First trip with the marauder

[376shovel]

Stock Marauder, tune from Marty, k&n intake setup, and a 2.5 inch x pipe in place of the stock tiny one, all factory cats and mufflers etc. Had a trunk full of tools, a jack and the spare. Just as I do every day. I don't play the weight game.

14.73 @ 96.09 was the best run of the night once I pulled 2 degrees of wot timing for some odd reason...honestly I guessed 14.50s before I ran, but doesn't it always work that way?


I was trying to avoid any gear in this car but boy does it need it. I shifted into third right before the traps. Awful. I'm, just going to put 4.10s in it. Especially since I bought the car with 255 tires on the rear already.

Will update when I go back with the gears.

[sailsmen]

Nice run!

can you please post all your #s and approx Temp/Hum?

Thank you.

[jmsa540]

I have a 96 Cobra and it runs 13.9... Not bad..

[Mr. Man]

Where did you run?

[376shovel]

Atco. DA was 84 ft where I ran:
2.218
6.303
9.605 @ 75.38
12.382
14.74 @ 95.81
(Edited because last posted time was the wrong slip)


. Best run was -120ft so the couple degrees timing seems to have done very little.

2.247
6.330
9.595 @ 75.65
12.388
14.739 @ 96.09

[376shovel]

Had a couple people come up to me and ask about the car. I kept telling them it's just stock and they didn't seem to believe me. I just laughed because it's really not special. Looked good doing it tho.

[376shovel]

It was a good night tho. Helped my buddy with his first time at the track, and ran against my best friend with his "new" stock 1978 corvette. When everyone runs and no one breaks, it's a good night.

[Turbov6Bryan]

Nice run!
Lost my 1/4 mile track, city bought the land

If you barely click the second lights, you might get a better 60' time. Try it

Do your rolling burnout up away from the burnout box, this way you don't collect other rubber pieces when you pull up to the light
Not a rolling burnout past the lights, just make sure your way past others burnouts

Let us know your next trip, sounds fun :)

[376shovel]

Nice run!
Lost my 1/4 mile track, city bought the land

If you barely click the second lights, you might get a better 60' time. Try it

Do your rolling burnout up away from the burnout box, this way you don't collect other rubber pieces when you pull up to the light
Not a rolling burnout past the lights, just make sure your way past others burnouts

Let us know your next trip, sounds fun :)

Ur talking about shallow staging. Yep I do it on a regular basis. Not my first rodeo.:)

[WhatsUpDOHC]

Atco. DA was 84 ft where I ran:
2.218
6.303
9.605 @ 75.38
12.382
14.74 @ 95.81
(Edited because last posted time was the wrong slip)


. Best run was -120ft so the couple degrees timing seems to have done very little.

2.247
6.330
9.595 @ 75.65
12.388
14.739 @ 96.09

That's a VIOLATION!!

All Marauder racing at Akko (Atco) must be announced prior to the race.

[376shovel]

That's a VIOLATION!!

All Marauder racing at Akko (Atco) must be announced prior to the race.

? Because of the DA? It was good but not -1500 good.

[376shovel]

The way my exhaust is set up. I could just buy a set of headers and fit them right to my existing system without having to buy anything else. The car definetly needs gear. So now I'm at a decision point. $1300 for some gear and headers, or what $2800+ for an Eaton swap?

[martyo]

The way my exhaust is set up. I could just buy a set of headers and fit them right to my existing system without having to buy anything else. The car definetly needs gear. So now I'm at a decision point. $1300 for some gear and headers, or what $2800+ for an Eaton swap?

If you can do an Eaton swap fir $2,800 I will take three please. ;)

[WhatsUpDOHC]

? Because of the DA? It was good but not -1500 good.
Violation because I didn't know about it (So that I could be there to see the runs).

[376shovel]

Violation because I didn't know about it (So that I could be there to see the runs).

Sorry brother didn't think about it. I will be going again later this year I'm sure.




Marty I priced based on the parts available on the forum, and eBay. Also accounting for selling my k&n intake, the upper/lower intake, throttle body, injectors etc for a couple hundred bucks to offset. What big costs am I missing?

[WhatsUpDOHC]

Sorry brother didn't think about it. I will be going again later this year I'm sure.......

Just kidding. All good.

We should try to plan an Atco event this Spring/Summer.

I know that jimbok1951 is in.

Have you seen this thread?

