Ok I need some estimated drag times from you guys. This is for the quarter mile, be runnin' it Friday night. The strip's at approximately 590 ft MSL, I'll say the temp will be low to mid 90s. I know two of the vehicles aren't Fords but we're entering them too.

My '94 Ranger, 4.0L, 5 speed stick, 3.08 rear end, intake, exhaust, stock tires, reg cab.
'94 S-10, 4.3L, auto, 3.55 rear end, extended cab, stock tires (P215s)
'96 Chrysler Sebring convertible, 2.5L, auto that slips, unknown diff ratio, stock tires (P195s?).

Any guesses are very much welcomed. Thanks.

 

Ranger 16.2
S-10 16.0
Sebring 15.3
The gears will hurt the ranger, the auto will hurt the S-10, the temp will hurt them all. The sebring should run with the top up, and all 3 of you should run with the windows up if you can, it helps the areo, but at 90 degrees, do what you got to do. Surprise me, and all 3 of you hit some good numbers, all of you guy's get into the 15's, good luck

 

Thanks Wendell I'll let you know how it goes.

 

For those vehicles you may need a calender instead of a watch.

 

Lol sadly you do have a point. We're going to try and end up running against each other at some point, that's all we're really going for. That and to see the guys with way too much money who will break 10.

 

Upper 16's on the old Ranger due to extrEme granny gears in the rear end and probably high miles on the engine (normal wear). No concern/interest here for the performance of the other vehicles. All of this assumes decent shift times, something that's somewhat hard to do consistently on a M5OD and without some practice.................

*Bent shift forks should not be too expensive, unless "our mechanic" get's his paws on it. But DIY won't be too bad as far as parts are concerned and if you bend one then this will be another learning opportunity as far as working on cars/trucks goes (if you do all of the work, and that would be a good thing because this is how a man learns to fix things ). Best part of screwing up is that you can do like I did long ago; learn from ones mistakes and having to spend money put of my OWN paycheck and no transportation while I personally did the work to fix it. The rest of the driveline probably won't break, unless you sidestep the clutch (if you happen to know what that means). This is where your granny gears come back to bite. If one must roast the tires, it's much easier on the driveline to get them going with numerically high gears than with highways gears. The reason for this is pretty self explanitory.

 

Haha don't worry, no need or desire to roast the gears. The 4.0L will do it if I try and take off quickly, no side-stepping required.

To hijack my own thread, would it be better (not cheaper, better) to rebuild my transmission myself or install a rebuilt unit?

 

Upper 16's, I was trying to be nice, more than likely will be the case. Those 90 degree temps will be the killer, I'm betting that it's humid as well. Those sebrings are 200 hp stock, it should run in the 15's, both p/u's are destaned for the 16's I'm afraid. Try again on a chrisp fall evening, you'll see a difference, it won't put you into the 12's are anything, but there should be an improvement.

 

Some things I like to pay money for, especially if time is tight, and others I like to do myself. On this one, I'd probably do it myself. I like to think of things as "nobody cares more about the quality of the work than I do". Over the years, I've become really sick and tired of crappy builders, crappy mechanics, crappy roofers, crappy concrete work, etc etc, so many of which try to pawn off minimal quality work onto unsuspecting and unknowing customers, so long as that customer accepts it and pays money for it. Lots of dirtbags out there when money is on the table.

 

I'd like to rebuild it myself, if it is indeed something I can do.

The Sebring has a horrible first gear slip, so I know his start will absolutely suck, but I'm sure he'll get better pull later on for obvious reasons.

 

If you are gonna rebuild your tranny, make sure you do your homework. Manual trannys are a whole lot simpler than automatics, but you can still get yourself in a heap of trouble. Find some manuals and learn how it all works before you even consider removing your tranny. But once you do it right, it makes it all worth it.

 

I understand how they work and most of the functions. I'd really like to do it myself, since a rebuild kit is around $200 as opposed to ~$800 for a rebuilt tranny. That $600 can go into a new clutch, slave, pilot bearing, etc.

The rebuild kit I imagine just replaces the bearings and synchros I'd assume?

 

That $200 won't include damaged parts should you find them so be ready. Much of the work on a tranny rebuild involves careful inspection for damage; you need to know what you are looking for. This is really not all that hard. For example, cones and the syncros and components C/T syncros are areas of concern for wear/damage (chiped, etc).

 

"components C/T syncros" <-- sayyy wwhhhhaaaattt?

I would be replacing all synchros and cones, as I know that's the main thing that affects shift quality. Furthermore, I'll be of course checking the gears and anything else I can see for any signs of damage whatsoever.

 

I just heard this morning that my bosses Ranger broke into the sevens on the 1/8th mile this weekend, will try to get more info.

7.94 and 7.95 were the numbers I remember, but it was a long day.