I was looking through all the photos just now and I noticed that the car actually picked the front end up about 1ft before it started rattling the tires in Q1.....

https://bandbphotos.smugmug.com/KOTT-MPC-REAL-STREET/i-rjwvGt2/A


That is very interesting. I couldn't tell the car did that from the drivers seat. I thought it went into tire shake almost immediately.... Had I seen that pic or if someone would have taken a video of that pass I would have taken some power out early and likely avoided the whole huge wheel stand in Q2.

The crazy thing is.... the car was doing this stuff on only 10* of timing. It's going to take an entire different approach with the Progressive Controller to get it down the track with the timing up to 16*....
Will

Had high hopes coming into this weekend that I would finally get the 5.3X pass. The past 2 races the car has been faster than ever and just minor problems have been keeping me from going rounds.

Minor changes to the car from the last race. I set the fuel pressure for the nitrous up to 7psi (was at 6psi) to account for the better air conditions.

First off it rained us out on Saturday, so we had make up the next day Sunday and the weather was beautiful. High 50's, water grains showing low 40's and DA of about 1,100 ft.

Also my friend blackharleyman came out to watch.

Q1 - I expected the car to rattle the tires (has done it almost ever pass in Q1 this year) and sure enough it did... I was ready, pedaled it and went a 5.70@126MPH with a horrid 1.45 60ft.

I also expected it to not go up on the trans brake clean... sure enough it stuttered and stumbled before clearing out. Despite looking at everything in the carburetor, I could not find the problem.

Q2 - I expected the track to be better and the car to rip off a pass.... well the track was better and the car tried to rip off the back bumper again. I pedaled the car 3X and it just kept slamming down, then bouncing the front up higher and higher until I almost hit the wall and had to get out of it.

It did go 1.23 60ft tripping the timer with the back tires.....

Video on face book.

https://www.facebook.com/clif.williams.7/videos/10205579048074476/

The track photographer got a series of the first wheel stand past the 60ft lights but didn't get other 2 bounces. You can see I let it get pretty high before attempting to pedal...

https://bandbphotos.smugmug.com/KOTT-MPC-REAL-STREET/i-LsBt72q/A

It hit hard enough to drag the new oil pan on last hit and mashed the front of it up.... at least it's not leaking.

Again the car wasn'r clean comming up on the brake either....

E1 - I took some power out of the progressive controller and hoped for the best. Damn engine didn't go up on the brake clean again, but this time it backfired and shut off in a ball of flames.... I shut everything off, got it restarted and went back to the pit.

We started trouble shooting the problem (again). Yep the squirters on the carb are working, yep it's pulling fuel from the booster..... So I get the timing light out.. totally at a loss I wonder if the box is pulling timing once I engage the trans-brake.

I ask blackharleyman to sit in the drivers seat while I check the timing, fire the car off, he puts it in low gear and pushes the trans-brake button.... nothing - timing stays rock solid... we go thru this couple times but then I notice the timing is not at 31*.... it's at 25*. I double check and sure enough the timing is wrong.

So anyway I reset it to 31* in the pit and sure enough the car goes right up on the trans-brake easy as pie....

So now I'm at a point where I wonder if the timing was ever at 31*.... did I accidentally move the dizzy when we reset it back 2 races ago or is something mechanical going crazy.

Here's the other thing.... if it's been at 25* this whole time, I have been running with only 10* going down the track... and the car is absolutely flying. Not to mention the timing mark on the plugs was perfect the previous 2 races.... However it was not even readable on Sunday.... I assumed due to weather it had moved down the bend towards the threads (which I expected) but maybe if the timing moved from 31 to 25 is actually moved off the other end....

I honestly don't know WTF is going on. Maybe I sleep walked down to the garage and reset my timing.... Maybe elves came while I was at work and reset my timing.... Maybe it was never at 31* to begin with... maybe something is going haywire in the dizzy.

I have already checked out my cam belt drive and it's tight, belt is still good... I'm going to pull the distributor cap and rotor off tonight and check it for anything loose. I'm going to check my timing pointer to see if it's loose.... ATI balancer so it can't spin....

Can anyone think of anything else that might be the problem? I mean I am totally flustered with this problem and very well could be overlooking something simple....

One race left and I'm really hoping to get that 5.3X pass before the seasons over and hopefully not hurt anything doing it.

Thanks
Will

FYI, 1972 should have a TH400. TH350 didn't come in the Corvette until the 1976 L48.

The part your looking for is called a "Flywheel Dust Cover".

https://www.summitracing.com/search/pa ... N=4294924307%2B4294949291

Some of the universal ones do not have the cut out for the starter which is usually required on 168 tooth flywheels, If I remember correctly.... it may be the smaller 153 FW. Anyway, you may need cut it into the cover or buy one that is already cut.
Will

That's awesome. Glad to see your back working on it.

Will

It would probably be easiest to remove the diff from the chassis.

The cover/batwing has to come off in order to get the snap ring off the inner stub axel... which has to come out to change the seal.... which means the halfshaft has to be separated from the inner stub axel.

Pretty involved job either way for a simple side seal. Not difficult, just involved. I can have the diff out of a C4 in about 45mins.
Will

Quote:

I guess it's a kinda long and involved story starting back when I first met him in 2008...

The engine... I am sure everyone probably remembers when I had originally built it for him back in 2008.... It was installed in a regular old Green/Tan 96 Coupe he had at the time and he was intending to clone that car into a GS. He never got started on the cloning of that car... He ended up just driving the car... put like 30K miles on it in a few years.

I knew he always wanted a real 1996 GS thou....

Anyway, fast fwd a few yrs after I built him the engine, he finds and buys this beat down 96 GS vert from somewhere in Florida. The previous owner used it as a daily driver. I guess he just started looking for a real GS when he started adding up the cost to restore and clone his coupe.... So he bought the GS vert and started making plans to rebuild it into a show car.... Better than new paint/body, install his 383 LT4, slicked up ZF6 and 4.10 rear end, Z51 suspension.... do up the audio system, ect.

