Quarter-mile times-Dissapointing but VERY Optimistic. (kind

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Matt Scicchitano

Quarter-mile times-Dissapointing but VERY Optimistic. (kind

Post by Matt Scicchitano »

I finally got to take the Legacy Turbo to the track on Friday night.
Keep in mind this is the first time I drag raced this car at a track
and probably only my 2nd or 3rd time ever racing at a track so I'm
not quite an expert ;) Things like launches and shiftpoints play huge
parts in the overall time, but take much practice to get right,
something I had very little of. Also for those of you don't know, the
only "power enhancing" mods my car has is an intake, full 3" exhaust,
a WRX intercooler, and at the time, the boost was at 10-11psi.

It turns out the rain played a big part and I only got one decent run
in before it started pouring. Anyways, I launched at a fairly
conservitive 3000rpm, slipping the clutch slightly and not really
bogging too much. I shifted around 6000rpm up until the 3rd to 4th
shift when I totally missed it and ended up coasting the last 300
feet or so( a quarter mile is only 1320ft). After getting my time
slip, the first thing I noticed was my 60ft time. A dismal 2.49!!!
For those who don't know, that is pathetic to say the least! Most of
the AWD guys can get sub 2.0 60ft times with little problem. On
average, every tenth of a second you take off your 60ft time, it
takes about two tenths off your quarter mile time. Needless to say, a
good lauch is critical to a good time, something that comes with
practice.

Then for the actual quarter mile time- 16.5 at 89mph. At first I was
dissapointed since it was a equal to or a few tenths slower then the
magazine tests. But after talking my time slips over with a few
Mistsubishi racers, I began to feel better(especially after
remembering I missed 4th gear entirely!). They said with a much
better 60ft time(again, practice), actually making it into 4th gear,
getting rid of a slight miss( they heard it breaking up and suspected
the plugs which are deperately in need of a change), and alot of
practice on my part, it is easily a low 15 second car if not better.
My original plans for the car was for it to be a fun, daily driven 14
second Subaru. Now it seems that is well within reach. Here are a few
things I noticed:

Boost problems. Although I had the boost set to around 12.5psi, it
would only maintain around 10psi at WOT in the upper gears, a sure
sign the turbo is just too small to maintain decent boost. It could
also mean there is a boost leak somewhere or the BOV is leaking, but
I heard nothing out of the ordinary, checked all connections, have no
other driveability problems, and in short spurts, it will hold
12.5psi just fine, it simply cannot maintain it. I have also heard of
an Impreza owner running the Legacy IHI turbo with the same problem.
Thankfully there are two options. Either get a newer bigger turbo or
simply have the stock turbo rebuilt and have someone like Turbonetics
install a bigger compressor wheel. Since the second option will
guarentee that the turbo is a 100 percent bolt on(since it's the same
turbo) and you know it will be brand new, I'm going to go that route
in the future. Judging by the performance gains that Mitsubishi
owners get from simply swapping from the stock 14B turbo to a 16G
turbo, I'm guessing a bigger turbo will help quite a bit.

The shifter. I'm not making excuses for why I missed 4th gear, but
the stock shifter surely didn't help any. When shifting hard, the
feeling of the shifter is rather vauge and it's hard to actually feel
it get into gear. I've been a bit busy this week so I did not get a
shifter out to Tom at Kartboy, but it will be on it's way next week
for sure!

Drag Racing. I've been told this several times, but I can now see how
it is true. To get a good time, you must simply drive the car like
you stole it. Have little mercy on it. If you have reservations
about beating the bag out of your car, you will not get the best
time you can get. As I stated before at Turbo-Centric, my Legacy is a
365 day a year daily driver with 123,000 + miles on it, so I'll be
honest and say I didn't push the car. Still, for my first time racing
the car, a frightening 2.49 60ft, a slight miss probably from shot
plugs, and coasting the last 300-400 feet or so of the track and
STILL getting within the factory stock times and driving it home with
no problems, all done with less then $1200 worth of mods, I am VERY
pleased.

With a bigger fuel pump, either some injectors from a WRX(preferred)
or some more fuel pressure(not crazy about), a bigger turbo, maybe
some porting of the exhaust manifolds, and around 15psi, the car
should work pretty good, while still not breaking the bank for any of
the stuff mentioned. I truly ejoy this car ;)

If anyone knows more about the details of drag racing, I'd love to
hear them. For instance, I was told that 89mph was a rather high mile
per hour for a car only running a 16.5 which usually indicates that
after the terrible lauch, it made up quite a bit of distance meaning
it has half-decent power. I have no idea if that's true but who
knows.

Anyways, for $15.00 it was worth it and if anyone lives near a track,
you should definitely get out and run a few times, if only for
curiousity sake. Although Subes are generally "twisties" cars, it's
nice to know where you stand.

-Matt
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