Some
of the things I've pick up for this year are:
- A new RCI Racing Seat that
I got for Christmas
- A set of 194 Heads "882" castings
- A set of 4" wide Aluminum Slots to match the back
ones
- A set of Moroso Rear Drag Springs
- Four new Competition Engineering Drag Shocks
I've also started doing some body work and will have it
all under white primer before it sees the track this
year.
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2/17/98
The rear end is ready to be
installed and the front shocks are on. I also picked up a
set of M/T Sportsman front tires, thanks Mike.
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3/3/98
The rear end is in and the
car is off the jack stands. The car sits about 2"
lower with the new springs. The front wheels and tires
are on. I'm getting ready to install a 6-point roll bar
very soon. I also picked up some other new parts:
- A set of 1.5 Hardland Sharp Roller
Rockers
- Lunati valve springs, retainers, and locks
- MSD 6AL
- MSD 8.5mm Wires
- Autometer Shift Light
- Hurst Roll Control
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3/31/98
The Cage and new seat are in! Big thanks goes out to
Henry Stephens Jr. for all the work he did. The car is
coming together and should have all or most of the
bodywork done in the next week or two. The rest of the
parts listed above should also be installed. I should
have some new pictures coming soon.
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4/26/98
As you can see the rearend
turned out excellent. The car is now under white primer
and the wiring is almost done, the MSD 6AL and Line Lock
are all hooked up. I plan on hooking up a MSD Two Step
with an adjustable chip very soon. The heads are ready to
be bolted on but I want to get a couple of passes on it
to see what all of these other changes has done.
Something that I heard at the track last year is to put a
switch on the alternator to shut it off well making a
run. I'm going to try this trick and will let you know
how it works. Some other things that I have done:
- Changed both discharge nozzles on the Holley from stock
(.028 & .031) to .035.
- Installed a small fan to keep me cool.
- Installed a polyurethane transmission mount and chained
down the engine.
- Installed new front brakes, rotors, lines, and long
wheel studs.
- Installed the shift light with a 6000-rpm chip.
- Took out the original dash and wiring and painted the
aluminum one.
- Painted the interior flat black.
- Installed a switch box behind the shifter so I will be
able to reach everything after I strap myself in.
- Replaced the one stock driver's side minor with 2
sports minors.
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5/13/98
Check out my picture page for new pictures of the car.
Took it out for the first time this year! Made one pass
and twisted the driveshaft in two. I found the weak
link...
The drive shaft let
go shortly after the 1000' mark. It did a little dance on
the bottom of my floor. Now I know why they have all
those safety rules. Take a look at my new floor.
Well, it's time
to order a new driveshaft and hammer out the floor.
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5/20/98
The new driveshaft is in and I'm back at the track...
You can see the new
3 1/2" x .065 wall driveshaft that I had make at
Drive-Line 1. The floor is hammered out and welded,
thanks goes out to Mike Fouts and Eddy for all their
help. Well I made four passes and hit the rev limiter
every time. My 60 feet times were very good but I didn't
want to over do it with the old heads. I had a 6300-RPM
chip in the rev limiter and a 6000 chip in the shift
light. The car held together so it's not all bad. I will
have to change the rear seal in the transmission and the
rearend they are now both leaking. The car is hooking up
great. I just have to change the heads and a couple of
seals and try to tune the shocks. The fronts are set at
90/10 and the rears are 50/50. I'm going to change them
to 80/20 and 40/60 to see if I can get my ET down some
more. I red lighted the first time up because the 2 Step
chip was set a 2900-RPM and the brakes wouldn't hold. I
changed it to 2100 RPM and it left the line good. I left
the first red light run out. Here the numbers:
60'
330'
1/8
1/8 MPH
1000'
1/4
1/4 MPH |
1.836
5.743
8.937
77.05
11.686
14.027
95.95 |
1.830
5.721
8.910
77.05
11.664
14.010
95.75 |
1.889
5.579
8.793
74.13
11.622
14.012
93.95 |
The car ran very
consistent considering that I hit the rev limited every
time. I was just a little late on the shift light each
time; I will get better at it. I'm hoping it will run in
the low 13s very soon. I'm going to put in a 6500 chip
after I change the heads.
