Tips for First Challenger Visit to Strip

jono · Post by **jono** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:23 pm

I have an '08 Challenger with the canned 93 CAI tune (K&N CAI). I am quite happy with the set-up vs. stock, but I have a few questions.
Friday night will be my first visit to the strip, so I have a few questions for guys who have been using this set-up.
1) Should I run with ESP on/off? (the button in the car, I don't want to disable it with the tuner)
2) Should I modify the tune at all? - shift points, etc. I know there are 4 modes, but I have not played around with them at all. Does the 93 CAI tune bump the shift points up at all, or should I go in and modify them myself? I think with the tune installed, I have been pretty close to 6400 rpms when the car shifts when running it hard.
3) I plan on running in auto. Are there any reasons I should use autostick?
4) Anything else you guys can think of?

demontweak · Post by **demontweak** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:37 pm

If you have time run the car stock and see what it runs.

Load the tune and see how it runs

Turn off the ESP and run it.

Try to allow the same amount of cooldown between runs!!

Good luck and enjoy!!!!!

TonY G

Post by **mikel** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 10:07 am

demontweak wrote:If you have time run the car stock and see what it runs.

Load the tune and see how it runs

Turn off the ESP and run it.

Try to allow the same amount of cooldown between runs!!

Good luck and enjoy!!!!!

TonY G

Amen Tony.
Gathering data like this is almost as much fun as actually running the car...at least to me it is?!?

Thanks
Mike

jono · Post by **jono** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 10:16 am

I still have the question about the shift points. I have not gone into any of those options yet, so I'm not sure what they will do for me. Does the 93 CAI tune raise the shift points in the first place, or should I additionally modify the shift points?
Any information about the 4 different modes available about shift points would be greatly appreciated.

Post by **mikel** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 10:22 am

Honestly, on a bone stock car, it may be quicker with the stock shift points, but I'd try the 6400 rpm setting as well to see if it helps improve the times.

The different modes listed are to disable the auto upshift function.

Thanks

SRT8Tech · Post by **SRT8Tech** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:23 pm

Now Tony, where did you get that screen name from?????? LOL!!!!!

jono · Post by **jono** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 2:23 pm

I just went out and did some testing before going to the strip tonight.
I put the higher shift points in with the predator set to the 93 CAI canned tune and ran 3 sets of 0-60.
My best time was 4.41!!! That's a whole half second faster than factory specs!
These results were out on the street not giving the car any gas while the break was on.
The other two runs were 5.0 seconds with RPMS at 2000 before launch and 4.8 with RPMS at 1500 before launch. I can't believe this car ran the best without any gas with the break on.
All of this was done with ESP on.
As a note, 2000 rpms caused quite a bit of tire spin. They spun most of the way through first and chirped going into second.
Without any gas prior to launch, the tires only chirped at launch and took of quite well.
Thanks for the tips guys. We'll see how it turns out tonight.

SRT8Tech · Post by **SRT8Tech** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 2:34 pm

The Goodyear F1's should hook pretty decent at the track too. Ive noticed they get pretty sicky after a burnout.

Post by **mikel** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 5:19 pm

Nice gains, sounds like the Challenger love the Predator as much as the rest of the lineup!

jono · Post by **jono** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 1:25 pm

I was quite happy with the results last evening. I think I'll be able to get lower times after a few more runs, but overall, I was quite satisfied. (I wish the track would keep P.O.S's from running though) Even with a heat scorcher, 118 degrees on the track when I ran, I got a 13.205 for my fastest time.
I didn't get any runs after the sun went down though, as they had a 2 pretty bad engine failures that greased up the track. I think if I had gotten a third run with the sun down, I would have gotten down to a 13.1

So, for the two runs I did get, here were the set ups and results.

13.445 with ESP off, automatic, and no powerbrake
13.205 with ESP on, automatic, and 1400 RPMS at launch

I did very small burnouts, just enough to get the tires to smoke.

sureshot77 · Post by **sureshot77** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 11:47 pm

Quick · Post by **Quick** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 4:54 am

I haven't seen a difference between auto or autostick.
ESP will apply brake and then cut power IF you spin the wheels enough. It's reduced in the tunes so you can spin the wheels a good amount even with ESP on without any intervention happening. If you feel the need, partially disable ESP with the single press. No reason to disable it with the press and hold. The single press disables straight line traction control and relaxes lateral. Press and hold turns off everything except ABS.
2 popular launch techniques. First is go from an idle. Second is a very short brake stall to about 1500 and then go. There are still a couple of torque management bumps in the tune so I always got best results going from an idle. In both cases you have to sort of roll into the throttle. If you instantly slam it to the floor you'll just lose traction.