Ok Boys and Girls it's Storytime

[wheatlandbrawler]

man this story is so awesome. i am a younger guy (23) but i love racing and i have had my truck since i was 15 and never would i think about getting rid of it. thanks for the inspiration!

[regan wilson]

We have the new combo on the dyno right now . I will pick up with the story next week . We have made two pulls but have tuning to do . Yall cross your fingers !

[wheatlandbrawler]

hahahahaha man im a little to involved with this story.... but good luck with the dyno session! "when all else fails feed it and it will grow" good luck bud.

[67chevy2wd]

Very cool story. Subscribing for the rest of the story.

[aggie91]

Man, you have brought back alot of memories from the 80's. I remember being a fressman at Robert E Lee. Sometimes you would come to pick up your girlfriend in it. I also remember the incident with the caddy...

How about the weekends out at the old Levi building off of the loop...

Glad to hear that you are just about to get it back together. I sure enjoyed your story...Thanks for the memories...

[regan wilson]

Levi as he is refering to was the place we all street raced back then . Man i hung out there over ten years . I bet I made 1000 runs down that hill . As many times as people got in trouble I never did . ( I always got popped somewhere else)

[regan wilson]

Well I'm gonna back up to 2001 . That was the year I returned to Super Chevy for the first time since 1988 . The truck had the Chevy headed 598 combo in it and was running mid nines in the heat at the Texas Motorplex . We were hanging out at the trailer trying to stay cool when a guy from the magazine came up . He told me I had been selected for an Editors Choice Top 10 Drag Car Award ! Man I thought this was way cool ! (finally a little redmption for the way the truck looked in 88 when it was in the magazine). Anyhow the guy got all my info , took some pictures , and gave me a cool plaque . The photo booth even had a really big pic on display of the truck on a good wheels up launch . Well I waited on pins and needles for the issue to come out . I finally got it and guess what NO FRIGGIN PICTURE .....The only thing they did was put my name in there and the only drag car they put a pic in of was some old funky 60 Studebaker . I sent them an Email so long I had to shorten it ! Can ya tell Im still sore about it ? Well thats all for now guys I have to get to work .

[regan wilson]

Now back to 2002 ... That was when I got the Big Duke heads .(I have looked and looked but I cant find the pics) I had Donnel at G&G Machine port the heads and a single four intake . We got this one together and it made 1070 hp . This combo would run 9.30 ay 143 . This was the time I decided to try to run Super Street . I put a throttle stop on it and one of my buddies that ran Super Comp tought me how to make it work . We made 2 runs to get a ratio and the third run we set it up for a 90 . It went 10.90 at 138 . I bracket raced it setting up on 10.90s for the rest of the year to gather data so I would have experience tuning it . That was when I figured out how much fun it was to have someone pass you and then run them down .

[butternut1972]

O.K since you are from Tyler,TX are you and Ken Herring friends? I am diggin this story. Thanks

[aggie91]

Look at the picture in post #52. That is Kenny in the white shirt behind the truck.

[butternut1972]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Look at the picture in post #52. That is Kenny in the white shirt behind the truck.

Thanks. I missed that.

[regan wilson]

Well I guess we can pick up in 2003 . I had a buddy that worked at Harwood that got me a deal on a Hogans sheetmetal intake . I cut the fiewall out completly and built a new one myself with clearace for a mechanical throttle linkage (while saving the wiper setup, remember the motor is set back 5.5 inches). I had the intake built so it would fit under the hood and clear the new firewall (remember this truck will never have a hoodscoop). I cant find a pic of the iron motor in it but the aluminium one dont look much different . When it came back out it would run 143 on the 10.90 index and went a best of 9.12 at 147 wide open .

[djracer]

man the firewall looks awesome.

[5.7L JWL]

Originally Posted by djracer

man the firewall looks awesome.

You aint kiddin'!

I'm diggin the louvered tag

This story is the stuff of legends! Cant wait to see how it all................keeps going.....................................




Jay

[regan wilson]

Well I ran that combo for two years without much luck . I had alot of problems inluding breaking one crank in half and wounding my block . Everyone just shook their heads (telling me it will never work). I guess you could say it was a two year test session . No matter what I did it would leave too hard and come down too hard . Put it this way I didnt win very many rounds . After going through a miltitude of different throttle stop setups I got it to where it worked pretty decent . By the end of 04 I decided it was time to go bigger . I ordered a Callies Stealth 4.75 stroke crank (the first new crank I ever had)and we bored the block to 4.625 and built the 638 .We bushed the lifter bores and everything , it was like brand new . We dynoed on oct 13 of 05 and it made 1224 hp and 930 tq (on the old dyno I will explain later)

[regan wilson]

We took the truck to Red River in Shreveport and the first pass on the throttle stop I think it was in the 10.50's at 149 . I made a few passes on the stop and decided it was time to see what it would do . Wide open it would pick the front up about a foot and before the tire could make one revolution it would shake like hell and just blow the tires off . Man I thought stuff was gonna start falling off (it would literaly rattle your teeth). I tried about six or eight times but it just wasnt going to stay hooked . I babied it to a 9.02 @ 149 . Now for the bad news ......All that shaking took its toll ! The last pass I tried to make the violent shake caused the Melling oil pump to break off and fall in the pan . My accusump saved the mains but it slung all the oil out of the rods and got the new crank so hot it bent it 10 thousands. So much for a std crankshaft .

