I never posted pics of the new stuff in the interior. I *really* like the new seats and steering wheel!
Shifter still isn't installed because I'm not sure how I'm going to do it. The floor isn't very flat in the area that I want it, so I guess I'm going to make a baseplate of some sort, and am not sure if I'm going to bolt that to the floor or weld it. I just want to make sure I don't make life difficult for when I go to put the carpet in, which is really the next step.
Wednesday, 9/23/2015 was the last Wednesday of the season for TRP. I had assumed they would be running on Wed 9/30 as well and figured I would go out the final 2 Wed nights with the Chevelle. When I got there, I found out 9/23 was the last. Good thing I made it! My previous outing had been on Aug 2nd for the Ford/GM/Chrysler outing when I chose to forfeit after tossing my belt twice. After fixing the broken motor mount, it didn't seem to be acting up. There were a ton of cars again and I only got 1 time run, but I made it count. I had a 1.70 60ft and ran a 12.58 @ 105 first pass. That was only .09 off my best of the season. I dialed in at 12.48 for the first few rounds, so that I could just run it out on top, and if I broke out, I'd have a new personal best. First two guys should've beat me easy, as my number was way off but they broke out. All they had to do was lift or hit the brakes. After that, I dialed up a bit to stay competitive. In Round 3, I cut a .0003 green.
I backed off a bit after that. In reviewing my timeslips, the first 4 rounds ALL broke-out against me. I made it to the final round in Stock (6th round), but redlighted away the win with a -.0875 and would've broken out anyway, running 12.56 @107 on a 12.63 dial. 2nd year in a row where I made the final round on the final Wednesday of the season. Last year, I won it driving Tony's car.
Final Round Matchup.............My Reward
It wasn't all quite fun-n-games, though. Driver's side header gasket started leaking, and by the time I got home, the car sounded TERRIBLE from the leak. I pulled the header out on that side so I could make sure the flange was flat, because this was the 2nd gasket this season. I pulled the spark plugs to remove the header and found something odd. Check out this spark plug.
The porcelain was cracked up inside the threaded area and it slid down till it hit the ground strap! You can move it with your finger. While I never felt like it wasn't firing on all cylinders, that has to be less than optimal. I chose to replace just the 1 plug for now, since the other 7 have barely a season on them. Upon firing the car back up, Tony and I both noticed it idling smoother. When we went for a test drive, it felt stronger too. I'm sure part of it was the colder October air, but its definitely running better than it was.
I'm planning on heading out to TRP this weekend for some final Test-N-Tune. I'd really like to crack 110 MPH. I have a few 107 passes and one 108. Another guy on Chevelles.com went 11.80s @ 110 with this engine, and Hot Rod recently did a test and their car went 11.70s @ 111 with their ZZ383, but I know the Hot Rod car is at least 150-200lbs lighter than mine.
Regardless, it's been a GREAT year (18 months) with this car. I got over a bunch of long-standing hurdles with a good running motor and finally getting a chance to prove how good the EFI is, utilizing the 700r4 for awesome launches, it's not rusty anymore, my friends can ride along more comfortably, and I even brought home a trophy with it. I think I'm gonna head out to the garage and fire it up. Just because I can.
-Dave
