Getting my new 406 SBC installed, running, and driving

[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:

[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



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.








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

[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.

[townsend]

track time track time track time!

[IROCZman15]

Two weeks ago I drove the car to Island for a Sunday daytime test-and-tune.* I wanted some more action on the 27" tall Hoosiers (BiasPly, no rim screws) so when I got to the track they were bolted on and the MT drag radials I drove there on were removed. I had a few pounds less than a full nitrous bottle when I arrived, and I was intending to work on the car's all-motor 60 foot and timeslip and then later a few nitrous passes but knowingly shutting it off early (the 27" tires put me wayyy too far into the rev limiter before the finish line on the nitrous).


Pass 1:*
All motor pass, Hoosiers set to 16.6 psi on each side, Rear Koni yellow shocks set to a soft 1.5 each. Forgot to fully empty rear air-bags, whoops! Footbrake launch at 2201 rpms, flashed to 4803, shifted 1-2 at 6238 and 2-3 at 6318, crossing finish line at 6181 rpms.*

Timeslip:

Datalog:

Track Photo of my actual first pass:


Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqtVn5baWt4

See-ya mustang video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx_Qf7Y0WMk




Pass 2:*
Emptied rear air-bags to near zero. Tires had heated up to be at 16.8 psi each so I left them there, no changes to shocks yet. Footbrake launch from basically idle at 956 rpms, flashed to 4686 , shifted 1-2 at 5978, shifted 2-3 6209 and the*finish line at 6218 rpms.*

Timeslip:

Datalog:

Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3hRBC4bP-g



Pass 3:*
Increased rear tire pressure to 17.4 psi each. My buddy John convinced me to make a fee "open loop" fueling runs so I did these next two passes with closed-loop comp turned off. Footbrake launch at 1851 rpms. Flashed to 4816, shifted 1-2 at 6374, 2-3 shift at 6216, and across the finish line at 6222. The AFR gauge on the holley dash and the newly remedied AEM afr gauge both displayed mid-12 afr readings by eyesight the whole pass and the run felt good overall. Actual*numbers can be seen in datalog and also the gopro video.* However, It is still not launching as expected with these tires, and the advice I soon finally paid attention to, is the rear LCA bar angle needs to be adjusted to take a more level angle for a bias-ply tire. I considered jumping under the car and changing a bolt hole, but I got carried away with other stuff and decided just to lower the rear shocks to a very soft setting for the next pass:

Timeslip:


Datalog:


Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0AyZPKMPt0






Pass 4:*Shocks were then lowered to a very soft 1.0 each, tires had heated up to be 17.8 psi so I left them there. I did another open loop pass because I liked what I had just seen on the datalog for pass 3. However, I double-clicked the button and did not get a saved datalog for this run. It was simple and smooth run, but still not in the 11.50's as I had hoped for.*

Timeslip:



Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8Y8iwLiJ80




Pass 5:
Done with the all motor passes. Was not thrilled about the slower-than-usual sixty foot times but hoped I could have success with the Hoosiers and some nitrous, maybe a quick sixty foot launch and run the car out to the 1000 foot mark a few times.*Launched at 1182 rpms, flashed the converter to 5001, shifted 1-2 too high at 6438 while off the button, shifted 2-3 again too high at 6432off the throttle and button, back into 3rd gear, then chopped the throttle and drove the rest of the pass*on-motor.*

Timeslip:


Datalog:


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



Pass 6:
*I was a bit happier*with the 1.43 sixty foot, but knowing this car has been in the 1.3's before, I wanted more out of it so I got right back in the lanes and hot lapped it; no changes to anything. Footbrake launch from 1966 rpms, it spun a bit and flashed up to 5154 and climbed to 6575 rpms when I got off the button and throttle to shift, back on it in 2nd, shifted into 3rd at 6235 rpms, climbed into mid 3rd gear while still on the nitrous, but got off the button and rode out the pass all motor finishing at 5577 rpms.*

Timeslip:


Datalog:


Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMBFzM4k9l8



Pass 7 :Knowing I would need to make a LCA change to get the Hoosiers to probably work better (but not wanting to do it and then un-do it very shortly in order to drive home on the*radials) I decided to just put the MT drag radials back on for the rest of the day. The track also had made the announcement that they will be closing at 3:00 instead of 4pm, so I only had time for a few more passes. Set the radials at 19.6* psi. Kept the rear shocks at the low setting of 1.* Footbrake launch at 2143 rpms, spun real bad, pedaled it, shifted 1-2 at 6419 rpms, 2-3 at 5909 and held the nitrous until 6083 rpms and chopped the throttle off exactly at the 1000 foot cone, dead-coasted the rest of the way to the finish line.*

Timeslip:


Datalog:


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



Pass 8:*Getting greedy and got right back into the lanes and made this pass just minutes later.* Sat at the light for a few seconds and Footbrake launch at 2193 rpms, flashed to 5055, shifted 1-2 at 6306, shifted 2-3 at 6234, hit torque converter lockup button at 6025* and then got off the nitrous before crossing the finish line at 6202 rpms.*

Timeslip:


Datalog:



Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMbz73XofX0




Pass 9:
Lowered the rear shocks down to 0.5 settings on each side, Rear MT radials set to 19.8 psi. Footbrake launch at 1962 rpms, and the converter flashed to 5232. shifted 1-2 at 6443, shifted 2-3 at 6305 and while watching the nitrous bottle pressure gauge drop steadily during the run, I climbed through 3rd gear while finishing at 6244 rpms. You can see me point to the N20 bottle pressure gauge after the run, it got down to just below 800psi on that pass so the bottle was now no longer useable.*

Timeslip:



Datalog:



Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWYDmTMuSB4



Drove the car home without any issues. Of note, the DA was in the 1800-2300 range all day and the car stayed hotter than usual all day long. Not worried about that. Speedometer is fubar again, as can be seen during the GoPro video footage on the dash. Will re-do the whole assembly this winter.

I have some adjustments to do before the next track day, which will be the October 24 Track Rental at Island Dragway.

[IROCZman15]

Took the car to Island Dragway for the annual track rental on 10/24/25. I had a few goals in mind for the day, but also had to run around a bunch making sure the event was going good. One of my goals was to get at least 10 passes on the day.

I also wanted to see if I could get the Hoosiers to get me a new all-motor pb in the 1/4 mile and possibly a good 1/8th mile nitrous time. From several previous dragstrips sessions I am fully aware that the 27" Hoosier puts me wayyyy out of rpms on the top end when I am on the bottle, so I can't make full quarter mile pases on them. I've struggled with them on the launch at times, and other times they have done pretty good. (still, my best 60 foots have all been with the 28" MT radial). Nonetheless, I got to the track and right away put the Hoosiers on AND at the same time adjusted the rear LCA's to be up higher. This was accomplished by moving the rear mounting point up by one bolt hole on the LCA axle mount, which too the angle of the bar to be 0 degrees or perfectly level. Typically they are 3 degrees downhill when on the next lowest bolt hole.
I wanted to experiment again with the shift points, also planning on allowing the trans to shift itself. D.A was great all day, with negative numbers during our arrival and low 200 and 300 numbers mid-afternoon. I had 94 octane Sunoco pump gas in the tank and I had no octane booster all day, even with the nitrous passes.





Pass 1:
Rear tires set at 16.6 psi each, rear koni yellows set at 1.5 each (soft-ish), 35 degrees timing on every all motor pass. Ambient temp was 53 deg with a D.A. of 206
Footbraked to 1894 rpms, slight spin on the launch with converter flashing to 4762 rpms. I shifted out of first at 6441, made the 2-3 shift at 6264, and towards the backhalf of the track watched rpms climb up high while backing off the throttle.


