Went to Mason Dixon Dragway today to test out my newly fabricated D44HD Spool and 3.90 gear.... The new rear end works great. Car drives like a dream and no more worries about exploding the posi comming out of the burn out box.... My brother did a top notch job on converting this spool this for me.

Also testing my newly rebuilt TH350 and it likewise is working flawless.

I worked my way up to these 2 full 1/8th mile passes.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lyqzpynsp7ip663/IMG_0849.MOV?m

https://www.dropbox.com/s/39ggn9b1qok5yw9/IMG_0850.MOV?m

1.35 60ft and 6.18@109mph to the 1/8th mile was my best pass today... 1.37 and 6.20@109 was the other full on pass.

DA was about +700ft and the track folks said that was the best they had seen in a long time, as Mason Dixon is practically on a mountain.

As you can see I ran to the 1/8th mile and coasted for the rest of the 1/4 mile to a 10.15 and 10.25.... there is a good reason for this...

After my first nitrous pass today, I was asked to shut the car down early to keep the NHRA tech people happy because it busted off a 9.90 first pass (and I was coasting from the 1000ft mark).... No big deal to me since my class runs 1/8th mile at 75-80 and I know the car is not legal (yet) to be running that fast.

I made a number of other "work up" passes just trying to get a feel for the car... making sure the spool was going to drive good and nothing crazy was going to happen.

A few things I need more work on.

(1) Rear shocks. I need new ones and they need to be high dollar ones.... You can see the car "porpoise" as it bounces the front tires off the ground 3 times before the 60ft.... this is because I extended the rear bump stops and the car is hitting them so hard it's unloading the rear end (shock rebound is unable to control the rear end) and then the car is spinning the tires, then hooking, hitting the snubber again, unloading the tires, exct...

(2) My nitrous tune up... I had full bottle pressure today (my bottle heaters are working perfectly) and the car was quite a bit slower (even thou I had better 60fts today) than my initial Winter Test Session in GA. MPH was down and thats a loss of HP.... Maybe it's just the DA difference but time will tell once we get to make some passes (without breaking) on a track not located on a mountain....

(3) Safety. I need to get the car legal for how fast it is so I can run the 1/4 mile flat out if I want to.

June 1st is my first Real Street class race at 75-80 Dragway (thankfully they got rained out last week so I didn't miss the first race). Will let you guys know how we do.
Will

Very nice, Will. Ever consider manufacturing those spools for others?

Quote:

Really with only a manual Bridgeport and Lathe there is way too much work for it to be profitable at all... and then there is such a limited market. Not many people have the kind of power to need this and those that do, mostly go the smart route and dump the IRS/convert to a straight rear end....

There are a number of differences in a regular D44 and the Corvette/Viper D44HD that need to be corrected for the D44 spool to fit in the D44HD housing.

You have to narrow the spool up and turn the ends down (where the carrier brgs press on)

Fabricate a spacer for inbetween the stub axles. This is so that they press against it like they do the cross pin shaft in the stock posi.

Then you need to drill and tap (2) 5/16 holes to retain the stub axles. This is so they can't pull out of the side rear end in a hard turn.

Counter bore a flat spot/recess on the stub axles for the "retaining bolts" to engage.

Machine the (2) 5/16 bolts the correct length to engage the stub axles....

I'd be glad to give anyone that wants to know how we built this the measurements and instructions - but as far as trying to manufacture them for re-sale.... No.
Will

I understand the cost/time benefit, sure.

I did see a post on CF the other day, someone is working on an interchangeable pumpkin/gearset for the D44.

Very nice launches!