you hit a point to where you're consistently running similar times (within a tenth or so I'd say), that's when I would start upgrading. You'll get more out of your mods then b/c you will have a feel for the car @ the track already.

 

[Bite Me]

Practice and seat time, practice and seat time, practice and seat time.

As someone else said, once you hit a point to where you're consistently running similar times (within a tenth or so I'd say), that's when I would start upgrading. You'll get more out of your mods then b/c you will have a feel for the car @ the track already.

:beer: Hell first time I went down the track was ~14.60, 5th time was ~13.60 with a 2.2 60'. Obviously not good, but point is practice will pay off for sure.

 

[STAMPEDE3]

If your worried about breaking dont race, Gotta pay to play.

This.

It can happen at any time to any car. Doesn't matter if bone stock or modded.

 

[GTOBobby]

w/ street tires I don't expect any problems except for wheel hop. Might want to think about front and rear diff. braces if you want to step up to sticky tires.

I think I'm going to just keep the street tires. They really didn't give me any hop at all.

Street tires gave me serious wheel hop.

If your worried about breaking dont race, no matter what kind of money you put into your setup something can/will break. Just have fun and put money aside for broken parts and take it as it comes. Gotta pay to play.

Yes for sure I will put a little away for a rainy day.

What kind of brackets do I get for the IRS?
Is the launch at 2500 good or should I try higher with street tires?

 

[don cobra]

Not too long before you start breaking shit. The cobra is know to eliminate all the weak links by the method of natural selection (beef em up or i break em!). Basically, half shafts, differential, tranny and the notorious rod bearings and rods if you are boosted!

 

[Bite Me]

From what I understood from research the IRS brackets dont really do anything as for straight line, if you want to do some road race duty then the brackets might do you some good.

IMO you should check your front subframe bolts and make sure they are the correct size. Mine were incorrect and caused my subframe to move around in the lower torque box. If the socket you use to remove your rear subframe bolts fits your front subframe bolts they are wrong......think the correct fronts take a 19mm and 13/16 (the one I use to remove my lugnuts) for the nut.

If you want a real list

Subframes
front subframe bolts if they are wrong
diff brace (billetflow is what I had)
HD crossmember (ford factory, or aftermarket like MM, solved a good deal of my wheel hop)
bushings (FTBR kit is what I got and have to say top quality and great service)
good tires
practice
lots of money - I spent about 2k on my IRS rebuild doing all the work myself, and that didnt include different halfshafts which IMO you only need 03/04.

I swapped out to solid axle for the piece of mind. I couldnt go racing without thinking about something breaking and just didnt think it was worth it. Before you do anything with that IRS you should think about what you want to do.