April 6, 2008

I decided to take the car out and run it at the Musclecar Heaven race at Speedworld. In the past, I had never run better then a 13.10 on normal street tires. It's just hard to get the car off of the line in 1st gear without the tires going up in smoke! All I wanted was a 12 second time slip. The first run was a 13.44 followed by an oh so close 13.00! I made a few more runs playing with the launch. My 60's times were lethargic at 2.2 and 2.3 seconds. After my second run, the car wasn't feeling right on the burnout. It was kind of stuttering. I thought maybe it was loading up. I was running Tony's 850 Holley off of his boat. My new carb was sent back to Larry's to see why it wouldn't run. So I just tossed Tony's carb on with only a jet change. The car wouldn't rev over 4500 rpm's in any gear. It was pathetic, running a mid 14. Now I'm bummed, it's 85 degrees and I don't feel like playing troubleshooter. Pop the hood and the first picture is what I saw. The new hood insulation over the carb had a 5 inch center cut out of it for some reason. It sucked that boy right into the carb. Boy I love easy fixes! Back in line for some more testing. I tried easing it out a little slower before mashing on the throttle. That seemed to work, it seemed like it pulled pretty good with out too much spinning. I was  shocked when I saw a 12.86 @ 106.94 mph with a 2.04 60' time. That's getting there. I decided to try it again to see if I could repeat the time. Well the run started about the same, feeling pretty good even though you're really babying it off the line. The time slip read 12.74 @ 107.31 with a 2.02 60'.  Man, that was great, I got my 12 big time! Now I need some slicks!

We ran into an old boating buddy, Mike Ciralo. He was running this Pontiac Grand Prix. Pontiac powered, the beast runs mid 13's. He has nitrous for a little extra fun!

May 18, 2008

Trying to get ready for some races in June, I decided to install a complete HRParts rear suspension. This consists of boxed poly bushed lower control arms, adjustable upper control arms and a new rear sway bar.

The adjustable uppers allowed me to set the pinion angle at about 2 degrees down. This is optimum for the launch. Mine was at zero degrees with the old set up. The lower control arms are boxed with poly bushings and a grease fitting. The rear sway bar I had was bigger than stock, but only attached to the lower control arms.

May 25, 2008

Well, I got the TA cover installed as well as pulling the front sway bar and putting 90/10 shocks up front. Then I bolted on both slicks and was going to take it down the road to make sure they don't rub when I turn. They rub just sitting there! How can this be? I bought the same size slicks I've always run (29.5" X 10.5" MT's) and they're mounted on the same Centerline wheels. After looking at everything, I realized the rear I was running with the 3.55's was from a 66-67 Chevelle which is an inch narrower than the 68-72 rear that's in it right now.  So I decided to fix the 3.55 rear so I can run the 10.5 slicks. I ordered a set of Strange Engineering axles and a new c-clip eliminator kit. Now I just have to get this installed before the 7th of June!

June 6, 2008

My new 30 spline axles and c-clip eliminator kit showed up from Strange Engineering. There was quite a difference between the stock GM axles and the Strange units. I had to pull the 4.10 rear, and then get rid of the old c-clip eliminator kit on the 3.55 rear. Then install the new axles that now had the new style c-clip eliminator set up pressed on the axle. Backing plates and rear differential cover was also swapped between rears. I got everything back together in time to make our Palo Verde Hot Rods race on June 7th. It was hot out that night, over a 100 during the day and getting down into the 90's at night. Track conditions were pretty good that night. The new slicks hooked up! First run out of the box was a 12.58 @ 107 mph. The car was leaving hard.  The second run yielded a 12.55. The motor seemed like it didn't want to rev past 5200 rpm for some reason. I couldn't see the fuel gauge and the carb was jetted pretty lean. But, I didn't want to make any big changes before eliminations. I just played with shift points, clicking the gears a little early. The final time trial was a 12.49! I was happy now. Eliminations started and I dialed a 12.47.My first round opponent got the head start on me and turned on the big red eye! So I just ran it out the back door, stopping the clocks with a 12.38 with a  60' time of 1.69 seconds. This was the second best the GS had ever run. (1.68 stands as the best to date) The 12.38 is the best run the cars made since I moved to Arizona, and that was on a hot night with a corrected altitude of 4400 ft! I did go two more rounds before I lit the red-light in the semi-finals.  A pretty good debut on the slicks. I'll hopefully have my original carb back from Larry's soon. I can give Tony back his boat carb and start dialing the jetting on the original Holley in to see if I can knock a little more time off of the time slip.

November 29, 2008

Made a couple of runs out at Speedworld. The best run was a 12.12 at 108.63 mph. Still playing around with shift points and launch technique.

