Serial #0191110

Discussion in 'Tomahawk Block Registry' started by stagetwo65, Mar 10, 2011.

  1. tom Hearsey

    tom Hearsey Well-Known Member

    Was there no dual reservoir/circuit master cylinder in your set-up Doug? This is certainly a wake-up call for me to check my system out. Sure glad it happened where it did then! Best of luck with the new engine. I can't wait for the results when you get it dialed in. Tom
     
  2. stagetwo65

    stagetwo65 Wheelie King

    Well, my brake problem turned out to be caused by the right front caliper bracket breaking again where it broke on me when I was in Bowling Green back in October. At that time I had had a local BG machine shop weld the cracked bracket and redrill the bolt hole and it looked perfect. The bracket broke again and shifted forward with the caliper when I hit the brakes, pulling on the brake hose hard enough that the fitting cracked.
    I ordered a whole new Wilwood front brake kit on Wednesday, it arrived on Friday and we took the car to the track today with new brakes and new steel braided brake hoses.
    Did a nice burnout and this time the car stopped at the starting line with no issues. The plan was to run it hard to the 1/8 mile mark and coast the rest of the way, easing into the brakes a few times to break them in as nicely as possible.
    I hit the transbrake, floored the gas, let go of the button, and POW! The car LEPT up in the air so high that it even impressed ME, and that takes some doing. It went so high that ALL FOUR WHEELS CAME OFF THE GROUND!!! It hit the rev limiter and I had no choice but to lift off the gas. It came down pretty hard so I drove slowly down the track and went back to the pits to check the car out. The headers, which were pretty beat up before and were on the list of things to replaced this summer, are MURDERED! Head flanges are bent and collectors are smashed. My buddy Brandon said he might be able to patch them up enough to run next week at Norwalk, but he won't know til he gets them off.
    The sick part is that I always ran 4.30 gears when I had my 525" and was doing big wheelies. This time, I went out there with 4.10s and figured there was no need to lower the wheelie bars. WRONG!
    Brandon ran it on the chassis dyno yesterday and picked up 20hp with carb and timing adjustments. 868hp at 7200 rpm.
    Today's weather was just perfect for racing too! Damn it. 50 degrees, 38% humidity, barometer was at 30.55. Damn it!
    My wife said the track photographer took a shot of the car on the way up, but when he tried to get a second one when it was all the way up, the camera failed to shoot! Damn it again! You Tube moment for sure and I'll never see it from outside the car!
    Probably would've had a career best ET today, if I'd been able to make some more passes.
    I figure between the additional power, the lighter TA block, and the fact that I've lost 100 lbs since the last time I ran with anywhere near this much power, the nose of the car is going to be more prone to lifting. :Dou:
    Hopefully I can get right back out there. Otherwise, new headers coming sooner than I expected.
     
  3. LARRY70GS

    LARRY70GS a.k.a. "THE WIZARD" Staff Member

    You just never know what will happen at the track Doug. One thing is sure, Murphy's Law sure applies. When I was at Cecil, my car didn't trap as high as it should, and the mechanical advance let go inside the distributor. I now know that my fuel pressure was low, because of a fuel pump that was assembled incorrectly at the factory. At least I got my car into the 11's for the first time, and was able to drive it home. Oh Well, it's a new season. Plenty of time to straighten things out. Sounds like easy 8's are in your future. Here are 2 pictures Jacob posted on Facebook.
     

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  4. BQUICK

    BQUICK Gold Level Contributor

    That'll teach you....shouldn't have lost that weight. :laugh::spank: Better eat a few 24oz cowboy ribeyes before Norwalk......:TU:

    Hope someone got the pic with all four tires off the ground!
     
