Getting my new 406 SBC installed, running, and driving

[townsend]

were you at island last night dave?

[IROCZman15]

I was! It was last minute on Friday when two of my buddies told me they were thinking of going, so I decided to take advantage of the only non-rainy day this weekend and go on Friday night's TnT. I have to get all that written up and the videos/logs/timeslips are still on my desk.





Its a shame it took me this long to get to put all the photos, videos, and files in one spot, but here is most of it. Will add more later on.

Took the car to the Chassis Dyno back on September 8 for a second go at it. The new distributor had been working perfectly so I was good on that respect. The goal for the day was to find real-world torque and hp curves and see how different it is compared to the engine dyno printout that was from when the engine was first built brand new (no accessories, open headers, dyno stand setup). Below is that printout, which was from February of 2020 at Nyes Racing Engines. I also wanted to see if I could get the jetting on teh nitrous checked. I strapped a Go-Pro camera to the underside of my hood also, pointing directly at my fuel pressure gauge so see if I lost fuel pressure at all during a WOT pull.

Got the car strapped down and discussed what we needed to. I had realistic goals for peak power, knowing that I'm sure my numbers have diminished with an automatic transmission, my 12 bolt, front accessory pulleys, and 3 years of significant wear and tear (113 dragstrip passes and 57 autocross laps, plus untold street activity). I had hoped for at minimum 400 wheel hp and 375 torque on all motor runs. As a high number I was thinking 420 rwhp, as thats how it feels driving it.
I said, for the hell of it, lets do the first pull with the air filter and lid on.



Dyno Pull 1:
35 deg WOT timing, 93 octane pump gas, targeting a 12.8:1 AFR, air-filter and lid on, .035 gap on Autolite 3923 plugs, 3rd gear WOT, only pulling to 5500for now. at WOT converter flashed to right about 4800 and AFR held pretty close to 12.8 on the drivers side o2 sensor which is the datalogged holley one. The datalog shows that it puled to 5848 rpms, but the dyno graph shows it was loosing power rapidly after 5,100 rpms.
(I do not have a video for this or the second dyno pull.)
354 hp and 364 tq
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53208726050_4931ee6b8c_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53211384249_92887a7a06_c.jpg





Dyno Pull 2:
same timing, same everything except we took the air filter and lid off.
Printout is not printable for some reason, but the numbers were
From a steady 3100 rpm to wot the converter flashed to 4836 rpms and the afr got a little nutty with going lean. it caught itself and leveled out and pulled to 6086 rpms on the log,


366.4 hp and 375.2 tq

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53211516560_be8ca5d3f6_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53224270543_f11ae5feac_c.jpg






Dyno Pull #3

Same settings, decided to lock up the converter during 3rd gear.so, from a 3rd gear 2644 rpm and the converter locked up, it never flashed, and just climbed slowly to 6285 rpms
The AFR was a bit nutty for a few seconds early on. I'll have to check those VE cells, they may have never been cleaned up since I never usually lockup 3rd gear and go WOT

No hp gain from previous pull, but it lost some torque.
367 hp and 367 tq


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUJpgkzWZQo

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53207339822_6d9f8f3491_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53211005271_ac96bf5697_c.jpg







Dyno Pull #4
Decided to not-lockup the converter, and only to change the ignition timing and see if it gained any power going from my normal 35 deg instead to 37 deg. It picked up a little bit, but not sure if its justified to push the limits with 37 deg for that small of a gain. To Be Determined.2499 rpm steady to wot, and for some reason the log appears likethe converter was locked since there is no flash. With 37 deg of timing there were no big signs of detonation on the rpm trace of the log and the closed loop comp numbers I can live with and adjust what I need to from this data.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5whX4hzQxKo

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53208599059_bcd0a81dc7_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53211005281_f48fdeed53_c.jpg



We had previously decided to check spark plug #7 throughout the day, mostly for the nitrous runs.
We used the same plug on all four of these above all-motor pulls and here is a photo of it.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53207339812_9f94c8652f_c.jpg



I mounted the go Pro under the hood , and the shaking in the video is the hood vibrating, the engine is not shaking around that much. This video is probably pull#2. to get a video of the mechanical fuel pressure gauge and making sure it stayed close to 60 psi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32fqQbRLgCA




While I was pretty happy to see that how I have recently been tuning the car was decent, ... but I was definitely pretty shocked about the really low peak power numbers in all 4 motor pulls.
The engine dyno made peak power 531 at 6,000 rpms with 36 deg timing and I could only manage to put down 374 hp at5,600 rpms. Not expected, and mathematically that works out to be exactly a 30% powertrain power loss. Woah!* If I am only truly putting 374 hp and 378 tq to the tire, I am surprised I run 11.60s and 11.70s at the track with a 3600 pound setup. Interesting. But my car has always felt underwhelming most times, so therefore it does make sense.

So overall peak numbers: 374 hp (pull 4) and 375 tq (pull 2). I will have to dig into looking at the power curves a bit better to use them to determine if I should still try to shift past 6,000 rpms like I usually do?

Nitrous stuff in the following post.... might be a few more days before I can get to typing that up.

[LTb1ow]

Were you monitooring trans temps?

[IROCZman15]

Yup, definitely. It was definitely 140 - 160. never got hot at all, we verbally confirmed it with eachother a bunch of times throughout the day as I was under the hood swapping out spark plug #7 and he was in the car looking over the datalogs. Mid way through the day we gave the car a 45 minute break too.

[IROCZman15]

I edited the post above to include the dyno printout from pull #2. I had the file re-sent to me.
I am also listing the clock's time during the pull, so we can see how long there was in between each one.
1. 10:42 am (all motor 35 deg no lockup air filter on)
2. 10:53 am (all motor 35 deg no lockup air filter off)
3. 11:09 am (all motor 35 deg lockup on)
4. 11:24 am (all motor 37 deg no lockup)
- an hour break in between before starting nitrous
5. 12:24 pm (150 shot no lockup)
6. 12:42 pm (150 shot no lockup again)
7. 12:55 pm (150 shot lockupon)
8. 1:34 pm (jet change to a 175 shot, no lockup)
9. 1:49 pm (200 shot, no lockup)
10. 2:06 pm (175 shot, no lockup)
- 1 hour break again
11. 3:03 pm (back to the original 150 shot no lockup)
- Still haven't had time to really dig into comparing the datalogs to the dyno graphs and figuring out what I need to figure out. Hopefully soon, just putting the photos and videos out there in the meantime.




Nitrous pulls:


Pull 5:
I typically keep a 150 shot jetting in the system, which is a .059 nitrous and .030 fuel jet, so this is where we started. I added a half can of the "Race Gas" actual fuel octane additive to the fuel tank when we were done with all-motor pulls. I always target a 12.4:1 AFR when on the nitrous, and for a 150 shot, I was pulling out 5 degrees of timing. So all motor 35deg, minus 5, is a clean 30 deg on the wet 150 shot. The resulting power numbers are pretty much on-point for what a 150 shot should produce to the wheels, and it was a gain of 139 hp but only 95 foot pounds of tq. Odd, also odd was the general trend of the datalog reading more rich because typically I see lean afr numbers. On the datalog, you can quickly tell when the nitrous was hit, as the horizontal yellow line is my ignition timing and it goes flat 35 deg diagonally down to a flat 30 deg during the pull, until the last moment when Jeff got off the nitrous and stayed WOT for a moment afterwards as a safe way of ending the pull.

505 hp and 470 tq

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIMlwqGeP0M

Checking fuel pressure with Go-Pro Camera pointed at gauge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN3LYSQI9x4

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53208522048_8684fb3392_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53211308408_e93e358a3d_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53208218316_3a270ecd46_c.jpg




Pull 6:
We did the exact same pull, changed nothing yet, but Jeff wanted to watch the other O2 sensor, not the holley one. The 3 year old holley one is the drivers side header and is the one that has been responsible for all the datalogs I have ever posted. The AEM gauge is on the passenger side header, and I have a digital gauge in my A-pillar, but this is not datalogs and is only for my visual reference at this point in time. It also read rich, Jeff saw most numbers in the 9, 10 and 11 AFR during the pull. I mean, its way better than going lean, but now I am wondering why the efi is lean at the track and rich at the dyno. Optimally, the horizontal blue and green lines should be married together as tight as possible, that is certainly not the case here. However, this was the best the car would do, everything else the rest of the day was worse. In total, the 150 jetting gained 149 hp and 111 in torque to the wheels. The peak numbers were also at pretty much the same 5700 rpm area. The two graphs aren't really able to be laid over each other because they have different axis (time, power, rpm) but the graph shows it falling off hard right at 5700, so if you go to my datalog, thats right where the "trouble begins". See the brighter red line, thats rpm trace. When Jeff goes WOT it climbs up fast, but then once either the converter grabs ( I think) the rpm climb slows way down and the AFR begins to get wacky.

515 hp and 474 tq

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9S8HXcs1Vc

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53208522048_8684fb3392_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53211516550_2a9f0a8edb_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53208218331_54b265ee2b_c.jpg






Pull 7:
before changing jets, we wanted to see how the car would react to locking up the Yank 3800 torque converter. Same jetting, timing, etc.At WOT, revs started to gain but slowly since the converter was 1:1 locked. Nitrous came on and thats the big climb in rpms where it goes from 3500-4500 but then goes back to slow climbing. AFR trending rich again especially in the middle. It made more torque this way (gained 41 foot pounds, but was a good bit less hp (down by 16 hp).498 hp and 515 tq
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcHyoVnV6UY


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53207339797_360f51b049_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53211308418_9f54f34fc4_c.jpg



https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53207339817_760d8c9490_c.jpg

[IROCZman15]

Pull 8:

Curious to see what a 175 jetting would do, I put in the .063 nitrous and .032 fuel jet combination. We pulled out only another .5 deg, for a total of 29.5 deg timing wot. No lockup on the converter, so it flashed to 5500 when the nitrous kicked on. It ran wayyy rich again, climbed slowly, but the dyno graph really shows the big drop in power immediately after the converter gets to 5700 rpms.This now showed that I made more power with a 150 shot than I just did with a 175 shot (lost 8 hp by jetting up).

507 hp and 471 tq

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVx0dQVFjFc


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53208599054_5af3e03dcb_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53211005261_bc6dba2cee_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53208218336_d494aec4f9_c.jpg





Pull 9:

We started wondering if my nitrous solenoid might be the culprit. These solenoids are now 9 years old and started life designed for just the 100-150 shot lifestyle on my old TPI 305 engine. I have used and abused these things for a long time, so that might be something to look into. The fuel solenoid is rated for 200 hp flow when new, and the nitrous solenoids are 175 hp when new. I knew this when putting the system together, but at the time just wanted a functioning system. If Science says the solenoids are the culprit, I will just step it up. But, to test our theory, we said, lets keep the fuel jet the same as the one of the 175 shot and put the 200 shot .067 jet in for the nitrous. If we still run rich, that will then tell us something. Well, we still ran rich, lost power starting after the converter grabbed, and the engine was telling us it wanted to pull 37% fuel out in CL comp and Learn numbers.

464 hp and 443 tq

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnyNuvzOJjI


checking fuel pressure again,
but
due to this video, I noticed that my jamb-nut on the lokar throttle cable assembly likes to un-thread itself while going WOT, and then re-thread itself when the engine decelerates!!
Can see it in the other videos too. I've snugged it up now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZTTAjRen8s



https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53208726045_9e4e77a0b5_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53224649115_06ea3e1e78_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53208599019_ec50471ed5_c.jpg



Pull 10:

Put the 175 jet back in on the nitrous side and Jeff watched the AEM o2 sensor again to verify it was reading the same as what the holley would show in the log. Rich again, but losing a bunch more power than the previous 175 shot. In fact, it did almost exactly the same as the above 200 shot in numbers. ITs only getting me a good peak number just around when the converter flashes, after that its not gaining so I was less concerned with power numbers, but more as to the "why" of the graph always falling off.
466 hp and 445 tq


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS4b_EXaHI4


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53208599049_13f1bb8bd3_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53211005266_2905998548_c.jpg



Pull 11:

To cap off our experiment, I went back to the 150 jetting that was used on Pull 5, 6, and 7. Same tune as before with 30 deg WOT timing as the shot is activated. Please note, that we were also curious about heat soak and whatnot, but on these logs, my MAT intake temp shows/logged stable numbers around 102-108 deg mot pulls. It flashed at 5500 and then pulled down into rich fueling territory. the CL comp brought it back up to the 12's but it had to take out 30%. Soon, that 30% (my set limit for dyno not for normal use) was no longer enough, and it ran rich 5750 rpms to 6330 rpms. We also considered that I could be running out of nitrous bottle volume. I had the second full bottle with me, but I think we were all done for the day so I called it quits and we began to free the car from the straps.
456 hp and 439 tq
(I have to laugh, that the same 150 nitrous shot that had produced 149 rwhp just an hour earlier, now only produced 81 hp)
ugh, the nitrous struggle continues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ9h3GUPPFs


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53208522043_3f48b61441_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53224669135_65ce06252b_c.jpg




Armed with all that data, whats the next thing I went and did?!?!
Dug into the science and try to figure it all out?!
Nope, went home, swapped the wheels off, cleaned the car up, and packed because the next morning I drove down to that big FuelFest car show at New Jersey Motorsports Park. That was a long day, but the car racked up 311 miles of driving without a single issue the entire day. So despite a troublesome and confusing dyno day, I still got some dyno data, made 11 pulls, and then put 311 miles on the car the next day.

Then on Sept 22 I took it to Island Dragway; where I had the COMPLETE OPPOSITE results at the track (writeup to follow one day soon).

[townsend]

what jetting chart are you using? my single nozzle jet chart shows a bit different jetting. whats the fuel pressure?

