how the heck do you launch this thing? i'm planning on putting down my 1000 miles this weekend on a trip to Austin and I need to know how much I should rev her up to for the launch and how to work the clutch for launching... any help guys and gals? Want to race my friend's 'lude soon and better beat him considering my car is so much more expensive ...

 

the break in period is only 600 miles...check your owners manual...anyone that says 1000 is just being really anal and particular....after 600 youre all good. and if you can afford that car, you should be able to at least afford some springs and an intake...and start saving for the headers

 

from what I hear it's a 3K and go process. Personally i'd try a 5K and go process

 

I'll give you a hint........dont dump the clutch. If you do, all you are going to do is spin through first gear. Let the clutch out easy, then gas it through second and you should take your friends prelude any time. Hell, you could actually start off in second gear to beat that thing. Other than that, get new sticky tires as soon as you can, then you can rev and dump the clutch....until then, get familiar with the car and how to drive it.

 

go process? what's that mean? yeah I'll get Intake and springs from comptech or whatever sometime soon... also I want to get the headers and exhaust but no money they're too expensive... we'll see...

 

Without aftermarket replacement tires as Proxies anything much over 2000-2500 is gonna spin those front stockers like crazy! Most stock clutches are sorely inadequate to handle a hard launch so again you're limited in rpm. Don't just "dump" the clutch or at high rpm or stock clutch will be toast in no time flat! Try easing clutch at above rpm's and practice,practice,practice! Good luck!

 

The key is to ease out the clutch (but not too slow). Rev it up th 4 or 5K for the the tork (sp).

 

Yes, a proper launch is a tough thing to do.
I’m getting better, but still haven’t mastered it EVERY time.
You need just the right amount of wheelspin, but not too much.
Once the tires grab a bit, I dump the gas and fully release the clutch.
My Falken Azenis tires are quite sticky and if I give it too much clutch early they tend to “hop” instead of spin.
A good HARD launch is fun to do, but not very good for the clutch. You won’t kill the Tranny, but you will take a few hundred miles off the life of the clutch.

Shawn S

 

I am haveing this problem with my Falkens...it seems that the tires never just spin...always hop...ALWAYS! So whats that from exactly? Even when the road is wet and I take of slow and then jam the gas in first they just start hopping, and the other day my check engin light started to flash when I was getting some bad wheel hop. Once I let off the gas the light stoped?!?!?!

 

Careful though, those gears are real close together, learn them well and get used to it. Or you could be another member of the blown engine from downshifting into 2nd from 5th club.

 

about downshifting..

Is it ok to downshift from 4th gear at 40mph to 2nd gear?? is there any limit or downshifting all together is bad?

ph

 

downshifting is fine so long as you dont overrev the engine, ie 5th to 2nd @ 100mph

 

That's called "Limited Slip Differential" my friend!!

 

So thats whats causing the mad hop?!? I was just thinking that it might be the cheepo Falkens but I wasnt sure....this is my first experence with other than stock tires and a LSD so I dont know what to expect.

 

LSD RULEZ!!!!!

 

What if we didnt have the LSD? Would it suck or would be actually a good thing?

thx

 

I believe LSD is a good thing for most cars, RWD or FWD. It allows you to power out of corners quicker and actually allows you to accelerate off the line quicker too IMO. I am not sure if LSD causes wheel hop, in fact, I don't see how it can. My 5AT does not have LSD and when I launch, it hopped as well. But that was just one incident. Did not happen thereafter.

 

I still smoke BOTH nitto's gotta love the LSD!

 

Actually you can't smoke both tires at the same time. The limited slip only powers one wheel at a time when it's slipping. You can feel the car shutter from side to side as it toggles the power back and forth between the two front tires when ones slipping.

If it had true positraction in a FWD car, then when the front end locked up, you wouldn't be able to steer. That's bad!

That's my only bitch about the '03 6sp. Needs to be RWD....

 

hmm I finally launched this car racing my friend's prelude... putting it up to 3K and easing off was too much... 2K-2250 is about right.. @ 3K I was just spinning in place... though I still burned him as soon as I hit 3rd gear...

 

its not the LSD at all it's the short side wall....trust me...i shook something loose in my dash and i have an auto...wanna experiment let air out of the tire to 15 psi then dump the clutch they'll spin just fine....fill them up to 45 psi and look out rabbit

 

it depends on the tires............stock tires respond well to lowering the air pressure.

 

what's ideal tire pressure for launching ? how about ideal RPM to launch? 2.25K seems to be working fine but it's more of a roll start than a launch...

 

im not saying you'll get better traction though you might...im saying you'll get less to no hop

 

The wheel hop has very little to do with the LSD -- you can get it with or without the LSD. The spring rate, damping, motor mounts, suspension geometry and surface all contribute to it.

It is possible to reduce the wheel hop with more damping (increase adjustable shock rebound rate or decrease the overall spring rate). The Konis adjustables ramp up the rebound damping (more than compression) for a given setting and somebody might want to give this a try (if they have them).

Sometimes an increase or decrease in tire pressure will change the "overall" spring rate (the tire has one spring rate that goes up with increase pressure) and the cars front springs are the other part of the spring rate. The combined spring rate is:

effective_front_spring_rate_of_tire_and_springs =

(tire_spring_rate * front_spring_rate)/(tire_spring_rate + front_spring_rate).

(Electronics folks: it’s like resistors in parallel)

The "effect" from lowering the tire pressures can (you can try) have the effect of making the "damping" from the shocks "look" bigger.

Here is an excerpt (LINK: http://www.rpmnet.com/techart/shocks.shtml)

"However, when shocks are too soft and bumps are encountered, a cycle referred to as wheel hop or tire flutter can occur.

During wheel hop, the tire actually bounces on & off the track. The wheel hop cycle begins when a bump causes the suspension to move upward violently. This upward movement of the tire and suspension causes the spring to compress excessively and store a large amount of energy. If the rebound control of the shock is too soft to control the energy stored by the spring, the tire is violently slammed onto the surface of the race track. The tire bounces off the track and the spring stores a slightly smaller (but still uncontrollable) amount of energy. The cycle continues until the shock can control the energy level of the spring. Wheel hop can be caused by any major deformity in the racing surface or by violent rear axle wrap during acceleration or deceleration.

Wheel hop can easily be felt by the driver and, if extreme, can be seen by those watching the race car. During wheel hop, the tire bounces up and down uncontrollably and causes the handling to be very unstable. The fix, of course, is to install stiffer shocks. Keep in mind that wheel hop to any degree, whether felt by the driver or not, reduces traction...."

(And…)
Finally, as a warning to people that want to turn the shocks up to MAX – there is a possibility that this setting – when used on series of bumps, can cause the car to start “jacking down”. Each bump causes the car to settle down (due to the high rebound compression setting) and the suspension travel is reduced if it hits a series of bumps at speed. This is a good way to beat the shit out of the bumpstops and or bottom the car…

http://thundervalleyracing.com/featu...lfsprings.html