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5/25/98
The new heads are on and I also added a new Moroso
electric water pump drive kit and alternator mount kit. I
had to do a lot of work to get these kits on. They said
it's a bolt on. I don't think so! I also cut the air horn
off my Holley and smoothed it down. I'm making a crank
pulley from a single pulley and a spacer. If anyone had
done this before, let me know how you did it. I don't
feel like paying $120 for Moroso's little single pulley.
It looks like I will also be changing my harmonic damper,
its' coming apart. I'm going with an 8" damper. I
read an article in Drag Racing Monthly (July) about
dampers and the 8" showed lower ET than the
6.75". It's worth a try. I hope to be back out in a
week or so.
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6/6/98
I had to change some more parts, like the rear seal in
the Trans and rearend. I also put a switch on the
alternator to shut it off during a run (trying to be more
consistence). Put in a set of Splitfire plugs that I won
(TP2E). The engine was running to lean. The Two Step
doesn't work very good at 2100 rpm (stop using it). Best
time of the night was an 8.503 @ 79.31 mph.
Here's a copy of my log page.
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6/20/98
Changed jets to 80 in front (put in a power value plug)
and 80 in back, now its' running to rich. Put in a new
battery. Had a miss all night. Best time of 8.518 @ 79.61
mph.
Here's a copy of my log page.
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7/1/98
Well this time I went out the 1/4 mile. I was having a
problem with the car squatting too much in the back, so I
added 2 1/4" spacer under the back springs (this did
the trick without changing the springs). Another thing
that I found out was when I would shift the Trans
wouldn't. I was talking to a Trans man and he told me to
unhook the kick-down cable (which I did). That seem to
fix the problem (now when I shift it does too). I also
added an Adj-a-jet on the Holley and put the power value
back in, which helped a lot. Best time for the day was a
13.340 @ 98.47 mph. I seem to be having a problem with
the carb every since I changed the rear gear (it bogs off
the line). I haven't been able to cut a good light all
year.
Here's a copy of my log page.
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7/5/98
Back to the 1/4-mile. The car is running a lot better but
I'm still having a problem with it bogging off the line.
It is hard to tell if it is going to be before or after I
break the beam (sometimes RED or sometimes a bad light).
But I did go 3 rounds and won my first money of my career
($20.00). I broke out in the 3rd round (Dial-In - 13.40
and ran a 13.269 @ 99.12 mph). Here's the check!
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7/15/98
Made 2 passes and put it on the trailer (radiator leak).
Ran two 13.60s; 13.600 @ 99.34 mph and 13.608 @ 97.83
mph. After 1st run I backed off the front jet size
(slowed it down). As you can see horsepower changes show
up in your mph not your ET (Just a little tip).
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7/18/98
Back to the 1/8-mile. After putting in a new radiator the
water pump went out after 3 rounds. Bogged off the line
every time. First round I ran an 8.510 on an 8.51 dial
and lost with a .799 light (this bog is starting to piss
me off). I tried changing the timing, taking out the
1" carb spacer, adjusting the idle, changing the
squirters, and still have that bog. Best time of 8.510 @
80.57 mph.
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7/29/98
Back to the 1/4-mile. After changing the spark plugs and
adjusting the carb again. It still bogged off the line
and again in round 2, I ran a 13.407 on a 13.40 dial and
lost with a .796 light. I did un-hook the vacuum advance
before the run, which seem to help. Best time of 13.407 @
99.34 mph.
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7/31/98
Test and Tune - Added a crankcase evacuation system and
adjusted both the front and rear shocks. I made 5 good
passes with the last two spinning off the line. Best time
of 13.306 @ 100.45 mph. (one of my goals this year was to
break 100 mph)
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8/1/98
Back to the 1/8-mile. Changed front cam on carb and
squirters (F) .035, (B) .028, was (F) .024, (B) .024. Put
in a new set of spark plugs (AC R45). Best time of 8.295
@ 82.84 mph. Painted the car white on 8/8/98. Check out
the picture page.
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8/14/98
Test and Tune - Changed carburetor to an Edelbrock 750
cfm (no more bog). This is the best the car has ever run.
Best time of 8.230 @ 82.11 mph. Running a best 60' time
of 1.741. Now I can cut some lights (.487, .478, .615,
.593, .575, .537, .456) now that's better!