[IROCZman15]

I think somewhere back a few pages I might have put a photo of the jet chart. I know I did a lot of research on the jetting two years ago when I first installed the system. Over this past summer, I re-evaluated the numbers and made some slight adjustments. I went to Bruce's and bought a few more at that time.
Aside from looking at the pre-determined charts on some of the reputable nitrous vendor's websites, I also used the robbie-the-robot internet calculator. http://www.robietherobot.com/nitrousjetcalculator.htm
The fuel pressure is 65 almost all the time, and looks like it drops a few psi to maybe 60 psi during the run (as seen in the above go-pro videos). I hadn't found a jetting chart for a single stage single jet plate with 60 psi of fuel so I had to make my own numbers.
This is my quick reference chart, but I also have one that is more expansive

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53229344187_91e037362d_c.jpg


All that being said, I am not sure that the jetting is really the issue, as you will see in my TnT writeup soon, I kept those same exact jets in, and went extremely lean instead at the track! wild

[townsend]

this is the chart i use and its pretty accurate based on my logs, so with higher than 55psi fuel pressure i would be using a .027 fuel/.062nitrous for a 150, and so on. the robbietherobot calculator did not work for me

[IROCZman15]

this is the chart i use and its pretty accurate based on my logs, so with higher than 55psi fuel pressure i would be using a .027 fuel/.062nitrous for a 150, and so on. the robbietherobot calculator did not work for me

Thanks for your reply. I do appreciate the tech help and knowledge.

I like the numbers on that chart, it probably would have been dead on for me on the dyno. One day soon I will have to dig into the math and datalogs between the dyno session and the track datalogs from last weekend. One went crazy rich, and the other went super lean; with the same jetting.




This is the chart I used most of last year, and for a while I had good success. Using the 150 jetting (but it used to be a .058 and a .030) running pretty clean 10.80 and 10.90 passes. Even when I couldn't get the "175" (.063 and .032 or .033), I would go back ad put the 150 jets back in and go back to running 10.80s. Somewhere after that period in time, something went arwy and became inconsistent.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53231911902_526291230b_c.jpg

[IROCZman15]

A few of my buddies were going to the Friday night Test-n-Tune at island on Sept 22, so I jumped in on it. However, I had to thrash beforehand to swap the Boze wheels out for the drag wheels, and also swapped out the Koni yellow front struts for the lakewood 90/10 drag struts. I pulled off the front swaybar while I was underneath there too. I did not have time to swap the rear Koni shocks, and this actually was going to serve as an experiment like Townsend suggested a few months ago, that perhaps I could make my Koni's work better than the non-adjustable lakewood drag shocks. I had not been to the dragstrip since May 28 and I also wanted to see how my dyno results might come into play.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53208241941_e722845543_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53207363452_fb4ae6b50f_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53208545913_320d30db76_c.jpg





Pass 1:

I was curious to see if the small "gain" in hp that we saw on the dyno when going from 35 deg timing to 37 deg timing would play out. I tried to datalog from the laptop via the usb cable, but I guess I never hit the clipboard button to start logging, so there is no datalog. It was a simple all-motor, 37 deg timing pass. Footbraked to about 2000, went a fast 1.48 sixty-foot, I was clean on the shifts, it just felt like it lost power up top and therefore lost 4 mph (113mph) down from the usual 117 mph. So, either I won't be doing that 37 deg again, or if I do, maybe it would only be with racegas additive in there. The car has always seemed happiest at 34-36 deg WOT anyways, so this was just a test because of what was learned on the dyno.


video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc5HFMj3Pnc



timeslip:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53208545878_f8046a5a34_c.jpg



no datalog





Pass 2:

Had the 150 shot jets in there. These had just made everything go really rich on the dyno, but in my street/strip use, they have not ever done that, so I needed to re-try them after the dyno. Tried to datalog to the SD card, and that turned out bad, so there won't be any more of that. I need to find a reliable way to mount the laptop in the car and keep the usb cable connected to laptop during its mph pass down the strip. I hate having it fly all around the floorbaord, but that seems like the only way I will get useful datalogs with data points I can read. velcro and some clips maybe?
Anyways, launched from about 2200 and it went hard to the sixty, with a 1.44. I still always feel that slight amount of tire rotation/slip, more about that later on. The car pulled good through the 330 but then the jetting went lean and we were off the spray before the 1/8 mile. I rode out the rest of the pass but now my head starts spinning because its running way lean, not rich!

video:
you can hear it eat itself up right after the 15 second mark. also, that BMW running 9's was fast !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au2P_AN1cDQ

timeslip:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53226772095_7b8478979a_c.jpg


useless datalog:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53225394337_bd9353b51b_c.jpg






Pass 3:
They were calling that the lanes were closing soon so I checked a plug but didn't have time to change the fuel jet (that one takes a while as its in a real hard spot). What I should have done, was just swap out the nitrous jet for a smaller one, since that only takes a minute to change. I did swap back to a 150 shot street-use tune file that I had saved. Anyways, The laptop recorded a nice datalog with datapoints I can use. launched from 2207 rpms, but rolled into the throttle a little slow. So the nitrous didnt come on until later (when TPS was 80% the rpms were at 4900). it still went another 1.44 sixty foot, but I still feel that slight tire slip at the hit though. It still went lean after the 1-2 shift which was 6491 dropping to 5280. With the nitrous off, I pedaled the throttle and let it gather itself up, then early shifted 2-3 (at 6054 dropping to 5305) and finished the rest of the pass on motor ending up at 5906 rpms.


video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIKRIeu3uA4


timeslip:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53226651854_7ccc60dd97_c.jpg


datalog:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53226651869_a9cc31aebe_c.jpg[/url]









the tire markings:
After that third pass, while packing up, we all couldn't help but notice the markings on the drag radials. I was surprised, because this can't be from a low tire pressure situation. I have previously gone as low as 16.4 psi on other dragstrip days with good numbers in the sixty foot, yet have never seen these show up. Today, every pass I had the tires exactly the same, at 18.6 psi. From previous test days, I usually don't have a good launch if I am higher than 19.5 or so. Thoughts? Part of me is wondering if the tires are hooking, but I might have an issue with the rim/barrel of the wheel spinning in the tire? Next time I am going to paint-mark them and find out for sure. But, for a good long while now, I've felt that small "slip" at the launch and nobody sees the tire do it, so perhaps its the wheel/tire bead? Not sure.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53208545888_c2636bfda3_c.jpg



https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53207363402_61cecdd9da_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53208622729_be31f703ce_c.jpg





John's first hit with his new setup.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUK3lhXJF3Q

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53208750330_980d62c681_c.jpg

[townsend]

mine look like that from when they hook hard on the hit. go up in tire pressure a little. radials like more. i usually start at 18.5 and make a pass, if it feels weird go up to 19. if you crush a radial like that it will wad up then boing and spin a little. 60ft looks like its going the right way. i actually raised my lca up 1 hole on the lca brackets to try to take some of that anti-squat away. you could have em spinning inside, so yeah id chalk them too (ive been meaning to do that as well).

based on the wrinkle its hitting the tire pretty hard and forcing it down. you didnt see this with the lakewoods?

[IROCZman15]

I don't remember seeing it happen with the lakewoods but it could still have been happening.

We had to take a rain-date for the dragstrip group rental that was going to be Friday oct 20th, but I still wanted to get some passes on the car that weekend. The track rental is now this coming Friday, so I hopefully can change and adjust whatever I need to in the next two days.

Sunday was a Mopar event that got combined with a Ford event but there was also limited Test and Tune, so I figured I would get 3-4 passes.
Left the Konis on the car and kept the Lakewood rear shocks in the box again. Air bags were set at 6psi (drivers) and 18 psi (pass). Both rear tires were set at 18.6 for the first pass, and both Koni shocks were at setting 2 out of 5. I am experimenting with putting weight in the trunk area also, and it seems to be helping, so thats why my toolbox is in some videos in the trunk.

Pass 1:
All motor pass, and I wanted to experiment and see if I took my WOT timing from 34 deg and dropped it down to 33 deg once I went past the powerband. Did a 4 second burnout. Footbraked to 2910 where it started to creep, and then it flashed to 4610 on the launch. I shifted 1-2 (early) at 5593 and I took second at 6088 and then finish line was 6081 rpms. I was watching gauges too much and later realized i wasn't full WOT the entirety 3rd gear which is the whole back-half of the track, but nonetheless, it was a decent and typical pass for all motor.


Timeslip: (left lane)


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53282827037_e6985c2fb9_c.jpg

Datalog:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53282827057_f463fc5001_c.jpg

All motor launch:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53282870672_0eeacb13dd_c.jpg

Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDgAE2ZINH4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpTPRWjOVWI



Pass 2:
Kept shocks the same and airbags, lowered tire pressure from 18.6 to 18.0 in the back. The nitrous jets are now different in order to try to compensate for the massive extra amount of fuel that this thing somehow needs. It keeps running lean on nitrous, so I have to keep upping fuel in jets and Cl comp. Nitrous jet for my 150 shot is .059 and fuel jet is now a .030 (up from an .030). I have the timing being pulled to 28 degrees on the 150 shotand it has been happy there before. Race gas octane booster added to fuel tank.

Went into the right hand lane. 5 second burnout, footbrake to 2464 rpms and when I launched, it flashed to 5419 rpms. It definitely launched hard and I shifted at 5975 rpms into second and second into 3rd at 6230 rpms. Once I got into 3rd gear it pulled for a bit but then the nitrous went lean again, despite an additional 20% fuel added by CLcomp. It clicked the nitrous off and I finished the run all motor, to go a 10.91; and I actually shifted into 4th gear overdrive to take the load off the motor. So this car goes pig rich in 3rd gear fueling with nitrous on the dyno, but goes dangerously lean on nitrous on the track. wild. The 60 foot and early track was really good though.

Timeslip:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53284092644_bdfc62ce5c_c.jpg


Datalog:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53282827062_75905f3921_c.jpg





Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zR-3hbwtEM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-s5TN0qb3g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7emRXJZ6nk




Pass3:

Didnt change anything with the tires or shocks or anything. Even went into the same (right) lane. I opened up the Clcomp limits on the higher rpms to be 30%+- instead of 20%+- hoping that would be enough cushion; it wasn't!


Rolled into the throttle a little slower and launched from a lower rpm, 1378. It spun right when the nitrous came on and turned the car a bit to the right, so I had to get out of the throttle and correct it. Shifted out of 1st ger a bit too high at 6589 rpms and then shifted out of 2nd at 6133 rpms. The nitrous went lean again in 3rd gear and thats how my day ended.

Timeslip:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53284092649_2e7b81d7b3_c.jpg



Datalog:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53284181445_fd48a344c7_c.jpg


Video: (my buddy John in the left lane)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws6t40PiZhw


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq6Ir0od3t0




So, testing my theory that that slight amount of slip I often feel on the initial launch might be caused by the rim spinning on the tire bead, I decided to mark the tires. The all motor hit (with a 1.52 sixtyfoot) showed a slight move of the paint marks but I didnt get a photo of this. However after the second launch (with a 1.43 sixty foot) I did noticed this amount of movement. Not that its a ton of movement, but now I know why i had to have them re-balanced and I gotta keep this in mind when launching harder.

Drivers side before and after:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53284091619_9770d99f0f_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53283970113_b3dc8c6a39_c.jpg[/url]

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53284091614_192c83e9bb_c.jpg







Pass side before and after:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53282826002_b217bf84bd_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53283970093_7984218e18_c.jpg[/url]

[The_Bishop]

Maybe I missed it, but do you have a way to log fuel pressure? The fuel trim going lean on the track while being fine on the dyno might be either fuel slosh starving the pump, or maybe the added load of actually pushing the car down the track is overwhelming the fuel system's ability to feed the motor/nitrous demand.

Edit: Was just browsing through your videos, and saw the video with the fuel pressure gauge during a nitrous pull and noticed that the fuel pressure doesn't stay consistent. The initial drop is when the nitrous activated, I'm assuming, but the fuel pressure doesn't stay steady - it's pulses during the short pull. I'd say you might have a fuel delivery problem; if it has a hard time staying steady during a short dyno pull it might be starving out during a much longer WOT-at-the-track run.

[IROCZman15]

The Bishop: I read your reply a week ago and should have wrote back earlier. I remember thinking something like that back when I was doing more autocross, so for the past 4 years or so I always race with a full tank of fuel to prevent any slosh or starving the pump. But also , I am with you about the possibility of g-forces working against the direction of fuel flow forward. Glad you brought it back into the thoughts for me to test out.


I made some great headway with sorting this out, I knew something had to be in the datalogs. If anyone remembers, for at least a year I was having all sorts of wacky/useless datalogs or missing and corrupted files. I feel that that slowed me down, and turned me in the wrong direction. I was following the AFR numbers that I was seeing on the gauges, but anyways here we are. I noticed that on the recent datalogs that I now can save and review successfully, there was a "Rich Cutoff" parameter that is built into the nitrous log-viewing screens. Despite the areas where the AFR numbers would go sky-high lean, this is when the "rich cut-off" would trigger and shut the nitrous off. I also took note of what townsend and Thirdgen.org member skinny have mentioned.


Turns out it is simply just overfueling because of mismatched jetting. I tested a chart that townsend sent me and changed my "150 shot" from a .059 nitrous with a.030 fuel, to be a .059 nitrous with a .027 fuel jet and it got way better. Next pass I went with a .062 nitrous and .027 fuel. Got better again. Next pass I was better yet and it was a .064 nitrous and .027 fuel. The mph kept improving, back to where it used to be over a year ago.

This all still sounds confusing to me, but the theory behind what I understand this issue to be, is that the fueling was indeed rich, but to the point where the oxygen sensors can not read correctly because of excess unburnt fuel and oxygen in the downstream exhaust. I wasn't aware of this until post #493 here : https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech-general-engine/768347-some-questions-during-install-10.html . I guess I still don't yet get it completely, but at the track rental my new jetting gained me back good timeslips.

[IROCZman15]

Writing this recap of the track rental session from last Friday, October 27th at Island Dragway.