He brought us both cars and said you know what I want to do, find me some good people to do the work we can't.... And this is the result.

We did all of the driveline swap and install. We did the restoration of the convertible top frame (was rusted to death) and some of the interior restore. We had a well known Atlanta painter/body shop do the body/paint work and another well know Atlanta shop did the all ceramic exhaust and other powder coating.

He did the Z51 suspension swap and some of the interior himself.

He had buddy of his in Mississippi do the stereo/audio system to his specs.

Took about 3yrs total to get everything done.... He debuted it at Carlisle this year and is bringing it to Fun Fest this weekend.... not sure what other plans he has for showing it. He does also still drive it on the street quite a bit.

Thanks for the compliments.
Will

Found a video and few more pics of the car from when we were doing all the resto work.

Few engine idle videos. You can see the exhaust is totally ceramic coated in the first one....

[URL=http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn162/BlackHarleyMan/96%20Grand%20Sport/IMG_85011_zps55a95298-1.mp4][/URL]

[URL=http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn162/BlackHarleyMan/96%20Grand%20Sport/IMG_7746_zpscea59290.mp4][/URL]


Engine on the stand ready to back in.

[URL=http://s304.photobucket.com/user/BlackHarleyMan/media/96%20Grand%20Sport/145_zpsd9526ce7.jpg.html][/URL]

What a deconstructed 96 GS looks like.

[URL=http://s304.photobucket.com/user/BlackHarleyMan/media/96%20Grand%20Sport/0332_zpsb4d99503.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s304.photobucket.com/user/BlackHarleyMan/media/96%20Grand%20Sport/0342_zps254c7b1d.jpg.html][/URL]

A little look at what kind of shape the paint and body was in when he bought the car. You can see it was pretty well beat down.

[URL=http://s304.photobucket.com/user/BlackHarleyMan/media/96%20Grand%20Sport/IMG_6194_zpsb9551809.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s304.photobucket.com/user/BlackHarleyMan/media/96%20Grand%20Sport/DSC018162_zps6226a3b9.jpg.html][/URL]

On the trailer headed back home....This shot pretty much exemplifies just how nice the car is now.

[URL=http://s304.photobucket.com/user/BlackHarleyMan/media/96%20Grand%20Sport/IMG_7751_zps251eefdb.jpg.html][/URL]

ALOT of work and money to bring this car back. Our shop didn't do it all but we did coordinate the work we don't do with people we trusted to do good work. It really was an honor to do what we did here and a once in a lifetime type build.

He hasn't posted about this yet so I'm going to let the cat out of the bag..... All of it has paid off well for him too.

This car was recognized by Tadge Juechter himself at Carlisle last month with an award. Once it was fired up Tadge came running over to see "What car that ENGINE was in".... Once he looked at the car he was just blown away by all the little details. His words were "Bad Ass GS"....

Pretty awesome to have your work recognized personally by the "The Man" as far as Corvettes go today. Pretty awesome to see that Tadge is a real enthusiast about all Corvettes as well.

If you go to 26:58 of the video you can see him get presented his award with the Carlisle people and Tadge on stage.

https://www.facebook.com/CorvettesatCa ... 944447013284/?pnref=story


Will

Well this months race didn't produce and progress but we didn't go backwards either. I felt really confident coming into last weekend after all the progress we made at last months Friday night race.

I started with the same tune up and Progressive Nitrous Controller settings.

20%-35% in .30 second then 35% to 100% all in by .80 second.

In Q1 The car left good then rattled the tires something fierce about 50 feet out. I had to peddle the car. Went a 5.70@126MPH with a 1.25 60ft.

Fearing that the track wasn't going to be as good I backed the Progressive ramp down some for Q2.

20% to 35% in .35 second and 35% to 100% all in by .85 second.

Car left OK went A-B with no drama what so ever. 5.45@126MPH with a 1.25 60ft.

I should have left it alone as the track had tightened up considerably in Q2.

For E1 I had a turbo car and a very fast one that was having some problems in qualifying.... I actually was the fastest of us in qualifying and had lane choice. This was BTW the first time this season I had managed to qualify in the top half of the field.

I put the ramp back to what it rattled the tires with in Q1.

The light came down and I cut what felt like a good light.... My car rocketed off and I could see my opponent in the side mirror.... at the 1-2 shift I could see he was making up ground, like all turbo cars do.... at the 330ft I could see him at my door and I pushed down harder on the pedal.... At the line it was tight but he got the win light by .05sec.

My car went 5.43@127MPH with a 1.22 60ft. He went a 5.41@132MPH... don't remember what his 60ft was. I cut a .060 Light to his actually slightly better .030....

Sucked big time to loose that race. I should have done something more aggressive with the Progressive Controller ramps or maybe added a little extra fuel pressure to the tune up to see if it would picked up any...

I did pull around and make a test hit after E1 but I messed up my Progressive Controller settings... specifically I forgot to reset the 2nd ramps start time..... Was trying to shorten up the first ramp and overall time but just messed up....

I ended up with 20% to 35% in .15 second then 35%-100% starting at .30 second and all in by .80 second. The car left hard then kinda nosed over for .2 second and took off again. Went 5.48@125MPH with a 1.25 60ft.

So for October I am going to try...

20% to 35% in .25 second then 35% to 100% all in by .8 second and see if that does anything good. Also going to add a little fuel pressure to the nitrous tune up for sure as the Density Altitude will be much lower with the onset of fall and my tune up is currently straight up as lean as I care to run it right now.

I don't have any video other than what was poseted on the FB page. Look for my E1 pass/race in the "First Round Live" video.

https://www.facebook.com/MPCRealStreet/


Thanks Gurus.
Will

Quote:

Yes he did. It's got a lot of audio stuff packed in it.... I'll take some pics next time I am over there.

He's taking the car somewhere a few states away this weekend for a really big show. He's borrowed my truck and trailer to get it there.
Will

I took these last weekend when BlackHarleyMan let me to drive it to a local car show.

