For the first time in like 10 years I was able to get some real test and tuning done yesterday.  With my new found power in the last few years I needed to try to get the chassis working better.  The local 1/8 mile track was having TnT Fri, sat, and sun so I took advantage of it.  With only like 20 cars running you could do whatever you wanted, and since this track has been marginal for traction it was a good choice to dial in some traction.

I made my first baseline pass. It spun a bit but wasn't tragic(about normal).  I got to the trailer and tightened up the rebound on the rear shocks like 10 clicks(big change).  Went right back out and the 60 ft picked up .03.  So I put the shocks full tight and tried again to see another improvement.  I was on the right track!

Now, there was a bit of a left hand pull on the launch, making me have to steer it when the front wheels touched.  Since the car typically didn't do this I blamed the track surface.

I then try to loosen the front up some.  It typically liked it slowed down some, I had 10 clicks in it(out of 16).  I again made a big change....I turned them to 0 clicks (full loose).   Can you see the bad decision???

I come out of the water, and like typical as I push in the clutch the tires will bite and the car will try to pull the front wheels(I've been told it has on occasion).  It seemed a bit more radical this time.  I quickly realized this may not be a good idea.  But......naaa, it has wheelie bars, we're fine.  Lol!!!  I left like I had previously only to find it went vertical, like right now!!  And it was turning left!!  Oh crap, this isn't good.  I quickly grab second gear to try to settle it down.  It did, but I was peddling it also and that was too much and it fell to earth....HARD!  Ouch....... I felt it in my back.  I gathered it up and completed the pass.  I get to the timing shack( I shut it off and coasted up).  I turned on the ignition and the fan was making rattling noises.  The fellow at the shack says "that's not good".  Ya.  I quickly get to my spot and check the damages.  My fan had ripped loose, dropped down and bent the blades and promptly started to chop away at my radiator to the tune of 5 different holes spraying water.  Oops.

So, I load up, remove the radiator, and head home.  I found a replacement radiator at Summit, which I will get today.  I did a quick check on the front end and everything seems okay.  I do have quite a buckle in the front of the oil pan. Luckily the oil pickup is in the rear of the sump and that area isn't damaged.  I had talked to the starter and he said I took quite a chunk of concrete out when I hit right on the edge of the track surface( next to the grass).

So, what did I learn??  I found the optimal shock settings to make the car hook on ice!!!  Just need to lower/tighten up the wheelie bars AND keep the front shocks tightened up!!

Another friend with a stick shift Cuda did the same thing trying to get his new power dialed in.  He clobbered the pan and bent up the front chassis(chassis car).  He told me my bad karma took him out!!  He had told me after my oops that his bars are real low and tight.  Hmm, guess not enough??  He made his last pass after me.

The trials and tribulations of running a heavy, small tire stick car.  The crazy part was the car was repeating ET like a dragster.  Two 6.792 in a row.  Not shabby.

Ok, have run one in the wagon for decades.  I put one in the black car last summer with a 6al box.  Works perfect, runs better then ever.

This past weekend I finally was able to get the black car out and I wanted to take it for a drive Sunday evening.  I got some fuel and headed out.  I got 5 miles from home and it died suddenly.  I was able to quickly turn into a parking lot.  It sneezed a couple times and then nothing.  I pulled the coil wire off and laid it out on the throttle linkage and cranked.  I would spark ONCE when I turned the key on, nothing while cranking, and one spark when I let off the key.  Ugh.

Having free towing, I made the call(big mistake I later found out).  A buddy just happen to be at that plaza and came over.  We talked, I told him what happened and I had help coming.  He left a while later. 

This first happened at 8 pm.  It was 9:45 when I get a call from my "insurance person" and was informed they couldn't find a wrecker available.  Say WHAT??  (they couldn't find a cut rate wrecker was the real truth).  At that point I reached in, hit the key and the car actually started and idled.  I then gave that person a piece of my mind about their "Free towing" and I then drove the car home without issue.  Today I am changing insurance carriers.

Ok, back to the issue.  Seems strange that the Unilite "failed" just enough then recouped after cooling off?  I have run it off the existing resistor coil wire because the Mallory instructions say you can(even with an MSD).  The sheet says you can run it either way in very simple diagrams.  I knew Pertonix must use 12v.  The wagon runs on 12v, but it only runs for a few minutes at a time so no heat ever gets to it.  I'm not sure if I should try it again?  Replace it and run it on 12v?  Or just find another distributor(like a dual point) and just go back to old school.

Little update on the motor.

Heads leaking, got new TF heads
Roller cam bearings installed  (why?  the price was right and now no bearing issues to deal with)
Roller cam, blah, blah.

I have my very vintage Dove HD rocker set up.   Been very faithful for near 3 decades.  BUT, with the much increased spring pressure I am going to I don't really want to have to trust them...........as you can't replace them.

