So apparently "this weekend" is 4 months later. I finally took a look and the valve train looks fine for once! Valve noise and exhaust leaks sound pretty similar so I'm going to pull the headers to see if I find any sign of an exhaust leak but I can't find my 5/16 socket for the header bolts today. I'll pick one up later in the week. It's been 4 or 5 weeks since I've driven it and I need to run the fuel through and fill up with fresh stuff, anyway.


Lawrenceville, GA

Sounds like a good time Charlie.  Nice to know the truck is faster than the Firechicken.

   God Bless.   Tim                           http://yblockguy.com/

350ci Y-Block FED "Elwood", 301ci Y-Block Unibody LSR "Jake", 312ci Y-Block '58 F-100, 338ci Y-Block powered Model A Tudor

tim@yblockguy.com  Visalia, California    Just west of the Sequoias

I went again last night, but with the Firebird. The only significant departure from stock is the Hooker cat back. Everything else is stock or stock replacement. 305 TBI, 5 speed, 3.08 posi, WS6 (for those not familiar with GM stuff, that is performance suspension, different springs, wider wheels/tires, bigger roll bars). The best was16.848 @ 83.16. It has the same launching problems as the truck. I was expecting it to leave better. Street tires suck. The weight with me and some other stuff was 3590 and the tire size/gear ratio combo works out to about the same as the truck so I had the same issue, not enough track to get into 4th. So I can say that my truck is faster than my "sports car" in a straight line, anyway.



We swapped the cam in Tony's Duster last weekend to something smaller with more overlap and swapped to a lower rpm intake, from performer rpm air gap to a performer. The plan was to make it less peaky but to try to keep the averages pretty close and make it more street friendly. It seemed to work. He only slowed 4/10s, 15.1s (the 14.6 above happened when the water/power steering pump belt decided to retire. 14.7s were consistent) and says he's much more happy with the driveability. There's an electrical gremlin with the ignition so he put it away for the night before trying different shift points and launch rpms. So it may be even closer to what he ran last time.



One race was pretty fun. It was a turbo 4cyl of some kind. I could hear the turbo and blow off valve when he shifted behind me and then after about the 1/8th he blew by me, ran 13 something. When I got my time slip, it turns out that he was asleep, a 1.6 second reaction time and mine wasn't great so I got about a 1 second head start and that was the best run of the night for me. Up to the 1/8th I was thinking "why did you waste money on that rice burner?" After the 1/8th I was thinking "open mouth, insert foot." Sometimes I forget they can be fast.


Lawrenceville, GA

Yes. BUT once they break loose you're done. You'll still need to slip the clutch on the start. The track prep is a major part, many tracks don't do a lot of prep for T & T. Our local track is really bad in that scenario. I was usually 2 to 3 tenths slower at home as opposed to Columbus or US 131.

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

You mean the pressure?



I was comparing things last night and my 60 foot was generally worse than in Columbus. They didn't have the track prepped very well since it was just a test and tune. Hopefully that's the reason. I was hoping to see some improvement there with the traction bars and lower rear - but it probably simply need some tuning in that area, too.


Lawrenceville, GA

Charlie, This will sound counter-intuitive, but it works. The harder you run the street radials, the better they hook. I run around 45 at the Pure Stock races.

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Nice going Charlie. You're getting there. Chuck

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

Y-Guy Charlie:   15's are o.k. especially when you look in the "Muscle Car" mags and see street Hemi's & etc. running 15's.

               Keep it up and get Tony to do the pictures...

Bill

Pelham,Al

They sure are bad for launching. I'm sure I can get more out of them by putting the traction bars in the position which is better for traction and playing with the preload. I just don't want to break something and have to have it towed home. I need to get a ramp truck.

I don't have the power to have the problem you have with street tires once I get moving, though.


Lawrenceville, GA

Street tires suck on the track don't they Charlie? Ha!Ha!

-Gary Burnette-