[URL=http://s50.photobucket.com/user/rklessdriver/media/Noland/IMG_20160903_152658279_zpsga1n3g0t.jpg.html][/URL]

Don't look like it but she's a little beast.

[URL=http://s50.photobucket.com/user/rklessdriver/media/IMG_20160903_154348189_HDR_zpse503o66v.jpg.html][/URL]

Wish I had made a video but I'll try next time.
Will

I hope the good news with your nephew's cancer continues Ken. That's some nasty stuff and I know it's really tough to deal with.

The holiday was pretty good for me.

I drove over to BlackHarleyMans place to take a look at his 91 coupe which was idling really low and missing occasionally.... turned out to be simple stuff to fix. A plug wire boot was arcing and the idle screw on the TB had backed off causing the IAC to run wide open....

Later that day I got to drive his 96 GS roadster to a local car show.... that car is so much fun. Lots of power, super loud exhaust system, immaculate paint and interior..... All the money and time he has spent restoring/modifying that GS was worth it. Such a cool car now. Fair amount of traffic on the way there and I was scared to death of someone crashing into it (with a 10K paint job you worry about that stuff) but once you get over that it's an enjoyable experience.... almost made me want to build another C4.

I also helped a few people who were racing this weekend with tune up and suspension advice. I though about going to the Yellow Bullet Nationals but since our Outlaw 10.5 car wasn't ready for the race, I decided to just stay home and field phone calls.

I still need to adjust the valves on my 84 and get it ready for our race this Saturday. I devote so little time to working on it, it's no wonder we have has such little progress to show with it but after the results at the last race, I'm pretty hopeful that I've finally figured the car out and it's running like it should have all along.

Somehow my 72 managed to get some pretty nasty scratches in the paint (drivers front fender arch)... of course nobody in the house knows anything about that - according to them no ones even been in the garage.... it's all the way to the primer so, definitely not going to buff out.... maybe after some waxing it'll be less noticeable. So much for my plan of keeping the original paint in good shape for as long as possible.

Take it easy
Will

Wow I can't believe they want to total your car for a hood and bumper cover...

Just goes to show haw bad resale value is on our C4s.

At this point the Insurace company has pretty much backed themselves into a corner about what they are willing to and in turn there is not a lot you can do. I would take the money, fix the car, get a rebuilt title and enjoy the car.
Will

Nice pics....

My buddy Noland (blackharleyman) was there with his 1996 Grand Sport convertible.... finally. He has been missing it for various reason but he finally got to show off the car he's worked so hard on restoring.

The wife and I wanted to go again this year but I had to bow out this year because of the race.

Next year I am hoping to have the 496 BBC finished for the 72 and I am going to see if I can get some of the friends I have on these Vette forums that I have built engines for to show up so we can all get together and show off our work.
Will

Thanks Tommy.
Will

Far as I know to be rule book legal, the parachute has to be mounted a certain way.... Mason Dixon is an NHRA sanctioned track so they are very observant on safety rules....

I just don't want to make the car look like a Pro Mod with a huge spoiler and parachute hanging off the back. IMO we got too much of that in the class now.... half of the field look like Pro Mods and I think more are moving in that direction... I guess I'm the only one that wishes my engine would still fit under the stock hood LOL.

Running the 1/4 mile isn't a priority for me.... actually next year I am hoping to be able to afford changing the rear gear and transmission low gear to make it more suited to 1/8th mile specific racing.

I only made this 1/4 mile pass because I had the rare opportunity and I wanted to see how much faster it is compared to the last time I made a big end hit.

Sorry your weekend didn't go as well as it should have Bill. It's nothing more time and more money won't fix thou.

Thanks guys.
Will

Which side do you need?

I have a right side one taking up room in my garage that I will pay it forward to you, if you pay shipping cost.
Will

Well my brilliant idea of dropping the base timing down to 25* so I didn't drop as much didn't work worth a crap....

Poor car barely idled and it wouldn't even rev up let alone do a burnout without backfiring and catching on fire..... (which it did 2X in the burnout box)

I backed out of the box and went back to my pit not even attempting to make a pass in Q1. I was totally pissed off and frustrated.

A new approach was going to be needed.... So I revert back to what I know at least works OK. I bumped the base timing up to 31*... car now idles fine and revs up fine. Went into my ignition box and set the retard to 10*. So 16* total going down the track.... it's hot... 96*F and the DA is +3200 feet with 97 water grains in the air. In all actuality it can probably take another degree of timing but I'm trying to be conservative.

I set my retard timer in the progressive controller to .15 second. On to the nitrous tables.... 25% start percentage flat lined for .35 second then 25% to 100% all in by .85 second. No idea where this tune up came from.... Pulled it out of my you know what.... anyway I just hope it will go A to B and can get some kind of qualifying

Q2, I do my burnout, start my purge... crap bottle pressure is like 1300psi and I need 900psi.... I'm purging and purging until I don't think I'll have enough nitrous left in the bottle to make the whole pass... bottle pressure now 1100psi... well that will have to do, so I move forward and line up, hit the brake and wait for the tree.... tree lights up and I let go of the brake...

WOW the car hits the tires like a ton of bricks and takes off like a rocket ship. I know it's either about to make a hell of a pass or tear the back bumper off.... the nose drops and it motors out like never before. I never even hear the guy in the next lane. I know it's a good pass.

5.43@127MPH. 1.22 60ft. That my friends is a personal best by a huge margin but I am only qualified 8th on the ladder.

I don't make any big changes... I want to see what the car reacts like with a full bottle and 900psi of bottle pressure like it should have. I know it'll hit softer so I shorten the 25% flat line from .35 second to .30 second.

E1 - I have the yellow Mustang the number 7 qualifier. I pre stage and my opponent kinda slowly rolls both bulbs catching me off guard.... I was expecting a little more time to get my car up on the brake.... Tree comes down and I'm asleep at the fricken wheel.... Car leaves good but I can tell it's still soft with the 900psi bottle pressure compared to 1100psi in Q1. He's a car ahead of me the whole way but I take that as a good sign because his car is a total beast in the class and current record holder (he had problems in Qualifying)... I know his stuff is fast and he didn't pull on me.

