Hello All.

I know a few of you are following the SLOW adventures of Slowpoke70 in the 1/8th.

I only got three runs today, but it should have been 5, track was moving great, but I locked my keys in my trunk redface.gif :mad: ! LOL, more on that in Bench Racing. :D

I went to the track again today, to see if my engine was OK from the overheating episode at Fontana. And judging by today's performance at Irwindale, I say the good ol' 350 AND the 882's (and they're not early castings either, full on SMOG baby, LOL) survived quite well.

Anyway, here's the new times.

First Run,

60 - 2.534
330-6.811
1/8-10.460
MPH-66.57
(purple spring in Holley, Shifted at 4000RPM. 16degree initial, 36total@3000RPM)

Second Run (NEW BESTS!)

60- 2.420
330-6.675
1/8-10.141
MPH- 71.37
(purple spring in Holley, Shifted at 4500RPM, 18 degree initial, 38total@3000RPM)

Previous bests were 10.176ET(2.1xx 60ft), and 70.23MPH(not the same run). The 10.17ET was in similar weather, the 70MPH was in hotter, more humid weather

With the tach installed now, i was able to get my burnout/staging/launc to be as close to equal on both those runs

The only changes i made was to go to a shorter tire (28 to 27.05), removed the AC/Heater box (worth 19lbs) and added a bigger sway bar( 5 pounds heavier). That and switcthing from a brown spring to a purple spring. I had tried the purple before and it slowed me down :confused: .

Oh yeah, I re-adjusted my valves because most of them were waaay to loose (we set them loose for break-in and never bothered to re-set them.) The car did sound more "throaty" after that. Could the re-setting of the valves be the reason why it liked the purple spring now?

Here's the link to the page with my combo. http://www.chevelles.com/cgi-bin/forum/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=021087

Everything there is still the same except for what i mentioned above.

I think I'm going to give racing a rest for a while. I start school on Monday and I have to focus on that, so the car is now more of a daily transportation device than a toy. I'm planning to add a Holley 30036 manifold (i know, it doesnt match my combo, but i don't like the looks of a spacer) by Thankgiving (when i plan to race again, hopefully Irwindale is open like the past two years.) And I'm asking Santa Claus (AKA my family) for posi/3.55s for Xmas.

Congrats on the new bests!!! And worst to, I guess :confused: Hope you get your gears and posi soon! Can't wait till you get that 383 of yours going, then we can have some fun at Irwindale :D graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Oh my, forgot to post my worsts.

New Worsts (I think).

2.771
7.581
11.229ET
66.71MPH

It was FUN tho, trying to get that thing to hook. This was over 2 hours after my second run. After having locked my keys in the trunk and losing two runs while retrieving them, i got anxious for that 9second slip i'm looking for. So i burned out, staged, brought the engine up to almost 2000RPM (I found out my converter stalls at nearly 2100RPM) and when the third yellow lit, i let go of the break and mashed the go peddle. I could feel the rear end get lose on me, slight sliding going on, i was watching the tach making sure i didnt over-rev it, trying to let go and get back on the gas until it hooked. The 2.73s did NOT help, lol. I hooked almost half way down the track. Got it up to 5000RPM and dropped it into 2nd gear, slightly tire squeal and spin again, let go of the gas a little and it hooked (suprisingly soon) and i noticed i was pretty much done with the run. LOL. It was fun tho, I had another similar run before, but without the tach along for the ride, it was SCARY. Hehe.

Hi Slowpoke, Your combo is similar to mine but I have yet to run it at the track (I would be and Irwindale too). I just rebuilt the motor but with the new addition to my family have been very busy for the last 3 months and haven’t finished my install (just need to button every thing up).

I have a 350
Stock bottom end
Speed pro flat top pistons (9.5 cr)
Ultradyne came 217/217, 254/254 on a 110 center lobe
RPM intake with an edelbrock 750 on top
Dynomax 1 5/8’s headers to 2.5 pipes with x pipe with dumps
I have the smog knock offs of the 882 but I cleaned them up and did glass polish on the exhaust
My page that I need to update here (http://chevelle.ogleonline.com/enginerebuild.htm)

I think we would have very close times, I need to make it out to irwindale some time!

What CC chambers on your heads? If they're 76cc like 882s, I'm not sure you're at 9.5cr Unless you have close to zero deck and a shim gasket. I'm all the way down at 8.3cr on mine.

Your cam is the cam i would want if i was between 9.3-9.5CR, at least i think thats the 272H10 you have there. Sweet cam for that CR range, Harold said he designed it to beat his old design (Comp 268H) all the way across the RPM range.

What's your drivetrain like?

I made a mistake on the cr it is 9.1 with my deck,.015 head gasket, and my 76cc heads. My set up is much like yours a tired 350 on the colum with open 10 bolt 2.73 in back.

I have only ran the engine 2 times and that was on the test stand, I have yet to take the car out due to my busy life right now. Once I get every thing running and tuned I plan to make it to irwindale to get a base times. My car is in the very beginning of its rebuild I have plans to rebuild my tranny put in a ratchet shifter and 3.73’s in back. My goals for this current set up is high 14’s.

You go to Fullerton JC right? I'm going to start going to start school at CSUF this coming Monday. Shoot me an email and we can exchange info, then you can call me when you head out to Irwindale.

I plan on adding a shiftkit and 3.55s to mine.

