Went out to Cecil yesterday for a day of T&T as I had some things I wanted to try. This was the only day I could get there with their schedule...bad thing was it was also their last street car day with quick 8 cars...track was packed.

Only got 3 passes in due to the large car count and also several track oil downs...disappointing to say the least graemlins/angry.gif . Looks like super quick nitrous cars and cold air/track don't get along too well :rolleyes: .

My first pass was a disaster as they were doing tech in the lanes and you then pulled right to the start line, so no time to mess around. After teching in, the cars moved up rather quickly and I discovered I left my drain pan on the inner fender from draining the vacuum pump puke tank...no time to drain/clean it, so it hit the closest trash can. I jumped in, belted up, tried to build some oil temp and did the burnout. I then noticed some smoke coming up through the carpet a little and it got worse as I started to stage. The smoke didn't smell of fire, rather tire smoke, so I staged anyway...never got smoke in the car before. I had installed my 80lb ballast bar prior to the 1st pass and thought maybe the extra weight out back put the body down enough to rub the tires.

As I The smoke distracted me enough that I really don't remember launching, nor do I have any idea if I hit the shift points...smoke got worse as I went down the track. I picked up the time slip and went to pit. I quickly climbed under the car and saw no signs of tire rub anywhere. I then decided to remove the ballast just as a precaution. When I stood up I had a hand on the car and it shook the body and I saw the trunk lid move up and down.

Stupid me forgot to latch the trunk lid after tech graemlins/clonk.gif . Heck, they didn't even look in the trunk anyway.

Next pass I made sure the trunk lid was shut ;) ...no more smoke.

All stupid mistakes on my part redface.gif ...thankfully I don't do such things very often ;) .

The following two passes went off without any driver related complications graemlins/thumbsup.gif .

Anyway, long story short, the car didn't break it's previous best, but I did meet some internet fellows who I have been in contact with for a long time. Nice to put a face with the typed words that go along with it. There were alot of cars that made the trip from Jersey and New York area as well as a few from Delaware.

The car is put away, up on stands for the winter with plans being made for next season...some changes may be in order, but nothing set in stone yet. The 'lil rat may get put to pasture for 2005, but then again, maybe not :confused: .

As a side note, I met a New York celebrity :D ...guy came down that owns a white '67 Chevelle that happened to be the fellow who won the Hot Rod magazine Pump Gas Drags race earlier this year in Memphis. He was pitted just across from me, so I went over and introduced myself...his name is Rob I believe. Real nice gut to chat with.

On my last pass, Rob was three cars in front of me, so I was able to watch him make a pass as I sat in the car in the staging lanes...he ripped off a 9.05 @ 153 mph...with a stick shift car to boot!

Hey, sometimes you just can't find the groove. Didn't help the psyche that it started as a crappy night to try and run bests.

As an aside, I saw the video of Rob's HRPGD run. You know a 67 rowing the gears, I had to love it. I did wonder why it pops as he shifts ( assume clutchlessly ). Does a rev limiter do that with nitrous ordinarily, or does the no2 shutdown right at the shiftpoint if it's clutched?

Anyway. Next year. You still trying the sell the car? Or are you looking for improvements.

Don't know about the popping Gene...couldn't hear his with my helmet on, the door closed, window up and the engine running :D .

Nope, not really trying to sell the car unless someone shows up and just has to have it...do have one fellow who sold a car and would like to buy it, but I'm just not ready to let this thing go just yet. I consider it a rolling project car of sorts and like experimenting and trying new things...no better way to learn what works and what doesn't.

Looking to do some improvements...we'll just leave it at that till the plans are decided upon.

I did ask Rob about his clutch setup. Most racers I know with 9 second strip rides are constantly adjusting the clutch after every pass or every couple passes. Rob said he uses a Ram clutch and hasn't touched it since installing it two years ago :eek: .

How did that oil cooler work out on the street?

Tony, the oil cooler worked out just fine. It knocked about 20 to 30 degrees out of the oil on local cruises.

Originally posted by 10secBu:
Looking to do some improvements...we'll just leave it at that till the plans are decided upon.

That's what I was hoping to hear! You're a talented racer Todd, and most of us truly enjoy reading about your struggles/endeavors!

Thanks Gene,

I was a bit disappointed the car wouldn't go quicker...it wasn't from a lack of effort on my part. Tried a couple things, but nothing really showed any improvement and the lack of runs kept me from trying any further tuning tricks.

It looks like the lil rat may just be running as hard as it can and there just isn't much left in the combination as it sits...I thought that maybe, just maybe there is a total of another tenth left in it, but without getting 6 to 10 runs in a day, it's really difficult to be able to tweak the tune and know if the changes were valid.

We also don't seem to get mine shaft air conditions around here very often and never when I'm at the track. A fellow racer shared his weather station which showed the density altitude at 1100+ feet at 3:00 pm. Given that fact, there's a chnce of picking up some ET just from better air if luck would have it.

Probably a moot point as the lil rat is coming out in the next few weeks...

Another fine season for the "lil rat". Talk about doing more with less. Good job and can't wait to see what you do next season.

No matter, I think your Malibu is very impressive.
I wouldn`t stress over it, it one of those racing things, and I`m still impressed with your 60 ft times on BFG drag radials. graemlins/thumbsup.gif
Nice setup!

Thanks guys.

BTW, for anyone interested, there's a huge gallery of pics from Mark and Matt at godragracing.com from Saturdays event.

http://gallery.godragracing.com/gallery/cecil116?page=1

Todd, glad to hear you were pluggin' away till the last day. graemlins/waving.gif

Is there any little hint as to what direction you might head in the offseason?