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=100236

[376shovel]

Sounds good to me, I just ordered the parts for the gear change. Looking at going April 15th if possible

[ctrlraven]

14.73 @ 96 isn't horrible, it's a good starting point and can only get better from this point. My first time out I did a 15.00 (left it in 2nd gear after the burnout), then a 14.55 and finally a 14.38, I had a JLT, tune, mufflers and maybe something else, my car seems to slightly be a factory freak with mods done vs times run. 4.10s and a 2800/3000 stall converter (with maybe a slight re-tune) could easily get you down half a second. When I did a 3500 stall, re-tune and 26" tall (255/50-16) drag radials with stock gears (effective 3.89 rear gear) I went from 14.20 to 13.73. Honestly it felt no faster to me and was shocked when I read the time slip.

Also weight does play a factor.

[376shovel]

14.73 @ 96 isn't horrible, it's a good starting point and can only get better from this point. My first time out I did a 15.00 (left it in 2nd gear after the burnout), then a 14.55 and finally a 14.38, I had a JLT, tune, mufflers and maybe something else, my car seems to slightly be a factory freak with mods done vs times run. 4.10s and a 2800/3000 stall converter (with maybe a slight re-tune) could easily get you down half a second. When I did a 3500 stall, re-tune and 26" tall (255/50-16) drag radials with stock gears (effective 3.89 rear gear) I went from 14.20 to 13.73. Honestly it felt no faster to me and was shocked when I read the time slip.

Also weight does play a factor.

Yes I know. Fast and slow are both relative terms. I just ordered the parts for the 4.10 gear change. I actually have 255/55/18s which are taller than the factory tire obviously, so my car is even more under geared. No doubt the tight converter and awful gear have this car running a lot slower than optimal. But again this is a daily driver, so it's all a compromise. After the 4.10s I will put headers on the car and that will be it until the trans needs to be rebuilt, at which time I will put a smaller diameter converter in there. Unfortunately I just crossed a supercharger off my list for a while. Any money I spend on this car, ultimately takes away from money I spend on my chevelle. And that needs the seats reupholstered, a soft parts rebuild of the trans among other things, so nothing crazy with the Marauder at this point.

Will update with new times next month.

[376shovel]

Update: 4.10s are installed and I've tried to race at the track 3 times since. All three times it's gotten rained out or someone broke and it was delayed so long I had to leave. I haven't gotten a pass in yet, but come October I will be trying again, with the only change being the gears.

Expect times in Oct timeframe.

[WPG_Merc]

Update: 4.10s are installed and I've tried to race at the track 3 times since. All three times it's gotten rained out or someone broke and it was delayed so long I had to leave. I haven't gotten a pass in yet, but come October I will be trying again, with the only change being the gears.

Expect times in Oct timeframe.

Cool :beer:
The best mine could do so far is 13.55 @ 101.86 MPH With Stock Internals/Nitto 555's & 75 Shots NOS

[376shovel]

Ran again tonight. Kooks headers and 4.10s.


2.142
6.079
9.256
77.75
11.994
14.33 @ 96.82

Again I figured 14.0-14.1 especially with the cool air. I'm sure the tune is a bit rich for safety's sake, I'll have to get with Marty to ask. I put one degree of timing in it and again it slowed down.

The car traps much better at 5000+, but you can tell how tight the converter is and how much that's holding it back on the front end. I'm surprised the ba k end didn't pick up much mph at all though. I thought for sure it'd be 98.xx+

All in all a good night, but didn't pick up as much as I'd like.

[sailsmen]

For comparison I believe Steve aka TripleTransAm has the fastest stock MM @14.56.

[376shovel]

UPDATE:


Alright ladies and gents. Grab your scream masks and take a seat for this vent session. This here is a tough pill to swallow for me, but here goes. A while ago I grabbed a whole 2005 aviator engine from a junkyard. I rebuilt it, .020 over, flat tops (10.5:1), 99 cobra intake cams advanced 4 degrees. I also put in a used 3500 converter from a member on this site. Then Marty (who has been awesome) remote tuned the car for me. After all of these upgrades, tonight I ran a whopping 14.249 @ 95.92....




2.079
5.941
9.123 @ 77.24
11.888
14.249 @ 95.92


Again this is with a new NA engine 10.5:1, 99 cobra cams, headers, 3500 converter, 4.10 gears. still in the 14s. the DA tonight was below 0... Only thing I can think of it some sort of restriction in the exhaust? I got two bad cats in a row which broke apart in my exhaust, I wonder if there is some sort of clog in there.


This timeslip was the first and best run of the night. very sad stuff guys. here is a video of my piece of shlt car that I just may get mad enough to sell. Yay.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS_ZCWzqJQI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS_ZCWzqJQI)

[justgod]

Marty I priced based on the parts available on the forum, and eBay. Also accounting for selling my k&n intake, the upper/lower intake, throttle body, injectors etc for a couple hundred bucks to offset. What big costs am I missing?

