I must say it was very cool to get a phone call from Chris from track today. I'm 13hrs away but I wished I was there driving the car like I stole it. Then maybe I would've cut a better light I'm sure Chris will follow with all the details. Matt
timing is everything so I finally made it back to the track last night. some may remember my issues last summer with timing. Well, I finally have the timing all figured out. I even put some miles on the car this past weekend as the Hurst Olds Club of America National Meet was 15 miles down the street from my house. One of the events was a cruise on Route 66. We went from Joliet, IL 45 miles south to Odell, then came back, stopping at several sights along the way. Imagine 43 Hurst Olds, 1 I believe 73 Cutlass and my 4.33 geared 69 W-31 all cruising down Route 66. What a site!!!! The car performed flawlessly. Last night Route 66 Raceway had a Test and Tune session. I left the car basically the same as the cruise from the weekend, except for 5 gallons of Torco 110 in the tank. In fact, I'm still running the same AC R43S plugs from day 2 of the Mondello meet last year. They were just pulled and cleaned twice because the carb flooded a couple times earlier this year. Run 1 14.52 @ 94.39 miles :eek2: QUITE a bit different than last summer at Byron for the Mondello meet. shaved well over a full second off the car. Amazing what timing and cooler temps can do. At Byron it was like 95 with 95% humidity. last night it was mid to upper 70s. very pleasant. Run 2 14.38 @ 96.60 miles another outstanding run. now only if the driver can cut a better light and get a better 60 foot. before run 3 I bumped the timing up 2 degrees to 36 total. Run 3 14.56 @ 94.78 miles not bad. not bad at all. in fact, I'll take it. especially considering where I was a year ago. My reaction times were .174, .242 and .171 I've always been like this or .1 under with that pesky red bulb lite. I need to work on that. my 60 foots were 2.335, 2.304, 2.305 consistent, but still if I could get them to 2.0, it would be better. I just have to remember, this is only the second time I've taken the car to the strip. And I was more aggressive this time. I had no problem taking the car to 5500rpm, she even shifted a few times at 6000rpm. I was a little concerned at 6000, but if she went more I was going to ease up a little. car consistently crossed the line at 5700-5800rpm give or take. shifts were 5500-6000 every time. I just put it in drive, lightly hit the gas off the line to get rolling then put it on the floor and watched the tach another thing I've been getting a lot of lately at cruises, car shows and the strip. people always asking, is it a real W-31. of course it is. everyone likes the car too, because you just don't see them. Also, on the Route 66 cruise from the H/OCA National Meet I let a couple people who race their 69 H/Os at the Pure Stock Drags drive the car for a little bit. Both Tami Panczuk and Kurt Karch really liked driving the car. Kurt even said it drove tighter than his H/O. That was high praise indeed. Whenever I see Kurt next, he's going to let me drive his H/O so I can compare. I need to check the weather, but I'm thinking about heading back to Route 66 tonight for one of the few Wed test and tunes they have.
Good deal Chris. :TU: If you can swap the plugs before tonight. It's been my experience as well as others that once wet fouled.....the plugs will work but not well. :3gears:
96 mph is certainly respectable! Once you learn how to launch that thing while keeping it hooked up, 13s will follow. Congratulations!
Way to go, Chris. The development of making changes, testing, all are a lot of fun. Your first 13 and your first 100 MPH+ run will be big milestones. :bglasses:
et's and rt If you look at last September's race results here: http://www.geocities.com/psmcdr/2005-files/results.xls and compare Chris' et and mph he is right in the thick of alot of other cars. So here come the ?'s. Is the 60ft all susp. tuning. And are his RT's bad or avg? Just speculating how much more he has in this combo. I know the devil is in the details. I agree with Dave H that he can get to the high 13's but I'm a newbie racer that has not had a car down the legal 1320. I also ask for selfish reasons so I know if I need to build a BB to beat him or just outdrive himlol with a small block. Maybe if he'll drive his car like Rob Thomas drove a certain RamRod he'd be knocking on 13's already!
