The Quest For Fifteens: The Saga Continues

[Project1970]

Went dragracing tonight...well, first, don't remember if I posted it or not, but my previous low ET was a 16.460, at 82.79mph. That was with only the spare tire removed, and the old / small-gapped plugs. Since then, I've yanked the trailer hitch, the spare tire carrier (which weighed practically nothing =P) and installed new, wider-gapped (.045") plugs.

Run E.T. MPH
1 16.291 82.27
2 16.411 82.53
3 16.222 82.99
4 16.270 83.10
5 16.161 83.17
6 16.278 83.11

That's right...I'm now a mere .161 away from the fifteens!!! And I should also note that, when I started dragracing this thing, I was barely breaking the eighteens... I wonder what it will take to get rid of that last tenth-and-a-half. I can't go much lower on the weight, the quarter mile club I'm in frowns upon running a daily-driver car in a configuration other than it would be on the street...otherwise, those bumpers would be off...

On run 1, I went too far on the 2-3 shift and went 2-N!!!! Stupid column shifter...

I should imagine the 700R4 will take some more off of the ET and more onto the MPH; less power drain and better 1st / 2nd gearing.

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Project 1970 - soon to be seen at http://milhouse.treylis.org:81/

[Fast68Chevy]

what engine and rear axle ratio you got ?
if i was serious, id be yanking door guts, heater box, inner fenders, etc


[This message has been edited by Fast68Chevy (edited April 27, 2002).]

[Project1970]

Very lightly warmed over, original, 120,000 mile 350 - all it's got above stock is a new Quadrajet, Comp Cams 260H cam, a huge K&N open-element filter, new HEI, and cheap dual exhaust. Seems to like shifting around 4800RPM. 3.73 open rear axle, TH400 transmission.

Yeah, I'd be yanking stuff like mad too, but it's got to stay complete for the quarter mile club...I bet the bumpers alone would be enough to get into the fifteens...

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Project 1970 - soon to be seen at http://milhouse.treylis.org:81/

[Alexis]

are you running headers, hmm how bout a new alum intake manifold. sounds like a nice daily driver to me. also what size tires are you running out back?

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Britney: 1970 2wd K/5 Blazer (Frame up)
Jessica: 1967 2wd SWB (daily driver)
Helga: 1972 4x4 3/4ton LWB (daily driver)

AIM:Alexmart1
Mountain View, Cali

[67Blacksheep]

Go as light as you can get on a set of Mags to shave a little, and put a floor shifter in to avoid the missed gear problem. How tight are you off the line?? You could always lose the bench seat and ride n a couple fiberglass buckets!!! Good luck, and keep trying. Aim for 14's and the 15's will come!

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67 Chevy C20 LB Stepside,
350 4-bolt with goodies.

[Stroker]

Do you have any traction problems off the line? 1.6 rocker arms might give you another 8-12hp.Can you duct some cold air to that K&N filter?Will they let you ice down the intake and cool it way down before the run? As far as shifting goes I would modify the govenor fly weights a little at a time to get your shift point at full throttle where you want it and then let it auto shift.Another thing I've seen done that worked well although it didn't look so good was covering the grill with screen. It must cut the drag considerably I've seen a .2 increase with a truck running about the same times as yours.Try changing to a 5w30 synthetic oil and instlalling a 160 thermastat. The oil and temp need to be done together or you'll get no gain.

[This message has been edited by Stroker (edited April 27, 2002).]

[Project1970]

alexmart1: Nope, still running manifolds...yeah, I know...an intake is actually right about third on the list at the moment. First is the 700R4, since no matter what else I do to this thing, I've got to get those RPMs down on the freeway so I can drive it to UofA and back without winding the engine at 4000RPM the entire way... Exhaust is second, because that could be as cheap as an H-pipe and I want to quiet the idle down. Rears are 275/60-15 Radial T/As.