Timeslip and Datalog:




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





Pass 2:
Kept everything the same for shock and tire pressure settings. Footbrake launch at 2274 rpms and the car launched pretty good but with a little tire slip and flashed the converter to 4604 rpms. I REALLY short shifted the 1-2 shift at 5630 rpms, but let 2nd gear climb up to 6386 rpms before shifting it into 3rd and again, backing off the throttle (bright green line on upper parts of datalog) and crossing the finish line at 6196 rpms. Surprisingly, this was a new PB for the car all motor, improving on its previous best from last year's rental of 11.55 at 115.5 mph.


Timeslip and datalog:





Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLN42nBBFL4





Pass 3.
I wanted to see if I could repeat that run but with a better launch and quicker sixty foot so I softened the koni shocks by a very little on both sides. Footbrake launch at 2090 rpms and the little tire slip was still there. Converter flashed to 4538 rpms and I shifted out of first at 5911 rpms which is generally early, but not as early as the previous pass. I made the 2-3 shift at 6281 rpms and went to grab converter lockup but it was not there, so I quickly decided to make the 3-4 shift (not a great idea but I've done it a few dozen times). I didn't want to have to back off the throttle as much as the past two runs, so I shifted out of 3rd at 6055 and it dropped to 4823 rpms in overdrive! Crossed the finish line at 6060 rpms and did not expect a good timeslip at all, but this one now stands at second best for the car all-motor! wild

Timeslip and Datalog:




Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTma91-l-Qw





Pass 4. Tried going up to 17.6 psi in the rear Hoosier bias-ply tires for this pass. Went slower in the sixty foot, some spin after the footbrake launch of 2880 rpms. Converter flashed to 4804 and I shifted out of first at 6016 rpms, again, a bit lower than I usually shift it. Second gear I also shifted early, at 5869 rpms and again had no lockup under WOT so I stayed in 3rd while backing down on the throttle a little bit, to cross the finish line at 6260 rpms.


Timeslip and Datalog:




Video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EJakuEB12Q





Pass 5.
I turned the nitrous on for this pass, and despite not having the best time launching with the Hoosiers, they did net me 3 of my best all-motor passes so I wanted to see if they could get me a quick 1/8th mile nitrous pass before running out of rpms at 1000 foot downtrack. Bottle pressure at 950 psi, using 30 degrees of timing for the 150 wet shot and did NOT add any race-gas or octane booster this time, totally forgot to pour it in the tank all day! I footbraked from a low 1623 rpms and the car launched pretty good actually! the converter flashed at 4948 rpms, but 1st gear winged up real fast and I found myself shifting at 6488 rpms which is wayyy too high. I took 2nd gear to 6319 rpms before shifting into 3rd. I didn't bother trying the lockup in 3rd gear again, so this left me getting off the nitrous button for a period of time and then kinda easily cruised the rest of the way down the track.



Datalog and Timeslip:




Video:

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

[IROCZman15]

Pass 6:
I decided to hot lap the car and made this pass within 5 mins of the last one! No changes to anything, but I wanted to see how the car would do letting the transmission shift itself so I kept it in 2, (that was the plan) until I partially screwed it up. I footbraked to 1619 rpms and then the converter flashed to around 4931 rpms. Forgetting that it was going to make the 1-2 shift itself, as the top of 1st gear arrived and it was making the 1-2 shift, I also instinctively moved the shifter from 2 to D, so I think it just went 1-2-3 real quick? Datalog shows a shift at 5923 rpms and then it stayed in 3rd for forever. As it got close to 6200 rpms I backed down on the throttle, got off the nitrous, back on the throttle, and then a little nitrous at the very end while finishing at 6202 rpms.

Datalog and Timeslip:



Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk_qrgz67HI






Pass 7.
I had just tried all I could with the 27" Hoosiers but knowing I am truly out of rpm at the top end, I put on the 28" tall MT ET street SS wheels and also moved the rear LCA back down a hole on the axle mount, so it is now back pointing downward-rearward at an angle of 3 deg downhill. I set the tire pressure of these at 18.0 and did not adjust any shock settings. Footbraked the car a little higher than usual, at 3063 rpms, which made the converter flash to 5049. The launch was good, didn't notice any tire slip and it went 1.38 in the 60 foot! For shifting, I think I did the exact same thing as the previous run and the datalog shows a gear change at 6129 rpms which I can only assume is the 2-3 shift? Climbed through 3rd gear again, actually backed off the throttle AND the nitrous was off for 1.4 seconds (see datalog) but somehow, mysteriously, went 10.55 at only 123 mph which is now my P.B. for E.T. on this car. A little bewildering here, but shows that there is more ET in the car regarding the shifts. Not a great pass, but its the current benchmark I am at!


