Help stock ricers are beating me...

89PPSC

Registered User
I have ported and polished heads and 1:73 roller rockers... This is my second SC... My first one was a 93 with an 10%OD pulley and exhaust, and it used to STOMP GT's and WRX's... This one is slow as hell... What could be wrong? could I have over tightened the roller rockers.... I torqued them to the specified level... I'm only getting 10 lbs of boost... My 93 would peg 15!!! What's going on....
 
Here are your problems:
1. You are in a car meant for cruising not racing
2. The Subaru WRX runs high 13s stock, your car runs mid-high 15s stock and now, 14 years later(assuming the 89 in your name means your car is an 89), it's probably running mid-high 14s if you're lucky(yes, I saw you have ported and polished heads)
3. Could be one of a thousand things mechanically wrong with your car.
Hope this helps:eek:
 
Ya, those WRX's are pretty bad azz cars. I barely beat one the other day and he had some work done to it. I think he was pretty bummed too, it was brand new and he didn't even have plates on it it yet but he got it from a place call M Racing. Betcha he didn't expect me to even be close much less beat him.
 
From a WRX forum
"I took mine to the track tuesday, here are my results:

R/T.... 0.842
60'.... 2.045
330'.. 5.985
1/8.... 9.343
MPH.. 74.50
990'.. 12.185
1/4.... 14.750
MPH... 91.49

Thats practically stock, my only mods are a cat-back custom exhaust and Eibach Springs....and i took out my spare tire for weight. I'm really happy with this time, its a big improvement from my last time of 15.5 and that was with the exhaust and the spare out."



hmmm....
looks like I stand corrected. I always thought these cars were faster:confused:
 
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Well, one car length is a very close race and usually doesn't define with ease, one car is usually less than a tenth in the quarter. Usually with one car length it's not the car it's the driver too. Those are the fun ones.
 
Those are impressive numbers.

For one Large Fine Super Coupe. Its not like it is some gutted mustang right off the deaqler floor with the racing package. Hey it could be worse. You could be getting those # in 3.8 jeff gordon Monte Carlo. Hey I smoked a SHO the other day He had nothing for me at all. Front wheel drive . HA HAHAHA. Think Of it this way if I would have been driving times would have been 2 tenths slower cause of dead weight. They say a 10th for every 100lbs
 
Re: Those are impressive numbers.

stocker 89 said:
For one Large Fine Super Coupe. Its not like it is some gutted mustang right off the deaqler floor with the racing package. Hey it could be worse. You could be getting those # in 3.8 jeff gordon Monte Carlo. Hey I smoked a SHO the other day He had nothing for me at all. Front wheel drive . HA HAHAHA. Think Of it this way if I would have been driving times would have been 2 tenths slower cause of dead weight. They say a 10th for every 100lbs

With the exception of the tenth of a second per 100lbs I'm having a hard time comprehending your post:confused:
 
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Stud I believe...

I think they are stud... They are Ford Motorsport (Metallic Blue) They screw in with a T-40 bit (maybe T-45)
 
Weight man.

You are giving up alot in the weight department. heavy rear end transmission. Luxry all around the trade off is worth it.
 
those are bolt..You can try reuseing your stock rockers and see how it feels....Pull off your valve cover and check pushrod and rocker play during a compression stroke on any cylinder. There should be some play in the pushrod on both valves...You should be able to twirl it with your fingers..if not possably your rockers need to be shimmed..They can be causing your valve to stay slightly open
 
I'll try that...

That's the only thing I can think of... But would the rockers cause me to only get 10 psi? I dont hear any vaccuum leaks...
 
Unlikely that your roller rockers would cause this problem. If the valves were not fully closing, the car would probably not run or just barely run.

More is not necessarily better with boost, but yours sounds low, has it always maxed out at 10psi? I'd start checking there, see if maybe you have vacuum leaks, sticking bypass valve, old worn-out blower, etc.

BTW, WRX's are faster than most ricer kids drive them at the track - the times are highly dependant on driver skill. It's a difficult car to drive well... I doubt I could get a 14.anything in mine! The best stock times I recall seeing were from Car & Driver, they got a 14.2. Like most turbo cars it's pretty easy to do some cheap mods, you can hit 13's for a few hundred bucks, no problem. If it's an STI, watch out, those do low 13's stock.
 
On the other hand if the valves are just alittle too tight they will stay open longer and cause a bleed off of cylinder pressure during cam overlap.
That could explain the lower boost.;)
 
89PPSC,
What exhaust are you running? If you have opened it up at all, you will see lower boost. Combine that with your p&p heads (which flow better) that will further lower you max boost, (but you will still get more airflow). I'm assuming that you have not done anything on the intake side, which will keep your boost relatively low as well. I don't think that you are getting enough air into your engine to make more power. I've got an 89 with a '95 supercharger (3% puley), 1.73 roller rockers, and removed air silencer. That's it for my mods and I can easily get smoked around here. Last time I went to the track I got a 15.2. With exhaust, I'm pretty sure I'll get quicker, but I won't see anywhere near the 14lbs of boost I'm getting now. And I'd be getting even less boost with p&p heads.

By the way, if I recall right, after I installed my rockers, I saw a 1 to 2 lb drop in boost. I could only manage 11 to 12 lbs with the '95 supercharger...I think I was getting closer to 12 to 13 with my '89 supercharger and the stock rockers on there.
 
A manual WRX is like 2 seconds faster than an automatic in my estimation in messing with them. Maybe its weight, maybe its lazy shifting..but they are damn quick.
 
with my stock 90 blower with 10% pulley and a built motor-big exhaust track and intake track I would get barely 10psi
the more the intake and exhaust were opened the less boost I would get--now with a mp2 blower and 5% I hit 14.6 max
 
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