The weather was way warmer than normal, so the DA was mostly in the 1600-2000 range. We got started way way late but I made 3 all motor passes. Nothing exciting, but on the 4th pass I wanted to test out what would happen if I just got the car into 3rd gear at the 8th mile and sprayed the 150 shot jets (0.59 and .030). It showed high afr numbers like usual, but was not making any mph, but was not problematic to shut off the nitrous. Pulled a plug afterward and it was unhappy rich. For continuous checking throughout the day I pulled plug #7 which is the same one we were pulling while on the dyno.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezSmhOMEltI



For Pass #5 I changed the jets to a .062 and a .027 and hit the button right off the launch. It finally felt strong, and the 8th mph was back to being above 100 mph finally. It went 11.19 with a bad sixty foot and over-revving both shifts. but.. my mph was finally back above 120 mph and the engine didnt feel like it was eating itself up either. Even last sunday at the TnT when the car went 10.910, it was only at 117 mph and it felt ugly. Now, the mph and power has a proper feel to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUewZOuFGTk




Pulled a plug again and couldn't get a good read on it. Kept jets the same, because it is what the 150 shot jetting is actually supposed to be in the new chart.
Sidenote - I had a heck of a time getting the car to do a proper burnout most of the day. I mean, normally I do pretty much the same routine and it works most of the time. But on the rental day, the car just didn't want to make wheel-speed and wanted to dart to the right a few times. I corrected this around pass 5 or 6 but I had to lay into the throttle a lot more than I usually have to at the burnout box.
Went a 1.48 in the sixty, but hit the limiter on the shift. Made a full clean pass and it was a 11.05 at 122 mph. Still showing datalog closed loop wanting to remove a lot of fuel. Checked a plug once again but it seemed ok.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amXVu12NYq4

This was the launch photo Jerry took during for Pass 6:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53295273202_816521e172_b.jpg



Pass 7:
Same jetting as pass 5 and 6. Car went 1.46 in the sixty foot and pulled good up to the top of 2nd gear. And then despite a high afr, the rich cutoff activated again and I finished the pass on motor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMLQ1tWAcWs

Pass 8: Changed the jetting to be .064 and .027 . I hit the button late, and despite the power pulling strong, I saw the nitrous bottle pressure gauge drop heavily durign teh run so I knew that the bottle was basically done. This bottle only had 8 pounds in starting on pass 4. The car went 11.25 at 119 mph.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t4UbPSa7P4



Pass 9, I swapped the bottle and now using the .064 and .027 combo the car made a good clean pass. It went 6.95 at 101mph to the 8th and 10.90 at 123 mph. Afr numbers on the gauges during the run were nice and in the 12s and the plug checked out great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1WxCAafZX0


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53296150336_b991cc491f_b.jpg




I had to get going home but I wanted one more crack at maybe a 10.70 pass with a bigger nitrous shot, so I quickly dropped in the .070 and .030 jet because I was greedy. It ran , but it wasn't overly happy, so it only went an 11.03 but at 124 mph. It actually was on the top-end rev-limiter again just within reach the finish line, so that slowed me down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L--5WElt_ug



So, despite me not getting any personal bests, I was pumped up to know that I seem to be heading back into the right direction with mph and et. over a year of nonsense, but finally seeing numbers that are relatable. I am hoping for one more track day of the year, but if not, I know I have a good starting point next year.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53298694140_ce17f0b528_b.jpg



On a relate note, I took some photos of the rear wheels/tires after the event, and its apparent that I do have a good bit of wheel movement in the tire bead on both sides.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53296396323_3d09a278cd_b.jpg

[townsend]

happy that you are making forward progress man!

[Anti_Rice_Guy]

happy that you are making forward progress man!

Both the wheels in the tires and in his progress down the track. :lol:

[townsend]

Both the wheels in the tires and in his progress down the track. :lol:

he could have my luck

[IROCZman15]

I wanted to get one more day at the dragstrip before the end of 2023, so I went to the Test and Tune on Sunday. Only had about 7 pounds of nitrous in the bottle remaining.


Pass 1:
All motor with 34 deg of timing up to 5800 rpms, and past that its at 33 deg of timing. Rear tires are at 17.0 psi. Foot-braked to 1821 rpms, launched and it flashed to about 5000. Shifted 1-2 at 6401 rpms and 2-3 shift was at 6450 rpms. Across the finish line at 5966 rpms but the back half of the track I was only about 75% throttle as I heard some kind of metal clinking noise under the car. Not sure what it was still.


Timeslip:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53349955706_349983b8a6_c.jpg

Datalog:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53350275944_dc5a027844_c.jpg



Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5A9bdpGIK0





Pass 2:

150 shot of nitrous with jetting at .027 fuel and .063 nitrous and timing set at 28 degrees fixed. Rear tires set at 16.6 psi. Air bags were 6 psi drivers side and 18 psi passenger side. Foot-braked to 2029 and the converter flashed to 5415 rpms. There seemed to be a bit of quick tire spin, but I drove through it. Shifted 1-2 at 6490 rpms, the 2-3 shift at 6364 rpms, and then I decided to activate the torque converter lockup while in 3rd gear, at 6161 rpms and it bought it don to 6004 rpms . The nitrous clicked off just right before the finish line because it was reaching its high-rpm safety limit and I went through the traps at 6317 rpms.


Timeslip:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53349955701_fe913a2bf3_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53350275949_37ed6bec07_c.jpg

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwJwUyDsBlw


Pass 2 launch video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSdfnm1DTMg





Pass 3:

Brought up the nitrous to a 165-ish hp shot using a .030 fuel and a .070 nitrous jet. bottle pressure at 950 and ignition timing set to a fixed 27 deg when nitrous is on. Footbraked to 1645 rpms and when I launched, the tires spun bad enough hat I pedaled it. Shifted 1-2 at 6573 rpms (pedaled it here too) and 2-3 at 6487 rpms. I activated lockup again in 3rd gear at 6181 rpms nad it dropped rpms to be 5868. Went through the finish line at 6478 rpms.


Timeslip:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53350403750_84ed149552_c.jpg


Datalog

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53350275954_a3a53637ea_c.jpg


Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUKpRZPvxxo




Pass 4:


Brought tire pressure back up to 17.0. Also decided to progressively ramp in the nitrous on the hit, over a 1.2 second ramp. used the same jetting numbers as previous pass, but moved the ignition timing to 29 degrees instead of 27 deg. Brought he rear passenger airbag up to 20 psi. I must not have fully clicked the "start datalog" button on the laptop, and I didn't notice this until on the return road after the pass. I know that I tried to foot-brake higher than usual, and the car began to creep past the beams, so I just decided to let it go. Tires didn't spin but it felt a little sluggish. Right around the 8th mile it ran out of steam , and I think it was simply that the nitrous bottle volume was too depleted.

Timeslip:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53350183803_68d5dda370_c.jpg



Video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqoZ__jyCQ8

Pass 4 launch video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRR3SCLmSsA




https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53349955716_87f6b63014_c.jpg



I might need to go with more air int he rear passenger airbag. Or maybe finally upgrade the oem rear swaybar to something better, but nothing too intense.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53349082482_8696714472_c.jpg[/url]




https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53350403725_da09f19c74_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53349955226_68bed23553_c.jpg

[The_Bishop]

Glad to see you're making progress!

[IROCZman15]

It has been a while, but I drove the car a bit into December, and it has sat untouched until a week ago. I have a list of projects to tackle on it in the coming weeks, and one of them is to finally do something better/different with my crankcase pressure and annoying oil leaks.

For the past 4 years that this engine has been in the car, it has somehow survived on the terrible setup of having a breather in the passenger side valve cover and an elbow with a 3/8" I.D. hose coming out of the drivers side valve cover and necking down to a tiny 3/16" I.D. vacuum port built into the sniper throttle body. Time to be done with that.

Current:


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53544748110_dceaaf2033_c.jpg



https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53544495898_2b838791cb_c.jpg




Best solution would be a mechanical belt driven vacuum pump and all that goes with it, but I don't have the $1300 for that plus then I would want to redo alternator, power steering pump and brackets, which is far beyond budget. Research showed that electric vacuum pumps can be hit-or-miss and a wide range of success-fullness on street/strip cars, but I am going that route. I am going to use a catch can also, and hope to keep the price tag for the entirety of the project around $250. I currently already bought the catch can $105 and an ebay Ford pump $62 and some cheap 1 way check valves, so I think its realistic. This also doesn't have to be the best configuration possible either, thats not my goal; it just has to do better than my existing setup.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53543443382_07d457dab7_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53544495918_450fe1327a_c.jpg


Here's the plan that I hop to make work for my car.

- baffles in both valve covers (done)
- both valve covers to get a rubber or rubberized plastic 90* elbow that fits in the 1.22" valve cover hole
- a rubber line off each valve cover (3/8" diameter or 1/2" diameter hose) angled slightly uphill to a Tee-Y
- a 1-way check valve in the 1/2" rubber line after the T and the next 5 feet of line will travel downhill
- Racetronix sealed catch-tank #CT1L8GS. Plug up breather in cap. Use stainless-steel thick wool as media
- the other ports int eh tank will be plugged and sealed tight, except a 1/2" port with a hose to the air pump. tank to be located in
the drivers side front corner of engine bay.
- will need to adapt 1/2" hose to 5/8" I.D. hose for Ford Pump XR32-9A486-AA, CX-1718_
this pump will be powered by a relay and tied to my ignition fuse block. The Ford pumps have been known to
pull a steady 4 or 5 inches of vacuum and some people have had great luck with them. I think I have to solder
some wires inside of it and take out the foam guts too. If these pumps fail, they dont lock-up which means
the wheel can spool and keep venting crankcase pressure until I notice the issue. pump to be mounted either directly
underneath catchcan, by front turn signal of drivers side or passenger side . not sure yet.
- exit hose (5/8" I.D.) will come off of the pump and point to a safe spot under the center of the car in case of
massive oil discharge.




https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53544495908_e6e969cbb3_c.jpg




A few quick questions:
- does the height of the components really matter that much. I could see it being more of a factor if it was a vented breather style can or a catchcan only, but should I be worried about any of this uphill/downhill nonsense if I have an electric motor pulling vacuum on it?
- Longer runs of hose is better right, allows hot oil mist to cool to oil droplets in the hose along a long distance? In total it looks like about 5.5 feet of distance from pass valve cover to travel to the location where I want the catch tank.



https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53543443367_8eba965a42_c.jpg

[townsend]

It has been a while, but I drove the car a bit into December, and it has sat untouched until a week ago. I have a list of projects to tackle on it in the coming weeks, and one of them is to finally do something better/different with my crankcase pressure and annoying oil leaks.

For the past 4 years that this engine has been in the car, it has somehow survived on the terrible setup of having a breather in the passenger side valve cover and an elbow with a 3/8" I.D. hose coming out of the drivers side valve cover and necking down to a tiny 3/16" I.D. vacuum port built into the sniper throttle body. Time to be done with that.

Current:


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53544748110_dceaaf2033_c.jpg



https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53544495898_2b838791cb_c.jpg




Best solution would be a mechanical belt driven vacuum pump and all that goes with it, but I don't have the $1300 for that plus then I would want to redo alternator, power steering pump and brackets, which is far beyond budget. Research showed that electric vacuum pumps can be hit-or-miss and a wide range of success-fullness on street/strip cars, but I am going that route. I am going to use a catch can also, and hope to keep the price tag for the entirety of the project around $250. I currently already bought the catch can $105 and an ebay Ford pump $62 and some cheap 1 way check valves, so I think its realistic. This also doesn't have to be the best configuration possible either, thats not my goal; it just has to do better than my existing setup.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53543443382_07d457dab7_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53544495918_450fe1327a_c.jpg


Here's the plan that I hop to make work for my car.

- baffles in both valve covers (done)
- both valve covers to get a rubber or rubberized plastic 90* elbow that fits in the 1.22" valve cover hole
- a rubber line off each valve cover (3/8" diameter or 1/2" diameter hose) angled slightly uphill to a Tee-Y
- a 1-way check valve in the 1/2" rubber line after the T and the next 5 feet of line will travel downhill
- Racetronix sealed catch-tank #CT1L8GS. Plug up breather in cap. Use stainless-steel thick wool as media
- the other ports int eh tank will be plugged and sealed tight, except a 1/2" port with a hose to the air pump. tank to be located in
the drivers side front corner of engine bay.
- will need to adapt 1/2" hose to 5/8" I.D. hose for Ford Pump XR32-9A486-AA, CX-1718_
this pump will be powered by a relay and tied to my ignition fuse block. The Ford pumps have been known to
pull a steady 4 or 5 inches of vacuum and some people have had great luck with them. I think I have to solder
some wires inside of it and take out the foam guts too. If these pumps fail, they dont lock-up which means
the wheel can spool and keep venting crankcase pressure until I notice the issue. pump to be mounted either directly
underneath catchcan, by front turn signal of drivers side or passenger side . not sure yet.
- exit hose (5/8" I.D.) will come off of the pump and point to a safe spot under the center of the car in case of
massive oil discharge.




https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53544495908_e6e969cbb3_c.jpg




A few quick questions:
- does the height of the components really matter that much. I could see it being more of a factor if it was a vented breather style can or a catchcan only, but should I be worried about any of this uphill/downhill nonsense if I have an electric motor pulling vacuum on it?
- Longer runs of hose is better right, allows hot oil mist to cool to oil droplets in the hose along a long distance? In total it looks like about 5.5 feet of distance from pass valve cover to travel to the location where I want the catch tank.



https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53543443367_8eba965a42_c.jpg

leave the pcv hose intact to the sniper, leave it that way for street or add or drill another bigger port in the intake for vacuum (spacer under sniper with a larger vac port). dont worry about uphill downhill etc.

run the e vac pump only at the track spraying nitrous. thats probably when most of your leaks are occuring. my motor is tight with pcv/street driving/catch can, but when spraying it pushes oil. im going the e-vac pump for track use only. they dont really survive in continuous use on the street. so mine is being set up to be easily swapped from street with pcv/can to track with can/e-vac pump

[3.4 grape of wrath]

I run the gm electric pump on my car, I had to increase voltage to 24 volts in order to pull 7hg in the crankcase. I don't know about the ford pumps but if you need more hg a $20 amazon volt booster will get you there. You don't need both valve cover hoses it's not going to pull anymore volume. I would shorten the hoses also, that's a lot of straw to suck through. I run a pressure switch to turn my pump on only under boost from the turbo. For naturally aspirated you could use a vacuum switch to turn on pump. Just my 2 cents.

[IROCZman15]

I agree about doing the pump primarily at the track like you suggest. I remember reading a good bit of info on that topic via other threads on the holley sniper forums. It intrigues me, so I think once I get this new setup functioning, I will keep a removable pre-assembled pcv and hose to plumb it back to the sniper tbi. Last time the intake was off I debated drilling a port in the backside of it; I will probably end up doing this int he future. With the nitrous plate in there I might only add one other 1/2" spacer, but that could be an option too.


That voltage booster also sounds like a future add on and I especially like the idea of a vacuum switch too. The reason I was going to pull from both valve covers, is because the pcv elbow and attached 3/8" hose is still a pretty small orifice, so it might help a little to pull from both. I can always do some tests and then cap off one side as another test too right?
- Just noticed that it looks like you have almost the exact same catch tank as I am about to use. Any issues with it, do you use a drain on the bottom or have any media inside of it> I'm guessing you pulled out that brass filter inside the cap and put a npt pipe plug in its place for a sealed system?

