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Alright, I have a question dealing with high boost and the traction of the car. Andrew and I went out into the country and raced against our friends '95 BMW M3.
I was the passenger with Andrew each race. In a nutshell, the M3 got the jump each race due to his RWD traction and launches. So, each race it was a catch up game - at 65mph we started catching up, but the first race at ~14psi didn't quite make it. At 110mph he was about 4 - 5 car lengths on us. After the first race, the power steering belt had 'come off'. It didn't snap, but it slid off and was just hanging (Ill get to that later)....so we pulled it out and continued...
While under the hood, I tweaked the boost to about 17psi. So now we lined them up again, this time with about 3 more pounds of boost and a missing PS belt....so roughly 40 more hp.
We line then up, the M3 takes off and grabs the first 2 - 3 car lengths. Andrew's tires get semi-good traction, but spin at the top of first and then in second they spin between 4k and 6k.....rediculous traction issues. He goes into third and reels him strong, and then passes him at about 90mph...pulled him hard too.
And for the last run we went ahead and did it one more time....this time the M3 launched excellent and Andrew's tires went buck wild - no traction...went into third and desperately tried to gain on him but it was no use at this point...then he notices his battery light is on....yep the alternator belt was a goner.
After all of this, the questions I have are:
Is it normal to have traction issues THAT bad when boosting that high? First gear, ok yes -- but even in second gear, as the RPMs rose up the tires would break loose, forcing him to shift at 6kish, not even being able to run it to redline... The clutch was not slipping, you could literally hear the tires. Does everyone running high boost have these issues with second gear traction? The road was completely dry, and it was about 55 degrees outside - nothing too extreme. I've driven the car when it had fresh tires about a year ago, and I don't remember it slipping like that in second gear...could it be tires alone? One of his tires is decent, the other not so great. Keep in mind he is running the NewSkool LSD...
Secondly, after the third race his alternator belt had snapped or fallen off. Leaving him with no alternator belt and no PS belt... he never missed any gears - I know that isn't normal for belts to come off. Did we do something wrong installing them? Too tight, too loose? They felt damn tight to the touch, I used my best judgement.
Traction issues and belt issues....any input? ______________________________
Ryan IRyanHester@Hotmail.com
'03 Mazda 6s

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