I go 5.45@126mph. 1.25 60ft.

Go back and turn the car around for a test hit... track guy says they will let me make ONE! at the end of round 2.

Set my progressive to 25% to 35% in .3 second and then 35% to 100% all in by .80 second. Leave everything else the same.

Bunch of us in the lanes to test.... I watch the first 2 cars go down and notice the 1/4 mile clocks are on.... Hummm that's interesting.

I do my burn out, bottle pressure perfect after a few purges at 900psi then stage.... Tree lights up and I let off the brake. It takes off hard... I know it's gonna the equal of Q1.... we hit the 1/8th mile clocks and my opponent is still in it so I stay in it.... we approach the 1000ft clocks and I'm ahead by a door... Mine is absolutely flying and the 7500RPM shift light just came on in high gear... So it's just getting started, so I decide to run it out the back door. I hit the /14 mile clocks and get on the brakes... right away I notice I may need better brakes.... that big orange net before the sand trap looks really big and I'm still doing 80MPH at least.... I stand on the brakes harder and pray the tires don't lock.... the car hauls down and I make the last turn off sweating bullets.

8.48@160mph. 5.43@127mph. 1.23 60ft.

I'll probably never make another 1/4 mile pass in this car. I would need to put a parachute on it and I don't want to do that... too "race car" IMO. Really thrilled with the 160mph 1/4 mile thou. BTW the car was rock solid at that speed.

Our semi official Youtube videographer got qualifying and eliminations but didn't get our test hits.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUdUN8w_uzQ


Next race is in 2 weeks. 10 September.

As always, thanks Gurus and I hope you enjoy my story telling and the videos of our class.
Will

Last weekend was just a total disaster. It was one of those days that makes you wonder why you even want to do this...

Car spun or rattled the tires on every hit. It also stumbled again going up on the trans-brake in E1 so I was stuck sitting there as the tree came down waiting for it to either backfire or clear itself out....

I've got to figure the engine stumbling/bumbling when transitioning from idle to WOT on the trans-brake out. Seems most prevalent once the plugs have a few passes on them.

I'm going to work on the carburetor and see what I can do with it. Seems to show OK on the AFR gauge but the plugs look terrible after driving it around the pit a little bit. I'm going to drop some fuel pressure out of it and play around with the float level to see if it helps.

Trying to get the 60ft down I wired my timing retard on a delay timer..... for the past 3 yrs I have been dumping timing once the nitrous comes on (instantaneously at launch) but with the big nitrous shot I am dumping so much timing (30*-15*) that the car kinda bogs for a millisecond then power wheelies..... So with this timer deal, instead of leaving on 15* of timing I am leaving on 30* of timing and then dropping to 15* after a certain amount of time.

I didn't know where to start so I started out with it set the timer to .8 sec.

That's a HUGE timing change for my car... I thought I'd be OK because with the progressive nitrous controller running from 15% to 50% over .5 second I'm killing a lot of power there.... So with 30* of timing during that time period the car should have a more power early in the run and 60ft real good.... but it seems to be way too much power because in Q1 it hit the tire rolled about 1/4 turn and a mili-second later blew the tires off. Went a 6.50@120 MPH

For Q2 I set the timer back to .5 sec and set the progressive nitrous controller down to 10% to 15% for .3 sec then 15% to 100% in .8 sec.

Car left and was rattling the tires really bad so I peddled until it hooked up which was about 100ft out. Another wasted run. Went a 6.05@121 MPH

For E1 I set the timer down to .3 sec and the Progressive Nitrous Controller down to 5% to 10% in .3 sec and 10% to 100% in .9 sec.

Going up on the trans-brake it stumbles/bumbles and acted up so I had to sit there as the tree comes down, my opponent leaves unchallenged.... while I prayed it doesn't backfire and catch on fire (yet again).... it cleared it self out in a second and I let if go.... it bogged for a millisecond at launch then power wheelies a little and goes down the track fine. 5.70@121 MPH with a 1.29 60ft.

So what I am thinking of doing is backing the base timing down some more.... I can only take 15* out with my ignition box and it's all in one step.... So I'm maxed out for timing retard now. Thinking of backing the base timing down to 25* and dumping 10*.... This will make the timing drop not so violent whenever it happens and it will make less power when using the delay timer on the timing retard at the same time as the progressive nitrous controller.

Only thing I worry about is getting the car cleanly up on the trans-brake.... less base timing isn't going to help that situation at all.

I don't have much time to deal with all this because we have a make up race Friday August 26.... Hopefully this works out better than last weekend.

Here is video of the race and qualifying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVEBd6gt7Io

As always thanks Gurus!
Will

Dang Tommy.... one thing after the other. People on the outside my home I don't worry about too much but once they come thru that door.

Happy Anny Tom.

I really dislike coffee... wouldn't even have Keurig in the house if the wife didn't like it so much.

My ankle is so much better after a week and some change. Still iffy feeling going down stairs and the bottom of my foot hurts but hopefully by the end of this week I'll be near 100%.
Will

The 4WD models is 7,200 lbs. The 2WD models is 7,400 lbs.

The little 3.0L put down 420ftlbs TQ.... manly little engine.
Will

The wife bought this about 6 months ago. Brand new only showed 2 miles on the odometer, when we test drove it.

She daily drives it 2hrs in DC traffic to work... which is only 14 miles one way. We have taken it on 1 trip to Florida to see her folks last month. It's averaging 24mpg around town and 31mpg on the hwy. Crazy how much better it is on fuel compared to the 5.7L Hemi GC that we (gleefully) traded in (9mpg and 17mpg).

It just turned 9,000 miles... gonna be due for it's first oil change pretty soon.