[3.4 grape of wrath]

You're probably right about the 3/8 hose being too small, I use a single 5/8 hose. I have a vacuum gauge in the car hooked up to the drivers side valve cover to monitor crankcase vacuum. I actually don't run a catch can, air is dumped right to outside of car but only during boost. That tank was used for my water injection, it's no longer in my car. I also mounted the air pump vertically because crankcase garbage was collecting inside of pump.

[IROCZman15]

good info here and thanks for steering me in that direction.
When you say you mounted it vertically, I am imagining it on its side vertically, but also vertically with the inlet/outlet ports pointing towards the ground? Or differently?


I decided to find a larger size fitting (Dorman PCV Valve Elbow 47043) to replace the modified pcv valve idea I had planned on going with... and its basically an elbow that i can attach a 5/8" inside diameter rubber hose to and run it over to the catch can. I'll need to bring the 5/8" hose down to a 1/2 hose before it hits the -8an fitting at the can. In the can I will have the stainless steel scouring pad material to help knock the oil down before the flow is drawn out the other -8an at the top of the catch tank. Then it will be a short length of hose from 1/2' ID to 5/8" ID using an adapter because the inlet of the vacuum pump is 5/8. Thats the current plan


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53568716409_6cddbb8a0f_c.jpg





- I plugged the breather in the top of the catch-tank cap so that its a sealed system.

- I ran a relay to power the pump with a 20 amp fuse and it is currently triggered off the ignition block fuse panel I built under the passenger side dash.

- got a length of hose from the valve cover mocked-up towards where it will travel and meet the tank. Will mount the tank in the next few days I hope .


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53568834960_10c2ef5511_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53568394736_f6a3fac45d_c.jpg



- Mounted the electric pump. found a spot almost directly under where the catch tank will be; behind the nose/fender and attached to to the steel bumper at two mounting points, and mounted a 90* home made bracket to the upper area to secure the pump in 3 spots. It has rubber isolators on it too, but I made sure its good and tight. I'll zip off the threads on those long bolts once the whole project is complete.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53568716544_954291551f_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53567543732_ddcf5a0f38_c.jpg


Turned it on and it fired right up. Sounds loud in the garage. Haven't fired the engine in 2 months so I will wait to hear it that way too. Decided that I am going to soon add in a toggle switch in-line of the pump relay's ignition trigger wire so that I can manually turn the pump on and off. I like doing that with the torque converter, nitrous activation, and so forth, so having a switch for it will be easier for me than building it into any efi based program. I have one un-used spot on my nitrous panel so I ordered a rocker switch with LED light on it from Nitrous outlet to replace the bottle heater switch on this panel.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53568394726_8d16916772_c.jpg

At the price of about $60, I am probably going to buy a second pump just to have on hand, but I can't help but think of how helpful this will be as opposed to choking down the engine these past 4 years of action.

If I only need the one 5/8" diameter hose from one valve cover, I can finally just put a cap on the passenger side valve cover and get rid of the clunky breather that I've never been a fan of.

[3.4 grape of wrath]

Yes, the pump is mounted vertically and my outlet is pointed towards the ground. The inlet port on mine is pointed towards the firewall. Looks like your inlet is oriented differently then mine but I would guess that should be fine.I periodically pop off the cover to see how things look inside, again I am not using a catch can so you might be better off. I'm curious how much vacuum you will make at WOT. Here's a pic of the adjustable vacuum switch I installed, bought from amazon. It's listed under a transmission part if you're interested.

[IROCZman15]

It has been a while!
I got a few things sorted out on the car. Found some clamps to keep the 5-point harnesses from sliding left/right on the roll bar. Got the driver's side 5-point belt re-certified at stroud for another 2 years. Oil change (VR1 20-50) which will probably be the last time. Possibly might start using 10-40 or straight 40 next oil change. Trans filter, electrical stuff/repairs in the dashboard, an so on. Electric vacuum pump is on and working when I turn it on. Also, installed some new sub woofers in the trunk area. Downsized from the very old two 12" subs to a nice set of JL audio 10" subs.

the clamps are from Jegs brand of clamps.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53755439937_4784a64a55_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53755440107_bc1b99ced1_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53756549133_5af17c97e9_c.jpg


Installed a UMI bump-steer kit and had the alignment done on the front and rear. Brought it to a local autocross guy's house who has a big garage in the back with machine.
caster 5.1 (D) and 5.3 (P)
Camber -1.5 (D) and -1.4 (P)
Toe In 0.01" (D) and 0.01" (P) Total toe is 0.02"



After the alignment was done I was ready to get it to the track so I went to Island Dragway for the Test and Tune Friday night on May 24.
Kept all these values the same for all 5 passes:
Rear tire pressure 18psi
Rear Air Bags: 6 psi (Drivers side) 18psi (pass side)
Rear Koni yellow Shocks: 1.5 out of 5 on each side (so basically pretty loose)
93 Octane pump gas and for the nitrous passes I added some Race Gas concentrate
Nitrous Bottle Pressure: 950 psi
Nitrous jets: .063 (nitrous) and .027 (fuel)

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53755448267_1b3e8900b3_c.jpg





Pass 1: All Motor (with 34 degree timing all in)
This was just a shakedown pass to make sure the car held together after 6 months of not going fast. Did a 5 second burnout and footbraked to a 2647 rpm launch. Converter flashed at 4912 rpms, I shifted 1-2 at 6164 rpms, shifted 2-3 at 6022 rpms, and across the finish line at 6055 rpms. It was a clean run, despite lots of heat soak on everything but the car felt good, about a tenth off from where I expected it to be.

Timeslip:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53756358386_34de9da321_c.jpg


Datalog:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53756358911_398658653e_c.jpg


Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp8A5x6x5Dc





Pass 2: progressive 150 shot
Added Race Gas Concentrate and turned on the bottle. Did a 5 second burnout and footbraked the car to a 2605 rpm launch and it launched real good. Converter flashed at 5091 rpms and I shifted 1-2 a little late at 6363 rpms. It sixty footed real well and I Shifted 2-3 at 6073 rpms but then I immediately realized that my new electric vacuum pump switch was not on....the bottle heater LED switc was! So I stayed WOT, but took my hand off the nitrous button, reached over and turned off the bottle heater switch and turned on the vac pump switch, and then got back on the nitrous. Datalog shows that this all took 1.4 seconds. After I got back on the button, I then reached over with my other hand and turned on the converter lockup..finally coming through the finish line at 6362 rpms. Was surprised that it was a decent E.T. despite all the nonsense inside the car mid-track.

Timeslip:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53756556243_1af3bf04bb_c.jpg


Datalog:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53756771510_c0136c869d_c.jpg


Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uMkfxKhOhU




Pass 3: progressive 150 shot again
Another 5 second burnout and a footbrake launch from 2707 rpms. (I can't ever remember it being able to footbrake that high either, usually its low/mid 2000s, but today I had good luck with higher than usual footbrake rpms before the car started to creep forward). Anyways, at the launch, the converter flashed to 5017 rpms and then I shifted 1-2 at 6357 rpms. Shifted the 2-3 shift a little earlier, at 6026. It got into 3rd gear and felt weak (see datalog, red trace is its almost flat-lining, and actually only gained 100 rpm in 2.13 seconds of 3rd gear, and thats on the spray at WOT! what the heck? But then when I Activated lockup while on the nitrous, it began to climb to finish at 6415.

Timeslip:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53756679349_30f4817824_c.jpg



Datalog:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53756679649_9bfcce78b1_c.jpg



Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9MO6a7QUEQ










Pass 4: Progressive 150 shot again

The usual 5 second burnout. Footbraked the launch at 2267 rpms and converter flashed to 4798 rpms. Shifted 1-2 at 6442 rpms, shifted 2-3 at 6262 rpms, and then hit lockup almost right away this time. (the 2-3 shift dropped rpms from 6262, to 5355 in 3rd gear, and then the lockup dropped rms to 4605. I pulled my finger off the button for .8 seconds after this, and then got back on it, crossing the finish line at 6344 rpms with the converter locked in 3rd gear and hitting the top end nitrous limiter cutoff.


Timeslip:


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53758957043_d54d45f817_c.jpg


Datalog:


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53755448797_e7719d3e3a_c.jpg



Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4EJ6qyguk0




Pass 5: Another progressive 150 shot. Same tune file all day.


Same 5 second burnout but right at the end of it, the engine seemed like it did a weird rpm flare and wanted to stay high rpms for a moment. Lined up and launched from 2535 rpms. I was a little lazy/cautious on the throttle pedal and it did sound liek the engine had a flare pulling through first gear. I kept in it and shifted at 6203 rpms into 2nd and it seemed to miss a little bit more early in 2nd gear but then cleared itself up well before shifting into 3rd at 6306 rpms. I let it be in 3rd for a moment before locking the converter at 5882 rpms and eventually crossing the finish line at 6382. I was confused by the engine breaking up early in the run, but definitely happy to see that my back-half of the track is picking up 24 mph, which is promising (typically its about 20 or 21 mph the whole back-half) . If you listen to the videos, its pretty typical for me to be at the red-line nitrous rpm cutoff with about 100 feet to go in the pass, so despite TCC lockup working well, if I want to go faster I am going to have to figure out the best plan for how early in 3rd gear to activate TCC lockup, or if shifting into the dreaded Overdrive is a better solution while on the button. It does seem like 3rd gear (which is 1:1) is a lazy dog compared to when the converter is locked, so I am back to wondering about converter slip etc.

Timeslip:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53755448602_d25ea1e20d_c.jpg


Datalog:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53756358906_c95e2d2ae8_c.jpg


Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVpXoxiOs_0




Drove home with no problems and no sign of that engine rpm flare resurfacing. Caught a lot of bugs that night. Too early to tell if there are any gains at the track from the electric pump, but there is no doubt it pulls suction enough where I cant get the oil fill cap off or dipstick out when its running and engine is running.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53755448677_28fb2617f3_c.jpg

[townsend]

nice times dave! but hit it harder out of the hole, turn that progressive UP!!

[LTb1ow]

Whats the details on the alignment guy?

[IROCZman15]

yea, going to run it harder out of the hole this year, in the quest for a 1.39 second sixty foot somehow!

For the alignment, There is a guy named Steve who I met at one of those M.S.N.E. autocross events at Met Life stadium parking lot probably about 3 years ago. Hes got a great setup with a hawks alignment machine, wheel and tire machines and whatnot. He is in Jefferson Twp, I think technically the Oak Ridge area.
http://www.sjfperformance.com/

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53763124387_86dd0e2158.jpg

[townsend]

yea, going to run it harder out of the hole this year, in the quest for a 1.39 second sixty foot somehow!

For the alignment, There is a guy named Steve who I met at one of those M.S.N.E. autocross events at Met Life stadium parking lot probably about 3 years ago. Hes got a great setup with a hawks alignment machine, wheel and tire machines and whatnot. He is in Jefferson Twp, I think technically the Oak Ridge area.
http://www.sjfperformance.com/

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53763124387_86dd0e2158.jpg

ohhhh may need to use him on my mustang, lowered sn95's with everything adjustable are a pain, especially with bumpsteer kits

[IROCZman15]

yea, He definitely knows mustangs, he autocrosses and won national events various ones, and after I was finished on the machine, my buddy Ryan King was putting his beast of a mustang on the machine for some adjustments. He raced that car to be up in the top of the contenders in last years UMI King of the Mountain Event, and trusts Steve at SJF to spin wrenches under it. Hes taking a piss in the woods right behind one of Steve's mustangs I saw on the property.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53770430703_e92661571b_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53770226171_d5719c8e38_c.jpg





- One thing to note, he doesn't have one of those on-lift hydraulic jacks built into his car's lift. So if I had wanted to give it positive camber, we would have to drop the car, roll it off the lift, setup a floor jack, adjust the camber beyond where we expect it to be, and then reload car on the lift, and pull camber back out while watching the numbers. Or He said i could just adjust it this way at home, arrive there with excessive positive camber, and then just make all teh on-car adjustments with one up-down on the lift.

[RamblerRacer]

Hey, never got your name but it was great to finally see the car in person

https://pixvid.org/images/2024/07/08/100001275740be29c6a3a9c4ec.jpg

JT

[IROCZman15]

yes indeed, it was nice meeting you real quick. I've seen your user name on here a bit, so definitely good to say hi.

Bit of an update.
June came and went with no dragstrip action. Events got canceled due to weather a few times and my schedule was just booked up too. Made a few quick changes to the tune file since the dragstrip day at the end of May, and also added my 1/2" thick phenolic 4-hole spacer back on the engine just to help combat heat soak to the throttle body and its internal ECU. It might help plenum volume too and also makes future jet changes easier at the nitrous plate actually. I put it above the nitrous crossbar plate but below the sniper TBI obviously. Also had the rear right MT tire un-mounted and re-balanced yet again for a vibration that comes between 55-65 mph at that wheel. Those SSR wheels aren't close to true at all, I might have to end up replacing this one.

Got a chance to run the car this past sunday 7/7/24 at Island Dragway for the Nostalgia Nationals event they do (cars 30+ years old) and had a blast despite the relentless unforgiving heat we have been in. We got two timeshot test runs and then eliminations were at 2pm. There were four classes, and I went into the N2 class which is 10.00 - 10.99 E.T. class. That meant that the bottle would be ON today.


Car Setup essentially was the exact same as I ran it on May 24:
150 shot jetting. Rear tires at 17.5 psi. Rear air bags at 7 drivers side and 18 pass side. Shocks were both set at 1.5 out of 5, so pretty soft. Electric vacuum pump on only for the burnout and the run down the track. full tank of 93 octane Shell gasoline with Race gas additive (a full 16 ounce can this time...more on that topic later)

Test Pass 1: Did the usual 5 second burnout which has been working. Foot braked the car to 2047 rpms and for no good reason other than being impatient, I launched. The car hooked, lifted, chattered, clawed, and took off...in the process going a surprising 1.384 sixty foot. All that rattling caused the holley USB cable to rattle loose from the laptop...so my datalog is just a few 10ths of a second long. The whole run felt fast but I had been out of the seat for a while so I wasn't sure. I was aware that the guy in the right lane consistently runs 10.0 so when i was only a few car lengths behind him, I knew it was at least a decent run. Never expected to hit 130 mph because I haven't been close since May 2022 when the car went 127.7. That run set me in a freakin great mood for the rest of the day! Steve bell was the track photographer that day and got a nice photo of the launch, so I bought the digital copy.