Datalog and Timeslip:




Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cTIwKOxLaw







Pass 8.
We had decided to take the cone away and fully open up the right hand starting area of the track, so I wanted to give it a go in that lane. I knew the groove at the line was going to be cold since it was not used yet today, but I tried a nitrous launch anyways. Footbrake launched the car from a lower rpm at 1827 and converter flashed to 5022 while the car spun a bit on the launch. Looking at the datalog, I again cant see the 1-2 shift so it might have happened while the tires spun and there was a gearchange at 6188 rpms. Rode out most of the pass in 3rd gear, backed off the throttle again during the backhalf, and was fully off the nitrous for the last 1.7 seconds of the run too! Woah


Timeslip and Datalog:




Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKKCZC2lI2E





Pass 9.
Tommy with the supercharged Cadillac wanted to make a side by side pass since we both were running similar timeslips that day and he had a 360GoPro so I said sure and took the right lane that I actually just had trouble in. (We actually went again and switched lanes for pass #11). I decided to bring the rear tire pressure up to 19.0 psi. Footbrake launch from 1962 rpms and I was late on the tree this time when it actually did matter. The car launched decent for a low footbrake rpm but he was already out on me. I shifted this run and went from 1st into 2nd at 6443 rpms and then 2-3 at 6225 rpms. Moving around the throttle position on the top end again and finishing at 6216 rpms. It would have been a better side-by-side race if I left on time!

Timeslip and Datalog:





Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YsJYav9Wzc



360 GoPro video:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ldW7aXoX0jU







Pass 10.
Kept everything the same in relation to shocks and tire pressure settings. Moved back into the left lane. Footbraked to 1731 rpms and converter flashed to 4889 rpms. The transmission shifted itself from 1-2-3 or maybe just 2-3 from what it looks like. Who knows anymore! It was then in 3rd gear forever, and like usual when it gets close to 6200 rpms I have to back off the throttle and get off the nitrous as well, this time I was off the button for just about 2 full seconds. Jeez.


Timeslip and Datalog:




Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9HtlhdlDPE





Pass 11. Switched lanes with Tom in the black Cadillac for my last run of the day. Footbrake launch from a much lower rpm than usual, just a high-idle basically, 1268 rpms. Flashed the converter to 5224 rpms and unknown where the 1-2 shift is, but there was a gear change at 5994 rpms and then I kinda stayed at only 85% throttle for most of the run. Another gear change at 6184 rpms. I was off the nitrous for 2.6 seconds according to the datalog and finished the run on-motor at 6281 rpms. I accidentally dragged the video file off the memory card and deleted it without saving it, so my footage is gone. I am going to see if Tom has the 360 GoPro video from his lane, at least I came out in front that time. This 10.59 was actually my second best pass of the day, and turned out to be my 3rd best pass of all time.


Datalog and timeslip:









Now, with all that info and testing, I have a few ideas about what I can do to resolve the "running out of rpm" but all of that will be a winter season project. My really old laptop has finally died and wont turn on for the 5th day in a row, so I have to budget for a new one. I have some ambition to try to street-drive the car out to Maple Grove Racetrack in Pennsylvania during these next few weeks of November, so there's a chance I might do that. I've gotta re-think the benefit of letting the car shift on its own, something I have experimented with multiple times at the track and only had fair results. However, this time, letting it shift on its own is giving me great results. I am wondering if I leave the shifter in 2 and launch from there while letting the car do the 1-2 shift, and me doing the 2-3 shift around 6000 rpms. I am tired of over-spinning this engine, it no longer is paying off on the timeslips.