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:
Datalog:
Launch Photo:
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:
Datalog:
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:
Datalog:
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.