Timeslip:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53849266998_2df734b706_c.jpg

Datalog:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53846641469_a62abb9cec_c.jpg


Launch Photo:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53849005056_20562ce9f6_b.jpg


Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydPSjHzWHaA&t=5s




Pass 2.
I checked two hot plugs and while they are definitely orange from the race gas, they read that everything was safe. I made no changes to the car whatsoever, and despite knowing that the rear tire pressure experimentation is lower than it should be, I returned both tires to 17.5 psi because of how quick it launched last pass. After the usual burnout, I footbraked to 2535 rpms, and the converter flashed to 5222 rpms. Sixty foot was quick again, shifted 1-2 at 6567 rpms, shifted 2-3 at 6301 rpms, and activated TCC lockup at 5903 rpms in 3rd gear. It pulled good again across the line at 6491 rpms while going 130.12 mph, so I knew the previous run wasn't a fluke!


Timeslip:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53849444525_1c1438f9a8_c.jpg
Datalog:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53846641264_051a0f7a6c_c.jpg

Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIU7SkQYmio


Pass 3:
Elimination rounds. Quite honestly I wan’t really concerned with trying to go “slower” and win rounds, otherwise I would have put a 10.99 or something on the dial, but I was having a blast on the last two passes so I figured I’d keep on that path. In case I spun, I set a 10.74 dial in. Tires, airbags, everything, all stayed the same. Footbraked to 2175 rpms, got too excited and red-lit with a -.007 bulb. Car did leave good though and flashed converter at 5214 rpms and shifted 1-2 at 6561 rpms. Shifted 2-3 at 6262 rpms and then from 3rd gear into lockup very quickly this time (only .3 seconds on datalog) at 5903 rpms. Listening to the engine during the run and on the videos tells me that is gotta be slightly laboring the earlier I activate it… so I gotta still work on exactly how quick in 3rd gear to flip the button. Anyways, the car pulled through the line at 6490 rpms, (last run was 6491 rpms).


Timeslip:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53849005031_6a23a365de_c.jpg


Datalog:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53846279896_fb54994fd7_c.jpg

Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH6yl1rVx8I



One day I want to overlay the two datalogs (P2 and P3) to see if I can learn something about the effect of the rpms I choose to lockup the converter at in 3rd gear.

The day was so relentlessly hot and after watching a few round of racing I packed up and headed for home. After driving only a little bit I noticed my battery voltage going low and there was an ever steady voltage drop as I drove home. The alternator was in nuclear meltdown and there was no recovering it. Made it within an actual mile of home before the volts were too home. Ran home on foot! Grabbed my battery box, went back, wired it up and drove the last mile home. That alternator is from May of 2016 and it has been through a tremendous amount of abuse, so it owes me nothing. It was a 140 amp powemaster unit. I bought a 220 amp TopStreet alternator via summit racing and it should be here tomorrow actually.

I gotta get this car turned around for the Camaro Nationals out in PA which is only 9 days away. So the drag setup comes off, everything gets cleaned, polished and setup for a 2+ hour drive and 2 day car show. https://camaronationals.org/


There is some stuff to discuss from my track-day but I can write about that soon; just wanted to get the recap typed up.

[townsend]

nice pass man! love that picture!

[IROCZman15]

Thanks man! much appreciated

Switched the wheels off the car, put the front sway-bar on, cleaned the interior and exterior and did the once-a-year polish/wax/shine routine.
I drove on out to the Camaro Nationals in Morgantown PA yesterday.
Car drove fantastic. Good amount of cars yesterday but probably close to 700 Camaros will be there today.
Also drove over to Maple Grove racetrack (15 minutes away) to watch some Friday night drag racing for a bit and then ripped a spirited drive through the Pennsylvania roads afterwards with some burnouts, and wound up at a BBQ and brisket place for a late dinner

I’ll fix the image hosting later, just posting a few quick photos.
Weather looks great for tomorrow, come on out!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53874989588_f37c6dc1c1_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53869057555_eb69a825cf_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53875096949_c588c43854_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53875096614_a2f8fb9f43_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53868889953_17bb879378_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53874750351_b0a707908b_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53873847922_1a463ecb02_c.jpg



https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53875097559_c1d034344e_c.jpg



I unknowingly parked next to a big pile of dung when we went to the BBQ place.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53868890263_6d32af64b2_c.jpg

[IROCZman15]

Photos from Day 2 of the event.
Saw a few familiar camaro buddies, some from this board too!

Afterwards, my buddy Joe and I had a damn good drive home. My car gave me zero issues, the entire 260+ miles of the event, and didn't even get that dirty. Converter lockup makes 75 mph on the highway effortless.
Not sure what is coming up next for events with the car, but I sure am havin fun with it.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53874751431_1b7d27c775_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53874751421_cd282f93b0_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53873848952_1eb3f6089d_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53873848947_362a847151_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53874993188_a98f841aab_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53875100209_5d5c2d3697_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53873850412_8a7c81ceb9_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53875166045_bb395b7b7a_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53875101919_6aeb7250e4_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53873851762_d5bd945d03_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53874754521_bf40eff227_c.jpg

[RamblerRacer]

We crossed paths again.
My cousin and I were at MG for Geezers at The Grove 7/20

[RamblerRacer]

Car looks good

[IROCZman15]

awesome! Wish I saw ya again. Yea, it was a fun filled weekend!

[IROCZman15]

Took a while to get this typed up, but here is a recap from last Friday 10/25/24 and the track rental at Island Dragway.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54099851829_26e239c526_c.jpg

Thanks to Jerry for the event photos and thanks to Joey D who got a few good videos of the launch.


One of the new things I was testing out was a set of new-to-me Hoosier QTP Bias Ply tires, bought from my good buddy. They are a 27" tall tire and I put them on a set of the same size 15"x8'' Jegs SSR wheels. I drove to the track on the 28" tall MT ET street radials and made the first 4 passes on them that day. Swapped over to the Hoosiers for passes 5-11. Didn't really get to test their true potential on the launch, but did get a few mid 1.4x sixty foot launches. The starting line was tricky that day, but a few people figured it out. As expected, I did notice a slow-wobble wander from the tires as it went down the track, mostly midway through second gear and less on the top end. Some of my rear-view camera footage shows it. I started with 16 psi in the bias plys and then 15 and then 15.4 psi. Would like to do a burnout with them and see what the contact patch looks like for psi decisions but next time out I might start at 16 again.

I have all the datalogs with footbrake launch rpm and shift rpm on them too but its many to post up.



Pass 1: just a easy shakedown run, nothing unusual. MT ET streets. It spun a bit on the launch, so a slow 60 foot.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54099514356_135843fc2b_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54099765823_d1c22109f1_c.jpg



Pass 2: Made a better pass, mostly due to a better launch, and was happy to see a new PB at 11.58 compared to my previous 11.60. MT ET street radials, and still a slower 60 foot than possible. Shifted 1-2 2-3 and then 3- lockup .

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54099514696_d307e78611_c.jpg


Pass 3: Turned on the 150 nitrous shot Still using the MT ET street radials, this pass they were set at 18 psi. I do actually think my rear passenger side air bag was set close to correct, at 25 psi (drivers side was 8psi) because the car doesn’t squat as hard to the right rear anymore and also seems to keep the rear drivers side from body lift. But despite that I still spun on the launch. I had to do bit of pedaling and over revved the 1-2 shift

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54099768123_e53ca9b4f6_c.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPeKz4dIKWs







Pass 4: Last pass with the MT radials, and the 150 shot, and it went:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54099968540_33bbc0ff94_c.jpg



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c54mbwOOGhg

[IROCZman15]

Pass 5: Had decided to get off the throttle before the 1000 foot cone. This was an all motor pass using the new Bias ply tires set at 16.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54099768118_f2166c2199_c.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgfchLLloqI



Pass 6: Made a full all-motor pass and it went a c1.47 sixty foot with a tiny bit of spin. Tires aired down from 16 psi to 15psi. It was a good pass, and now *** beat out my earlier pass as a personal best all-motor


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54099514336_acc55be082_c.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yU21t2ZHgg




Pass 7 : Turned on the nitrous. Same 150 jetting as before. 950 bottle pressure. New tires at 15.4 The car definitely felt like it was wandering around in the back end and you can kinda see it on the rear view camera. Little hot on the rev limiter at the top end too.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54099767738_3cc4c24aac_c.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9q66MxQShc






Pass 8 . another nitrous pass on the Hoosiers. Best sixty foot of the day, but it still chattered the tires at the hit.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54098650782_73f242cbfa_c.jpg




Pass 9: I made another all-motor pass.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54098651152_310c9dea98_c.jpg


pass 10: Another nitrous pass with the 150 shot, and it was my last full pass of the day.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54099767743_0f0f5381be_c.jpg


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX4waaN4X48


Pass 11. Since I had already made 5 full passes on this bottle, I had planned to swap in a new blue bottle but there was only a few minutes before lanes closed for the day, so I didn’t get it done. I just wet up there and tried to nail down a killer launch, but nothing spectacular happened.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54099968510_b2ce545f6e_c.jpg




Drove the car home packed with tools.
Unloaded everything the next day and got the car cleaned up a bit for a cruise-in event in Long valley On Sunday. Enjoyed that a bit, dove over with a bunch of cool C-10 trucks and musclecars.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54099529611_658664ea65_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54099866544_54bc7cc593_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/31337/54098664112_a3261af04e_c.jpg







Planning on going to Island for the last time of the year this coming Sunday.

[The_Bishop]

The car's moving out pretty nice!

Glad to see someone still getting after it at the track.

[townsend]

car looked and sounded great all day! thanks for putting that rental on again man, we had a great time. now we gotta get you some more horsepowers this winter and put a 200 jet in that thing!

[V]

did joe really put a roof rack on his car? haha

[IROCZman15]

thanks guys!
and yup Joe put a rack on the top and changed the wheels since I saw him on the Camaro Nationals trip in July.


I did get the car out to the track again on 11/3 and I can hopefully get a writeup on that in a few days.

[IROCZman15]

Woah, it took me a month to finally get this typed up!
I did get back to the track one time after the track-rental, so this is the recap of it, which was on 11/3/24 at Island Dragway. IThe only thing different on the car since the rental was that I changed from Autolite 3923 spark plugs to the NGK BR7EF at the .028 gap out of the box. I drove to the track on the MT radials, and then switched over to the Hoosiers in the pits. The D.A. was awesome that day,; between 200-500 while I was there. I made 1 all motor pass and then the rest were dismal attempts at getting my 150 nitrous shot timeslips to match the ones I ran back in July (10.61 at 130.4 mph).


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54118330445_3c800e3fed_c.jpg





Pass 1:
This was an all motor pass. Both Hoosiers at 16.6 psi, airbags at 8psi (Drivers side) and 20 psi (Pass side), rear shocks at 1 (d) and 2 (p). footbraked to 2,201 rpms, converter flashed to 4,678 rpms. Shifted 1-2 too early at 5,562 rpms, shifted 2-3 at 5,875 rpms, and across the finish line at 6,257 rpms. Datalog showed that I was very light on the throttle, so it was not close to a WOT pass. Surprisingly, it went 11.56 and my p.b. on motor is actually 11.55, so in the springtime, I expect to get quicker all motor timeslips with a WOT pass.


Timeslip:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54183157322_57bb96dae1_c.jpg


Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nLYWBBat_E




Pass 1 launch Photo from track photographer website:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54184489010_e0d7e85262_c.jpg






Pass 2: Same shock settings and same airbag settings, but tires were now at 16.0 psi each, and I turned the nitrous on with the 150 jets. Footbraked to 1,708 rpms, spun, pedaled it, and made the 1-2 shift at 6,479 rpms. The 2-3 shift was 6,337 rpms, while again not WOT, and across the line at 6,438 rpms. Not a great pass,

Timeslip:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54184325744_a7f6fc997f_c.jpg




Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzhR5kdny-s


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6_lph0lN7A



Pass 3:
Lowered the pass side rear shock to setting 1 (lowest) so both rear shocks were at 1. Airbags still the same, 8 and 20 psi. Lowered the tire pressure to 15.4 hopeful to hook out of the hole. Footbrake launch at 2,557 rpms, launched and spun, pedaled it, shift 1-2 at 6,004 rpms, modulating throttle again, shift 2-3 at 6,528 rpms and 6,425 rpms at the finish line.

Timeslip:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54184035841_b1bea41a79_c.jpg


Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLpGAcCtVBI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_DH1FJXwjo



Pass 4:

Decided to bring the rear shocks UP to both be at level 3, which is right in the middle. Airbags the same as before, and let the rear tires drop to 15.0 psi each. Simply trying not to spin at the hit. Footbrake launch at 2,562 rpms, spun for a moment, and shifted 1-2 at 6,143 rpms. Shifted 2-3 at 6,452 rpms and finished at 6,572 rpms, ...again, not fully WOT for whatever dumb reason.

Timeslip:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54184325759_f6828a3a61_c.jpg



Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgijhrxIPcQ


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBUdtriRrh0



Pass 5:
Frustrated about the bad launches, I tried leaving the rear shocks at setting 3, and lowering air pressure in the rear bags (not smart) to be 5 psi (d) and 8 psi (pass side). I let the tires down to 14.6 psi each too. Footbrake launch at 1,638 rpms, spun bad, pedaled it, shifted 1-2 at 6,610 rpms, the 2-3 shift at 6,385 rpms, and finished at 6,487 rpms.



Timeslip:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54184035866_ae18e02c43_c.jpg

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGU_n2rlL6Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYK5A8k2iWo



That wrapped up the year of drag-strip action and over the next few weekends I did some local driving around before the early cold/snow came upon us.

So, for the 2024 calendar year I only put a total of 24 passes on the car. A few dragstrip personal bests, and I know I can chop down the all-motor timeslips even more come springtime. The nitrous passes will forever be a mystery to me because.. the July 7th slips were awesome, but every other time this year my mph was way lower. Out of the 24 passes this year, twelve were 10-second slips, ten were 11-second slips, and 2 passes were junk/aborted passes.




