With a weeklong series of minor miracles I finished my '65 El Camino and made a few rounds of eliminations at Super Chevy.

Many thanks to my "crew", and fellow TC'ers Tad (Tad's girlfriend is the proud owner of one of my past ElCaminos, a '67 called "Rosie"), Brandon, and especially Pat Kelley - inbetween rounds I found myself in need of a new upper radiator hose. Pat's tow ElCamino unwittingly provided the needed part - only problem was that Pat was not exactly around to grant permission! I'm not sure that Pat will save a pit spot for me ever again :D

Here is the miracle list:
1) My TH400 didn't survive the first chassis dyno pulls last week. In time for competition I managed to do a Billet 200 4R conversion (many thanks to Bruce Toelle at Performance Transmissions in Sacramento).
2) My Holley Dominator developed a simultaneous perplexing problem, I'm almost (but not quite) embarassed to say was actually just a bad vacumn line plug.
3) At the tech inspection I was failed for an out of date 5-point safety harness. In time to make one(!) time trial run I managed to get a new set of belts and get them installed and passed through tech.
4) During my first round of eliminations my water pump disassembled itself and made like a buzzsaw through the radiator core (ouch!) For the first time ever I had to be towed back to my pit area - but at least I won my round! Round two of eliminations was the following morning, so I went home and along with a water pump and electric fan (no more water pump mounted fans for me) and picked up the nice BeCool radiator from my '67. The swap/upgrade of the '67 BeCool and electric fan into the '65 naturally took a lot more time than expected. But once again I (my crew actually) got it all done in time for another round of eliminations.
5) During my second round elimination run the fan belt came off at the 1/8th mile mark. I kept the hammer down (not a smart thing to do, but I didn't yet realize the belt was gone) and I ran within 2 one hundredths of my dial in, an 11.34 vs my 11.32 dial in. For the SECOND time, I had to be towed back to my pit area :(

My luck did finally run out on the third round of eliminations: I didn't make it back soon enough from my parts chase to a couple of local auto parts stores - I returned to lanes about 5 minutes after they closed the lanes for my class :(

I had a grand time, and still cannot believe all that I managed to pull through during the week leading up to this weekend - and the string of lucky chances that fell in front of me at the track.

For the very first drag passes with the new combo I'm pleased - but of course I want more smile.gif I'm looking for upper 10's. It was laying down in third gear (fuel volume issue most likely I think), and I had a hard time getting it off the line with any sort of decent 60' time.

Bests:
R/T .507
60' 1.761
E.T. 11.311
MPH 120.80

Man was that fun! Thomas

Sure I will Thomas, whatever you need, if I have it, you are welcome to it. You made an impressive first showing with the car. I doubt my little 350 will ever catch you.

Congrats Thomas...is your combo posted on here somewhere?

Pat, thanks again for your help - including your old metal working skills in hammering out the radiator mounting brackets needed for the conversion of the 67 crossflow BeCool radiator into the '65.

Pat, on a performance per cube basis you have me beat hands down. My '65 would be running 9's (in my dreams) on the same performance per cube basis as your overachieving 355 :D

Thomas

Now I would call that team work! graemlins/hurray.gif

Robert, yeah, somewhere in all these topics my combo is spelled out. But let me just list it all here:

"65 El Camino Low Rider, dropped 5" in back, 2" in front. Hotchkiss lower rear control arms, Morrison-Gazon adjustable uppers, no front sway bar, 1" rear solid mounted sway bar. M.T. E.T. Streets, 28 x 11.50 (~ 10" contact width). Almost exacly a 3,600 lb race weight with me aboard. Differential is a 4.11 12 bolt. Trans is a Billet 200 4R: billet input shaft and forward drum + more. I was originally going to use this trans behind a nitrous 406 for my '67 Bomber. Nominally a 2,800 stall converter for a n/a 406, stalls in the mid 3,000's behind this 496. Lock up not yet connected, but is in there for when I do. 496 cubes (4.25 stroke x 4.32 bore). 10.72:1 static compression ratio. Brodix BB-2 heads, 2.25" x 1.88" valves, massaged, but not full race porting. Comp solid roller specs (from memory, might be slightly off): .654/.660 lift (before lash), 248/254 duration, 110 degree LSA. Victor Jr intake with 4500 adapter taper spacer. Holley Dominator, pulls 2" vacumn at WOT. Mallory standard high performance street HEI. Carter 4889 pump, 120 GPH _ I had thought (wrongly so) that it was a Carter 172 with regular fittings. 1/2" fuel line from tank to pump, 3/8" from pump to carb. Pump gas 91 octane :( Standard Hooker Competition headers, 2" primary, 3.5" collector, 3" tailpipes into 3 chamber Flowmasters. That is about all the basics that I can think of.

Thomas

Thomas,

Whats that thing tip the scales at? I think you just popped the 120mph balloon in my head and replaced it with a 115.

Matt

Matt, you are way to hard on yourself, let's just wait and see how you do. I think your car will be quicker and faster than you think. When looking at my results keep in mind the less than ideal weather conditions: high temps, into the low 100's, and generally not good air. Also, give yourself a little slack for your first time out with a new combo. Yes it would be great if it ran terrific numbers right out of the box - but most guys usually take several visits before they get everything "right".

I posted my race weight with me in the seat, but if you must know the actual breakdown: ~ 180 for me, 3,440 for the car.

Thomas

It was definitely a good time to be had by all! I can't wait to see it ripping into the 10's Thomas. Pat, next year it's all you buddy, with the lights you were cutting there's no stopping you! My goal is to have the velle together in time to run Super Chevy next year, but my real hope is to have some tuning done before then!!!

As soon as I get them off of my camera I'll post a few pics!

Congrats Thomas (and always carry some spare oil.)

Ok Thomas, I finally converted the videos I took at Super Chevy!! Same warning about them coming from my still camera applies! Oh, and the second run got cut short at about the 1000' mark. I know Tad was taking video for you to, so I guess this is moreso for everyone on TC!!

http://www.chevelles.com/cgi-bin/video/dirwrap.cgi?rt=count&path=video//THOMASRUN1.wmv

http://www.chevelles.com/cgi-bin/video/dirwrap.cgi?rt=count&path=video//THOMASBURNOUT.wmv

http://www.chevelles.com/cgi-bin/video/dirwrap.cgi?rt=count&path=video//THOMASRUN2.wmv

Take it easy!!

Great job Thomas, Even with all the thrashing going on it sounds like you had a great time. Nothing like racing and having good friends around to share the experience with. It just doesn't get any better than that.

Rob

Brandon, that was so cool - I didn't know you got that much video. I'll see you on the 16th, I plan on racing the Summit E.T. Series at Irwindale.

Thomas