67BlackSheep: Hehe...I wouldn't mind going to a floor shifter and two seats...that one will probably have to wait, though. Heh, I know what it'll take to get me into the 14s...a new crate engine. =P It's actually pretty good off of the line, I just give the tires a quick scratch (don't use the waterbox) before I go in and powerbrake it at 1100RPM. 2.3 second 60' times are darn good for a truck with an open rear if I do say so myself, and the track was a bit slick; I had both of the imports I whooped (woo!!!) from the 60' mark, and even a '72 Camaro until just before the 330' mark.

Stroker: See above for lack of traction issues, heh. I've been thinking about 1.6 rockers, to help it breathe a bit better. Speaking of that, anyone have any ideas as to why this thing just seems to run flat much past 4800RPM? What would be the biggest bottleneck? Original intake, heads, exhaust manifolds... I could probably ice down the intake...last night, it wasn't much of an issue, an unusually cool night for April in Phoenix...I think that's part of the reason my slowest run was still faster than my previous fastest, I never had any "hot" runs. Already have a 160 stat to keep it cooler in the summer, but I can't do the 5w30; it leaks/burns enough at 20w50!

Thanks for the replies, guys; I really want to get it into the fifteens this year but I'm not sure if it'll happen until after summer, at least not with the little tweaks I've been doing. (Almost scary that I've cut off nearly 2 seconds with mostly tweaks!) Last night was probably the final cool Friday night we'll have around here for a while.

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Project 1970 - soon to be seen at http://milhouse.treylis.org:81/

[Longhorn Man]

If you just want the braggin rights, correct it for sea level...but that is a cop out.
I would slip an intake under your new carb...you'll be amazed at the differance.
That and good small primary tubed headers will get your magic number.


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'69 G.M.C. 350/350. Trying to clean up the left over damage from the Dope-Smokin-Old-Man
I've been dubbed the Longhorn Freak/Fanatic/Expert, I just hope I can live up to it.
FINALLY got the HORNIAC...a '70 one ton Longhorn with a Pontiac 350/350 and lots of 'personality'. Check out The Longhorn Webite.
If you need a pic posted, E-mail me at longhornmail@yahoo.com
Andy, in Columbus Ohio

[cableguy0]

i'd say ur biggest bottleneck is that quadrajunk and the intake if its still stock.headers alone would probably get u into the 15's.also stock heis are known to start dropping spark arpund 4500 rpm.if i were u i'd get a hotter ignition.im running a proform that came with a 50'000 volt coil and it doesent have a problem running over 6000 rpm

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72 chevy lwb 350 lunati cam ported and polished cast 2.02 heads proform hei edelbrock performer rpm and 750 carb balanced bottom end 9.5:1 compression ps,pb th350 with a tci 2500 stall convertor full man v-body kevlar clutches and bands as well as other goodies

[Project1970]

Hehe...yeah, I could correct them, but I want fifteens at Firebird!! (Or, moreso, fifteens at the track in Tucson, downside being it's even higher there...)

Intake and exhaust mods will come this summer. Once I get some computer upgrades out of the way, what's left of my graduation money goes to the truck. (Half-geek, half-truck-guy. 100% empty wallet.)

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Project 1970 - soon to be seen at http://milhouse.treylis.org:81/

[Project1970]

I doubt it's the ignition that's giving me the bottleneck...it's a warmed-over and freshly-rebuilt HEI, not some old bone-stock stuff. Heck, the HEI was what got me from high 16's to mid 16's!

I doubt it's the carb, either...most of the tweaks to get it into the 16's were carb-related. Given that I've seen plenty of much faster cars with much larger engines getting fed perfectly well by QJets, my weak 350 should have no problem getting it's dose of fuel and air...but I bet that intake is a nasty bottleneck.

Man, I'm reeeeeally tempted to see how cheap I can snag a used Edelbrock #2101 off of eBay now. Screw the comp mods.