I have a few things that I plan on working on this winter, but trying to NOT spend a ton of money that I don't have. I think the single biggest purchase will be a UMI drag-bar to help the rear suspension on the launch. The airbags I've used as a band-aid for a few years but knowing that the rear likes to "unload" after the initial hit, has run its course for me. I want these Hoosiers to hook and not be inhibited from more 1.3x sixty-foots by the car unloading or whatever its doing. They still have some good life on them. I'll type up a post in the coming weeks about the other winter-plans, but that's it for 2024.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54184072071_d02b30f0d8_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54118199824_c5cac2c77c_c.jpg

[townsend]

you need better rear shocks. thats more of the problem with controlling the rear tire. ive learned my lesson with that. you start hitting the tire too hard (and the more you soften it up the more you did that) the shock cant handle it.

awesome year though, nothing went boom. have to look at the positives. but yes i would suggest a drag bar too, that will help more than the bags will.

[IROCZman15]

I also do need a set of shocks. I did use those Lakewood 50/50 shocks for a bit a few years ago, but I knew they had their limit, and they are also more of a "multi vehicle" application with valving. You are right, I need something with double adjustments, something like Viking or Afco. This might be possible late spring 2025 after I get some money and cross off a few of the other upcoming tasks.

I'll probably do the drag-bar and keep the air bags. Air bags will be aired-up for the travel to/from the track to keep the ride height safe; and then I will bleed them down to almost nothing at the track.
Thanks man! Also thanks for steering me straight on lots of tech stuff over the years. Much appreciated.

[IROCZman15]

Below is a list of tasks/upgrades I am hoping to accomplish over the winter season:
(some are self explanatory, but below the list I explain some of them in more detail)


1. Fix crankshaft Pulley/balancer issue
2. Swap O2 sensors side-to-side and compare results
3. Bleed out old brake fluid and put in all new DOT 3.
4. Rear passenger seatbelts stuck (done, I removed them completely last weekend)
5. Install GPS tracking/theft device (Tom Bailey's SICK version)
6. Tighten up hood alignment/gaps
7. Fix rear drivers-side seat base bolt hole (done, turned hole into a threaded post instead)
8. New set of Front MT skinny tires to replace the 9 year old rubber.
9. Swap out all valve cover bolts with longer ones
10. Key/ignition issue still happening
11. Fix exhaust shield edge by muffler/fuel tank (done)
12. Replace rear sway bar with UMI drag-bar
13. Oil and filter change (might swap to 40wt oil, or 10-40, instead of 20-50 VR1)
14. New magnetic in-line Trans filter, check fluid level better
15. A proper set of rear shocks to put on the car for dragstrip days (keep koni yellows for street)



details of some:

1. Crankshaft/balancer issue:
A few weeks ago I heard an erratic "clanging noise" under the hood and traced it down to the front of the engine. Used the screwdriver-trick to "hear" that the noise wasn't coming from inside the engine; started taking off belts for alternator and p.s. pump to see if that changed it. In the process of that, noticed a good amount of free-play at the crank pulley. Wiggled it around and that was the noise; the pulley was no longer contacting the balancer. Looks like the 3 bolts worked their way loose again, and also the crank bolt was loose enough to basically twist by hand. WOAH!
I have the oem pulley from my olde 305 TPI motor on this setup, its just powdercoated for appearance. The threads on the balancer are gacked up pretty good and I no longer can trust putting bolts into those holes, so its time for a new balancer, new bolts, and mayyybe a new pulley, but of the same style.
I have NO current plans to change out the other pulleys on the alt and water pump(serpentine style) and the p.s. pump (v-belt)...unless it will make the whole front accessory drive system better. In a few years time, I might end up re-doing it all again, as I will likely eventually go to a belt-driven vacuum pump, and then all these same components would have to get reworked. Didn't want to do this bigger project just yet (budget reasons) so thats why I am most likely going to just get an ATI super-damper balancer and put the oem pulley back on it, despite a few oblong bolt holes.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54215899113_699fd4a2fb_z.jpg[/url]


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54215899118_ecd0541cfc_z.jpg[/url]



https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54215899123_9ff4db2864_z.jpg[/url]

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54215899103_d0f59b2898_z.jpg[/url]




2. Swap o2 sensors side to side:
For quite a while (even a year ago prior to the dyno session) my Holley o2 sensor reads AFR between .5 to almost 2 full points different than the AEM gauge. The holley is on the drivers side and the AEM on the passenger side.
For example, if the holley is reading (and adjusting the AFR) at 12.8, the AEM gauge is usually at 11.3 or somewhere in that range of numbers. This is across the rpm range and at various types of throttle and regular driving. Spark plugs from both sides of the engine are the same. I bought a new replacement sensor for the Holley side (Bosch 17025) after the rental in October and put it in before the last track session (Nov 3) and all it's AFR readings were the same as the previous Bosch 17025. Additionally, I do use those 1" long Oxygen sensor "spacers" that are recommended to be used by some holley guys; essentially it moves the tip of the o2 sensor out of the extreme direct path of exhaust gasses. I'd like to keep using those, because they seems to work fine for me, as I have not ever killed an o2 sensor. I think my plan of attack is just to take each sensor out, swap them side to side, and see if the AFR number discrepancy follows the sensor, OR if the AFR number stays the same on each side of the engine.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54215948374_0449d162f9_z.jpg[/url]





10. Key ignition issue:
I thought I had this tackled last year but then it came back to haunt me again. Having an intermittent issue with the car not wanting to "crank" when the key goes in. Its not the Neutral safety switch either. I do not have VATS and never did have vats. Last year I took apart the steering column, inspected what I could, and also replaced that difficult to access Ignition Switch (Duralast LS309) on the top of the column. Things seemed ok for a few weeks and then the problem came back. I've checked the metal actuator rod also and did as much adjusting as I could. Part of me was thinking that my very worn-down key from 1987 and the ignition cylinder/tumblers might be the problem, so I was considering replacing both. However, I also know that the key does always go in, and the cylinder does always turn, so seemingly it wouldn't be the key as the culprit. Nevertheless, it just doesn't always crank, and when it finally does, it fires right up nice and quick like normal.. so its not a voltage issue either.



https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54214810897_8a2cea3ce5_z.jpg[/url]



12. Swaybar
Finally ready to call it quits with the wimpy stock 1987 rear swaybar on the rear axle. My probably choice is that UMI adjustable drag-bar that would take some initial figuring-out, but it would also give me the option to set some preload on dragstrip days. I can keep the airbags for when I have a heavily loaded down car on the way to an event, and then bleed them out so that the rear suspension works properly.
https://www.umiperformance.com/2245-1982-2002-gm-f-body-drag-sway-bar-rear/

[townsend]

Below is a list of tasks/upgrades I am hoping to accomplish over the winter season:
(some are self explanatory, but below the list I explain some of them in more detail)


1. Fix crankshaft Pulley/balancer issue
2. Swap O2 sensors side-to-side and compare results
3. Bleed out old brake fluid and put in all new DOT 3.
4. Rear passenger seatbelts stuck (done, I removed them completely last weekend)
5. Install GPS tracking/theft device (Tom Bailey's SICK version)
6. Tighten up hood alignment/gaps
7. Fix rear drivers-side seat base bolt hole (done, turned hole into a threaded post instead)
8. New set of Front MT skinny tires to replace the 9 year old rubber.
9. Swap out all valve cover bolts with longer ones
10. Key/ignition issue still happening
11. Fix exhaust shield edge by muffler/fuel tank (done)
12. Replace rear sway bar with UMI drag-bar
13. Oil and filter change (might swap to 40wt oil, or 10-40, instead of 20-50 VR1)
14. New magnetic in-line Trans filter, check fluid level better
15. A proper set of rear shocks to put on the car for dragstrip days (keep koni yellows for street)



details of some:

1. Crankshaft/balancer issue:
A few weeks ago I heard an erratic "clanging noise" under the hood and traced it down to the front of the engine. Used the screwdriver-trick to "hear" that the noise wasn't coming from inside the engine; started taking off belts for alternator and p.s. pump to see if that changed it. In the process of that, noticed a good amount of free-play at the crank pulley. Wiggled it around and that was the noise; the pulley was no longer contacting the balancer. Looks like the 3 bolts worked their way loose again, and also the crank bolt was loose enough to basically twist by hand. WOAH!
I have the oem pulley from my olde 305 TPI motor on this setup, its just powdercoated for appearance. The threads on the balancer are gacked up pretty good and I no longer can trust putting bolts into those holes, so its time for a new balancer, new bolts, and mayyybe a new pulley, but of the same style.
I have NO current plans to change out the other pulleys on the alt and water pump(serpentine style) and the p.s. pump (v-belt)...unless it will make the whole front accessory drive system better. In a few years time, I might end up re-doing it all again, as I will likely eventually go to a belt-driven vacuum pump, and then all these same components would have to get reworked. Didn't want to do this bigger project just yet (budget reasons) so thats why I am most likely going to just get an ATI super-damper balancer and put the oem pulley back on it, despite a few oblong bolt holes.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54215899113_699fd4a2fb_z.jpg[/url]


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54215899118_ecd0541cfc_z.jpg[/url]



https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54215899123_9ff4db2864_z.jpg[/url]

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54215899103_d0f59b2898_z.jpg[/url]




2. Swap o2 sensors side to side:
For quite a while (even a year ago prior to the dyno session) my Holley o2 sensor reads AFR between .5 to almost 2 full points different than the AEM gauge. The holley is on the drivers side and the AEM on the passenger side.
For example, if the holley is reading (and adjusting the AFR) at 12.8, the AEM gauge is usually at 11.3 or somewhere in that range of numbers. This is across the rpm range and at various types of throttle and regular driving. Spark plugs from both sides of the engine are the same. I bought a new replacement sensor for the Holley side (Bosch 17025) after the rental in October and put it in before the last track session (Nov 3) and all it's AFR readings were the same as the previous Bosch 17025. Additionally, I do use those 1" long Oxygen sensor "spacers" that are recommended to be used by some holley guys; essentially it moves the tip of the o2 sensor out of the extreme direct path of exhaust gasses. I'd like to keep using those, because they seems to work fine for me, as I have not ever killed an o2 sensor. I think my plan of attack is just to take each sensor out, swap them side to side, and see if the AFR number discrepancy follows the sensor, OR if the AFR number stays the same on each side of the engine.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54215948374_0449d162f9_z.jpg[/url]





10. Key ignition issue:
I thought I had this tackled last year but then it came back to haunt me again. Having an intermittent issue with the car not wanting to "crank" when the key goes in. Its not the Neutral safety switch either. I do not have VATS and never did have vats. Last year I took apart the steering column, inspected what I could, and also replaced that difficult to access Ignition Switch (Duralast LS309) on the top of the column. Things seemed ok for a few weeks and then the problem came back. I've checked the metal actuator rod also and did as much adjusting as I could. Part of me was thinking that my very worn-down key from 1987 and the ignition cylinder/tumblers might be the problem, so I was considering replacing both. However, I also know that the key does always go in, and the cylinder does always turn, so seemingly it wouldn't be the key as the culprit. Nevertheless, it just doesn't always crank, and when it finally does, it fires right up nice and quick like normal.. so its not a voltage issue either.



https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54214810897_8a2cea3ce5_z.jpg[/url]



12. Swaybar
Finally ready to call it quits with the wimpy stock 1987 rear swaybar on the rear axle. My probably choice is that UMI adjustable drag-bar that would take some initial figuring-out, but it would also give me the option to set some preload on dragstrip days. I can keep the airbags for when I have a heavily loaded down car on the way to an event, and then bleed them out so that the rear suspension works properly.
https://www.umiperformance.com/2245-1982-2002-gm-f-body-drag-sway-bar-rear/

quick jump in on the holley vs aem sensor readings. aem sensors are not calibrated the same as the holley sensors, the holley sensors have a resistor in them (per rob katz at rk tuning)

we saw this on osies procharged car with the terminator x max. the only way i got it to read closer was use a 2015 focus st upstream wideband o2 (ntk) brand for the aem and it was within .2 of the ntk

[The_Bishop]

Just be aware that putting a stiff rear sway bar in for drag racing purposes will have a detrimental effect on handling. The rear of the car will be twitchy and prone to swinging out in hard cornering.

[townsend]

Just be aware that putting a stiff rear sway bar in for drag racing purposes will have a detrimental effect on handling. The rear of the car will be twitchy and prone to swinging out in hard cornering.

yea, this is definitely true when on street wheels. when im on my drag wheels on the street i dont push turns anyway (skinnies and no front sway) but yea dave i agree.

although the umi stock style drag bar didnt make our black camaro too twitchy. that car has a front sway and koni's/umi lowering springs

[The_Bishop]

I was mostly pointing it out because if I remember right, he'd done some autocross type stuff before. Might be mistaken about that, though.

[townsend]

I was mostly pointing it out because if I remember right, he'd done some autocross type stuff before. Might be mistaken about that, though.

good points

[IROCZman15]

thats freakin awesome info there about the O2 sensor issue! If thats the case, I'll be thrilled. I've been moderately disappointed to not have "matching" AFR numbers on each gauge, so this could be a huge success. How in the world did you figure out to use that specific sensor for the fix!?!?

I did some initial research a while ago abotu the pros/cons of the drag bar vs bigger sway bar but I have a lot more to go, so feel free to keep it coming! You are correct about the autocross aspect of the car, but I think I had my fun on the autocross courses during those 6 years of doing some events. The car WILL get back there one day, but it's not in the plans for this year, so hardcore cornering is off the table for a bit. I have a few more drag-racing goals to keep working on, including possibly Hot Rod Drag-Week 2025.



I did read that the bar made by Wolf Racecraft is one of the best, but that it is VERY touchy and tricky on the street. I am still determining other companies/products to research, but my thought was that I could have it set "neutral for street use" and then adjust it for dragstrip preload, then bring it back to neutral for the drive home.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/organized-drag-racing-autocross/416534-any-tips-wolfe-racecraft.html


I'll keep the old oem bar and brackets/mounts here in the garage in case I need to switch back for any reason.
Any advice on all of this is much appreciated!

[townsend]

thats freakin awesome info there about the O2 sensor issue! If thats the case, I'll be thrilled. I've been moderately disappointed to not have "matching" AFR numbers on each gauge, so this could be a huge success. How in the world did you figure out to use that specific sensor for the fix!?!?

