We ran the last points race of 2016 Saturday.

I was excited to put my learned info over this season to use one last time. The car showed so much potential the past 2 races...

I'm really focused ahead to next season after we redo somethings on the car this winter which will change the weight distribution but I knew if I could keep it off the back bumper it was going run pretty good at this last race.

For Q1 I had a very easy ramp in the Progressive Nitrous Controller.

15% flatlined for .3 second
15% to 100% all in by 1.00 second

Imagine my surprise when I get in the staging lanes and remember to turn the bottle on.... only 600psi of bottle pressure.... Great! I totally forgot to heat the bottle up. I do my burn out and stage the car knowing it's not going to be a good pass. I let go of the transbrake and almost nothing happened.... the car rolled off the line like a slug, slowly building speed and shifting into high gear right at the 1/8th mile lights....

6.75@99MPH

We go back to the pit and I heat the bottle up.... got 1100 psi of bottle pressure.

Q2. I don't change anything. do my burn out, purge the bottle down to 950psi and stage the car.... Let go of the transbrake and again.... nothing. Slow as molasses all the way down.

6.75@100MPH

We start trouble shooting everything, wiring, bottles, lines... finally I notice that the throttle linkage isn't touching the micro switch to activate the nitrous system... in fact I only have about 1/2 throttle.

Somehow the throttle cable stretched or the pedal bent during that huge wheelie I had last race because nothing else has moved. I re-adjust the cable bracket and everything is 5 by 5.... except I'm qualified dead last... and have the number 2 qualifier, current class ET record holder and current points leader in round 1... Yea his car is a beast.... I have no chance of beating him unless he red lights or breaks.

For E1 I decide to shorten my second ramp up a little.

15% flat lined for .3 second
15% to 100% in .90 second (more on this later)....

I do my burn out and purge the bottle down to 1050 psi.... Stage the car and this time when I let go of the transbrake it takes off... like it was shot out of a cannon. My opponent is no where to be seen until about 330ft... I can see him coming in the passenger mirror and he is flying. At the line we are dead even but I know he nipped me with all that MPH.

I get my time slip and:

5.408@129.75MPH with a 1.23 60ft.

A new personal best in ET and MPH. Infact I can't believe the MPH.... almost 130MPH is showing amazing HP for my combo.

He went a 5.20@135MPH with a 1.22 60ft... but he was so focased on letting me leave first (so he didn't redlight and throw the championship away) that I almost beat him with a .080 light.

So now I'm down to making test hits to trying and gather more data before we take the car apart. I really want to get a 5.3X pass.... and if it will go 130mph that would be great too....

I go to shorten my ramp up again... to my surprise in E1 I did not set my ramp to 15% to 100% in .90 second.... I actually set it 15% to 90% in 1.00 second. If you guys remember I have mixed those 2 inputs up before... I got to pay better attention to this stuff.

This time I set it to:

15% flat line for .3 second
15% to 100% all in by .85 second.

I also purge my bottle pressure down to the recommended 900 psi. The car leaves really soft.... I can feel everything is working right but it just feels slow compared to E1.

5.49@131MPH 1.30 60ft.

Ok we learned something. 60ft terrible with only 900psi of bottle but look at that 131MPH!.... crazy to me that it can go that fast.... I never once thought it had that kind of power. I go back and get more aggressive early with the ramp to make a second test hit.

15% to 25% in .3 second.
25% to 100% all in by .85 second.
900psi in the bottle again.

Car feels much faster this time. Espc at the hit. I think it's a great pass but....

5.47@128MPH 1.26 60ft.

OK now I'm lost again but that's where I am. LOL

Taking the car to the shop over the Veterans Day Holiday weekend and taking it apart.

(1) I am updating some small stuff in the engine. Pistons and rings along with some additional cyl head and intake manifold port work. Not alot of additional power to be gained here but I am mostly making these changes to get a little bigger tuning window....

(2) Of course there is some required engine maintenance replacement parts, like valve springs, retainers, locks and roller lifters which are all 3 yrs old now...

BTW that is Phenomenal life IMO from those PAC springs and Morel lifters. This engine has heavy steel valves, .850 lift cam and has turned 8200RPM every pass for 3 years without failure.

(3) I am switching the car over from the stock type side motor mounts to a front and mid motor plates.

(4) I am switching the ignition system over from the Mallory 685 to a MSD 7531 with the 7555 individual cyl timing control function.

(5) I am converting the front suspension over to Viking Crusader DA coil overs.

(6) I am moving the battery which is currently in the rear of the car to in front of the radiator.

(7) I have much bigger 3 core aluminum radiator and remote mount electric water pump.

I am hoping the combo of the battery (50lbs) the bigger radiator and WP and the coilovers will help keep the front end down so I can put BIG power to it at the hit.

(8) Kinda a maintenance thing but I have to put a new ring and pinion in the 9" rear... it's cupping out the drive face of the ring gear... so for a minimal up charge I'm upgrading to a REM polished and lightened gear set. Same 3.89 ratio.

I'll give updates as we go along with the work this winter and once we into preseason testing with the car.
Will

Video of round 1 eliminations.

https://youtu.be/zoX1Q7yrTxQ

Will