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Project 1970 - soon to be seen at http://milhouse.treylis.org:81/

[68SWB4x4]

yeah search ebay, ive seen some go for as low as 40 bucks..... i put a edelbrock intake on my truck and you can deffintly FEEL the diffrence..... very nice the 80 buck headers helped to

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My Truck pictures

www.xframeimpala.com

68 4x4 short fleetside 327 CH465 edelbrock intake and carb MSD distributor its the "SHAGROLET"
56 big window short stepside 235 dual 1 brls
64ImpalaSS 327
70 C10 LWB fleetside custom/10 350/TH350
IM me on aol SN= SHAGROLET

[68SWB4x4]

is your tailgate down? or removed? i see alot of daily driver trucks running around with no gate

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My Truck pictures

www.xframeimpala.com

68 4x4 short fleetside 327 CH465 edelbrock intake and carb MSD distributor its the "SHAGROLET"
56 big window short stepside 235 dual 1 brls
64ImpalaSS 327
70 C10 LWB fleetside custom/10 350/TH350
IM me on aol SN= SHAGROLET

[Longhorn Man]

That's becouse JoesJunk has them all in his basement on his wall!
I have never seen back to back 1/4 mile testing regarding tailgates...this would be interesting. I have found that it is worth 1 to 2 MPG on the open road doin between 70 and 80 MPH though.
Too bad my bed is always full of junk. If I drop my gate, I'll get a ticket.

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'69 G.M.C. 350/350. Trying to clean up the left over damage from the Dope-Smokin-Old-Man
I've been dubbed the Longhorn Freak/Fanatic/Expert, I just hope I can live up to it.
FINALLY got the HORNIAC...a '70 one ton Longhorn with a Pontiac 350/350 and lots of 'personality'. Check out The Longhorn Webite.
If you need a pic posted, E-mail me at longhornmail@yahoo.com
Andy, in Columbus Ohio

[71402BB]

How about trying to find a ram air box off some late model car...... I'm sure that couldn't hurt. I've been wondering how the 71 would do at the strip but with an open diff it just dosen't hook up at all.

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71 SWB Stepside, was a 250, now is a 402 Big Block with 4 speed and 3.73's

72 LWB 4x4 350 4-speed 3.08's posi wearing army olive drab green (SOLD!)

68 BURB 50TH LOOKALIKE with built 350 4-speed 4.11's and posi

[Project1970]

Oh, guess what? I have done back-to-back testing of tailgate up/down!! The track I race at normally - Firebird - won't let me run with it down, but the one waaaaay across town - Speedworld - will. So, I ran one run up, two down, and one up again.

And I saw ZERO difference. I was surprised too. I think my fastest one was actually with it up, but the spread was no different than my average night at the track. I bet removed would be good for a little, but for the weight, not the aero.

Talking with some others, I might be able to do it with the 700R4. One of my buddies with an Impala SS has run the opposite scenario through Desktop Dragstrip - he keeps blowing up his 4L60E's (he's got a nicely built LT1) and wanted to see how much he'd lose if he went to a TH400...between the weight, losses, and gearing changes, it came out to nearly two tenths he'd lose in the swap. Which would be nearly two tenths I stand to gain. =)

So, the Edelbrock will be just to ensure I run 15s, and not just 15.99's.

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Project 1970 - soon to be seen at http://milhouse.treylis.org:81/

[Stroker]

Project1970 when you replaced the cam did you upgrade the valve springs? The RPM where you're flattening out is in the range where valve springs can start costing you power. I've seen engines that didn't miss untill about the 6 grand mark but where actually loosing power starting at 4,000 rpm. If you want to keep the stock intake look another option is to rework and port it. David Vizard book How to make HP vol II gives the details. Claims it can match the top end of the best aftermarket duel planes and beat any off the shelf intake on the bottom end.Myself I would find a stock aluminum spread bore intake off of a older camaro to save some weight and make the porting go a little faster. Paint it and no one will ever know. A bit of work and time but cheap and stealth.


[This message has been edited by Stroker (edited April 27, 2002).]

