I got a call on Sunday from my friend, Don, who wanted to give me an update on his most recent project which he took to the NEOC track day at LVD a couple of Friday's back. Don has a knack for building some of the nicest, cleanest, and fastest cars I've ever seen. I've known him for about 7 or 8 years and this is the 4th Chevelle that he's built in the time that I've known him. The beautiful Lemans blue '69 SS he had when I first met him contained a 454 that utilized one of those "UD" cams, before I ever heard of a Team Chevelle, that put down some impressive E.T.'s. His latest is a '71 with a 383 stroker, E'brock heads, Comp XE-274 cam, RPM intake, modified 700 Holley, 1 5/8 headers, 200-4r trans, Art Carr 2800 stall converter, 3.73 gears, and 26x9 Hoosier slicks. He said he got on the scale at the track and with him in it the car weighed 3380! :eek: He's probably 160-175lbs. so that makes the car 3100lbs. and some change. The car is all steel but he did use a few racers tricks to lighten it. He ran a 1.8? 60', 12.38 E.T. @ 109.5 mph. A combo that works! Keep in mind what I said earlier, he has a knack for details (ie: He only made one run that day) and has been building cars for a long time. In other words, he did not just throw these parts together and come out with a quick combo.

Sounds like a nice combo, and car...can ya get pics? :D

Thanks for the response, Tracy. I just got a new digi camera, I'll try to get some pics before he sells it and moves on to his next project. :eek: He loves to build'em and sell'em! smile.gif

Rod

That is very similar to my combo. That cam does work very well with the Edelbrock heads. http://www.geocities.com/lonnie67_1966/red.html

Lonnie, you're right, they are very similar. This is a worthy combo to duplicate for someone looking to run low 12's, no muss, no fuss. Thanks for the link to your webpage. I'm glad you posted the timeslips that showed the performance differences between the gears and trannies.

Rod

Racer tricks to lighten it??? enlighten me :D

A 71Vell that only weighes 3200?
Does it have doors?

What is the normal weight for this year with a small block?

Originally posted by thrasher:
What is the normal weight for this year with a small block? I weighed my '70 last Saturday...3560 with me (190 lbs).

Shipping weight for a base V8 '71 Malibu 2 dr hdtp is 3342 lb. That's with no options.

I had the same reaction to the weight issue but I have great respect for this guy and take him for his word. Maybe the track's scales need adjustment. :confused: He is going to try and hit the scales at the local dump to verify.

Originally posted by Rapid Robert:
Racer tricks to lighten it??? enlighten me :D An example of some of the things he did is he cut the bracing out of the hood and removed some of the hardware from the doors.

i also cut the webbing from the underside of my '73 hood and cut out the center for my harwood 4"cowl.man,i can't believe how much lighter it is now!i'm gutting my doors next! :eek:

71 malibu small block/ 350/t350 no extras 3392lbs. at feed scales empty. calculated with no fuel. The new 383 in it has aluminum heads and headers, tci starter, so should be lighter at next weigh in.

Originally posted by Lonnie67:
That is very similar to my combo. That cam does work very well with the Edelbrock heads. http://www.geocities.com/lonnie67_1966/red.html What is the lift on your cam with 1.5 rollers? It looks like we also have a very similar combo, only exception is heads, cam, carb and converter. You're running mid to low 12s, and I'm expected to run high 13s in my Chevelle :( ...as for 1/8th mile, it runs 8.80s@79mph...I'd sure love to get my Velle in the mid to low 12s graemlins/thumbsup.gif

P.S. Exception is that I have bowtie heads that are ported, my cam has a .488" lift, carb is a Holley 750VS, and my converter is a B&M Holeshot 2000

LXS,

You may want to make a separate post for Lonnie or e-mail him because I started this thread in the fall of last year and he may not be thinking to check back in on this.

Rod

BTW: Checking the lift with 1.6's is a simple algebra equation using your current rocker ratio. Multiply actual cam lift by 1.6 vs 1.5.

Originally posted by Rmchevelle:
BTW: Checking the lift with 1.6's is a simple algebra equation using your current rocker ratio. Multiply actual cam lift by 1.6 vs 1.5. That's right, I forgot, you divide your current lift by the rocker ratio you have, then multiply by the ration you're looking at graemlins/thumbsup.gif my cam with 1.6 rollers would be: (.488 / 1.5 = .325 x 1.6 = .521" )...His cam is .487"/.489" lift with 1.5 rockers... Thanks for the info graemlins/beers.gif

Originally posted by LXS:
my cam with 1.6 rollers would be: (.488 / 1.5 = .325 x 1.6 = .521" )...His cam is .487"/.489" lift with 1.5 rockers... Thanks for the info graemlins/beers.gif EXACTLY! graemlins/thumbsup.gif

XE274 w/1.5 .487/.490 I should of rounded up to .523 I guess.

Originally posted by Lonnie67:
XE274 w/1.5 .487/.490 I should of rounded up to .523 I guess. LOL...good set up regardless graemlins/thumbsup.gif