Rob's driving is Mr consistency. Uncanny how he runs within a coupla hundredths run after run after run. One of the best bracket racers I've ever seen. I felt honored to let him drive the car those coupla years. He doesn't lose very often. :TU: His car is running 11.50's now on pump gas with a freshening of the engine.
more test and tune from last night (wed). because of the weather and the fact it was one of the rare wed sessions they have, it was almost like I had the track to myself. 130 or so people tues, I was the 29th driver last night. made 3 runs in 20 minutes before the rains came and they called it a night. hell, I arrived at the track, unloaded the car, tech'd in (which consisted of talking with the tech guys about the car and the H/O meet and saying yep I was here yesterday and we can probably use my tech card from yesterday), made 3 runs, loaded up and out the gate all in an hour. crazy. I wasn't able to get the plugs changed though, but thats fine as I need to work on my reaction times run 1 14.75 @ 94.28 .090 rt but 2.467 60 ft run 2 14.42 @ 96.18 .218 rt and 2.340 60 ft run 3 14.31 @ 97.45 .252 rt and 2.279 60 ft
chris,how are you taking off at the line?? judging by your 60 foots,you would be in the 13's getting down to 2.050 :TU:
So the car likes to Hot Lap? What temp are you running? I know you know about tire pressure. Jetting and metering rods? Have you filled the car back up on fuel? Just a couple of questions to ponder. Now that you have it running, get it in the body shop before the fall and everyone and their dog wants a project car done. Best time to have paint lay down for you is cool and dry weather (like..fall!!!!) Get it done so you can play next spring when the track opens! :bglasses:
apparantly so. hell, the first run last night, there was barely any temp in the motor. unload the car, drive to tech, drive back to the trailer, drive to the staging lanes and I'm running. I didn't want to turn it into a Nascar event, so I'd give it say 5-10 minutes between runs. The car has never run hot. factory rallye gauge is AT MOST at 1/4 usually parked at 1/8, or half way between C and the 1/4 mark. never got a chance to bump up the tire pressure as I wanted to. tires are currently at the 32psi my brother filled them to when he mounted the tires on the rims. the carb has all the factory settings. 049B primary rods AU secondary rods .074 jets I do know the float (brand new when it was rebuilt last year) level was set, can't remember offhand what it was set to. the only fuel in the car the last 2 nights is approx 5 gallons of Torco 110. smells soooo good. I'm having too much fun driving and racing the car now to take it off the road for the restoration it so badly needs. Besides one of the good things with the way the car sits now, I don't have to worry about scratching a nice paint job. but don't worry, the restoration will happen.
Brake torque to 12-1500 rpm. This will pre load the chassis and help your reaction time as well as help the tires plant a little better. If you have radials on the car, I wouldn't go much above 36 psi. Lay a burnout down and read the tire signature. If it leaves heavy black on the outside, add some pressure, if it is heavy in the center take some away. I would strongly suggest you get a mechanical temp gauge. You will be suprised how hot that first quarter mark is on the ralley pac gauges. I am saying get it painted NOW!! With the increase in gas prices, watch for the cost of paint and solvents (petroleum derived) to go up in price. I had six cans of PPG enamel (custom blend) made up the other day. The price... $132.00 The price of the paint has doubled since I started to have this color made. That has been in the past 5 years. :af:
I'm running the repro polyglas oh thats right. I didn't even consider that about the paint. of course, there is the issue of the very rusty sheetmetal.
Dave, Have you seen Chris' car? I don't think a "driver" quality resto would be possible on this car. The Chicago winters were unkind. He and I have been speculating for years how much the resto would cost and the numbers are big. The car's worth every pricey penny though. Matt
I've seen it, and fixed much worse. Toss up between a $10-$15k body/paint work (much cheaper to rebody the car) and a few years of torn down vs a coupla repro quarters and a cheaper paint job. Mig welders and compressors aren't that expensive. Have a friend that had a 66 GTO in about Chris' car's condition. He drove it over to my brother-in-law's house to start working on the rustout areas. Began cutting away and by the time Gary got home from work, it was down to a bare rolling chassis with major hunks laying all around it. :laugh: :laugh: The only thing salvageable was the roof section and that was only because it didn't have a vinyl top. 5 years later, sections of 4 different cars and a zillion beers, hours, etc., he took a first in his class at a big Pontiac meet here. Sold it the next year for $25k. That was 10 years ago.
Dave, Wow you're up early. I haven't been to bed yet Working 80 hrs a week to pay off cc's so I can get back in the hobby. This is not the first time you have posted in the weeee hrs of the morning. The search is on for a body for his car. He has storage issues that I could help him with if he'd send the F85 and or Mustang down south to OKC (Chris are you listening) Your estimate is lower than what we thought but in the ballpark. He has the tools available. What scares me about his W31 and the F85 for that matter is the rear clip. Not for the faint of heart or rookie welder. I've found him a body for the W31 online in a junkyard in AZ rustfree and very nice...asking price...$4000 obo!!! Crazy. Matt