January 17, 2009

Getting close to that 11.99 ET!  We went out to Speedworld. I started shifted at 5500 rpm and the mph started going up. I was still getting some slight bog on the launch though. The best time this day was 12.09 @ 110.05 mph. The next weekend I checked the plugs and the timing. The plugs are the original plugs from last year when the motor was built and dyno'd. They were a bit black, so a new set of plugs are on the list of things to do next. On the dyno the motor made the most power with 32 degrees of total timing. Throwing a timing light on it showed only about 28 degrees, so I adjusted that back to 32. After not having any luck to make the launch quicker without that bog, I did some research and the fix appears to be one of the new HP 950 Holley's. This carb has the upper venturi of a 750 for a better signal and cleaner launch, but it still has the larger throttle bores. So one shop I found is building one to match my set up. 

March 10, 2009

Well, the Bigs Carburetors HP950 has arrived! I'll toss it on this weekend and see how the street manners are and then hopefully get out to the track and see if I found that 1/10 of a second!

May 29, 2009

Well I made it! I went out on a warm Friday night to Speedworld. The only change was the installation of the Bigs 950 carb. This was only a test and tune night at the track, so there was no special track prep.  Not a lot of people out there because it started out at about 100 degrees. It did eventually get down to the low 90's! The first five runs were between 12.13 and 12.18. 60' times were in the high 1.60's to low 1.70's. The car would slip ever so slightly on the launch. I will say there was no hesitation on the launch with the new carb. I was about to pack it in when I decided to do a bit more aggressive burnout. This paid off with a 1.66 60' and a 12.11 at 110.4 mph. OK, lets try some more.

Next run was a 1.64 60' and a 12.04 at 110.2 mph. Man, I was so close to that 11.99! It was getting late and I was tired. I was there by myself and still had to load the car back up and get home. The next run launched good, but slid a little at mid track. It was another 1.64 60' with a 12.05 at 110.5 mph. OK, if it doesn't get any better on the next run, I'm outta here! Of course I wasn't leaving yet, that run was a best so far 1.642 60' and then a best so far of 12.03 at 110.54 mph. Since I was more or less hot lapping the car, with no appreciable cool down, I decided to sit for a while. So I gave it 30 minutes in the lanes and then told the track personnel I was ready to go. Big burnout and then a good launch. I hit a 1.641 60' time and stopped the clocks in 11.97 seconds and a 111.4 mph trap speed. The last run was a best of everything. It would have been nice to keep trying to improve the time, but I was spent, but happy. Summer is here and it's really hot out at the track, so hopefully come late August or September it'll cool down some and I can continue to play with the set up.

September, 2009

I made a fiberglass cowl induction hood for the car. The lighter weight and the cowl induction will hopefully help cut the ET a little more. To see how the hood was created, follow this link GS HOOD

December, 2009

I've made 2 trips out to the track now that it's cooled down. The best run so far has been an 11.91, top mph is 111.44. Best 60' time is 1.601seconds. So I don't think there's much more there without making some changes. I need to make a new hood mold, so these times will stand for a month or two while I take the first fiberglass hood, fill in the holes and make a new mold now that I'm happy with the final shape. Then I'll make a light weight race hood which should knock close to 20 pounds off. With that new hood, I'll add a 1" spacer and go test New Years Day (hopefully!)

February 13, 2010

I completed the second GS Cowl Hood. I made this one as light as possible but still maintaining some strength. I didn't add the ducting underneath this time. The light lay up worked as this hood came in 20 pounds lighter at 28 pounds. I did recess the back vertical section about an inch and I think it gave the hood a more finished look. The extra hood clearance was so I could run a 1" spacer under the carb. So I added that to the motor. I went back out to Speedworld, the air was cool but not very good. 3400 ft corrected altitude compared to 1700 ft when I ran the previous best of 11.91. The first run of the day I hit my goal for that day, which was an 11.80. I ran an 11.89 @ 111.58 mph with a 1.62 60' time. I was sure I could get my time down even further because my best 60' time in the past was 1.60 second. So if I can get the 60' number down some the 1/4 mile ET will drop as well. The second run I hit it hard off the line and felt it slip a bit, the 1.66 second 60' time confirmed it. OK, there was an ADRA event running that day, so they were doing some good track prep. I bumped the slick pressure down a half pound.  I then noticed something dripping out from under the car. Investigation showed the gasket between the timing chain cover and the block  was leaking water. I tried tightening the bolts to no avail, so the car went back on the trailer. 

March 2010

I finished off my  2nd fiberglass GS Cowl Induction hood, it's painted it and I added some mesh screen to the back of the scoop. I'm headed out to the Southwest Nostalgia Drags Sunday at Speedworld. Hopefully the air will be better and I can get a little further into the 11.80's. I also finished up the mold for the underside bracing. I'll make another hood and the underside bracing using the mold and then bond them together. This will allow the hood to be bolted to the factory hinges, eliminating the hood pins.

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