  5. Thumper (aka greatscat)

    Thumper (aka greatscat) Well-Known Member

    Foot brake first Dougie,foot brake first,remember baby steps.
    That must've been one hell of a launch and got your attention,when you get that sorted out that thing is gonna be a beast,good luck.
    Can't wait to see it.
    gary
     
  6. stagetwo65

    stagetwo65 Wheelie King

    Believe me Gary, I've played out two scenarios in my head, over and over.
    #1 is where I should've set the wheelie bars down low, just in case.
    #2 is where I should've foot braked it, especially since that's what I was gonna do last week before the brakes went south.
    I just couldn't get past the idea that with the 4.10s in there, pushing 33-inch tires, that it'd be dead off the line like it always was with my 525". This is whole different animal, no matter what the peak hp numbers on the dyno sheets say. It has a much wider powerband and it accelerates a whole lot faster too.
    I came out to Norwalk ten years ago, with that brand new 525" under the hood and a couple of 9.29 shakedown passes at Island Dragway under my belt. I had the 4.10s out back and 32x14s on it and it ran a bunch of 9.40s and a couple of 9.30s, with maybe 12 inches of daylight under the front tires. Nice, for sure, but nothing like this!
    A week or two later I stopped at Summit Racing on my way to Bowling Green and I got myself a set of 4.56s and a pair of 33x14.5 high-growth Goodyears, and suddenly I was running 9.08s and hanging the front wheels!
    I seriously doubt this engine will EVER need 4.56s for ANY reason. :TU:
     
  7. buicksstage1

    buicksstage1 Well-Known Member

    Doug, did you re scale the car and adjust the wheelie bars since the weight loss on the front and the drivers side of the car?
     
  8. stagetwo65

    stagetwo65 Wheelie King

    Nope. I haven't scaled the car in 15 years, through all different engines. As far as the wheelie bars, I always left them all the way up as "bumper savers", and that's where they still were.
     
  9. stagetwo65

    stagetwo65 Wheelie King

    Well, the track photos from Sunday are up, and he got a decent shot, but nowhere near the apex with all the wheels off the ground. I tried posting a link but it wouldn't take. It's at davemilcarek.com under Atco 2013 Sunday 4/21.
     
  10. GS Kubisch

    GS Kubisch THE "CUT-UP" BUICK

  11. JEFF STRUBE

    JEFF STRUBE Well-Known Member

    How did you Pick up 20 HP thru the Drive train at the tire when you made 848 HP at the Flywheel on a Dyno ?.
     
  12. stagetwo65

    stagetwo65 Wheelie King

    If we picked up 20 hp through the drive train, and I added 20 to my previous total of 848 flywheel hp, wouldn't that make Iit 868 if it started at 848? 20hp is 20 hp, isn't it?
     
  13. GS Kubisch

    GS Kubisch THE "CUT-UP" BUICK

    Consider drivetrain losses and slicks on a chassis dyno.....Maybe closer to 30hp at the FW :bla:
     
  14. Jim Rodgers

    Jim Rodgers Well-Known Member

    Whats the latest?
     
  15. stagetwo65

    stagetwo65 Wheelie King

    Got new stainless steel headers built for the car. That's the good part.
    I had wanted to check the System1 filter to make sure nothing got hurt. There's metal in the filter, mostly copper. Drained the oilpan into a clean drain pan, lots of metal in that as well. Motor is going to go back down to Scotty's to figure out what went wrong and fix it. At least we caught it before it got really ugly, which would have been on the first or second full pass.
    Backup motor that I ran in Bowling Green last year is going back in the car next week.
    Such is life. :rolleyes:
     
  16. bostongsx

    bostongsx Platinum Level Contributor

    Stop dragging your ass and get it up here already
     
  17. slimfromnz

    slimfromnz Kiwi Abroad

    Thats no good Doug. Let us know what the outcome is.
    On a side note, I found some wear on the distributor gear after running it for about 30mins, but I am hoping it was with the 30w break in oil and the 70-80psi oil pressure at idle which caused it. I have since changed to 20w-50 oil, changed the oil reg spring, adjusted it and opened up the oil restrictors to allow a bit more up top too. Oil pressure is now at 30-40psi @ idle hot, up to 70psi @ 5000rpm hot.
    Doug, atleast these motors can have the "ugly" fixed :grin:
    Cheers
     
  18. Jim Rodgers

    Jim Rodgers Well-Known Member

    Sorry to hear. Hope its nothing major. Keep us posted.
     

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