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Air Pressures?

7K views 17 replies 6 participants last post by  zx24me 
#1 ·
I run an 89 EGT on a mostly flat 1/4 mile paved oval on 195/70-14's in NW Indiana, I always play with air pressures and sometimes get it right but other times get it wrong and would like to hear what others are running and what works best for you, i keep it between 25 and 35 depending on temp, car likes having more air in the back tires and less in the fronts,
 
#2 ·
I help with a few cars up here at a 1/3 mile with a little banking...is it a pure stuck class (no camber or toe adjusted) or are you allowed to play around? We're stock, so no playing with alignment for 4 cyls. Right front we keep softer, around 20-24 psi and the left front is harder (35-40 psi)
The rears sre both around 25-30 psi. We change it and play around a little, and it seems to work better for our track. The RC is a Stang, though, but it should give you an idea.\
Note: our setup involves keeping the car straight during the turn, RWD. The track is fresh and the Late Models rip it up so we wanted to go straighter in the turns. The natural idea would be to make the car turn left in the corner, but for some reason it makes this car go better. Unconvetional thought for a change...
 
#3 ·
Our class is puresock also but teching is hardly ever done and mostly a quick look under the hood and they verify tire size, we don't have much of a payout so thats pretty much why they don't tech, many guys run neg camber on there front suspension and recently so did i but it seems the more i do the tighter the car gets,
 
#4 ·
Do you need it a little looser? Hard to say without being on the track, but pump up your rear pressures...that'll give it less tire on the pavement, and make it feel looser without turning adjustments. Minimal tech, eh? There's a few tricks for when they don't tear her down...but if they do, you're done for. ...i put a Merkur head on the mustang and shaved it down 70 thou... rules only allow for 20. I layered some solder on the to of the head scuffed it down until it looked like the rest. That way when they tech'd it, the vernier calipers (unless they pulled the head, but they don't for 4cyl.) would read in spec. i dunno if you can do it there and for your head (Merkur produced a better head for the 2.3L mustang) but look into it.
 
#5 ·
One more race and this escort is headed to the crusher, might run a newer EGT or a ZX2 if i can find one cheap, the car is tight in meaning it takes great force to turn the wheel but if i turn in hard the ass end goes into a sprint car slide, it wasn't always like this but i had a guy wreck me and the toe was knocked in so while i was at it fixing the toe i dialed in more camber and set the toe but the car just won't turn like it should, only thing i'm not sure about is caster and if that makes a car tight,
 
#6 ·
Remember that there is a lot of weight being transfered to the front of the car. You have the motor there and when you turn all that weight is going to the right front. I need you to answer a few questions for me.

1. Do you have to run the same size tires all the way around? Example of what I do, instead of running 195/60/14's all the way around, I use a 195/65/14 on the right front. It is still 195 across, but the sidewall is a little taller, this makes the right front sit higher and forces the weight to the left rear of the car. I run about 28 PSI in the right front.

2. Do you take your tire pressures after you have raced? A good way to tell what your car is doing is taking the the tire pressures right after the hot laps or a heat race. Your pressures will go up as the tire heats up. In your case you have a push going through the corner, the car wants to slide front first up into the corner, your right front tire is going to go way up in pressure and your left rear will not even heat up, because it is spending most of its time barely touching the track. What is the fix? Adjust your tire pressures so that they all go up the came amount during practice laps. Mine usually all go up by 2 or 3 psi.

3. Are you still running a stock right front spring? I found a way to get away with making my car by putting a cut down Contour spring in the right front. Before you put the spring in, cover it in undercoating, I mean a lot, then let it get dusty and dirty, so it looks stock. The officials wont take the time to chip through the stuff to get a good mic reading on it to see if it is stock or not.

4. Adjust your driving style. Do you run real fast into the corner and then let off and try to drive through it to keep your RPM's up? It took me awhile to understand the concept, but it worked. I would drive like hell down the straights and get into the corner, let off a second and then get back on it. I was pushing really bad too. I learned from a Late Model driver (Drives Cup cars now) that you need to let off before you enter the corner, get the car settled, and then drive through the corner. You may feel that people are going to pass you going in, but with the car settled, both front tires are grabbing, and you will drive through the corner faster and come out with more speed than you have now. I cut 1/2 second off my lap times doing this. It sounds weird but it works.

5. Are you running stock struts? Try and find something with a really soft rebound for the rear end, or even wore out struts. Let the springs and struts absorb a lot of the inertia. I run wore out escort wagon springs in the back. It lowered the car about 2 inches in the back. Hey they are a stock escort part. Lowering the car brings your center of gravity down, and keeps that front end weight transfer down.

If You need more help let me know.
 
#8 ·
HRJ72,

We run a 1/4 mile oval that involves some hard braking going in, i'm hard on the brakes and when i get to the center or apex i down shift to second and mash the throttle, sometimes i have to tap the brake to get the car turned the rest of the way for the straight, I have checked pressures after a heat race and the right front seems to go up 3 or 4 lbs on average, we must use same size tires all around i can raise the right side of the car up though by spacing the spring, thanks for the tips, I will be playing with it this weekend,
 
#11 ·
Are you coming into the corner from high outside and diving in to the bottom of the corner? If you are, then you are probably scrubbing speed, and having to shift to second. You might try a higher line through the corner. I know the old saying protect your low side, but sometimes you may be faster up high, scrub less speed, and keep your RPM's up enough in third to really get a good run off the corner. I know th e short way around the track is run low in the corner, but try the middle or even high for a few hot laps, it may seem like a longer trip around the corner, but your speed will be faster and it will take some of that wieght transfer out of the car too.
 