P.S.- I can drive your car for you if you wan't. :D

Yes I do go to Fullerton JC normally but I might take off this semester since my schedule is so tight right now. I might be able to squeeze in a 6pm cylinders heads class but that will be pushing it.

Thanks for the offer but when I finally make it to the track I will be driving my self graemlins/thumbsup.gif and I will shoot you an email!

LOL, I didn't mean at the track man, I'd never ask to do that kind of abuse on someone elses car!

I meant it'd be nice if you drove that thing more often, I've heard new cams don't like to sit around parked, they like to be driven, but maybe that's just hokus pokus advice.

email sent

I just need to hook up exhuast, pullys, belts, hoses, and work on timing and rockers. Only time I have free is 10pm and on and I am so tired from work/watching 2 rug rats that i normaly read message boards then go to bed. I need to get a baby sitter one day and get it all done.

Enrique, it sounds like you're having fun. Here are a couple of quick track tips that might help you nab that 9 second slip.

1. Remove anything from the car that doesn't need to be there. I'm not saying to gut it or anything like that, but remove all tools, spare tire, etc. You don't want any excess weight or anything that might shift around.

2. With that being said about excess weight, try to run a full tank of gas. That's weight that is directly over the rear tires and it can help keep them planted.

3. Remove or at least disconnect the front sway bar. You said that you added a sway bar that was 5 lbs. heavier than the stock one. Was that in front or back? A rear sway bar can help keep the car from twisting so much and maintain some consistency. That's good. A front sway bar can bind up and limit front end rise. Also, it's extra weight. That's bad.

4. Use the "search" function and look up the front "shock nut" trick. One of our resident TC guru's (mc71454) taught me that trick and it did wonders for helping me hook up. It's easy and pretty much free.

5. Since it's early in the tuning game, pick a shift point and stick with it. That way you can get a rhythm down and tune other stuff one thing at a time. You really don't want to change 3 things or so after every pass. It's entirely possible that you could get quicker, but you won't be sure which of the 3 things did it. Oh yeah, find a pattern that starts from pulling into the burnout box up till the moment you stage. Stick with it. Repetition is the key.

6. Turn your curb idle speed up to about 1200 rpms or so, by turning the idle screw on the carb. Do NOT footbrake the car with stock-type suspension. You are pre-loading the suspension and that will cause loss of traction. When you get back to the pits and you are ready to drive home, simply turn your idle speed back down and you're good to go.

There's tons of other stuff that you can do with the carb, timing curve, tire pressure, etc. but that's for other topics. Pretty much all I've covered is damn near free and will work to improve your consistency at achieving traction.

Moral of the story is: keep pluggin' away and try to be as methodical as possible. I was told by a wise man once that, "the most fun you will have, is when you stop tuning tenths out of it and start shaving hundreths" or something to that effect. It's really cool when you settle in with the combo and keep it consistent. You've become one with the machine and are growing as a driver. As you refine and tune the combo (and yourself) then the E.T.'s come a hundreth or so at a time. When your times bounce around and you think, "hey I picked up a full tenth this week!", it's great and everything, but consistency will bring home the money.

I started off with a mid-10 second slug (no offense) and I've tuned it down to the lower 8's in dead heat summer weather. That's with a 350 on full tread street tires. I've got some decent parts, but it's very streetable and it should have a high 7 second slip in there somewhere.

With all that said....I have a ways to go myself. I don't get to go to the track as much as I'd like(which might be your case as well), but hang in there and stay at it. Once the racing bug bites...it sinks it's teeth in. :cool:

Keep us posted! graemlins/waving.gif

Yeah, it was a front bar I added.

I usually footbrake it to 1200-1300, the idle-speed screw hasnt worked for me, my car doesnt like idling that high in the staging lanes, I'm not sure why, but it generates heat.

And I know about only changing one thing at a time, that's why all i did Thursday was change the timing once. That's where I'm leaving it from now on.

I know consistency is key, but with my life schedule i end up only going to the track once a month or less during school, and I can't help but have a few things change over a few months.

The car doesnt usually have problems hooking, just two oddball runs all summer. I think its when i preload the suspension, which i know i shouldnt do, but oh well.

Thanks for the tips. I was told on here that at my power level the shocknut/swaybar trick isnt worth much since my car doesnt launch hard enough to transfer much weight anyway?????

I'm working on the excess weight thing.....on the driver! I weigh 275 pounds right now, that's 10 pounds less than than in June. I TRULY AM going to try to make the driver lighter before gutting the car anymore, LOL.

I dropped from 260 to 195 lbs and, not only do I feel better, I have better time slips smile.gif . Do it!!! I'd like to drop another 20 but it's getting more difficult now, the easy pounds are gone. Much as lowering ET, at first it improves by tenths and later by hundredths, the Pros look for thousandths of a second.

Hey man, dont let anyone ever tell you that diconnecting the front swaybar wont help you, it does SO much for me. (check out the topic I recently started on my first time to the track) I also think that you might need to be shifting a ways higher, small engines need to rev high to make more power. I dont know what cam I have in my 350, but she'll rev to 6500 if I let her. I normally shift right around 6000 and boy does it feel quicker than shifting at 5k. Anyway, good luck with your car, your adventure threads are pretty entertaining to read! graemlins/beers.gif

I agree with shifting at a higher rpm. When I ran my 66 driver, I shifted at 5500. Try that and try higher. The extra 500-1000 rpm could make a big difference. And don't forget, I have manifolds not headers and they are much more restrictive.