You're going to have to buy another car so you can put the flowmasters on something
You're going to have to buy another car so you can put the flowmasters on something
Well the jig worked perfectly.
Even the exhaust tips line up as they should.
I am going to replace the 90 degree bend into the muffler to make that fit a little better, but then it's done.
One more thing off the list. Dixie is fast approaching.
Looks awesome, I loved the way my spin techs sound on my truck
I love the sound of the Spintech mufflers. Deep, angry, no rasp. My friend had 1000s on his Mach1 and it roared and burbled so very nicely.
New Car Jitters
Last weekend, just as the COVID-19 crisis was hitting, we found ourselves in Adel, Georgia for the 2020 Dixie Tour. This was our first race since Nationals last year, so it was time to dust things off and see how the changes we made over the winter worked out.
Last time the car was ran, things were so good, I forgot that this was a new build. This weekend would serve as a reminder.
Off-season changes were limited, and largely related to maintenance and improving a few little things there and there. Biggest change was going to a softer front spring rate. We decided to hold off on the dyno session until after this race, so we loaded up the car and made the drive down south.
We did not get there in time to do any sort of test runs, so we were just going for it. Why not, right? Well, the car ran bad. And when I say bad, I mean really bad. It would try to die between the 1-2 shifts, was running really rich and acting like it was flooding when you tried to start (but doing things to clear out the carb didn't seem to make a difference). It was so bad that Kate couldn't get a single run in the books due to the car dying. You can hear how bad it was running in this video:
After crossing the scales on day one, we had to report to impound. Once there, my fellow competitors and I were curious as to what was going on, and decided to take the hood off and check the floats. The moment I turned on the fuel pump, gas gushed out of the front vent. Looks like we had a stuck float the entire time and we were literally dumping fuel down the carb. Well, that explains the issues we were having, and quite frankly, we were lucky we didn't hurt anything. I even managed to land in third out of eight drivers for the day, but I was very far back from second. I did, again, run into an issue with the car being over the sound limit, but the meter placement at this event was suspect. That said, I will be doing more about that later.
That evening, my fellow competitor Darrel Padberg, helped me diagnose the carb issues and helped me get things set up. I really can't say enough nice things about him or my other competitors (but wait, I will in just a bit).
Last thing, as the sun was setting, was to top off fuel. I'm filling the tank, talking to people about the day, etc, and right as the last gallon of gas pours into the tank, I look at the fuel and something doesn't look right.
So the next morning, after getting some rest, Kate ran off and got fresh can of gas and I drained what was in the tank. Here is what came out:
We had gotten that gas on our way down, and I filled up the jug at night with it still in the bed of my truck. Yes, I probably should have noticed sooner, but I didn't. Good news is I don't think much went through the motor and we put the fresh stuff in.
The car seemed to be running a bit better, but I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't focused on that and not driving on day two.
Kate managed to get all of her runs in that day, which is awesome. I got two runs in, but noticed that the more we ran the car, the harder time it had staying running, and just seemed unhappy. As I pulled up for my third run, the car died and I could not get it restarted. Battery was dead, and we were done for the day. I was sitting in third place, but I would be DQ'd since I didn't roll across the scales after my last run. Oh well - that's racing. The good news is that the turndowns on the car seemed to keep it under the sound limit, so that's something!
I pulled the car off to the side and had Kate go grab the truck and jumper cables. As I sat there, watching everyone finish up, the entire CP field came over to the car. What happened next blew my mind - they told me to get in, as they were going to push my car across the scales. I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't tearing up just thinking about this. Those folks got behind my car, pushed it across the scales, and got my my first ever CP trophy. Seriously, these are the best people in racing.
I managed to get one other cool thing while I was down there - video of the suspension at work. There are some really neat things going on here, so check it out.
Even though the rest of the season is rightfully in question due to what the world has to deal with, I'm moving forward with fixes and more plans. More of that in the next post.
All the Fixins'
So, time to get on some issues.
#1 - Plugs
The car ran really bad on day two, and I suspected that the plugs may have gotten fouled from the over-rich issue over the weekend. Well, here's the number one spark plug:
Yeah... so those got replaced.
#2 - Great Power for Great, um, Responsibility?
Most CP cars are running two batteries. Due to outside temps, and two drivers, the fans on the Camaro were running constantly. Add to that issues with the car running meant more cranking, and I wound up killing the battery.
The good news is I have a bunch of "dead weight" in this car - so why not replace it with something more useful?
I still need to do a final weight on the car, but this should prove to be more useful than just some lead.