[URL=http://s50.photobucket.com/user/rklessdriver/media/IMG_20151220_121924616_HDR_zps2ngpx3qa.jpg.html][/URL]

I personally wanted her to have the new Diesel.... but the wife... well she was skeptical because the only Diesels she has ever been in was a 1981 VW Rabbit and my Dads/Brothers F350 7.3L or 6.7L Cummings Pick Up Trucks....

I found a dealer close by that had a few Grand Cherokees optioned out comparable to her 2009 model with both gas and Diesel engines. I wanted her to be able to see, hear and drive the difference for herself. After driving the Diesel she didn't even want to test drive a gas powered one..... It was all about the options, colors and price after that.

This is a pretty awesome little Jeep.

Exterior styling is very nice. Build quality is pretty good as well.... we are talking about Chrysler Corp. here, so our expectations in this area were low... I mean we both owned a bunch of Jeeps in the past, but we were pleasantly surprised here. Fit and finish on the paint and body panels is very good. My only complaint there is the typical orange peel in the paint finish that all new cars seem to exhibit... with all the hi tech water based paint and computer run booths, I don't understand why OEMs can't lay down slick paint. Door, sunroof and rear hatch seals are great - this thing is eerily quiet inside.

Interior is very comfy, the leather seats are well put together, not a stitch out of place anywhere and everything is easy to operate.... except the damn shifter assembly (lots of complaints about them). That POS takes some getting use to... it's no wonder people are getting run over and killed by their own Jeeps. We just apply the emergency brake before we even try to put it in "Park".

The 3.0L Turbo Diesel is great. LOTS of power in the Grand Cherokee chassis. Fuel economy is almost unbelievable compared to her 2009 with the 5.7L Hemi. A little "Diesel" noise when it's cold outside but overall very quiet and mild mannered little engine for an oil burner. 99% of the people we have driven around in it didn't even know it was a Diesel until we told them....

8 speed Tourqueflite transmission. That's a lot of gears and it's shifting gears all the time... Shift quality is very smooth.... not CVT like as you can tell there is an RPM drop but it's very smooth and it's seemingly never in the wrong gear. Chrysler did this one right IMO.

My only real complaint with this thing is that it's EXPENSIVE! All new cars seem to be more money than they should be to me these days, but darn, $45K is a pretty penny.... that did include the 100K mile extended Warrantee ($2500) thou... I just couldn't in good conscience drive off the lot with the standard 3/36 Warrantee deal on something I know will be as expensive and difficult to repair as a Eurotrash Diesel engine.

It hasn't snowed yet so no idea how well it drives in bad weather but it has like 10 different 4WD settings and all kinds of electronic stability controls, so I would think it's at least as good as the 2009 was (ie - totally awesome). I'll probably never get to test it out in the mud but on Daytona Beach it was great..... The ride and driving manner on the road are very good. It's a very easy SUV to drive long distances in.... settles in at 75-80mph like nothing.

Hopefully this is going be really reliable.... I waited a few yrs for Chrysler to get the kinks worked out of the little Diesel before we went and seriously look at it. Timing worked out good, because the 2009 GC had just turned 110,000 miles and was throwing random codes for the Cat converters which was going to be at least $2K to get fixed. It needed new plugs again (16 of them too), I had just put new brakes and tires on it.... plus the gas mileage was just total crap (and to think she actually wanted a 2008 GC SRT-8 when we bought it).... I am hoping that this new Grand Cherokee will stay with us for a long time. It's off to a good start so far.
Will

For the bolt hold back on an AK you can modify the safety lever or buy a replacement safety lever from Krebs that is cut to hold the bolt back. It doesn't lock on an empty magazine but it allows you show clear easily.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/1371 ... r-ak-47-ak-74-steel-matte

The Chinese MAK 90's are solid AK platform rifles. Some of the best ever imported into this country. Only bad thing about the MAK 90 is that it's a 90's ban era deal and you have to spend some $$$ and be mindful of 922r laws to convert them back to their original military configuration.

Sad that you have to deal with that kind of law making up there.... I don't see things staying much better for us that live in the south as time passes.

Will

Hi Gurus,
I sprained my ankle pretty smartly last Saturday hiking with the wife. Of course it's happened before when I was a kid but, WOW, at 41yrs old it's like a totally new experience and not one I care to repeat anytime in the future.

I just bought the pistons/rings which completes the short block parts on the 496 BBC I'm building for my 72.... now on the expensive stuff (top end).

I still have some minor work to do on the 84 before we go racing again on the 20th. Then we have a rain date make up race the very next weekend on the 26th.

Marcus - I highly recommend a BB 4M C3.

Teebee - That is some very nice wood work.

Oh a friend at work just bought a new C7 Stingray... it's a great car. Wish I had room to keep another Vette.
Will

Quote:

Hey Rich,
I wish I had the camera in the car that day. The video would have been awesome, but my "pit crew" forgot to bring it.... along with a bunch of other useful stuff like the fuel funnel and spark plug socket....

First race of the year and we just didn't have our routine down.
Will

Here is an in car video from Saturday.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/h5btzv3dzkukbp2/002.MP4?dl=0

Enjoy the ride!
Will

Quote:

It's 86 miles from my house.

Little over 1.5 hour drive on a good day but I live south east of the track and I have to skirt DC to get there.... It can be a terrible 3 hour drive.
Will

I have been planning to treat this race as a test session for the entire month since our last race.

The overfueling condition when the nitrous kit is activated has been a problem from day one since I had this fogger built. It has been solidly stuck in the 10.XX AFR range despite 3 different carburetors and regardless of what I flow the fuel pressure at. I joked at the last race that I was so tired of seeing it rich on the AFR nmeter and plugs looking like crap after every pass that I going to take the 31N jet out, put the 36N jet in and leave the 22F jet in.....

I wasn't quite that brave. I put the recommended 36N and 26F jets in and set fuel pressure to 6 psi to start.

My first round qualifying pass didn't go very good. I forgot to air the tires down... remembered that there was 25pis in the rear tires about the time I hit the burnout box.... Sure enough the car blew the tires off instantly. I peddled and got the car hooked up and watched the AFR meter all the way down.... 10.5 AFR showing entire run.