#12 ·
HRJ72,

We finished out the season last night at Illiana and thanks to some of your tips I managed a third in my feature (from almost last)and a win in the spectator drags with my 93 Cobra, not going into the turn real hot works very well, and also raising up the right front seemed to help weight transfer as the car felt much better going in and coming out, may have done even better but i'm having a overheating problem that i didn't have before on the last lap or two and it slows me down, I don't plan to run this car next year may consider the Allison Legacy series we had 6 of them run at our track last night and they look like something i could get into,
 
#17 ·
Wish I would have seen this earlier.

Front Left - 20 psi
Front right - 30 psi
Rear left - 25 psi
Rear right - 34 psi

The above setup will help with a push on a asphalt oval track.

You will gain 3 to 5 lbs in the front tires and rear right.

Reason for higher right side pressures is to tilt the car. It helps fight the automatic weight transfer. Not stop it, but help fight it. The higher rear right pressure is to help tilt the car forward and toward the inside left. If you want to really defeat the push, add a spring rubber to the rear right and pull your left rear spring down some.

Thing to remember with a front wheel drive car, loose is good during oval track racing. If the rear end starts to slide, hit the gas to settle it down. If you hit the brake, it will come around. So if you can get the rear end to slide just a little, you got the setup you want. Nothing wrong with pounding the gas around a corner, just remember to turn a little right. to strighten it out for the straights.
 
#18 ·
I haven't raced an Escort yet. But I had a lot
of fun racing a VW Bug in a class called Pony
Stock.
As the name implies, it was mostly Pintos,
Mustang IIs and the later (80s and early 90s)
Mustangs with an 1800cc 2bbl limit.

They always started me on the pole, and with
all the Eslinger headers out the passenger doors
it sounded like I was under attack by hornets!
If we had a 20 car heat I was in 17th by turn 1.

But I ran up on the rim (it just bogged down low),
and usually finished in the top 10.

They would bomb into the corner and dive down low
apexing the corner, and I would just keep the hammer
down all the way around and pass cars.

I was running a 1775 with a stock 1600 Capri 2 bbl,
and custom 1& 1/4 inch zoomy exhaust, 1 pipe per cylinder.
I had a VW shop and a muffler shop for my 1st sponcers
and the exhaust looked like a Monza exhaust: 2 3 inch tips
side by side on each side, steel polished to a chrome
like luster.

Some guys were running 2000 to 2400 engines with all
the Esslinger parts and all of us 'lesser' racers called
them the "A Class" cars.
Then we had the legal cars that us smaller guys called the "B
Minis".
Then there were guys like me with under-sized engines and
stock carbs.

I was the pride of the "littles" the night I figured out on
restarts to just drop way back when they all took off from
turn 2. Then they would back down to like 30 MPH
(Or risk a black flag) in 3 and accelerate out of 4 for the start.

I would just lay back in 1, let them go like heck down the
back straight and hammer it about half way down the back
straight when I got there.

Going full bore through 3 and 4 I would catch the back car
about coming out of turn 4 and be up to 3/4 full song.
I would pass several of my fellow 'littles' down the straight
and be passing more cars in 1 and 2. I would be flat out
and passing cars or at least holding my own until the next yellow.

The night I finished 4th in the feature was really special
because some of the "B" cars would wipe out when I blew
by them on the high side, and give me even more chances
to pass.

I was neck and neck with 3rd place all the way around the track
for the last 3 laps, and he got 3rd by a bumper, literally!
But the assistant flagman said:

"Here comes 1st place by 50 feet. Crowds like a really
weak "yaa. Here comes 2nd by 30 feet. "yaa."
Here comes you and this Pinto neck and neck, they shoot
to their feet, screaming and hollerin' stompin and pumpin'
their arms, like to tear the place down!
" I'm watchin' like a hawk and I can just barely see his
bumper peeking out in front of you."
He was waiting and thinking 'Did they catch that?' and it
was like a minute and they still hadn't anouched 3rs and
4th.
So the phone rings and it's the tower.
"Did that dang bug win 3rd?" the scorer asks.
Donny turns and ask the flagman.
flagman says "I couldn't tell."
Donny passes it on. They then ask "Could you tell?"
Donny is my friend and he's the brother of my sponcer.
he'sin the position of "Do I lie for my friend and make
all these fans yelling "4u! 4u! 4u!" happy or tell the truth.

He told the truth.

He comes down after the race and tells me all about this,
and how the crowd booed and grumbled after finding out
4u (me) didn't win 3rd. Then he apologized.

I got mad as heck and told him
"Don't you DARE apologize! You did the right thing and I
would exspect no less from you!
When I win a spot, I want to WIN IT, not have it given to me!"

Now and then wisdom and just plain streching the rules a little
can over come horsepower and cubic dollars.

"You can't pass anyone from right behind them."
 
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