One must be careful not to...
One must be careful not to overtighten the center bolt on the ProCharger belt tensioner, otherwise the tensioner will not move properly and allow the belt to eject itself.
Having made no change to the proportioning valve, the second burnout of the evening was also less than spectacular. After another 4,000-rpm clutch drop, the car was really loose and we had to back out of the gas completely for the car to recover. The 60-foot time was an embarrassing 2.03, but more importantly, the supercharger belt exited out the bottom of the engine compartment during the one-two shift. The eighth-mile time clocked in at 9.65, and the GT coasted to the return road.
Luckily, we had another belt in the tow rig, and changing it is a simple 5-minute procedure, which was helpful since the staging lanes were about to close. With no time to waste, we pulled the Mustang back into the staging lanes for what would be the final pass of the evening, one we would opt to run through the quarter-mile.
Bad burnout number three resulted in tire spin, but much less than before. The short time was 1.81, and the GT was working hard until the supercharger belt exited again, this time on the two-three shift. The eighth-mile went by in 7.80 seconds at a faster 84 mph.
Thankfully, each belt came off in one piece, and we were able to procure them from the track staff. At $25 a piece, replacing them gets old fast. We left somewhat disappointed, but a week later we pulled into Bradenton Motorsports Park in Bradenton, Florida, for one of its Runday Sunday test-and-tune events.
Unfortunately, there were more than 350 cars in attendance, so runs would be scarce for sure, and the bountiful number of rotary-powered cars that proceeded to spill their apex seals on the racing surface made it worse.
We had intended to install a line-lock prior to arriving at Bradenton, but there just wasn't time to accomplish this. As a Band-Aid, we jacked up the back of the car and twisted the proportioning valve until we had little-to-no rear brakes. We don't recommend this, as locking up the fronts or the rears by themselves could lead to possibly dangerous vehicle behavior.
In looking at the supercharger belt ejection issue, we had never experienced problems prior to this, and we were able to source it to an improperly tightened tensioner through-bolt. Subsequently, the belt was happy to stay on for the rest of our track excursions.
In the burnout, the proportioning valve adjustment worked, and our first pass saw the car dead hook and bog the engine badly. The 60-foot time was again a dismal 1.88 seconds, but the eighth-mile time headed in the right direction with a 7.53 at 86 mph. Using our calculation, that's about an 11.37 through the quarter-mile.
The lightweight rotating assembly...
The lightweight rotating assembly of the D.S.S. Racing 331 motor, combined with the Clutchmasters aluminum flywheel, allows the engine to rev quite quickly, so you need to be on your game when watching the tachometer for shift points. Installing a shift light would help in this situation.
We gave the car a quick look-over in the pits and headed right back to the staging lanes. Over the next five hours, several rotary Mazdas (which sounded a lot like weedwackers to us) soiled the racing surface in addition to a Firebird's bumper-dragging antics, which took out chunks of asphalt. When it was finally our turn, the launch rpm was raised to 5,000, seeing as how the track had phenomenal grip on the first outing.
This being the second and final pass of the evening, we planned to run the full quarter-mile, and at the clutch drop, the motor bogged again but not quite as bad. According to witnesses, First-, Second-, and Third-gear powershifts had the left front wheel airborne, but your author failed to locate Fourth gear, and the GT coasted to a 14.00 time at 70 mph. What really ticked us off was that two cars previous to our run had driven over the eighth-mile clocks, so we had no way to compare our second pass other than by the 1.81 60-foot time.
Despite our ProCharged Pony taking the track abuse with great ease, the day was a wash and it looked like the story was doomed. Time was running out and so was our patience.