Who has the fastest SC 5speed?

C'mon, take your car to the track and join the fast crowd! Your car puts down enough HP for a mid 13 sec pass.

To answer your question, Steve Griffith was the fastest 5spd, but his car is no more. Dennis Dimitratos was also in the top ten, but his car is no more thanks to a little too much nitrous.

Some of the current fast 5spds include Bill McNeil, Wisco Andy, Chris Spanel, Micah Miller and Rick Cunningham (at least I THINK his is a 5spd).

5spds are hard to launch and shift, and they don't like abuse very much. The guys with the autos are just taking the easy way out.

David

(mine's currently not even running)
 
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Wow Dave, I didn't realize all your MN12's were 5-speeds. That's gotta be some sort of record.

Thomas
 
Note that it sounds like the 5speed wheel hop is possibly going to be thing of the past based on mannysc's experience. It'll be very intersting to play with his ideas when I finally get some time and money.
 
hey kuhnga

when you got your car what color did you get? was it peformance red? the same used on the cobra R or what?
 
Car color

About two years ago someone took a saw zaw, cut open the trunk, smashed all the windows out and tore the dash apart.
I repainted the car, but I just asked for the factory color. It seems a little brighter, but maybe it is just a newer coat.

Thanks Gary

www.supercoupekuhn.com
 
Nice car Gary. BTW, Mike Puckett's SC is also a 5spd.

I'm wondering why so many of the fastest SCs were made in 1990.

David
 
Mine may be a 90 but it's got a 94 engine. I don't have trouble with wheel hop unless I spin them which I'm trying not to do. Easier said than done. I've found that the less wheelspin I have the quicker my times are. I'm still trying to figure how to get my 60 ft times under 2.0 sec, though. Rick Cunningham's SC is an AOD, BTW. I'm hoping to knock on 13.0's door in the spring after the cam and 3.73's go in during the winter. We'll have another 13 sec range SC here next year when Mark Dennenberg runs his and it's a 5 spd, also.
 
Yeah but...

It's looking like mounting points for the hub and the entire rear subassembly are allowing for torque windup in the rear suspension.

Thus... this "flexibility" in the rear of the car also will hurt your 1/4 mile times even if you don't smoke the tires. Why?, because this movement saps some of the power going to the wheels. It's a bit like having a rubber band for a driveshaft.

Why just a 5speed issue? All thoughts are related to the torque converter on an automatic smoothing out the delivery of power to the rear is less likely to allow the rear subassembly to wind up.
 
I hate my 5-speed. Its fun to cruise, but I hate trying to race it or drive it in the rain. Tonight it was wet out, and I took off from a light a little too hard, it sounded like the driveshaft was slapping the bottom of my back seat, and the car was jumping all over. My auto SC has never wheel hopped on me, always smooth tire spinning launches. I'm so tempted to put in a solid axle. IRS sucks in manual cars. Does anyone know if the manual Cobra's experience this same dilema?

I haven't seen Manny's discovery about the wheel hop? How is this corrected? I'm VERY interested in learning before I say to hell with it and swap in an AOD in my 92 SC. The M5R2 is decent but the wheel hop sucks and I can't drag launch my car without burning clutch, what a piece. Give me an AOD, a lentech, and a 2500 stall and 3.73's any day over a stick shift. Worthless I'll tell ya...
 
actually...

steve griffith's car is still around, its just no longer what could be considered a super coupe, he's running a turbo v-8 now with an 1/8 mile time of somewhere in the neighborhood of mid 7's, so its pretty damn strong, and its still got the same m5r2 tranny in it
 
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Mike8675309 said:
Basically the mounts for the rear sub-assembly are too soft so he replaced his with pieces of steel and has reported eliminating all wheel hop.
Click to expand...

Aluminum would be better, becuase it's softer than steel and will not damage the subframe. I wonder how thick it needs to be...the SHO shop had some made as prototypes, but haven't heard about how well they perform.
 
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Wrong about Steve.......

XR7 Dave said:
C'mon, take your car to the track and join the fast crowd! Your car puts down enough HP for a mid 13 sec pass.

To answer your question, Steve Griffith was the fastest 5spd, but his car is no more. Dennis Dimitratos was also in the top ten, but his car is no more thanks to a little too much nitrous.

Some of the current fast 5spds include Bill McNeil, Wisco Andy, Chris Spanel, Micah Miller and Rick Cunningham (at least I THINK his is a 5spd).

5spds are hard to launch and shift, and they don't like abuse very much. The guys with the autos are just taking the easy way out.

David

(mine's currently not even running)
Click to expand...
His car is quicker then ever now.He pulled the 3.8 out and has a 5.0 Turbo in it now.Rode in it a week ago.We were doing 80 and I swear 3 seconds later we were doing 120,just like that.
Chris
 
Hey, that is great to hear about Steve's car. I just knew that he had pulled the 3.8 and sold all the parts. Ted Lyon's car is also a v-8 5spd, and puts out some hellacious HP, but he hasn't 1/4 mile run it that I know of.

Mid 7's huh? That should equate out to a mid 11 sec 1/4. That's smokin pretty good.

Wheel hop is not the scorn of all MN12 5spds. My XR7 does not wheel hop at all with the ET streets on it. It used to occasionally with DR's on it though. I think the ET streets absorb some shock themselves and help things out.

Most of the Tbirds that hop real bad have issues with worn suspension parts anyway.
 
Steve hit 7s but......

That was at a crappy track and he was having problems.He ran like a high 7 but his car wasnt tuned or anything.Like I said,we hit 120 really quick.As far as I know he is running the stock 5-speed and has no problems.He said that he would go faster at his home track and I believe it because this Florida weather is awful,even at night.
Thanks,
Chris
 
I don't have too much trouble with wheelhop anymore in my 89. I have had the best luck with my BFG drag radials and have gotten the 60's under 1.9 in my 5 speed. I just have to stop breaking my car. With the 17" Nitto DR's I got a 2.0 60ft time at the Nationals before I blew my car up. It seems like the DR's do a little slip slip and then hook hard but it does not hop like it use to.
 
I never could get my drag radials to hook very good. The E/T streets do much better but only if I launch at low rpm. Even though I've settled real nicely into the 13.8's my 60 ft times are still over 2.0. How do you get a 1.8 60 ft time? Or for that matter a consistent 1.9?
 
Mike Puckett said:
I never could get my drag radials to hook very good. The E/T streets do much better but only if I launch at low rpm. Even though I've settled real nicely into the 13.8's my 60 ft times are still over 2.0. How do you get a 1.8 60 ft time? Or for that matter a consistent 1.9?
Click to expand...

Long long LONGGGG burnout on the DR's.. I ran 17psi on the ghetto DR's in my old SC.. It seemed the car liked to be launched at 3500 RPMS cause it was getting consistent hi 1.8 60ft's.. I think i have a total of like 5 1.8 60ft's and like 3 1.9's b4 the motor let go on my infamous nitrous pass.. LoL.. O and i didnt have wheelhop after i had changed my suspension..
 
I have a 94 with the m5r2 and i love it, i wouldnt trade a standard for anything. My fastest run was a 14.024 @ 100.27 mph. My 60' time was 2.115. If you can master the smoothness of the bird you can do it with out wheel hop. I turned that back in 97 degree humid summer temps. I am hoping to take her back real soon as its cool and she has some more mods plus a 50 shot of N2O. Should be down in low 13's. But anyway the wheelhop issue is just something you have to get used to and launch at lower RPM's. Smooth power delivery is the key.


-Chris
 
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