Respectable 1/4 mile times?

What are considered respectable 1/4 mile times for street driven cars, especially the C-3's? I am in the high 12's and low 13's with my '79.

:drink:

I think that is pretty decent, especially if you can get 16-18 mpg on the highway with it.....

but it's the olde tyme saw....speed/money/fuel economy/mpg/rear ratios/overdrives/etc....

my car is very disappointing but it's only driven maybe 2-4 miles at most one direction....and gets 12 mpg....that really sux....but a tank of fuel....18 gallons lasts me over a month....only goes 200 miles though....

getting ready for a road trip though....hopefully a bit better than THAT.....

:hissyfit::drink:

mrvette said:

my car is very disappointing but it's only driven maybe 2-4 miles at most one direction....and gets 12 mpg....that really sux....but a tank of fuel....18 gallons lasts me over a month....only goes 200 miles though....

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you never get the engine to operating temperature if you're driving only 2-4 miles.... no wonder your gas mileage sux....

it will be wayyyy better on your road trip.... but to be safe make sure you check the oil level after a few miles... it might be low once you boiled all that water out..... 200 miles/month.... how's your exhaust ??? I'd expect condensation/water/rust ...... :tomato:

DeeVeeEight said:

What are considered respectable 1/4 mile times for street driven cars, especially the C-3's? I am in the high 12's and low 13's with my '79.

:drink:

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I never took my '79 to the track but I am curious so I might do it once the rebuilt trailing arms are installed.... I think high 12's are not bad at all ..... :thumbs:

I'd say low 13 are a respectable ET for any C-3. I have seen many a C-5 run mid 13.X times, so any C-3 that can better that is doing purdy good. Keep in mind your car can only be as fast as the tires will hook. A blown big block that can't hook isn't very fast, at least not in a contest of acceleration. My buddies stock 82 crossfire could only run 16.X ET, until he had a new cam, intake and single Holley 750 installed. This gave him a 13.8X best and not bad for C-3 IMO.

Karsten, when your curiosity gets the best of you, you are welcome to borrow my drag radial tires to help get decent traction.

The 12's and 13's I ran were on street tires. After trashing my rear about 2 years ago I am leary of running drag radials, I'd rather the wheels slip than break parts. Maybe I'll try some stickies once my confidence increases.

DeeVeeEight said:

The 12's and 13's I ran were on street tires. After trashing my rear about 2 years ago I am leary of running drag radials, I'd rather the wheels slip than break parts. Maybe I'll try some stickies once my confidence increases.

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If you have installed spicer u-joints at the half shafts, you shouldn't have a problem. Chances are your differential was boarder line in need of a rebuild before it let loose. I have seen many C-3 Corvettes at the track running low 12.X with a stock IRS and faster without a problem. While at the IHRA divisional Finals at Darlington, SC I spotted a 76 Vette running 11.1X and stopped at his pit to chat. He was running slicks, no safety loops and wasn't sure about his u-joints. His rear suspension looked untouched from a fast look. He asked me for the Drag vette website info and never thought about safety loops. Maybe he was just lucky, but I have seen many other fast C-3's with the stock suspension and not breaking parts. BTW...he also had a stock differential with a 4.10 gear, no Tom's beefy unit, a TH400 trans and a 3200 stall converter. His engine was a built 408 SBC. It would seem good u-joints are key. I broke a half shaft u-joint on my 4-speed 69 Vette and don't want to do that again! It had an bad, undetected zerk fitting u-joint that let loose. All in my opinion from observation.

I think a big contributing factor to my rear end destruction was me - driver error. I over powered first gear (Richmond 5 speed) and then missed second, by the time I found second gear the rear was shot. Since then I have changed gear ratio's from a 3:70 to a 3:25 and the trans. from the Richmond to a TKO II (.82 O.D.) and as stated earlier I am a bit more conservative during the launch. With the 3:70's and a hard launch I ran a 12:73, with the more conservative gears and driving I lost half a second coming in at around 13.2

If I ever get the car painted (it seems like it is taking forever) I'll get back down to Atco Raceway and give it a harder work out, maybe I can get back in to the 12's. :devil: