AlkyIROC

No leaks, engine still runs. There's a ticking noise on the rh side of the engine and it's not valve adjustment but other than that, I had a good day.

I got the short block back from the machine shop on Thursday. Last night around 8:30, I was firing the engine up and setting the timing.

First pass of the day wasn't spectacular. I got a .002 red light and ran close to my best times.

Second time trail run I launched before the tree activated and didn't get a RT but the incremental times were

RT - LB3A - Left before tree activated
60 - 1.404
330 - 4.053
660 - 6.248
MPH - 112.38
1000 - 8.140
1320 - 9.754
MPH - 140.27

I could hear what sounded like a loose rocker so I pulled the covers off to adjust all the valves and missed the third time trial run. They were all slightly loose because the aluminum heads expanded but none loose enough to cause the ticking. 2-1/2 hours passed from the second time trial run to the first round of eliminations. My valves were all slightly tighter and the density altitude increased about 600 feet. Calculations said I should have run 9.78 so I dialed in 9.77.

First round of eliminations. Look at these numbers compared to the ones above.

RT - .071
60 - 1.407
330 - 4.058
660 - 6.252
MPH 112.50
1000 - 8.142
1320 - 9.754
MPH 140.49

The second time trial run was at 4203 DA. The first round was at 4843. I broke out but the race was so close I didn't know who won. I was racing a friend I pit with against his low 11 second 69 Camaro SS. His MOV was 0.0198 or 4 feet.

I need to find out what that ticking is. I'm thinking it might be a bad rocker or lifter. I have until next Sunday to find and fix it. The race next Sunday, weather permitting, is the last race of the season then the track is shut down until May.

3 full throttle 1/4 mile passes with a 2 mile round trip to the pits. One 2 mile trip to warm the car up when I first got to the track. Alcohol burned - 5 gallons.

BADDEST305

congrats on the new times stephen

leeperryracing

sick times stephen!!

AlkyIROC

I had to edit the post. The MOV wasn't 0.198 but 0.0198.

People have asked me what it feels like to go that fast. I don't know how to answer. You get the butterflies as you're ready to stage. I concentrate on the top bulb and when it comes on I let go of the transbrake button and wait for the delay box to launch the car. Shortly after I launch, the shift light comes on and I hammer the shifter forward. In the last 1/8 mile I try to look at the gauges to see what's happening. As I cross the finish line, I pop the tranny into neutral and idle the engine down. I coast right down to the end of the track, on the brakes the whole way, then come back up the return road while taking off all my gear. Neck brace, helmet, harness, window net etc.

I made 3 passes today and remembered to turn on my playback tach once. I'm launching at 4500 rpm. The shift light comes on at 6800 and I go through the traps at 7400.

Trying to look over the hood scoop is difficult when driving around but once on the track, your field of vision is straight down the track and I don't even notice the scoop. I was in the left lane once today. I can see the top 2 of the 3 yellow lights. When I got the .002 red light, I didn't know until I saw it on the scoreboard.

I'm oh so close to getting that 1.39 60' time Still not too bad on a 10.5" tire.

BlueBeast

congrats on your times man that awesome. hope that noise isnt anything major.

Trevor86TA

Glad to here you ended your day without carnage. Now hopefully you can start sorting out your combination.

Blackroc86

Congrats on a new best Stephen.


You were do some good luck so hopefully that tick isn't anything serious.

AlkyIROC

The ticking noise was a loose rocker stud on #8 exhaust. The stud girdle probably helped keep the stud from loosening right off. I took it out, put some red loctite on the threads and torqued it back down. I removed all the other rockers to check the torque on the studs and they were all fine. This gave me an excuse to install an engine compartment start button which works great. My cowl is all cut away and I mounted it up on the ledge behind the distributor since my starter solenoid is inside the car. I can easily reach the button from either side.

See, it helps to have an exhaust system. If I was running open headers, I probably wouldn't have heard the ticking and who knows what kind of damage it could have caused. With open headers I need ear plugs just to fire the car up. I swear, the noisiest cars at the track are the street class cars who run open headers. If you have cutouts for a restrictive exhaust, that will probably help. If you have a free flowing exhaust, removing the exhaust won't help except for the weight reduction.

BlueBeast

glad to hear that its nothing serious

slow86305

congrats on a new best

Sonix

iTrader: (1)

nicely done!

I'm going to have to come out and spectate sometime. Next saturday you say?

I thought your motor went down due to a torque convertor failure or something, causing the motor to seize... I must have missed something.. Not a big deal? (it was fixed in like 2 weeks right?)

AlkyIROC

Next Sunday. Big CDRA 25 anniversary race. Open to anyone and it should be a good show. So far the long, long range weather forecast looks great. $10 admission for spectators. Saturday night they're having a Practice Tree Nationals race. You race against the practice tree.

I spun 2 main bearings. I didn't think the crank looked that bad and it wasn't. The machine shop cleaned it to std/std. I had them put the rotating assembly in the block so basically they did the short block for me. Rings were still on the pistons and pistons were still on the rods. They used the new Clevite 77 TriArmor bearings. Main bearings are standard and rods are .001 under to get good clearances.

I picked the short block up on Thursday and started assembling it that night. Got the engine into the car on Friday night. After work on Saturday I finished hooking everything up and fired it up to set the timing at 8:30 PM. I was at the track by 9 AM on Sunday. Completely untested I was just happy after the first pass when I drove back to my pit and didn't have anything dripping.

I wasn't expecting the engine back until today so it was a surprise when they called me on Thursday. I was in a rush to get it all back together for Sunday since I knew I couldn't make the Saturday night race.

I was guessing at a bad torque converter since the first damage I saw was the spun thrust bearing. After this weekends runs, calculations show my torque converter only has 3.2% slippage and I can live with that. Next converter will be spragless with a mechanical diode if the time ever comes when I need a new converter. Watching the replay tach, the rpms never drop below 6000 after I launch so I'd have to say the converter stalls at 6000 rpm.

Other facts after the weekend. Staged the car at around 130-140*. Highest temperature I saw on the gauge was 180* when I was driving around with the fan turned off. My entire cooling system including what's in the block only holds 2-3 gallons. I put a container of Water Wetter in the cooling system also. Tranny temp never got above 150*. I know I was running rich since the EGT showed the exhaust temp very cold. I think it peaked at 900*. Oil pressure was a constant 40 psi at idle with 50w oil. It peaks at 65 psi.

HP calculations

RWHP produced at altitude (what the engine is actually making)
ET - 657.04
MPH - 667.64

Dyno corrected HP (what I should be seeing if I was on a dyno)
ET - 737.72
MPH - 749.62

With some tuning time I may see even better numbers. I set the timing to 36 or 37 degrees and left it. I may make more HP at 32 or 42. Without some T&T runs, I just don't know. I could turn the 2 step off and do some transbrake pulls to see if I can find more power. It runs strong and at the ET/MPH level that I wanted so why change things. I'm pushing the edge where a parachute is required and with the factory front disk brakes, I'm using the whole length of the track to slow down.

Sonix

iTrader: (1)

wow, you move fast! 3 days, impressive!

hmm, maybe i'll try and figure out a way to hold down my battery, so i'm legal (I have a bigger battery, so there's no room for that threaded rod setup you told me about)

hmm, you spun 2 bearings - so you replaced the bearings.. But isn't there a root cause for that, that you'd be worried about?

kinda off topic, but why run 50wt oil? That's über viscous.. you run big clearances to balance that off?

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Good to hear it went back on the trailer under its own power. May you have many more such days.

AlkyIROC

The mains and rod bearings were replaced with new new tri-metal bearings. Cam bearings were still fine.

50wt because I have clearance on the high end at .003" and because of the water(condensation) and alcohol contamination of the oil. The oil flows freely when the engine is warm and it's not started/driven in cold weather.

I may try to get my boss to sponsor me for next year just to supply oil. I can get bulk 15w40. If he'll sponsor me, I'll change the oil after every weekend. I only need 8 quarts to fill the system.

My mistake. This Sunday isn't the 25 anniversary race. It's just a big buck bracket race plus a muscle car shootout. The muscle cars will be racing heads up and will win a trophy. The brackets are broken down into 3 classes. The winner of each class gets $1000 (no other breakdowns). First round losers can buy back into a separate bracket to win $1000. All the winners from the 4 classes get to race each other and the winner of that gets an additional $1000. Being a bracket race, that could mean an 8 second dragster from Pro takes on a 17+ second car from Street and still lose.

$50 to enter. $20 to buy back into the first round loser class.
Muscle car class is $25 to enter. No buybacks.

Bracket class breakdown is
Pro 7:50 - 9.99
Pro Street 10.00 - 11.99
Street - 12.00 and slower

No mention of any restrictions such as electronics, exhaust or slicks. You fit into the ET class your car runs in and that's it. If you have a 9 second car that doesn't use electronics, you either slow it down into the 10 second range or you race the fast electronics cars.

I should hook up a throttle stop and slow my car down into the 10's to race in the slower class but use electronics. Probably not though. That 10-12 second class has some of the best racers. Technically if I want to run in SuperPro/SuperRod, the 9.90 index here in Calgary is 10.24 so I now have more than enough power to run the index.

When I mention electronics, that means delay boxes and throttle stops to control the reaction time and ET. Transbrakes are not considered electronics here but other tracks may consider it.

Many more days?? I get to race this Sunday then park the car until May

greezemonkey

iTrader: (14)

say it aint` so.....I can`t believe this season has gone by soo fast! Glad to hear your running good...we have a track here open till dec 2 brr!