I did some initial research a while ago abotu the pros/cons of the drag bar vs bigger sway bar but I have a lot more to go, so feel free to keep it coming! You are correct about the autocross aspect of the car, but I think I had my fun on the autocross courses during those 6 years of doing some events. The car WILL get back there one day, but it's not in the plans for this year, so hardcore cornering is off the table for a bit. I have a few more drag-racing goals to keep working on, including possibly Hot Rod Drag-Week 2025.



I did read that the bar made by Wolf Racecraft is one of the best, but that it is VERY touchy and tricky on the street. I am still determining other companies/products to research, but my thought was that I could have it set "neutral for street use" and then adjust it for dragstrip preload, then bring it back to neutral for the drive home.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/organized-drag-racing-autocross/416534-any-tips-wolfe-racecraft.html


I'll keep the old oem bar and brackets/mounts here in the garage in case I need to switch back for any reason.
Any advice on all of this is much appreciated!

Wolfe racecraft is sadly no longer in business :(

osies umi bar has 2 adjustment holes as well. we kept it on the longer ones. ill say this, my spohn bar is definitely stiffer than the umi one, and its still a stock style. i dont think youll have any issues with a stock style bent one

the holley sensor is an ntk, thats why lol

[IROCZman15]

Yea, I am leaning heavily towards the UMI one, and they have a 10% off sale for another week so I might snag it up. I didn't really look into any of those other "non-bent" ones like TRZ motorsports sells which require a relocated fuel tank etc. So I was between the UMI bar (#2245) , the Steinjager bar (#J0030952), the Midwest chassis bar and the Spohn bar. I didn't realize Wolf was no longer around either.


UMI: https://www.umiperformance.com/2245-1982-2002-gm-f-body-drag-sway-bar-rear/
TRZ: https://www.trzmotorsports.com/product/rear-anti-roll-bar-panhard-bar-assembly/





good info about the sensor for the AEM gauge. The other day I went out and swapped the sensors from side-to-side. The lower numbers followed the AEM gauge, so at least that gives me peace of mind that its not something drastic. I'll probably order that 2015 Focus ST upstream sensor in the coming week. Thanks
I am still wondering if my +1" tall oxygen sensor extenders might not play nice with the AEM sensor, So I considered taking the extender off of that sensor only, but I have yet to do so.

extender: https://www.innovatemotorsports.com/heat-sink-bung-extender-hbx-1.html?srsltid=AfmBOoptiYK4wO2ZkHxrVbKKxJauBwXktaK htEqzwQ4jg92InYil7Rr0







I dug into the world of engine dampers a bit and after coming up with a few options, I called ATI Performance Products today.

My current balancer is a PB PowerBond Racing 1012SS 29261 which is 6.113" in diameter and weighs 6.92 pounds. It is SFI 18.1 rated. The threads are stripped out pretty darn good for the 3 pully bolts, so this balancer is done for.

The callies compstar crank snout is 1.245" in diameter with a single-keyway.


ATI steered me away from the heavier steel dampers, and suggested their Aluminum 7" diameter damper which weighs in at 4.45 pounds total, and an inertia weight of 3.7 pounds. It is part number 917221 and is a 3 ring setup which incorporates a lighter inertia ring compared to the traditional setup. I learned that the weight of the inertia rig is more critical than the overall weight of the whole damper. I was also told that transmission converter lockup should not cause any issues with the damper, even if I am using lockup on the 150 nitrous shot.

ATI also sells a new timing pointer assembly for the 7" balancer, part number 918954.
I wanted to get a longer crank bolt since I checked my current one and it only goes in 4.5 turns of the snout due to its under-head length, so I need something longer. I see ARP sells some, even in 12 point head configuration, I will just have to take some measurements. ATI said Blue locktite on the 3 bolts and also the main bolt.

Links:

chart: https://www.atiracing.com/products/dampers/charts/damchevy.htm
damper: https://www.jegs.com/i/ATI/085/917221/10002/-1
timing pointer: https://www.jegs.com/i/ATI/085/918954/10002/-1

[townsend]

Yea, I am leaning heavily towards the UMI one, and they have a 10% off sale for another week so I might snag it up. I didn't really look into any of those other "non-bent" ones like TRZ motorsports sells which require a relocated fuel tank etc. So I was between the UMI bar (#2245) , the Steinjager bar (#J0030952), the Midwest chassis bar and the Spohn bar. I didn't realize Wolf was no longer around either.


UMI: https://www.umiperformance.com/2245-1982-2002-gm-f-body-drag-sway-bar-rear/
TRZ: https://www.trzmotorsports.com/product/rear-anti-roll-bar-panhard-bar-assembly/





good info about the sensor for the AEM gauge. The other day I went out and swapped the sensors from side-to-side. The lower numbers followed the AEM gauge, so at least that gives me peace of mind that its not something drastic. I'll probably order that 2015 Focus ST upstream sensor in the coming week. Thanks
I am still wondering if my +1" tall oxygen sensor extenders might not play nice with the AEM sensor, So I considered taking the extender off of that sensor only, but I have yet to do so.

extender: https://www.innovatemotorsports.com/heat-sink-bung-extender-hbx-1.html?srsltid=AfmBOoptiYK4wO2ZkHxrVbKKxJauBwXktaK htEqzwQ4jg92InYil7Rr0







I dug into the world of engine dampers a bit and after coming up with a few options, I called ATI Performance Products today.

My current balancer is a PB PowerBond Racing 1012SS 29261 which is 6.113" in diameter and weighs 6.92 pounds. It is SFI 18.1 rated. The threads are stripped out pretty darn good for the 3 pully bolts, so this balancer is done for.

The callies compstar crank snout is 1.245" in diameter with a single-keyway.


ATI steered me away from the heavier steel dampers, and suggested their Aluminum 7" diameter damper which weighs in at 4.45 pounds total, and an inertia weight of 3.7 pounds. It is part number 917221 and is a 3 ring setup which incorporates a lighter inertia ring compared to the traditional setup. I learned that the weight of the inertia rig is more critical than the overall weight of the whole damper. I was also told that transmission converter lockup should not cause any issues with the damper, even if I am using lockup on the 150 nitrous shot.

ATI also sells a new timing pointer assembly for the 7" balancer, part number 918954.
I wanted to get a longer crank bolt since I checked my current one and it only goes in 4.5 turns of the snout due to its under-head length, so I need something longer. I see ARP sells some, even in 12 point head configuration, I will just have to take some measurements. ATI said Blue locktite on the 3 bolts and also the main bolt.

Links:

chart: https://www.atiracing.com/products/dampers/charts/damchevy.htm
damper: https://www.jegs.com/i/ATI/085/917221/10002/-1
timing pointer: https://www.jegs.com/i/ATI/085/918954/10002/-1

you should not be using an o2 extender on your wideband, those are for trying to fool pcm's for po420 on obd2 car downstream sensors (ie when you delete cats)

your wideband should be right in the exhaust stream. ditch the extender. i didnt realize thats what you meant by extender

i have the spohn bent bar on my car. it works so far, but i did need to add decent preload to it

[IROCZman15]

Was able to get some progress done in recent weeks on some of the projects and other winter maintenance.

One of the first things to get sorted out was the balancer/pulley situation. Ordered an ATI 917221 Super Damper which is much lighter and stronger than the PB unit (2 threaded holes striped out of PB unit). Got the proper balancer pointer (ATI 918954) and a longer crank bolt (ARP 234-2501) . Extreme difficulty getting it to seat back all the way, multiple tries on multiple days. eventually a little bit of filing by hand, adjusting the key in the keyway on the crank, heating the balancer to 250 deg in my wife's oven, and blasting some cold nitrous at the crank snout, lubing the snout and it went on; fully seated! Blue loctite on the bolts and triple check measurements.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54311368966_fe9eabdb4a_c.jpg



Decided to FINALLY scrap the old oem steel crank pulley and the oem water pump pulley. Never realized how heavy those are until I had these new March pulleys as a comparison. In order to help the alternator survive, the underdrive pulleys were mathematically a great idea. Instead of a 7" crank pulley , its now 22% underdrive, via a 5.5" crank pulley. Alternator now spins at 2.75:1 ratio instead of a 3.5:1 ratio like before. Used nice new arp bolts (430-6802) for the water pump pulley and the ATI provided bolts for the crank pulley. Got new shorter belts; contintental 4050400 (40" 5 rib) and a Dayco 15345 (34.5" v belt).


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54311789540_702c183620_c.jpg



My Champion radiator developed a small leak during the fall season, and thankfully Champion has a lifetime free-replacement warranty. I had a leak in another champion back in 2021 and thats when this radiator arrived. So, again, Champion sent me a brand new CC951 radiator (3 row) for free and I dropped it in along with brand new hoses (Upper E71208 Lower D71131) and I put the steel springs inside each hose like usual. Used some new hose clamps that have a nicer design that doesn't dig into the rubber of the hose (Mishimoto Smart-seal).
Reused most of the Evans coolant that I drained out and topped it off with some fresh Evans.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54311955920_198d36eee3_c.jpg


Oil change, stuck with Valvoline VR1 20-50 for now, but probably in the future I'll likely change that.
Decided to go with a different oil filter; Baldwin B279 which comes highly recommended in the aftermarket sbc world.
The nylon/plastic washer at the Moroso drain plug had a small crack in it, which was slowly leaking oil, so I replaced the whole drain plug since I couldn't find only the nylon washer. Still would like to find it, or maybe a copper washer alternative to keep as a spare.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54311596919_44f8984be2_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54310487872_f01c050004_c.jpg


Replaced the two transmission fluid filters. The in-line Magnefine filter by the second trans cooler came out clean. Fluid also drained nice colored and clean from the pan drain plug. Dropped the trans pan and put in a new wide filter (A74010) and felpro gasket TOS 18663. Refilled the system most of the way with a blend of AMSOIL synthetic ATF and soem CATerpillar trans fluid.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54310487877_9b528fe21a_c.jpg[/url]

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54311777173_47d70b8b30_c.jpg



Bought a "carb screen" to put on when I am at the track instead of running a fully open throttle body. Intensity racing products #IRP4150LP for $105. Looks great, fits great, and its good piece of mind (I'll probably remove the sticker on it soon).

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54311368961_2ed8528b44_c.jpg




Pulled the valve covers off while I put in some longer 1/4-20 bolts. Three of the holes had gakked-up threads so I gently chased the threads before installing ARP 611-1000 fasteners which are 1/4-20 x1" long.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54310652962_41224eeae6_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54311534856_204dd018c5_c.jpg




Removed the Oxygen sensor bung extenders. They were a total of 1" long and since I am only spraying wimpy nitrous shots, my oxygen sensors should survive.


Next up will be to bleed out all the old brake fluid from the car, service the brake sliders and calipers too.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54311763964_fc9df74c91_c.jpg

[townsend]

nice work, and now you should actually have a decent afr reading without the extenders. i dont run extenders on 200+. o2's are fine.

ever try the moroso 22459 oil filters? i have been running them on everything performance now, and they definitely have more consistent pressure than k&n mobil 1 etc. i stopped running baldwin on my duramax, they changed something with that one atleast.

[Blackbirdws6]

Looking fresh as always. Was the hub always a pain to get on? I've had my fair share of those battles...

Guess I should post up some of my winter maintenance granted I didn't take too many pics along the way.

[IROCZman15]

I think that moroso filter number came up during one of my searches actually; but no I have not ran one of those. I had been running the Napa 21060 since I got the engine back in Feb. 2020. I'll keep the moroso one you mentioned as another good option for next fluid change. Looks to be about $28 on amazon.


Man, that freakin hub was a pain, but I have no info about if it was ever an ultra-tight fit initially because I have never had to operate on the damper or hub until now after 5 years. So, as much as it sucked, I'm glad I didn't half ass it and regret it later on.





I got some more stuff crossed off my winter-work list,

1. Fix crankshaft Pulley/balancer issue (done)
2. Swap O2 sensors side-to-side and compare results (unresolved still)
3. Bleed out old brake fluid and put in all new DOT 3. (done)
4. Rear passenger seatbelts stuck (done, I removed them completely last weekend)
5. Install GPS tracking/theft device (done)
6. Tighten up hood alignment/gaps
7. Fix rear drivers-side seat base bolt hole (done)
8. New set of Front MT skinny tires to replace the 9 year old rubber. (next winter)
9. Swap out all valve cover bolts with longer ones (done)
10. Key/ignition issue still happening (unresolved still)
11. Fix exhaust shield edge by muffler/fuel tank (done)
12. Replace rear sway bar with UMI drag-bar (done)
13. Oil and filter change (might swap to 40wt oil, or 10-40, instead of 20-50 VR1) (done)
14. New magnetic in-line Trans filter, check fluid level better (done)
15. A proper set of rear shocks to put on the car for dragstrip days (keep koni yellows for street) (probably in the summer)



The new UMI anti-roll bar is installed, and I am going to keep the endlinks on the "inside" hole until I can get to the track and see how much body roll there is with the new bar. If there is still an issue, I will move the endlinks to the outboard hole position, which makes it firmer. I am aware that the endlinks are kicked at an angle, and I measured it to be at 14deg from plumb. UMI says this is within acceptable territory, so I will keep it as it. The bar is perfectly level from side to side, but depending on how/where I measure it, it is 15 deg kicked-down towards the nose of the car. The endlinks are both adjusted exactly the same, and I am almost completely maxed out on available threads to shorten them. I did not load any pre-load in the passenger side endlink; will re-evaluate at the track. It feels good on the street, but thats not any real test. I took some measurements from the flat ground up to each endlink connection point and both sides were 7". Measurements from the ground to both body-mounting surfaces is 9". And lastly from the ground to the flat segment of the bar that goes right under the diff-cover, that is 6.5". No idea what all that means but I measured it anyways!



https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54486236624_79fedac16a_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54486236619_c40b3ec9eb_c.jpg



https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54485194897_d25300b579_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54486279494_d4e7e2fb1f_c.jpg





Took the car out for a few brief local drives and it felt good. Probably only have about 45 miles on it so far with no new surprise issues. Engine does seem to want to rev-up quicker; likely a bonus from the new damper/pulleys.
The Brake system got all new DOT-3 fluid and all calipers were bled out.

