TireSmoke.org

I think as soon as you opened the hood, Meyerhoffer heard the Angels singing, and then realized you were as Studly as your name, and had absolutely no choice but to let you go.

-BP

MostMint wrote:Welcome to the 40+ club. At 18 you're getting a ticket

True that!! Now, we're model citizens.....driving collectible pieces of Americana.

Basement Paul wrote:I think as soon as you opened the hood, Meyerhoffer heard the Angels singing, and then realized you were as Studly as your name, and had absolutely no choice but to let you go.

-BP

What's funny is that I watched...and sent Dave....a link to a Super Troopers II video on YouTube earlier in the week. Prophetic? Perhaps.

I was cleaning out my garage in Chesterland around 11:00 or so on Friday night when Dave stopped over. He offered to go for a spin in his Chevelle...which I gladly accepted. The car is running considerably stronger now, especially down low. As soon as Dave mashes the gas pedal, the car instantly takes off like it's possessed. At WOT, it was severely spinning the tires when shifting into second gear. It did so the one time we hit the 2-3 shift. The motor is literally running like a well-tuned big block at this point.

Can't wait to see some time slips......nock on wood. Or Formica.

He stopped by today too, and when he left and got on it on the main road, he got on it pretty hard. Both Sutter and I agreed it sounded pretty badass!

-BP

Well, the car has been running really good lately. I decided it was time to put some tunes back in it. I've had this old Sony amplifier laying around forever. It used to belong to my friend Brian who died many years back. Brian probably got it back in the mid 90s, if I had to guess. I couldn't use it for the longest time, because I never got the harness plugs for the speaker outputs. Every time I tried googling the amp trying to come up with the proper harness plugs, I came up totally empty. One day, I came across a post on some forum which said these were Molex plugs, and further more, I could sort of make my own using the main power connector from a PC power supply.

This was a really awesome nugget of information. I took an old power supply I had, cut off the main connector, and then took an exact-o knife, heated it with a torch and made a hot-knife to cut the plastic. I don't have the locking tab, but the connectors fit very snug as-is. I wired it all up on the bench and it worked!



For putting it in the car, I mounted a piece of wood to the bottom side of the package tray and mounted the amp to the piece of wood. I ran a length of 10ga wire and 18ga wire up front for the main power and remote turn-on. Since I'm not putting in a regular radio/head-unit at this point, I just ran a wire up front to plug in my ipod or phone.



It sounds ok.. not great, but good for now. I'm sure it will sound a little better once there is some carpeting and interior back in the car. The only thing I had to buy was the 10ga wire. It would be pretty easy to upgrade amp, speakers, or both since the wiring is now in place.

-Dave

Picked up Dad and we went to the Solon car cruise in the Chevelle yesterday. After picking him up, the gas gauge was reading less than 1/4 tank, just above E. We drove to Chagrin Falls where I filled the tank, at my old stomping ground BP. It took 17 gallons and it's a 20 gallon tank. That seems to verify the gauge is reading correctly. I also got my horn working again, not sure the last time they worked. The low-horn is dead, but the high-horn works. Neighbor Jerry says he probably has a low-horn I can have. Another couple small victories.

Car drove flawlessly to and from the cruise.

I'm heading to TRP tonight with some high hopes. Car has been running great since last Thurs or Fri and I've had it out at least once every day.

-Dave

SUCCESS!!

Made it out to TRP tonight and made 8 good passes. Worst was 12.89 and best was 12.61, MPH ranged from 104-106. The only bummer of the night was that the 60ft timers weren't working during time runs. They did get them working by eliminations, but after a -.0044 redlight in the first round, my night was basically over. I did get a 1.72 60ft on that pass, which was my best of the night, 12.61 @ 106 on a 12.68 dial.

See that run here: https://youtu.be/0rvC-_INVFg

I got a final time-run but overpowered the brakes on the line and spun to a 1.8x. Other than that run, this thing leaves awesome. The short 1st gear, traction + converter make it just dig off the line.

I am truly thrilled with just how well the car drives now. Maybe it's just because it's been a lot of years since I've gotten real enjoyment from it, but its finally coming together. Rusty floorboards and front fenders are repaired. The EFI is very responsive. The overdrive makes it pleasant at 55+ mph cruising. The new tires ride so much nicer. It sounds cool. It runs easy 12s. It's everything that it hasn't been for a long time.

-Dave

It is really rewarding when you can enjoy the fruits of your labor!!
Your e.t.'s are great for a street car!!

GM

A few updates to post.

First off, finally getting to some more body work that I've been wanting to have repaired for over a decade. My friend Rich used to work at Chester Auto Body, and his father Vince worked there for 30+ years. Same guy that fixed my floors and front fenders last summer. After the initial sanding/grinding, it was obvious this stuff has been repaired before. This area of the car didn't look *awful*, but it was definitely time for some attention. The two spots higher up on the quarter were my fault -- I used to carry this big wooden box I'd keep tools and such in when I went drag racing, and it shifted a few times and made outward dents. I forgot to snap some true 'before' pics, so these will have to do..