So, thinking T/D.   Apparently they have one set of shaft units ready to ship(not sure which version?).  I'm thinking since I have to burn my retirement funds  , I might as well go big.  Unfortunately the pairing set up is 2 months out.  Racing season is going to be pretty slim to begin with, but not sure I want to wait til August to even try to get the motor in the car. 

I'm only around 650# open, so it's not a crazy big roller, but I HATE dealing with broken parts so I don't mind buying top end parts.  Another 20 yrs of carefree racing would be just fine with me.

I'm just asking around if anyone has parts they want to sell off?
I just realized I didn't put this in the "want ads".  Jay do you want it moved?

Ok, since mine is back apart getting the sludge cleaned out from the head/water leakage issue, it has come to light there is wear on the cam bearings.  #2 and 4 have a groove worn in them, maybe .003-.005.  Enough to hang a nail on. Seems the oil groove in the camshaft is leaving a mark in the bearing(high spot) as the rest of the bearing is getting worn on the bottom half.

This was common on my old 428 block after 4-5 yrs of running, I would replace the bearings.  I have just maybe 40 passes and it's already noticeable.  Seems the BBM block only takes one style bearing and no other option for improvement. Yes, I still run a flat tappet cam.  I was discussing options today trying to come up with a game plan to improve this situation.

What is everyone else doing??

I also found out today that TF heads have raised rocker stands.  Going to mill that down to run my original Dove set up.   I see they did this to get more material for the stud, but doesn't that really limit your choices for rockers?  The shop I use has gone both ways, cutting or using new rocker set ups.  Again, what is everyone else doing for this?

Well, with the weather taking a serious turn for the worst early on I wanted to get the wagon put away.  So, since it was a nice clear evening I got home and went about my car swapping exercise.  Get Mack out, hook up to trailer.  Move black car out of garage, unload wagon and swap them around and then put everything back away. 

Sounds easy enough?  Ya, well, not this time.

With age, I can't push the wagon up the "hill" by myself to get it to roll out of the trailer(driveway has slight slope).  So I unhook everything, turn on battery, crawl through back and get in start it up and back it out of the trailer.   I make sure everything is unhooked, turned on battery, crawled up and hit the starter button to make sure it would crank.  Yup.  Okay, crawl over roll bar and get seated.  Hit button and I get like 1 second of crank and then just click.  UGH.  Try a few times, nothing but click.  Dammit.  Crawl back out and investigate.   

With no help around, I get the old Cub cadet tractor out and hook to back of car and use it to pull the car up over the threshold to get it to roll out.  I then try the big battery charger, nope, just click.   I try two other batteries, still just a click.  Dammit, it's the starter.  I get the jack out and lift the nose enough to slide under and drop the starter(luckily it's doable without dropping headers or anything).  I grab the worn out one I keep in the trailer for that "emergency use".   Install and hit the button and Viola' it cranks.  Kinda slow, but it is only like 40* out.

I get it started, swap things around, put everything back away and then finally get to have dinner(an hour later then planned).

Guess it's time to step up to a better starter(something non Autozone related).  It has cranked that new "bigger" motor okay, but I knew I was going to have to upgrade at some point.  Sure would have been nice to not have to fix it in the gravel driveway??  Oh well.  I spoke to my sponsor at dinner(Karen) and she's going to get me a nice Xmas gift!!!       

Sure is nice to have a girl that is "all in" with drag racing.  She demands to help support my bad habits.  I know too many racers who's other half wants nothing to do with racing.  She is a keeper.   

Got the wagon together Thursday, fired up and running Friday, loaded and ready for the race on Saturday.
Made one pass, started to break up at 1000ft mark.  Gave up and brought it back to the trailer and pulled the plugs.  All was well, except for #1.  It was kinda rust red colored.   

Looks like the engine is coming out.   It's got issues.  Cracked cylinder?  Deck?  I couldn't find anything when I had the heads off.  I carefully looked at each cylinder best I could and found no apparent cracks.  The heads are only hand worked 23 yrs ago so highly doubt any issue there.

Might be looking for a block?  I'm going to try to get it torn down today some, not sure if I get it pulled too?  Time will tell.  I'm out of commission for awhile.  I'm good with it.  I've gotten 19 consecutive yrs of racing on that NOS block, it has paid its dues.

After 20 yrs of single master cylinder and drum brakes, I am upgrading the 2 dr to some better stopping power.

With taking the Tbird brakes off the wagon this past winter for some Wilwood updates, I'm reissuing the Tbird brakes to the blower car.  Something that is was much needed and I got constant grief over when people saw that little single pot master cylinder on that car.   