[ripdog28]

Im assuming the throttle affects the low end more then the top. 10.50 at 149 or 9.02 at 149. Just looks funny. Loving the story and build. Can not believe the time you have into testing and tuning to get where you are now.

[djracer]

Originally Posted by regan wilson

We took the truck to Red River in Shreveport and the first pass on the throttle stop I think it was in the 10.50's at 149 . I made a few passes on the stop and decided it was time to see what it would do . Wide open it would pick the front up about a foot and before the tire could make one revolution it would shake like hell and just blow the tires off . Man I thought stuff was gonna start falling off (it would literaly rattle your teeth). I tried about six or eight times but it just wasnt going to stay hooked . I babied it to a 9.02 @ 149 . Now for the bad news ......All that shaking took its toll ! The last pass I tried to make the violent shake caused the Melling oil pump to break off and fall in the pan . My accusump saved the mains but it slung all the oil out of the rods and got the new crank so hot it bent it 10 thousands. So much for a std crankshaft .

Man that really sucks. I have only had shake one time and it was when I tried to run a 29.5 x 10.5 hoosier. It would shake but stayed hooked up. I hate that about the motor. I have seen allot of failure out of melling pumps lately. I told myself I wanted a billet pump but Reher and Morrison talked me into a moroso stock style pump and a new steel pan that they said would make more power.

[Moostifer]

Originally Posted by team39763

Did people think you were crazy back then for fixing up a truck to be fast? Just wondering because these days a lot of people think it's pointless to try to make a truck fast. Was it like that back then?

In East Texas where Regan, myself, and a few others following this thread grew up, you fixed up whatever you had, and most of us had trucks. This was, and pretty much still is a rural farm/ranch area. We needed our trucks to work the hay fields, haul feed, deliver produce, and get us to the deer stand, or that hidden pond. So, it wasn't crazy for our area to see a LWB truck with white wagon wheels and the biggest mud tire you could get, on just the back, to be lined up next to a 78 Camaro with Crager SS's. We didnt care what you had, we just wanted to know if it was faster than what we had.

Thanks for the trip back in time when things were much simpler, Regan.

[shawnt]

Originally Posted by Moostifer

In East Texas where Regan, myself, and a few others following this thread grew up, you fixed up whatever you had, and most of us had trucks. This was, and pretty much still is a rural farm/ranch area. We needed our trucks to work the hay fields, haul feed, deliver produce, and get us to the deer stand, or that hidden pond. So, it wasn't crazy for our area to see a LWB truck with white wagon wheels and the biggest mud tire you could get, on just the back, to be lined up next to a 78 Camaro with Crager SS's. We didnt care what you had, we just wanted to know if it was faster than what we had.

Thanks for the trip back in time when things were much simpler, Regan.

This is still the same lol.. see an s10 with huge mudgrips on the back with bald front tires.. lol..

Shawn

[william-theglassman]

just about everyone i knew had a truck . although none were as fast as Regan but they were pretty quick. most would run in the 12s . good enough to beat all the IROCs n GTs.

[regan wilson]

That winter I tore it back down and sent the crank to Dewayne at Shafttech . He was able to save it , he straightened it out and only had to cut the rod journals 10 . So my new crank was now std on the mains and 10 on the rods . I put it all back together and was going to attempt to make my first full run at chasing the Lucas Oil points series . My first race of the year was at Houston Raceway Park . I did pretty good at that one with a fifth round finish . I also ran a best mph of 149.00 .

[djracer]

Keep it coming Regan.

[regan wilson]

I left out that there was a tailwind . The 638 usually ran 146 to 148 . I also had a big long post yesterday and my computer droped offline and came back on so I wasnt logged in when I tried to post and lost it but I will try again .

[regan wilson]

The next few races didnt go as well . I one third rounder two second rounders and one first rounder . When you run the divisional series you can run up to eight races including two out of divisions and you count the best five . I met my fiance Kristi that year and she had been to only one race with me when I decided to go to Montgomery Alabama for an out of division race . It took us ten hours to get there (and she didnt know what to think cause I dont talk when I drive). I got us good little spot next to the track with some nice grass and we sat and watched it rain .... I think the highlight of the weekend was the steak I cooked us on friday . The track looked terrible (like a dry lake bed , just flaking up everywhere) and by saturday when we started it still wasnt worth a damn . My first pass I thought I was gonna hit the wall in the other lane when I came off the throttle stop and had to abort . Well the next one was going a little better till I dropped a valve at half track . I rolled to the end of the track smoking and rattling (hell I didnt know if it was on fire or not) and pulled up next to the NHRA safety truck . We towed it back the trailer and I found the problem , loaded up and headed for Texas. It took about 8 1/2 hrs to get home and I said 8 words (Kristi wasnt sure at this point if she liked racing or not) lol.......