Q1 - 6.19@121MPH. 1.46 60ft.

Came back and dropped the fuel jet down. Ready for Q2 with a 36N 24F @ 6psi.

Managed to remember to air the tires down to 17.5psi for Q2. The car acts very funny going up on the trans brake... stumbles bad and takes a second to clear out.... I have to sit there after the tree comes down and hold the car for a second before I let it go. Car left like a pig, felt kinda slow and sure enough 11.3-11.6 AFR showing the entire run. At least we are making some progress on the tune up.

Q2 - 5.60@124MPH 1.30 60ft. Good enough for 7th on the ladder.

So I go back and decide to try and drop fuel pressure. Gonna make a big move from 6psi to 4 psi and see if I can get the AFR to show in the 12's for first round eliminations. I got nothing to loose as I'm up against a car capable of running 5.30's.

For whatever reason the car backfires going up on the trans brake and catches the carburetor on fire... well that sucks. Unbuckle my belts so I can reach the hood latch. Track and my crew guy get the fire out and I happen to notice that thru all the commotion by crew/track guys opening the hood and what not, the car didn't move out the lights, so the timer hasn't started yet.... Well lets make a test hit! I fire the engine back up put it on the brake and let it go.... car feels like a rocketship.... then instantly rattles the tires (like BAD wheel hop). I stay in it glancing at the AFR meter all the way to the line.... 11.6 AFR is the highest I saw.

E1 - 5.75@122MPH... 1.38 60ft. Like an idiot, I'm not even buckled in... yep in my haste I forgot to put my 5pt harness back on.

I go talk to the track guy about making a test run after E2. They say I'm good to go, so I go back and take some more jet out of the nitrous kit.... You guessed it. 36N 22F@6psi. Just what I jokingly threatened to do a month ago.

The car comes up on the brake fine this time, and I when I let it go it takes off. Feels like a rocket ship for sure this time.... very small power wheelie to about 40ft out.... Nice and straight and I can tell just from the sound of the engine that its running good. glance at the AFR meter and 12.5 AFR in low gear, 13.05 AFR on shift recovery for a millisecond then back to 12.6ish in high gear. I am ecstatic at the big end of the track waiting on my crew guy to get there with the 4 wheeler to pull it back to the pit.

He pulls up and hands me the slip.

E2 Test pass - 5.67@125.6MPH. 1.32 60ft. I am shocked because it felt like so much better of a pass, but the clocks don't lie....

Finally we have the MPH we have been looking for... but now the 60ft sucks.

Video of the race is here on Youtube. Give it a like as the guy comes to most of our races and has started posting the videos up and he sure makes it easier for me to show everybody else what we are doing out there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae2fM7QQgNs


Next race is going to be a challenge working on getting that 60ft back in the low 1.2X's... but if I can the car is going to fly.... Hope to see a few 5.40 time slip's.

Thanks Gurus.
Will

Those 3 bolts on each side of the shroud of the later C4's are a real SOB.

I did the radiator in my 92 about a year after I bought the car and I did another one few yrs later on a 93 for a young Marine that worked for me.... neither of those cars got those bolts put back. I'm just not that big of a glutton for punishment.

That Champion radiator will do a good job for you Bill. The one I put in the 79 few yrs back is still doing great.
Will

It's amazing what a 6" length of chain attached to the lower A Arm to limit front extension to about 1" will do. I mean you can see the front of the car is just about glued to the ground as hard as the rear.

All I have to do now is straighten out the engine tune up where the car will really run on the big end. As you can see in the video the car is still a good deal faster than some and way slower than others... I want to get in the 5.40's on this little tune up so bad but I just don't know that it has the HP to do so. I'm thinking one more race before I say screw it and put the 36 jets (that's my BIG tune up) in the nitrous kit.

For the next race:

After conferring with my chassis builder we are going to shorten up the Progressive Nitrous Controllers ramp a bunch next time out. He thinks I should be all in somewhere around .6 sec total and starting at 30%... of course he don't have to pay for the oil pans.....

Going to take some more jet out of the carburetor as the engines AFR is still very rich when the nitrous is activated and this weekend it responded positively to reducing fuel pressure on the nitrous kit... We went from 6psi to 5psi to 4psi.... I'm just at the lower recommended limit of 4psi and there is no more room to go lower on the NO2 kit so I'm left with no choice but to take fuel out of the carb.

I guess we'll see how that works out.
Will

Sorry to hear about your Mom Andy.

Even when we know it's coming it's hard. Glad you have some family around you as it's a big helps.
Will

It was good to get back out on the track.

We had last months race canceled for rain which was good for me since I was still waiting for my replacement oil pan to arrive and once it did, I still had to modify the crap out of it to fit....

I also fabricated up some limiters for the front suspension to keep it on the ground and as you can see in the video it worked perfectly.

First qualifier and second qualifier I was very timid about getting after the car and smashing the oil pan again.

I had a single in the 1st round eliminations, due to my opponent locking up his engine in qualifying. So with nothing to loose I went a little harder. Put the exact tune up in it that stood it on the bumper last race.... 25% to 50% in .6 sec. 50% to 100% in by 1.1 sec. Car went a 1.29 60ft and 5.69@120MPH.

In second round eliminations I was throwing 30% to it at the hit and the car was just stuck to the ground. 30% to 50% in .6 sec and 50% to 100% by .85 sec..... Just Took me a few passes to get brave enough to go that hard at it but the car responded with a 1.25 60ft and a 5.61@121MPH. I cut a .032 light to his .059.... still can't believe I lost that race.

Anyway turns out someone is posting video of some of our races on youtube and here's everything from Q1 to the final.

https://youtu.be/sgeFEqopiDE

As always thanks Gurus.
Will

LOL.

As my dad says - "The difference between racers and Steering Wheel Holders"....

