gingas

Few questions? 91 civic si w/B16(intake,exhaust&header)I'll be using steelies up front on street tires.What's good RPM's to launch at? I don't want to sit there and spend all day. Should I take off at 3k rpm or I was thinking just pat the gas like on the street& once moving rely on my horsepower & redline every gear. Do B16's use 3 or 4 gears for 1/4 mile. I never ran car with B16. Had B16 only 3 months. I use to have a 90 Eclipse GSX AWD & I lauched at 5k rpm. Never broke axle. So have to adjust to FWD. Don't want to break axles. Let say I lauch at 3krpm and cut a good light could that get a 14 second run? Hollar

SadisticRacing

First thing reaction time has nothing to do with your ET. You should be able to hit 14's for sure but as for were to launch your going to have to figure that out for yourself because track conditions play a big part in it. Start at that 3K if you spin to much go down and if you bog then go up. Don't worry about your axles unless your getting a lot of wheel hop because I've been running mid 12's and throwing 7-8K rpm launches at my stock axles and haven't had any problems at all.

gingas

What kind of car & motor you have. Man you launch at 7-8K. You're lucky not to break anything. Gingas

b16ahybrid

What kind of tires are you going to be running?
On my street tires (205/40/17's) I cant launch (it was an experiment) above 3k rpm otherwise I spin like crazy it's actually pointless for me to even try.
On my track tires (225/50/15) drag radials I launch a bit higher, about 5k rpm or so depending on how warm the tires are and the track conditions...
Your going to want some wheel spin in order to get out of the hole, that motor has no low end power so if you bog at all it's over. When I first switched tires I was trying to find the right rpm to launch, my times varied from mid 13's when I would launch to low to mid 12's when I would get enough wheel spin to get me out of the hole. Controlled wheel spin is good, uncontrolled is bad.
Try a few different launch techniques see what works for you.

gingas

I'll be using 14" steelies w/ 185-60-14's pep boys tires.I'll be using the fat five gsr's w/ 205-50-15's uot back. I figured I would launch no more than 3K. I don't want to break axles. Gingas I figure with that set up I should have no problem getting a 14.8.

b16ahybrid

Why use the skinny cheap tires up front?
With tires that skinny I seriously doubt you'll break and axle.
The two things that most commonly break axels are
1) lots of hp and LOTs of traction to go with it.
2) wheel hop (no matter how much power you have wheel hop can break axles)

No offense to you, but your far from over-powering your axles. Generally if your making enough power to snap an axle you need to have the traction to go with it. Even at my power level I'm not concerend with breaking axles, I don't have slicks yet so hooking up and snapping an axle isn't an issue for me. I'm going on almost 5 years with the same axles.
Even if you were making 500whp, those 185's don't have enough grip to snap your axles, you'd just smoke them up into a cloud.

Honestly I wouldn't even bother trying to run with those tires, it's a waste of your time. I tried running my 205's one night at the local track (I had to take my car to work so I was stuck with my street tires) even launching low, at about 3k rpm was worthless, it was honestly like trying to race on ice. I couldn't get traction worth shit...that was one of the worst nights of my life....fortunatly my buddy was able to get my other wheels to me before the night was over. I was able to reclaim myself.

Having hp is worthless if you cant get it down to the ground. I would be surprised if you could get better then a 2.3 60" with those tires.

Your going to have to try different launching at different rpm. You'll burn a few runs trying to get the right launch but it will pay off in the end hopefully.
don't go to low or you'll bogg and lose time, and don't go to high otherwise you'll have to much wheel spin and lose time....good luck

gingas

So basically I should run with my 205-50-15's. I just didn't want to smoke my good tires since they're more expensive then my 185's.

b16ahybrid

Well whats more important to you getting a decent time or having your $60 tires last a tad longer? Making a few passes on them won't shorten their life span to much.

The way I see it is, why race if your not going to give it your all? that would be like swapping motors from a d15 to a b18c and shifting at 4,500rpm when racing, or adding a turbo and only running 2.5psi when you've had it tuned for 10psi.
If you want to be able to say that you've run your car on the track and have an excuse for a crappy time then run the 185's, if you want to run your car on the track and get the most traction and possibly a better time then run the 205's. Granted there isn't going to be a day and night difference, but every little bit helps. The difference may only be that of adding a cai or header, but it's a difference.

TeHJuSTiN

I doubt you're going to break axles with a bolt-on b16, unless you're getting crazy wheel hop. I have 205/50's on mine and haven't had any problems with axles.

gingas

I just figured the 185's would be better besides I see a rack of people using their steelies up front.That's all. What motor do you have,car & times you've done.