#3 - I'm Exhausted
Sound is an issue with this car. Not only will it get me DQ'd, it makes you the jerk. No one wants to be the reason people complain about an event, or you lose a location, so I'm committed to doing everything I can to not only make sound, but be so under it I don't have to worry.
So these are controversial. I, myself, have my doubts. Randy, who had this exact motor before me, did run these on the car and didn't seem to have an issue, so I went for it. Dyno time will tell if I need to do something else.
Last thing was to make the turndowns permanent. I'm not a huge fan of the "look," but it's a race car. It has to work and work well.
And on the car:
No sound clips yet, as I'm waiting on the rain to pass, but hopefully soon. Meanwhile, I'll keep chipping away at my list and hope for a healthy season for everyone, no matter when it starts.
In reply to Gimp :
Pretty cool story that they would push you up onto the scales like that. What a great spirit. Thanks for sharing!
It was great finally meeting you. The car looks even better in person. A lot of formerly under the sound limit cars were going over and rumor has it that the old sound meter was directional and the new one is omni-directional and was picking up multiple cars. We hit 101.6 db on our first run but then were only 98 on other runs.
In reply to loosecannon :
It was great meeting you too! And thank you for the kind words on the car. It means a lot coming from you.
I heard that rumor too about the sound meter, so I'm on the fence about the inserts. I'm hoping to have enough dyno time in the near future to compare power with them in and with them out.
I like big cams and I can not lie...
Quarantine inspired new YouTube channel. I still plan on posting regular updates in the same way I always have, but figured I'd try something new too.
Looking good Paulie!
Hope to have some content for the channel soon.
Another quick update, part of a project, and hints of things to come...
I really can't explain how much I like this car. Great work.
So, while it may seem like a rash decision, I've made a move to go EFI. The way the car ran in Dixie was a bit of a last straw, and a wake up call. Long story short, I suck at tuning carbs and the issues we had at Dixie could have cost us a motor. I feel like we dodged a bullet. The truth is I always planned on going EFI on this car.
So after doing a bunch of research, I decided to try out the Holley Sniper Stealth EFI system. While it's primarily geared towards more "street" cars than mine, the folks at Holley seem confident that with a little laptop tuning for idle, it should have no problem with this motor and cam. While this isn't quite the "end goal" system, it will get my feet wet and hopefully work well for the next few years of racing this car. The most important thing to me is making the car simple - the less I have to worry about at an event, the more I can focus on driving.
Here is a video with some more explanation and an unboxing of the goods that are going on the car.
For heavy G loads of that car, I don't blame you from moving away from a 4bbl.
On my 383 swapped 260z, the only way I could get it to run better in heavy cornering was running a truck avenger Holley with floats meant for crazy driving angles in off-road trucks.
if I could have slapped on a bolt on sniper EFI back then, I would have too .
I wrapped up the work on the isolation tray this week, and I think it turned out really well.
From the side:
And looking from underneath:
I also made a video to go along with it, because that's what I seem to do now.
Did you know that the 1981 Camaros were the first to have a computer? What goes around, comes around.
In reply to Gimp (Forum Supporter) :
If you are too noisy why send the exhaust out the side or back? Why not dump it under the car? Yeh, it's got to be behind the driver but once there, sound under the car will have all that turbulent air to swirl around. Likely sound will bounce off the ground, off the bottom of the chassis a few times before you run out from being over it. Each bounce will attenuate the sound a little.
frenchyd said:In reply to Gimp (Forum Supporter) :
If you are too noisy why send the exhaust out the side or back? Why not dump it under the car? Yeh, it's got to be behind the driver but once there, sound under the car will have all that turbulent air to swirl around. Likely sound will bounce off the ground, off the bottom of the chassis a few times before you run out from being over it. Each bounce will attenuate the sound a little.
The big reason I can't come out the back comes down to packaging - just too much stuff back there to get around. It's possible I could have aimed in down, under the car, but that wouldn't have looked as cool. ;)
I'm pretty confident that the changes I have made recently (the auger and turndowns) will be more than enough. As always, fingers crossed.
Another thing is dumping the exhaust under the car tends to draw it into the somewhat. Mainly an issue while sitting still, with the open side windows airflow while moving is good. Plus the cars are loud enough inside as it is, don't need anymore noise.
Went for a quick drive down the street to check things out. I like my neighbors a little too much to rip it too hard, but it's nice to see things running better and starting to get dialed in.
In reply to Gimp (Forum Supporter) :
That sounds beautiful.
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