I however don't harbor any ill will to people who can do that.... Personally if I had the money, I'd proudly strut around the paddock knowing full well I was a Steering Wheel Holder.... Hell I'd be tickled to death if I could race like that... Actually I'd only strut the paddock for a short time because, mostly I'd enjoy just kicking around in the "Racers Lounge", nibbling on some Beluga and white Alba truffles until it was time for me to go out on the track.

Ah yes racing as it should be....

Will

Be sure to let you know how it looks, fits and works.

I'd be curious if they have worked to improve their product or gotten worse or just decided they are doing well enough.
Will

The Champion is not a bad radiator at all. For the money IME your getting a good radiator.

If you guys remember, I put one in Elsie's 79 back in 2011.... It's still going strong and still running cool.

My folks drive the car every weekend for fun just like Elsie and I did when we owned it.

My complaints with our Champion radiator were:

1. The visual appearance of the TIG welds on the side tanks..... I mean if your going to have the tanks made from fabricated sheet aluminum at least get someone to weld it up who knows how to lay down a row of dimes.... Otherwise just do what everybody else does and use factory appearing stamped aluminum side tanks.

2. The supplied nipple for the overflow hose was the wrong size to fit the factory overflow hose.

3. The transmission cooler fittings (female threaded bung)in the tank seemed kinda loose threading the factory tranny cooler hard lines up... but they did tighten up fine and so far have never leaked (going on 5yrs).

4. The teflon tape was pre-wrapped on the overflow nipple and drain pet cock.... of course it was wrapped the wrong way.

Now none of my complaints made a hill of beans difference in the fit and function of the radiator.... like I said, it's a good solid radiator for the money. In the end I was more than happy with what we got for the $149.00 I paid.
Will

It's coming along nicely.

If it were me, I'd want the biggest spline outer stub shafts I could put under it.... despite my well known success with stock parts, LOL... It's scary as hell when they let go.
Will

When you say "Bump" on the shocks... typically that means the compression setting but I just want to make sure...

My rear shocks are Penske 7500's.

They are common "double adjustable" with separate Compression (40 clicks) and Rebound (19 Sweeps) adjustment. Clicker adjuster (actually an allen head) on the compression and then a sweep window near the top of the shaft for the rebound (what a PITA to adjust on the car).

I have them set dead center, 20 from loose on compression and about 3/4 tight, 15 from loose on rebound.

The front shocks are Viking double adjustable but they use clicker knobs for compression and rebound. 19 adjustments for each one.

I was 10 from loose on the compression and full tight, (19 from loose on the rebound.
Will

Quote:

I don't know how I would even do anything like a tilt sensor. My car is bare bones pretty simple as far as electronics and engine management. The only thing you use it as a trigger to kill power, would be ignition retard or nitrous activation.

As far as traction Control, Davis Electronics makes a TC box all the "street race" guys run (we run them in our dirt late models as well) but it's like 5 grand and my class can't run them anyway.

Really the best thing to do is to use the suspension to keep the car on the ground and pour all the HP I can to it and get it down the track as fast as possible. You'd be amazed what limiting the front travel (extension) or using a strap/chain to terminate it abruptly, will do.... Also I got be better prepared as the driver to recognize what the car is doing.

This was the first nitrous pass on those 275 radial tires and I (as the tuner) just misses the set up, then missed driving (as the driver) properly.... lol.
Will

Could have been much worse. Sorry to hear but glad your OK. The Guru Vette can be fixed.
Will

Quote:

Yea, no wheelie bars allowed.... makes the class exciting....

Just got off the phone with Kevko. Pan is ordered, should take 2 weeks to be built and shipped.
Will

Hey Gurus. Pretty mad at myself. Went racing Sunday and smashed the oil pan to pieces on the very first pass of the day.

I'll get some video and pics up in the drag racing section tomorrow. Drug the bumper off 150ft out and then the car got some air under it, tried to blow over backwards... I had no choice but to lift which slammed the car to the ground.

Track camera man got a great shot with all 4 tires off the ground thou....

Going to call Kevko tomorrow and get a new oil pan built.

Got to build some limiters for the front suspension and re think my Progressive NO2 controller's settings.
Willl

It was cold as heck this morning.... like 31F.

Wishing I was back at Camp Pendleton, CA.

I too this pic a few weeks ago when I was out there for work....

[URL=http://s50.photobucket.com/user/rklessdriver/media/Facebook/Mobile%20Uploads/12799340_1576437139342436_2060396876838694941_n_zpsqsdzo3oz.jpg.html][/URL]

Will

Quote:

Thanks Bill. We are going to do our best. The class is progressing so quickly.... I'm just hoping to continue to be a top 10 car.... Maybe win again in the RS2 field. Big maybe would be just qualifying for the Quick 8 Shootout.

Heck we had a few of the Quick 8 guys run 5.20's at the final 2015 race and one clicked off a 5.18.... which is holy crap.... I feel like there's a lot left in my car but I can't even imagine my combo being capable of running that right now.

I hope you get the engine back in time to go testing. It's good to get out there with no pressure to just have a little fun learning/testing.

Your not kidding about "Not Cheap".... I bought a 30 gallon drum of fuel and it cost me $495.00. Already killed 5 gallons and haven't even earned a single point.

Nitrous is $6.50 a LB and I had to fill 6 brand new 10LB bottles....

Also the Tech Man noticed my belts expire this month.... So I went a head and got a new set on order.

The old Super Stockers are awesome.... even today I love those cars and would have one in a min if I could afford it.
Will

Quote:

I want to run a 5.5X @125MPH or better - Off the trailer. By round 1 eliminations I hope to run a 5.4X....

That's an 8.30 to 8.50 in the 1/4 mile.

By the end of this season I hope to be capable of 5.30s.

We'll see.
Will

Quote:

Those 275's are the best small tire in the history of drag racing.... Lots of guys going way faster than my car on them.

I just hope once I hit it with the juice, the car don't try to do a moon shot! They are known for causing huge wheel stands when people don't have good power management.

