7/7/06
ou read it correctly, data recorders for your drag car at an affordable price. RPM Performance Products, Inc. (www.rpmperf.com) . After contacting them through their website and discussing our needs we ordered their Basic System to get us started. Retail cost is only $549.00 and it comes with everything you need to get it going.
 Here are the "brains" for one of the slickest little pieces of equipment we have ever used. It comes with a simple mounting bracket and about the only thing RPM Performance told me was "mount it as far away from the ignition as reasonably possible to eliminate any chance of electrical interference." Ours is wired so that whenever the battery is on the DL10 Data Logger is powered up. Be sure to fuse it with a 2- to-5 amp fuse. |
We have wanted to get a data recorder to see if it would improve our Bracket Racing program as well as our 8.90 Super class package. Most of the ones we looked at actually provided more information than we wanted and the prices were all well over $1,000.00 before you were done buying components. Our concern was monitoring engine RPM compared to drive shaft RPM so we could see if wheel spin is a problem or if it is converter slippage. We also wanted to see what the voltage was doing when components turned on and off.
 This is the "L" bracket Andy made to mount the Hall sensor so it would be directly over the 4-magnet pinion collar. Because there are so many possible rear ends and a universal mount would require about as much work as building your own they leave it up to the customer to build what they need. $3.00 for aluminum and 30 minutes and ours was done. |
The Basic System came with the installation and instructional RPM PRO Software CD, DL10 Data Logger, Hall sensor, 4-magnet Pinion collar, remote start switch and all sensor cables. The only thing you have to make is a bracket to hold the pinion yoke sensor or in our case the rear coupler pinion sensor. The collar for the drive shaft is available in a couple sizes so have the O.D. of your yoke or coupler ready when you call. Andy made a small L-bracket that attached to one of the Ford 9” pinion housing bolts so we could mount the Hall sensor and have it line up with the pinion collar. (The pinion collar comes in two halves so it clamps right over the pinion, no disassembly needed on the rear end.) The Hall sensor is completely threaded so adjustment is simple. We set ours up with approximately .100” clearance between it and the pinion collar.
We got the cables all laid out and marked for length so we could send them back to RPM Performance to have the ends attached. This is a service they offer at no charge to make sure the connectors are installed correctly. Getting the shielding and wires in correctly is important and I like the idea of sending them back to get it done right the first time. It is about a four-day turn around with Priority Mail but worth the wait in my opinion.
We finished up the installation and headed out to the track to see what we had. The installation of the RPM Pro Software was as easy as it could be. All we had to do was designate what port we wanted to use for the download and follow the instructions. It took us about 30 minutes to go over everything to the point we were sure we could make it work.