Unless you're doing it yourself, labor. Tuner and tune also.

[376shovel]

Unless you're doing it yourself, labor. Tuner and tune also.

Old conversation, i was just posting with my latest updated track time, so im not tskinf up another thread having to backfill people on past events.

[justgod]

Oops! I need more :coffee::coffee::coffee:

I bet you have a clog somewhere in there. What RPM are you leaving on btw?

[Joe Walsh]

As you, I, and many others have found:
Getting a 2+ ton car with an automatic to run fast with a 281 CID N/A V8 is a challenge!

If you pour money into it...AND add some cubes you can run 12s N/A.
But the smart folks immediately go to forced induction.

[376shovel]

Oops! I need more :coffee::coffee::coffee:

I bet you have a clog somewhere in there. What RPM are you leaving on btw?

Leaving anywhere from idle to 1000 rpm. Its not the leave, the car is just down on power. We'll see what happens

[justgod]

With that convertor, you should be leaving at a much higher RPM. You'll be in a better torque band to leave on and get that 60ft down a hair.
Other than that, spark advance and AFR are the only changes if everything else is solid. Ever try manual shifts? It engages the gears a little different inside the trans.

[376shovel]

With that convertor, you should be leaving at a much higher RPM. You'll be in a better torque band to leave on and get that 60ft down a hair.
Other than that, spark advance and AFR are the only changes if everything else is solid. Ever try manual shifts? It engages the gears a little different inside the trans.

All good advice, but ive had to dig deeper, may not have the balancer tightened enough against the reluctor wheel.

3200 PI actually. Ive always had better luck with several cars flashing the xonverter or leaving right off idle. Regardless, that doesnt explain the lack of mph. Yhe car is down on power and there is a reason i have yet to find.

[justgod]

You said Marty remote tuned it. Get a wideband if you don't have one and the tune can be tweaked better. Maybe get a tune with added timing for the track and put MS109 in the tank...

[Agent2006]

Suggestion -swap out the TC. Those 60' times are hardly better than stock, unless there was a ton of wheelspin. Maybe you are blowing through the torque converter. how did it feel? Any excessive revving?

[376shovel]

Yes i have an LC-2 providing the wideband.

It spins a hair at the track but nothing to write home about. It flashes to 32-3300. On the street it burns the tires good from a 5 mph roll. Way better than pre converter. Before the converter it wouldnt spin from a dead stop...

It doesnt feel like its blowing through, at the traps im 5000-5100 rpm, 96 mph. I will break out the trans slippage calculator.

[martyo]

Please look at what we spent the last 18 hours discussing.

Pretty please.

[vkirkend]

As you, I, and many others have found:
Getting a 2+ ton car with an automatic to run fast with a 281 CID N/A V8 is a challenge!

If you pour money into it...AND add some cubes you can run 12s N/A.
But the smart folks immediately go to forced induction.

What he said....

[376shovel]

Quick update for the group:

Compression test revealed roughly 180 psi across the engine. Except for cyl 5 and 6 at 130 psi. Leakdown shows 60% leakage on both. Listened and couldnt hear where the air was going. I'm thinking head gasket. I will be swapping out the drivers head gasket soon.

At least I've found the issue. It explains why I'm down on power for sure.

[1Marauder]

UPDATE:


Alright ladies and gents. Grab your scream masks and take a seat for this vent session. This here is a tough pill to swallow for me, but here goes. A while ago I grabbed a whole 2005 aviator engine from a junkyard. I rebuilt it, .020 over, flat tops (10.5:1), 99 cobra intake cams advanced 4 degrees. I also put in a used 3500 converter from a member on this site. Then Marty (who has been awesome) remote tuned the car for me. After all of these upgrades, tonight I ran a whopping 14.249 @ 95.92....
5.941
9.123 @ 77.24
11.888
14.249 @ 95.92


Again this is with a new NA engine 10.5:1, 99 cobra cams, headers, 3500 converter, 4.10 gears. still in the 14s. the DA tonight was below 0... Only thing I can think of it some sort of restriction in the exhaust? I got two bad cats in a row which broke apart in my exhaust, I wonder if there is some sort of clog in there.


This timeslip was the first and best run of the night. very sad stuff guys. here is a video of my piece of shlt car that I just may get mad enough to sell. Yay.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS_ZCWzqJQI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS_ZCWzqJQI)


That was amazing. I want that car!

[376shovel]

That was amazing. I want that car!

Is that sarcasm