This 3 link solid axle was built/designed specifically to work best with the 275 Radial. I ran last year on the old bias 10.5 slick to keep from having to learn "too much new stuff" at one time....

Everybody else in the class is faster on the 275 v/s the bias 10.5 slick... I just hope I can make it work as well as others have.
Will

Also... All those planned upgrades to the suspension and possible work replacement parts on/in the engine...

With the exception of the new carburetor - I didn't do any of that stuff. LOL. My chassis builder's schedule was too booked up to do the X Link track locator and after looking at my log book carefully (missed a lot of races last year), I feel like the engine is safe to run this season on the original roller lifters.

I kid you Gurus not.... This car sat on it's trailer, under a car cover, outside in my buddies yard for the entire winter.

Last week, I went and towed it over to my house, fixed a busted -12AN fuel hose, put the new carb on it, filled it up with fuel, charged the battery and went to the track.

I do need to change the oil and check the valve lash before Saturday's race.
Will

Went out Saturday and made a few (all motor) test passes to get my new carburetor jetted up.

My new carb is a custom built AED G2 4500 "Dominator". Real nice piece. Check it out.

[URL=http://s50.photobucket.com/user/rklessdriver/media/Facebook/Mobile%20Uploads/12418048_1593966817589468_2110920081333664757_n_zpsskji2829.jpg.html][/URL]


I also wanted to see how the new MT 275 Pro Radial tires drive at speed... knew traction wouldn't be an issue running on motor alone but it was good to see no surprises on the high speed part.

Also I didn't want to mess with anything on the car too much, so I just left the timing where it was from last year 28* (makes it easier for the box to retard enough for the nitrous)...... BTW motor makes best HP at 40* timing advance N/A, so it's down a ton of HP running it N/A with the timing so low.

Same thing with the launch and shift RPMs... on NO2 I launch at 4000RPM and shift at 7000RPM, so I just left that stuff all alone. Converter stalls about 5,200RPM and Peak power N/A is at 7,500RPM so..... yea, I'm leaving a lot to be desired.

But again I wasn't there to try and set a new N/A record. I just needed to run it down the track and see how the carb reacted and see that nothing else in the car went bad over the winter.

And I ran the full 1/4 mile N/A to get the air pressure going over the hood/cowl scoop to be similar to what it is on a full boogie NO2 pass in the 1/8th mile.


First pass car went
1.53 60ft
6.75@101MPH 660
10.47@133MPH 1/4

Everything was just as smooth as glass. Car left like a pig and just layed against the TQ converter for the entire first half of the track..... 6,000 RPM it felt like someone hit a small shot of nitrous.... then it shift at 7,000RPM. High gear shift (Powerglide) came about the 1/8th mile mark LOL...... AFR was rich... 11.3ish once everything stabilized. Came back to the pit and knocked 4 jet sizes out of it. From 91's to 87's in all 4 corners.

Second pass:
1.53 60ft
6.77@100MPH
10.55@132MPH

Again car left like a pig, layed against the converter all the way down the track and for whatever reason (bored watching the AFR meter I guess) I stupidly reached up and grabbed the shift handle and shifted it into high gear at 6,000RPM... why I did this I have no idea.... car has an air pod activated shifter, so it's not like I'm in the habit of having to manually do anything in this car. Ring rust I guess.... The AFR was much better at 12.4ish which is what I was shooting for with the previous jet change.

I came back to the pit, let the car cool off, charged the battery a bit and waited to make another pass.

Third pass:
1.48 60ft
6.62@103MPH
10.32@135MPH

Again nothing exciting happened while driving.... got to watch the NGK Powerdex AFX AFR meter all the way down. AFR was 12.4 once everything stabilized. Car feels so slow it made me almost sad to drive it this way.... However, 10.30's and 135MPH is pretty impressive considering... 3050+LBS car with a 3.89 gear, 2spd Powerglide with a tight aggressive nitrous converter....

I bet with 40* of timing a serious 5000RPM launch and 8,000RPM shift point the car would run high 9's all motor. I was tempted to find out but I have to make an entire season of racing and there's no reason burning up more fuel, tires and life off the motor... maybe at the end of this season I will tune it up N/A and make a few passes to see. Maybe put a better N/A converter and gear under it as well....

Next Saturday the 9th April is my first points race. I have 6 new nitrous bottles filled up, new AED carburetor is tuned in and the new 275 Pro radials are mounted up. Everything is ready to go. Still got my last race of 2015 race winning 31 jet tune up in the fogger (baby tune up).

Hope to go 5.50's off the trailer and 5.40's by the end of qualifying.
Will

Not much going on here. Weather is nice but the battery is dead in the 72... won't take a charge either. Has a 2013 date sticker on it.... Seems everything is junk these days. Sucks as I'd like to drive the car a little.

Got a few projects completed, a few still in progress and one still in the planning stage... of course real work still keeps me super busy.

Not enough time in the days it seems.
Will

FYI - They usually have Loctite on them... even the new bolts that come in the strap kits from SPICER have per applied Loctite.

MAP Torch is your best bet if they are really stuck in there. Be careful not to burn up the inner stub axle seal.....

I've never used anything special as far as sockets.... Craftsman and Stanley are what I have at the house.

Something I have found that helps is to rotate the half shaft around so that you have the socket on the bolt straight as possible but still in contact with the edge of the half shafts yolk... that way you can use it to stabilize the socket/ratchet/extension... Those little bolts can be a real pain to get out of there.
Will

I had an 87 Cavalier Z24 when I was in High School.

2.8L V-6 with a 5 speed. Ran mid 14's in the 1/4 with a 50 shot on it. Car was a real sleeper.... I made a lot of money with that car from the unsuspecting. The love affair didn't last long thou.

Got my first 5.0L Mustang and I was out of a driving GM product for the next couple of yrs.

When I went in the Marine Corps in 1994, I needed a regular "daily driver" and bought a new 94 Cavalier with the 2.2L and 5spd.... wasn't long before I put nitrous on it too and was back to making money from the unsuspecting.
Will