I asked for some input on trying to run the 6.5 index a few weeks back. Seems like there wasn't many that have tried doing it. Here is what I have tried so far. Hopefully it will help someone else.

The rules state no t-stops or delay boxes. I'm trying to knock of about half a second on my ET.
The dominator has 70 degrees of travel from idle to full throttle. I took out 8 rounds on my throttle cable which ended up being 32 degrees at the carb. So I was getting just a little more than 1/2 throttle. I also had it set up to shift at 5200.

As you can see from the graph that set-up really changed things. First it only had enough horsepower to stall the converter to 3800. The second thing that happened was I shifted into high before the van even moved. There is a slight blip at 5200 where it shifted. I made the whole run in high. I wasn't trying for reaction times at this time but trying a get consistent passes. RT's would have been tough to get since the van was a slug off the line.

Also on this run I pretty much blew my rusty headers apart. I don't know why setting up for five years hurt them.

On the pass I ran a 1.488 60', 6.412 @ 108.99. Also the real nice management at Gainesville informed me that if I ran any faster they were going to throw me out. If they don't want me to try and run their 6.5 class.....So be it.



Needless to say, my playback tach has been well worth the money helping to sort things out.

why would they tell you that? are you not certified to run 9s?

Well I made three changes from my last pass.

Installed new headers that we made. The primers are 36 inches long vs 27 inches on my old ones. We reused the flanges and bought a pipe kit from Jegs for $130. Another $23 for the turn downs and we are good to go.



Put the 4.88 gears back in the Dana instead of the 4.10's . Hopefully they will help me leave the line a little quicker. Seemed to have helped. At least now you can see a little light between the tie and the track when I leave.

Installed an electric shifter from Jegs to replace the CO2 one I had been using. It was as cheap to get the shifter as it was to buy a new bottle. No more refills or the bottle leaking down.



I made two passes at SGMP on Friday. The first pass the van was set up similar to G-ville except I shifted at 5500 to slow it down a little. It didn't work as I ran a 6.394 @107.58, must be the new headers. The second and last pass on Friday I shifted even sooner, 5200, to slow the van down. I was rewarded with a pass of 6.499 @ 106.19. Then the rains came. Pleased with the result.

Looks good!! I like that electric shifter...Do you run a rmvb?....I think I could adapt something like that for my Winters Sidewinder...

I race this type stuff at a couple diffrent tracks. I have won a few and lost alot lol. For me it's all about getting the car to cut a light, that .400 tree will sneek up on you.
It looks like your getting it dialed in to run the number. That's a big step in becoming a player.

On the first pass Saturday morning I'm going to try and slow it down by shifting sooner, 5000 instead of 5200.

I achieved what I wanted as I ran a 6.514 @ 106.64. At least I'm running the number. The van still seems lazy off the line so the next pass I'm going to take one turn back out of the throttle. I would guess that is about 3 degrees on the throttle blades. I'm also going to try and cut a light.


Next pass turned into a wasted pass. As I matted the throttle, the van bogged and almost shut off. I ran a 6.59 @106.71

Made a couple of minor changes for the next run. Raised the in gear idle 200 rpm to 1200 rpm. Also adjusted the squirters closer to the pump shot arm on the carb. I had about 3/16th gap. Now I have none.

Van is still set up with a 5000 shift. Here is a graph of the run. You can see that opening the throttle blades gave me some more horsepower. The converter stall got pushed up to 4600, about a 800 rpm gain. Also when I got off the trans-brake the van is now starting to move before it shifts into high. You can see on the green line (drive shaft) about .8 seconds into the run, the shift bump. It looks like it takes about .4 seconds to complete the shift. I don't know whats with the climb from 4100 to 4600 when I jump on the throttle.

The numbers from the run were 1.411 60', 6.451 @ 107.28. My RT was .048.

CRUNCH TIME

First round of eliminations in five years.

Changes from the last run. Changed shifting from 5000 to 4900 to slow it down.

The van did not like this set up as I slowed to 6.616. The Camero ran a 6.527 for the win.
I did hit a better light .038 to his .093.

The van likes the higher rpm at the start (stalled again at 4600) but doesn't like the fact I have to shift real early to keep my et in the 6.50 zone.. I'm back to the shift into high happening at the same time the van is just starting to move. The converter does not like this. I think this is what slowed me down. At least the van reacted to every change that was made. Just wish I was able to to back to back runs to make sure. The playback tach really helped nailing this information down.



Wade got a pretty good picture of why I like the van.

The part of the vehicle that is going to trigger the finish light is about 25 to 30 inches closer on the van at the start.
I'm sitting right on top of my front wheel so it is easier to judge the finish line.
Of course it doesn't make any difference if a Camero has half a car on you at the finish.

What you running for a engine in that thing? I hate the slow your car down to make the class deal,I found that the guy's that win don't and pick you off with a quicker 60 foot and just keep a nose on you . Sorry you lose every time. Next time I run a index like that, I'll qualify, then crank it back up , they won't know what there running and dump them at the light.

Yep, most of the time it's 15 to 20 cars in the class.
I raced a couple index races this weekend. One was 6.50 on a .400 tree, the other was a declared index on a bracket tree. I went red on the pro tree in 1st round and took the win in the declared index.