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8/15/98
Back to the 1/8-mile. Put in a set of front-end limiters.
This was not a good thing to do; it messed up my 60'
times (best 60' all day was a 1.768). Ran in the 8.30s
all day. Starting to work on cutting some good lights
(this is where you win or lose). Lost in the 3rd round
(bad stage) ran an 8.369 on an 8.33 dial with a .606
light. Best time of 8.338 @ 81.08 mph. Won $10.00 (Now
$30.00 for the year)
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8/29/98
Running good, now I just have to work on being
consistence. Here a good tip on staging your car. After
you light up the Pre-Stage light, bring the car up on the
converter (the same rpm every time) and than bump it into
the Stage Light and your ready to go. I lost in the 3rd
round with an 8.396 on an 8.38 dial with a .616 light
(these guys are hard to beat). Best time of 8.394 @ 80.99
mph. My lights are getting better (.599, .592, .607,
.551, .551, .616) Won $10.00 (Now $40.00 for the year)
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9/18/98
Test and Tune - Here is another tip on being more
consistence (I pick this one up from a bracket racing
magazine). Put a choke cable (I used a lawnmower cable,
it looks like a little shifter) on your fast idle and
take off the choke buttery fly. This way when you pull up
to the line and turn on the Pre-Stage light, you just
pull back on the cable and you will have the same
starting line rpm every time (it's like a poor man's 2
step). NOTE: You have to
remember to release the cable before you get to the end
of the track. I also started
working on trying to do the same burnout every time. I
have read a lot of tips on "How to perform a good
Burnout" and the one that worked best for me is;
Start in 1st gear and then shift right up to 3rd and get
the rpm up to around 4000 and as soon as the rpm drops
down to about 3000 rpm, let off of the line-lock and pull
forward (do not do a dry hop). Best time of 8.478 @ 80.17
mph.
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9/19/98
Bad night couldn't run the number or cut a good light.
Traction seems to be part of the problem. Best time of
8.370 @ 80.71 mph.
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10/4/98
Learned a lot on this day. The car has had a miss at
about 3000 rpm for a long time. The total timing was set
at 43 degrees. I was talking with one of the guys at the
track and he was telling me about a problem they were
having with their car. Turned out to be the same as mine.
So we put his timing light on it and set the total timing
to 38 degrees, no more miss and the car ran great. I lost
in the 2nd round after running a 13.143 on a 13.23 dial
(which is the fastest the car has run ever). I have been
working on adjusting the front limiter to find the best
setting (it does make a big difference, 1/4" in or
out). Best time of 13.143 @ 101.35 mph. Won $10.00 (Now
$50.00 for the year)
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10/9/98
The start of my first big 3-day race. Its' getting colder
and one of the things I'm doing now is jacking up the car
and warming up the rearend. I see a lot of people
breaking parts as it gets colder. Couldn't get a good
dial-in on the car but my lights are right there (.540,
.564, .562, .550, .542, .550) not to bad. Best time of
8.421 @ 81.68 mph.
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10/10/98
Well its' another day (the big money day, $2000). I hit
one of my other goals of going more then 3 rounds this
year. I went 4 rounds. Losing to a friend that always
cuts a good light (but didn't this time), I caught him a
half-track and then hit the brakes (dumb thing to do) and
after he passed me, I hit the gas again, but it was too
late. I lost by .001 of a second and he went on to the
final three cars and won $500.00. That was an expensive
lesson. Best time of 8.400 @ 81.91 mph. Won $100.00 (Now
$150.00 for the year) Here's the truck that beat me...
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10/11/98
A so-so day. Still doing well on the lights (.542, .579,
.540, .612, .519, .571). This weekend's races were BOX or
NO-BOX which some of the "BOX" cars are running
in the NO-BOX class. Its' not a lot of fun running a 6
second car that's cutting .50 lights "with their box off" (but that another story). I lost in the
first round with an 8.360 on an 8.35 dial with a .612
light (the other guy ran a 6.699 on a 6.66 dial with a
.505 light "with his box off "). Best time of
8.360 @ 82.12 mph.
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Last update of the Year...
Well the car is in the garage for the winter and I'm
working on a new engine for next year. The '99 Season is
right around the corner... |