I cleaned up and painted the spindles, got some new Russell DOT braided lines, a new master cylinder and proportioning valve.   I got the m/c painted and mounted Sunday, along with the brakes.  I picked up some new line and appropriate fittings yesterday.  I have the two lines to the p/v fitted.  Now just need to get the rear brakes attached and the brake light switch.

I was hoping to get an adapter to convert 3/8"-24 flare to 1/8" pipe, but they don't go that way.  Only 1/8" pipe to 3/8" flare.  Ugh.  I'm going to have to add a 1/8" npt Tee and then get adapters for 3/8" flare.  Little more bulky looking then I wanted, but I can hide it down behind the steering box and still plug the pressure switch in using the original wiring.  I could go mechanical switch under the dash?  The jury is still out on that.  I'd like to just use the factory wiring, though it is not that important.

Here is a few pics, need to get more tonight:

Brakes bolted on:


New m/c:


The old single pot still going strong:

My season has been marginal at best.   My points standings were low, had one good race(went rounds) and got up to 7th.  Then two races where I gave it up first round.  That put me in the basement again til last weekend.  I went 3 rounds and got myself back to 6th place.  Though my day ended abruptly when I chunked the transmission 3rd round.  UGH!  I had a .012 light, all I had to do was get to the finish line...........and just couldn't do it.  When I shifted to 3rd, it threw it into 1st also and BOOM...my day ended.  I was on my way to a winning day, but just was not to be.

After getting the box apart last Monday, I inspected everything to determine the root cause.   Yup, the case I was given had been screwed with by someone some time back and they messed it up.   First race this year I notice it would not stay in 1st or 2nd gear just driving around.  I had to hold the shifter.  PITA!!!   Since it was broke I was going to address whatever someone had done to it.  Remember this is a Gforce GF5R.  After some poking around, I realized what was done.  They welded the 1-2 shift cam detent slots up and then ground it all smooth.  WTF?  Why?   I can't really think of any reason to.  In doing so, the lock out pins were sloppy and did not function...thus it could allow it to be in two gears at once.   I was lucky it made it this far though the season.  Just bad timing and something I just assumed was okay when case was given to me last fall.   Learned another very valuable lesson...don't assume anything. 

So after a call to Gforce on Tuesday morning, I had a box show up Wed at home.  1st and 2 gearsets, a new shift cam and a new detent tube.   I carefully fitted the tubes so that it now properly locks out any adjoining gears.  I then put it all together and put it in the wagon Thurs evening.

To add to the WTH moment, after loading car and shutting Mack off, I heard an air leak.  HMMM?  What happened now?  Seems my exhaust had rubbed a hole in the supply line from the compressor.  The short flex pipe runs just over the compressor copper feed line.   With all the smooth roads around here, the coupler had slipped just a touch and the flex pipe had touched the copper and rubbed a pin hole in it.   Now, this being a 1950's truck, it has some copper lines still in it.   Getting it converted over to late model braided stainless proved impossible on Friday.  I was able to solder the hole, cover it and put a stainless clamp over it to protect it.  Now exactly DOT approved, but I could not miss my race on Saturday.   Once all assembled, the truck aired up and held fine.   Yaa.

With the weather forecast coming through as rain all day, it did not seem like the race was going to happen.  Ohio was nothing but a green cloud on the weather channel.   We pulled out about 7:15am and went north to Thompson.   It rained most of the way up until we got to 90 and headed east.  Road dried up and not much of a drop the whole day?   Wow.  We got the race in...............and...................wait for it....................the old wagon REIGNED terror over everyone and I took home all the marbles.  Still in a daze.  It was a tough day. The wagon performed flawlessly........even though I broke the wheelie bars off 2nd round of competition.  I heard a faint rattling sound as I came up the return road.  I was thinking the worst, but shut the car off at the ET shack and asked the girl "is something dragging?".   Someone standing there said "wheeliebar is broken".  Whew.   Seems that thin wall tubing is just not up to the task of a 4000# car.   I'm going to have to remake the lower bars with something  much bigger(like Pro mod car sized tubing).

Anyhoo, after 5 rounds, I was able to keep my cool and put on the last win light.   I finally found the tree, got my clutch linkage adjusted just so I could hit it.  I was way too close on a few rounds(.008 and .015), and I really laid off the last two rounds as I didn't want to throw it away with a redlight.  I was .08 and .06 the last two rounds.   Good enough for the win.  The $1000 payout will help offset the $1100 I spent getting the transmission back into working order again!  Geez.

I worked my way back up from the basement in points to 3rd, and only 3 rounds from passing #1.  One last race in Pittsburgh at the end of the month.  Two day event with two races.  If I keep my head screwed on, I can pull this off for another championship.  I've had a real dry spell and it has been 9 yrs since I did it last.  Was 2nd a couple years back, typically in top 10 somewhere.