Still stuck with three problems:
1. The ever present slow drip of oil at the rear-main seal area which causes the oil to sling around the flexplate and onto stuff like the starter and bellhousing.
2. Also, I checked over a bunch of stuff related to my intermittent "no crank" when turning the key. I'd say it happens 1 out of 15 times, and its random. Not an issue with heat soak at the starter or anything with the PRNDL or Neutral safety switch. I have been in the column, even considered swapping out the ignition cylinder and ignition key too, but the key ALWAYS turns and that makes me think its not key related. Last year I replaced the ignition switch module thats on top of the column under the dash and I thought that solved it, but turns out it hadn't. It's just an ongoing troubleshooting battle still at this point.

3. The discrepancy in the Oxygen sensor readings from gauge to gauge. Having swapped sensors from side to side under the car,and removed the extenders, I am still getting mis-matched readings on the Holley vs. AEM gauge. Townsend helped me out with a part number for a new sensor that will help bring the AEM numbers into closer range of the Holley sensors. I ordered it, and hope to get it on the car soon.



All that aside, I'd like to get more miles on this car sometime soon, and of course I'd like to get some timeslips at the track too. Finding free time is hard to come by recently

[3.4 grape of wrath]

Hey, just curious after installing the anti roll bar did you pick up a lot of rear end noise? I recently installed a BMR anti roll bar and noticed some noise, especially during gear changes.The bar works great but the noise got to me. I ended up removing the lower heim joints and replaced with poly bushings.I had similar cranking issues for years and ended up going to a heavier gauge starter wire and ground. I also replaced the started solenoid and seemed to do the trick.

[IROCZman15]

hmm, no I have not. Drove the car twice since my last post, once was just this morning. Don't have any new or enhanced noises that I know of. You mean gear-whine type of noise or vibration/resonance through the car?


I should think about that old starter wire and its sizing. Actually, I have an amp-meter now, I can maybe get a reading on it during cranking. I make things difficult to troubleshoot with keeping wiring hidden and covered in split-loom so it’s a tedious task when troubleshooting this whole endeavor. Perhaps one day a remote mounted starter solenoid like the ford kinds.


Huge thanks to Townsend, you steered me right with the NTK 24334 sensor to replace the one connected to my AEM A-pillar gauge. I got the sensor installed yesterday and took the car for a drive today. The gauge readings are now within .1 .2 and .3 throughout the rpm range. I can much better live with that visually instead of trying to do the math on the fly at WOT. That's a checklist item thats more than a year overdue. Whew.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54496890266_7d3bc34962_c.jpg

[3.4 grape of wrath]

More of a banging noise when trans shifts and going over bumps. I do have preload on the bar.

[IROCZman15]

Went to the track last weekend for the Nostalgia Spring Event. Street drove the car there, loaded with gear, long line to get in, packed house. I went into the N2 bracket group for 10.0-10.99 cars since I planned on using the bottle after a shakedown all motor pass. Everyone was allowed to get two test runs, which is what I hoped for. Jerry was also there that day, running his chevy. First time testing out the new UMI drag bar and not relying on the rear air-bags to compensate for body roll. I lowered both of those airbags to 5 psi and left them there until it was time to drive home after the event. Used the same EFI tune all day, and kept the Koni yellow rear shocks set at a soft 1.5 setting. Put more air in the MT drag radials at 19.6 psi and 19.4 psi. Made no adjustments to the new drag bar; it is set in a zero-preload setting currently.

Pass 1:
Simple All-motor pass, shakedown after the winter off season.
Foot-braked the car to 2331 rpms, and it launched good. Shifted 1-2 at 6329 rpms and then after only 1.2 seconds climbing in 2nd gear it shifted into 3rd (datalog shows it happened at 5668 rpms of second). It was a long slow haul in 3rd gear but I crossed the stripe at 6168 at the finish line. Still ran a decent e.t. and nothing else on the car was problematic.

Timeslip:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54574877646_3bd0a8c8f4_c.jpg

Datalog:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54574020362_6d0a80ff28_c.jpg



Track photo:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54574886951_6801b7863d.jpg


Dashcam video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7QctOw0Kes





Pass 2:
Turned the bottle on for the 150 progressive shot.
Foot-braked the car to only 1717 rpms and let it fly to a 1.36 sixty foot! Shifted 1-2 at 6399 rpms and then shifted into 3rd at 6254 rpms. Activated the converter lockup at 6126 and the car crossed the line at 6355 rpms. I noticed during the run that nitrous bottle pressure dropped heavy from 1000 psi to almost 675 psi at the end of the run (can be seen on the top gauge of my A-pillar gauge cluster in the GoPro video). I had some issues with the purge solenoid/button earlier in the lanes, but it worked before the run to get line pressure down before the run; it was a brand new bottle just filled. Not too worried because the car ran within two hundredths of its personal best, so I knew I was on the right track to hopefully set a new pb. But I was stunned by the 1.36 sixty foot and can even cut that down more I think. The odd transmission issue from last run didn't happen again either.



Timeslip:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54575074049_7c8b0d31a3_c.jpg



Datalog:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54575117948_270d2d6507_c.jpg


Dashcam video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2aeOO8eIgc



GoPro video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkETbkfdbnY



Launch video in slow-motion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2c_BDWmzC8






Pass 3 (Round 1 Eliminations):
Kept the tune the same, everything the same in hopes of duplicating that run with steadier bottle pressure and going 10.5x. So I dialed in a 10.57 after talking with Jerry who steered me back from the greedy 10.52 I wanted to dial-in.
Launched the car lower in the rpm band, at only 1407 rpms and it launched great again, with another 1.36 sixty foot. However, when the two front tires came down, they sent a reverberation through the steering system that had me pedal the car and drive through it. Shifted into second at 6445 rpms in the rev limiter, and I also over revved 2nd gear a bit too but while in 3rd it never got the converter locked up and finished at 6433 rpms. Regardless, the other car broke-out on the dial-in and I got to move on to round 2 for another chance at a 10.5x slip. FYI I did do the UMI ball-joint relocation kit and had all the alignment dialed in last spring, so I'm surprised it shook those front wheels like that (see slow-motion video). Nitrous bottle pressure held consistent throughout the run and the trans didn't quick shift 2-3 again either.



Timeslip:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54575073979_89ff326589_c.jpg


Datalog:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54575074019_c0d0249207_c.jpg


Dashcam video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAsISIRm64s


GoPro video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq_5YJdzGA4



Slow motion launch video showing front tires shaking for a while!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHHTCiLPpcI


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54574038447_05029b7c58_c.jpg



Pass 4 (Round 2 Eliminations):
Same tune, same everything. None of the other problems from previous runs had yet repeated, so it was time for something new to happen! Footbraked to 2618 rpms (too high) and went 1.38 sixty foot. In the process, I got too excited and earned a red-light, definitely knew it too. I Shifted too high at 6394 rpms, shifted 2-3 too high also at 6339 rpms, activated lockup higher than usual at 6229 rpms, and while lockup was slowly coming on, I was just getting into the revvlimiter while on the nitrous button. AFR's were good on both gauges, but at 6394 rpms and about 10 feet from the finish line, it made a pop and shot out a real fast fireball from the sniper and I saw it through the hood! Of course I got off the throttle, looked at every gauge I could, shifted into neutral and watched the dash. Engine actually decelerated fine and I drove the car totally unscathed back towards the pits. Was fully prepared to cut the engine off if I noticed anything else awry. Got my timeslip and was thrilled to see a new PB 1/4 mile et, of 10.588, because I have been stuck in the 10.6's for 3 long years. Checked some stuff over on the car while jerry and I packed up tools. Aired up the tires and the air-bags, and drove the car home without any sign of any of the 4 different issues I had experienced earlier.


Timeslip:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54575073989_ce62307fa6_c.jpg


Datalog:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54575117958_f2e2bbdd50_c.jpg


Dashcam video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eDC9aIV0fs



GoPro video (with fireball under the hood):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Og8jK5f8hg



https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54575064854_f806b5ea7a_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54575240945_f905b432e0_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54574038422_493234c3b0_c.jpg





The oxygen sensor readings from the new sensor are definitely much more in range with what my eye needs to see. The UMI drag-bar is already proving itself well worth it too. Only one time during the day did the car experience the key/ignition/starter no-crank, and I had about 40 key cranks of the car throughout the day. I did buy a replacement Powermaster Max Torque starter and its in the garage, but I'm dragging my feet on blindly putting it in until I keep troubleshooting the issue more. I definitely have to take the header off to get the starter job done, so that takes some time.

I drove the car over to the local car show and elsewhere and son I am going to try to get it shined up for the GM nationals event in Carlisle which is about 2 weeks away. I am not in the display this year, just going to go as a normal showfield car. I will be checking the spark plugs, steering system, and some other stuff, after I switch the wheels.

[Blackbirdws6]

Nothing wrong with going some rounds and glad that fireball didn't do anything more than give you a fun story/picture. When I had a nitrous backfire at Atco, it blew out my ram air grills from the hood and broke the end off the throttle cable.

How many more times do you plan to race the car this year? Are you coming to UMI this year in July for AutoX?

[IROCZman15]

thanks man! The day was fun, there will always be unforeseen issues popping up so I'm just rolling with them. The picture is a good one. I never knew that your car had a bottle on it, for some reason I always remember it as a blower car. Damn, blowing the grills out also sounds like a good "woah" moment!

I hope to get at least 3 more dragstrip days this year, if not 4 or 5 (rental in October). My summertime is loaded up with weddings, a vacation, and the GM Nationals and probably the Camaro Nationals so I am going to skip UMI this year again. I haven't made much improvements related to autocross recently aside from the UMI tierod ball-joint relocation kit. When I get back into autocross I will need to plan for less drag racing, so maybe 2026 ?

[Blackbirdws6]

My TA before the blower had a H/C/Nitrous setup on the sbe. Feels like forever ago ha.

Sounds like you have a full summer! Looking forward to more updates.

[townsend]

rental again in october? ill put the big jets in by then.....(i have been saying that for 3 years lol)

[IROCZman15]

Yup!

Planning it for around that same timer period in mid October, but have not reserved a date yet

Big jets !

[V]

I have my new rear wheels, just need to order drag radials.

[IROCZman15]

Drove the car out to Carlisle last weekend, for the GM Nationals Event. It was the 40th Anniversary of the IROC-Z event as well as the annual Thirdgen Nationals event so I was glad to go.

Prior to the trip I changed the drag wheels out, installed the front sway-bar, checked all spark plugs, tightened a belt, and some other mechanical related to-do tasks. Also did my once-a-year detail, clay bar, polish, wax, buff and general cleanup on the car. The car made the 3 hour (140 mile) trip out there with only one single issue.. the speedometer stopped working after about 35 miles. I pulled over to check if the mechanical cable pulled loose from the dash gauge, but it seemed intact so I just drove on all the way to the fairgrounds with no mph. Decent turnout for the Friday portion of the event. I was not involved with any of the IROC display this year, I was just parked in the showfield grass. Watched some Autocross stuff and walked the show a bit with some buddies. While driving to the hotel at night, the speedo briefly worked for a mile or so, but then went dead the rest of the trip. I was totally satisfied about that knowing its either a pinched cable or torn gear tooth or something fixed another time.

Saturday (Day 2) was a much better turnout, but it was also pretty damn hot. I drove the car in the Thirdgen parade which probably had 40+ cars in it. They did autocross runs again and an exhaust sound competition also, Stayed there all day until about 6 pm when I headed home. Still with no speedometer, but the car drove fantastic. Even though bad road construction issues, dead-stopped traffic, and heated ambient temps, the car was freakin great. And not even one single time did the ignition/starter issue pop-up, and I probably had about 25-30 successful key-on cranks over the two days. The GPS logged 326 miles during those two days. Good event.

Some photos:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54621717475_4047459662_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54620721203_b1befb1514_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54620815130_833c006d6e_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54620703579_ddf4d1c915_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54621614834_35e5114cfd_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54621738310_b3594fac7e_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54621637688_615c7050a4_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54621420861_1df8337d27_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54621431206_187fbfbedf_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54621713520_8b3dbb7d53_c.jpg



https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54621604809_162bafd33a_c.jpg

[Blackbirdws6]

Glad you got out there! Is that red 3rd Gen with the LSA the same one from your rental last year?

[IROCZman15]

Actually, there were a few LS red thirdgens, but the two that have the LSA blowers were not from the rental.

Octavio is the guy who was at our rental. he has a LS, but no blower yet
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54632783319_5490d3bd00_c.jpg


Another red LS thirdgen was there from Florida. Stan (FireballMullet) does a bunch of youtube stuff and his car is also awesome. Its on air-ride.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54632804433_4767dba1fd_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54631714137_596a5c432f_c.jpg




The one car behind the ropes was a car i have never seen before, but it was pretty darn nice to look at:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54632470616_61c0c25956_c.jpg

[Blackbirdws6]

Ahh ok. Maybe him and I were chatting on him putting a blower on which made me think of it.

[IROCZman15]

I replaced the speedometer cable with a new one after finding that the old one was broke in two pieces. Test drove the car a few miles that day and it worked great. Packed the car up for the Camaro nationals, but I was only able to make it to the Saturday portion of the event. Left at 6 am on Saturday morning and got out to Morgantown, PA right around 8:30. Just a few short miles into the trip, the speedometer stopped working again. It stayed dead until about 10 miles away from the event. Also, It began to rain about an hour into the trip, and later became heavy rain which ended just a few minutes before getting off the highway for Morgantown.

The show was another good one, with about 614 camaros on site. A bunch were on display inside the Classic Auto mall building, and the rest were outside in different areas of the parking lot and grass. Had a good time chatting with various people. I really liked the design they had for this year's event, so I grabbed T-shirts for me and my son. Drove back to NJ with two buddies and we saw a scattering of camaros along the way. Aside from the speedometer issue, the car did fantastic. 217 miles in total as per the gps; and vehicle temperatures, pressures, mechanicals were all good.

I next will explore the back-side of the speedometer gauge in the dash and probably order a new light-green plastic "driven" gear to go in the tailshaft because its likely the hole is worn out. Not sure what is coming up in the next few months for the car, but I do plan on having the track rental in Mid-late October.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54677390359_50faeb093d_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54676333612_a933198700_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54677385888_e86b1cb761_c.jpg



https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54667923771_dc7d1b98b1_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54668165014_48f3cdedf5_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54667925656_f43c1ae81b_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54667092052_f501f1a9b6_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54668150368_d8aa673ddb_c.jpg



https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54668219460_2b726cf1c0_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54667061772_1352f6a828_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54668161829_693fa11b16_c.jpg

[townsend]

track time track time track time!