[Project1970]

I didn't upgrade the cam, or I'd have gone a step bigger. My dad did the cam 10 years ago when the original cam decided it didn't like being with its cam gear anymore...and no, he didn't change the valvesprings. I've thought that for a looong time but every time I bring it up, he says "Nooooooooo....it's not missing!" I always thought 32 year old truck valvesprings probably aren't the greatest for any real amount of lift.

That might come if I get a chance to really go through the heads. I know it needs new valve stem seals, it smokes on startup and nowhere else. And I figure I could probably get them worked a bit somewhere, a minor valve job, etc...

Of course, now I'm 18 and skilled enough to probably pull them off myself, hehe. Who knows...if I can find the cash, maybe I can yank them off and have them done while I swap the transmission!

Stealth isn't a huge issue once you're under the hood, IMO. The 5" tall K&N gets rid of that, LOL.

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Project 1970 - soon to be seen at http://milhouse.treylis.org:81/



[This message has been edited by Project1970 (edited April 27, 2002).]

[Desert Rat]

a carb a intake some exhaust and how about some NOS.

[Longhorn Man]

Before you drop $$ in redoing your heads, look into the vortecs.
Just redoing your exhisting heads may come close to the cost of swapping over, and since you still have a stok intake, you can upgrade only once, and get the performer vortec (or add RPM to that if you want)

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'69 G.M.C. 350/350. Trying to clean up the left over damage from the Dope-Smokin-Old-Man
I've been dubbed the Longhorn Freak/Fanatic/Expert, I just hope I can live up to it.
FINALLY got the HORNIAC...a '70 one ton Longhorn with a Pontiac 350/350 and lots of 'personality'. Check out The Longhorn Webite.
If you need a pic posted, E-mail me at longhornmail@yahoo.com
Andy, in Columbus Ohio

[Fast68Chevy]

the carb has just as large venturis as an aftermarket carb, say edelbrock, etc, they flow fine, just have differnt sized jets, IE less or more fuel supply, the old Q jets lie oens used on our trucks are the best ones, and the carter made ones too, they are arond, i just piocked one up, they are great for hoping upo and using on hi-po engines, rods and jets and such can be swapped for largerjets and smaller rods, they have size stamped on them and edelbrock ones interchange with roch and carter Q jet ones, nothing wrong with 71 or 72 and older Q jets, they are the non smogger carbs and are way better than anything newer

head intake runners almost always are smaller than intake runner, if you lok youll see the runner have one corner thats rounded and not squared due to casting flash, would be good to grind some of it away and open up the intake runners(portmatch with intake gasket) and roughen up the runners and smooth the exhaust runners really good, the exhaust maifolds are only 2" exits, compared to vette manifolds wigh 2.5" exit, theres a bigass bottleneck right there.

just my $.02

good luck


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Randy- Lincoln, IL

r68c30@hotmail.com 2177353230
-71 C-10 350/CH465/3.07, assemble it, yeah right, that'll happen in this world,(not)
-84 Z28 Camaro 5.0L 700R4, 3.73, beater, paid way too much for it like an idiot,,
-84 Firebird SE 2.8L T-5, rod knocking, dammit,,
-82 Firebird 350 4bolt (TBL)/TH350, not running, dammit...
buy/sell/hoard/trade most any GM vehicle parts of any kind
-parting out: '81 Cutlass Supreme Brougham
*Paint is overrated
© RSS Enterprises 2000



[This message has been edited by Fast68Chevy (edited April 27, 2002).]

[lukecp]

What size tires do you have on the back? You may want to get some shorter ones, to give you a little more rearend gearing on the track.

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Lucas

"Another proud owner of one of the coolest trucks ever built"

drop_shift@hotmail.com

My Daily-Driver: '72 Chevy LWB Custom/10. Rebuilt 350, roughly 300 HP thanks to a mild cam, Edelbrock intake and carb, headers, and 40 seires Flowmaster mufflers. Ochre with a white top. Plans as of now include a bigger cam, lower gears, and lots of body work.