Drag racing part 2, slipping clutch?

[JShadzi at aol.com]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
Mike, I bet it has more to do with intake air temps than anything, drag
strips are terrible for back to back runs with an air-to-air IC, only time
there is any air moving through the IC is under full throttle, then you come
to a sudden stop, idle for 5 minutes before doing it all over again.  Are you
monitoring your intake air temps?

Javad


> Hey everyone!
> Last night I had another wonderful time at the drag strip, though it was
> frustrating. Car is my 1988 VW Quantum syncro turbo BTW.
> 2 weeks ago, I went, and ran a best of 16.8 @ 79.5mph in the quarter mile.
> Last week, I fabricated a cutout, with a removable plate on it, and welded
> it into the downpipe. Now, even though the downpipe is still ridiculously
> small (under 2") it seems to have a bit more power, and sure makes a cool
> noise, especially when the turbo is spooled :)
> Anyway, with the cutout un-capped, I made my way over to make my first pass
> of the night. Rev'd it up, dumped the clutch, got a bit of wheel-spin on the
> slippery track (I'll have to fix the diff-locks) and the car ran like crazy
> to a 16.0 @ 82.7mph (at 2660 feet). I thought woah, that cutout does more
> than make noise! Anyway, to make a long story short, EVERY run I made, was
> consistently worse! I can't think of what would cause this, other than a bad
> clutch, or the motor slowly dying, though this seems unlikely. Here are my
> times....
> 16.0 @ 82.7
> 16.1 @ 82.1
> 16.2 @ 81.7
> 16.5 @ 78.5
> 16.7 @ 78.7
> 16.8 @ 80.1
> More info, at this track, they give you 5 incremental times, for points on
> the track. My times are all slower as the night went on, at every increment.
> It's not loosing power only at the top end, or bottom, it's loosing power,
> or slipping it away, throughout the entire 1/4 mile.
> After the last run, I knew something had to be wrong, so I figured it was
> better to pack it up and go home, rather than break something and have to
> walk home. I didn't notice the clutch slipping, but I was too busy
> concentrating on keeping the car on the track, and shifting ever few seconds
> with the close ratio 'box to notice it. If anyone has any clues what else it
> might be, please let me know.
> Thanks
> Mike
>