Before...









There's still a spot at the front of the passenger door that needs repair. He's gonna start that on Monday and then move over to the driver's side. Once the driver's side is done, all the major body work will be DONE!! (and the passenger side was the worse of the two sides)



So with the passenger side work completed, I had to head out to TRP, since it had been almost 6 weeks since I raced it. I had a couple issues that were preventing me from going out. One was a small fuel leak where I had a poorly engineered fuel line coupling where I had a rubber hose connecting to a piece of hardline with about 4 clamps, since it was under pressure. I did a proper fix back there with some pushlok hose, properly flared the hardline and a couple more AN fittings.

Next, the last time I was out racing, the valve stem got cut on one of slicks. I had just put a new tube in the other slick a few weeks before, so now both tubes are pretty new and they have metal valve stems. BP and his tire machine made quick work of the job.



On Wednesday the 22nd, I did something I hadn't done in a LONG time -- I drove my car to work! Since I work right by the freeway, I wanted to leave directly from work for the track. When I got to the track, there was already a ton of people there. I ended pulling into the staging lanes as soon as I got my slicks on, but hadn't opened the headers, figuring I would open them while I was waiting. Well someone came up to talk, and they pulled my lane much sooner than expected. I knew I was only gonna get 2 time runs, so I just left them closed.




It feels a lot different on the bottom end with the mufflers closed. First pass, I spun, but still went a 12.85 @ 106. I was fairly pleased that I was still solidly in the 12s. Next pass, I got better traction and ran a 12.66 -- only .05 slower than I had done weeks ago with the exhaust open. I was really happy with that!

There was a long delay before eliminations got started because the girl who hands out timeslips apparently fainted or collapsed. To make matters worse, her mom runs the computer in the timing tower, so now TRP was down 2 workers, since mom went with the daughter in the ambulance. When eliminations finally got under way, I got lined up with Gordie Stevens and his Heat Seeker Slant-6 powered Duster. I remember seeing that car out there when I was in High School and he has more Class Winner stickers on his quarter-window than I have time slips.

I dialed in at 12.63 as it was cooling off. He dialed in at 13.55. I KILLED the tree with a .0017 reaction time to his .07, but I spun again, resulting in a 12.74 @ 107, and I saw him lift in the traps, netting him a 13.56. I lose. Margin of Victory was .03. I should've dialed up, not down, for first round. As Andy pointed out on Facebook, I broke the One-Tenth Rule and it cost me. I hate wasting a good RT like that.

The 107 is my best MPH so far. During one of my time runs, I was able to get a good look at my AFR gauge, and I saw a solid 12.5-12.6 in third gear. I haven't had the laptop in the car in several weeks.

This has been the best summer I've had with the car since moving out here in late '07 and I'm loving it! I'm debating whether to try and take it up to the Woodward Dream Cruise in August. Both times were in the Corvette, and it might be good fun in something a bit more powerful.

-Dave

12.66 @ 107 through the mufflers is pretty sweet. If you run a drag radial, that's just how fast your car is on the street. Awesome! I love the MPH too, that's pulling.

-BP

MegaTork

After last Sunday's outing at TRP, I left the track with two problems. One, throwing the belt, and two, a busted motor mount. In the last time run, I noticed the shifter was hard to shift 1-2, felt like it was binding.

On the way home from the track, the belt pitched a third time, a few miles west of 528 on 166. I coasted into a little sidestreet. I called Autozone in Chesterland and they had a few belts. I called my dad and he was able to pick them up and bring them out to me. I put one new one on, and put the other in the trunk. Made it home with no issues.

Earlier today, I decided to tackle the motor mount. I brake torqued it in the garage with the hood up and I could see it moving easily. The driver's side mount was broke. Surprisingly, I was able to remove/replace it fairly easily without having to remove anything else. I replaced the crappy Korean made mount (Anchor brand, has no safety interlock) with a Moroso steel mount that I had in inventory. Easy to change, didn't cost me anything.




-Dave

Well...you clearly broke the hell out of that.

Have to keep that busted mount. We can set it next to your 400 rods and begin a Power Display.

I'm trying to decide if the broken mount could have affected your belt jumping problem. Not sure if the extra vibration would have had anything to do with it? A hard test drive and some wrenches and extra belt might tell the tale.

I do think the bottom pulley is bent though and either a deep groove or serpentine setup would cure your woes for good.

-BP

I kinda thought about that too, but I was thinking that since everything is bolted to the engine, no reason it should change. I guess I didnt think much about vibration. I can see the slight wobble in the pulley, but those are the same pulleys, crank & water pump, I've been using since.. forever. The new belt has survived a 10-15 mile test drive with 1 or 2 hard pulls, but it still squeals a bit on startup. Extra belt and tools are in the car.

Serpentine setup is expensive. I'd really prefer to avoid that, only as a last resort.

-Dave