If I were at your point (which I'm not), I think I'd have to either go for 9's or keep it where it's at, but go for even more streetability.

Nice job this season. :cool:

Well, the lil rat is coming out this evening for the last time. It's worked it's butt off the last couple seasons and is being retired from any use from myself. The bare shortblock is going to be sold off.

The new plans for next season? Mainly to try and be more competetive in our local MSRA DOT 10.0 index heads up class. The plan for the engine is to build a basic high compression 468 shortblock and reuse my induction system. Planning on the compression being 13 to 13.5 to 1 and going back to steel rods instead of the aluminum rods this lil rat had.

Just picked up a factory 454 steel crank std/std last week and am currently searching out a 454 block. Stupid me sold the 4 bolt block I had last winter graemlins/clonk.gif . Now I need to find a replacement.

Once a block is in hand, that and the crank will get delivered to the machine shop.rods, pistons, rings, bearings, and ATI dampner will all be purchased from the machine shop.

Other than sourcing a block, the next challenge is to come up with a cam grind to take full advantage of the 50 additional cubes, .400" longer stroke, and also 3 full points more static compression. I dread calling the cam help lines as they rarely know what there talking about. Will more than likely work with my machinist in picking the next grind out.

With the additional power/torque, the current 8" ATI converter will also have to go back for tightening. I won't do so now, but a t-brake in the th400 may also be a possibility for 2005 to help with curring better lights on the .400 pro tree.

I've also had thoughts of cutting out the mild steel cage and bending one out of 4130 to save some weight as well as a few other weight saving measures, but the engine take priority right now. The diet program will take a back seat for the time being.

I've always been impressed with what you've been able to accomplish with your car Todd, and I'm more of a resto guy than anything! Now that I'm building a real hot rod for the first time I am gaining even more of an appreciation for your accomplishments.

I'm just hoping to get my wagon into the 12's with a stout but streetable 427. I should be able to pick the heads up this week from an old drag racer friend who really knows how to flow those old boat anchor 049 heads. Too bad I'm so far away as I know of a good source for 454 blocks, some original 4-bolts and some modified to 4-bolts at fairly reasonable prices for the modified blocks at least. One of them will be going into my wagon.

Tell me why you plan to go the 468 route instead of going all the way to 496? Is the extra stroke of the 496 to much for a racing application? (I'm still getting grief from my buddies for going the 427 route!)

Rich,

I'm leary of the long stroke running small tires and a 3 speed...especially running drag radial DOT tires. Might work with a glide, but I'm not ready to get rid of my 3 speed just yet. I'll have my hands full nest season trying to hook a high compression 468, much less a long stroke 496 with oval ports. Depending on the application, I think there's definately the chance for too much torque for the tires to handle.

Todd let me say congrats on your approach to a great combo you were one of the first posts I read when I got on TC and I've learned alot from your project.

Rich ..... I too have taken alot of flak from my racin buddies on building a 427 ( for me more about nostalgia cause I'm an old guy) But Todd makes a very good point .... for those of us who drag race occaisonally and not at Todd's level hooking up with a big torque monster and a manual trans can be a real challenge ... ultimately we could ET as well with our short stroke motors as most could with a 496 and street / strip suspension .... my story for my racin buddies and I'm sticking to it. smile.gif
Bill

Todd,

Just a thought, why not go with a new GenVI block, either 454 or 502. You can still use the MarkIV 2 pc. seal crank and even the MarkIV heads. They are all 4 bolt mains, and from my experience, the cost to purchase, clean, mag and line hone just about offsets the cost. The GenVI also has a better oiling design, the main oil passages are moved next to the cam in the center of the motor as opposed to down the side of the block. Basically, just have the decks cut to desired height, install cam bearings and plate hone, then assemble. Running a roller is even easier due to the stepped nose cam and retainer.

Originally posted by GRN69CHV:
Todd,

Just a thought, why not go with a new GenVI block, either 454 or 502. You can still use the MarkIV 2 pc. seal crank and even the MarkIV heads. They are all 4 bolt mains, and from my experience, the cost to purchase, clean, mag and line hone just about offsets the cost. The GenVI also has a better oiling design, the main oil passages are moved next to the cam in the center of the motor as opposed to down the side of the block. Basically, just have the decks cut to desired height, install cam bearings and plate hone, then assemble. Running a roller is even easier due to the stepped nose cam and retainer. Had considered that route early on, but the costs are way too high IMO. I have a two piece seal mkIV crank and the gen VI block would need to be machined with the adapter...nearly $100 for the adapter plus machine work. Also, I could no longer use my $300 B&B racing oil pan...another added expense.

I'm not sure, but does the Gen VI block use tall lifter bores? If so, I couldn't use my current roller lifters either.

Anyway, it was a consideration, but in the end, the costs just aren't worth it...with the stock 454 Gen VI block costing $1100 and the 502 costing $1500. Till you do the seal adapter, machine work, etc...your only a couple hundred less than a Dart big M block, which will be my next engine...either a 509 or 522.

This shortblock is being built on a budget of sorts...approx $2500-3000 max.

The rear seal adapter doesn't need any machining. Stef's has them #6035 for GenV and #6036 for GenVI. This is actually how GM does the GenV Bow Tie Motors. In my case, I only went with the new GenVI 454 block just not to have to deal with any more used block issues. It seems all I was coming across was junk and it was costing me more to buy and freshen up. You would have to check on the lifters you have though, many are interchangeable with MarkIV and GenV,VI. Also, in your case, having a GM block may not be an issue. For what I am doing, having a new GM block is a big plus.