My trip to the track...
Hello all,
I have been dodging a date with destiny for well over a year. There were all kinds of excuses from "it's too hot" to "but my car is leaking oil like a sieve". The excuse last week was rain....no they really did cancel the test and tune for rain. I got home from work late and gave the car a quick once over trying to remember what all needed to be done before it was ready to race.
I noticed there was no battery hold down so I grabbed my old aluminum hold down and bolted that down. I kept thinking I was forgetting something, but oh well, I grabbed a small tool bag and my helmet bag and tossed them into the back seat. As I started out I began to notice the skies darkening. There were spot rain showers in the area, but it was relatively clear when I came home 30 minutes earlier.
When I was about a mile from the Mississippi river the first drops of rain began the slow pitter patter on the windshield. The roads around me still looked dry so I wasn't worried. As I crossed the river the rain began to fall a little faster and I had to turn on the windshield wipers. The highway across the river was wet like it had been raining here for a while. OK, now I was worried. Oh well, It would still make for a nice test drive. As I closed in on Gateway Motorsports Park, the rain stopped and the roads dried out. It was a relief to see cars in the pit and staging lanes as the track came into view from the highway.
Should I have been worried when the lady in the ticket booth asked if I was with the Camaro club? "Hummm no...should I be?" They sold me a tech card regardless and I headed to tech. Nice guys in tech...."just print your name there and sign there"...."by the way, where is your radiator over flow bottle?" DOH!!! I knew I forgot something. "Just get yourself a plastic bottle and zip tie it in there." Thanks, so off I went to the concession stand to grab a water bottle and chug the contents. The tool bag contained the needed strapping material and within a minute the bottle was strapped into place and connected to the radiator.
Off to the staging lanes for my first pass.
[URL="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ecUn14nM3kw/U4c-BgNz9zI/AAAAAAAAABE/k5NMH0Lat-c/s640/DART_AT_GMP.jpg"]
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The first pass resulted in a 13.48.
[URL="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-czNoYtv87xo/U4c-Cbg5SlI/AAAAAAAAABE/bUryNB6XmgQ/s640/GMP_052814_RUN01.jpg"]
[/URL]
A second pass improved slightly to a 13.44.
[URL="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-jh3FemHEgy8/U4c-DU5sePI/AAAAAAAAABE/C_MRQzoo2c0/s640/GMP_052814_RUN02.jpg"]
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The car flattened out on the top end as reflected in the MPH. Either too much timing or not enough fuel. I made a third pass, but got too aggressive on the starting line and blew away the tires. The only good thing about the last pass was the MPH which finally topped 100.
The car felt like it was laying down from about the 1000' mark. It didn't hear it misfire, so I assume I have a fuel delivery issue. Here are some more details on the setup:
78 360 shortblock with the piston .088 down the hole at TDC
EQ Magnum heads with 2.02 intake and 1.625 exhaust
Mild roller cam with 224/230 degrees at .050" on 110 LSA
MOPAR M1 dual plane intake with 1/2 plastic spacer
750 Holley Vac sec with purple spring
1 5/8" Summit Racing long tube headers with 2 1/2" dual exhaust to the back bumper.
Timing is set for 16 deg initial with 36-37 total
904 Trans with mild shift kit
3200 stall 9.5" converter
742 case 8 3/4 with 3.91 gears
27" tall Ripkin Raptors on the back 255R-50-17s
The fuel pump is a new stock unit.
The fuel filter is a few years old but the car has moved less then 500 miles in that time.
Gas tank is original
What should I check first?
Hello all,
I have been dodging a date with destiny for well over a year. There were all kinds of excuses from "it's too hot" to "but my car is leaking oil like a sieve". The excuse last week was rain....no they really did cancel the test and tune for rain. I got home from work late and gave the car a quick once over trying to remember what all needed to be done before it was ready to race.
I noticed there was no battery hold down so I grabbed my old aluminum hold down and bolted that down. I kept thinking I was forgetting something, but oh well, I grabbed a small tool bag and my helmet bag and tossed them into the back seat. As I started out I began to notice the skies darkening. There were spot rain showers in the area, but it was relatively clear when I came home 30 minutes earlier.
When I was about a mile from the Mississippi river the first drops of rain began the slow pitter patter on the windshield. The roads around me still looked dry so I wasn't worried. As I crossed the river the rain began to fall a little faster and I had to turn on the windshield wipers. The highway across the river was wet like it had been raining here for a while. OK, now I was worried. Oh well, It would still make for a nice test drive. As I closed in on Gateway Motorsports Park, the rain stopped and the roads dried out. It was a relief to see cars in the pit and staging lanes as the track came into view from the highway.
Should I have been worried when the lady in the ticket booth asked if I was with the Camaro club? "Hummm no...should I be?" They sold me a tech card regardless and I headed to tech. Nice guys in tech...."just print your name there and sign there"...."by the way, where is your radiator over flow bottle?" DOH!!! I knew I forgot something. "Just get yourself a plastic bottle and zip tie it in there." Thanks, so off I went to the concession stand to grab a water bottle and chug the contents. The tool bag contained the needed strapping material and within a minute the bottle was strapped into place and connected to the radiator.
Off to the staging lanes for my first pass.
[URL="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ecUn14nM3kw/U4c-BgNz9zI/AAAAAAAAABE/k5NMH0Lat-c/s640/DART_AT_GMP.jpg"]
[/URL]The first pass resulted in a 13.48.
[URL="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-czNoYtv87xo/U4c-Cbg5SlI/AAAAAAAAABE/bUryNB6XmgQ/s640/GMP_052814_RUN01.jpg"]
[/URL]A second pass improved slightly to a 13.44.
[URL="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-jh3FemHEgy8/U4c-DU5sePI/AAAAAAAAABE/C_MRQzoo2c0/s640/GMP_052814_RUN02.jpg"]
[/URL]The car flattened out on the top end as reflected in the MPH. Either too much timing or not enough fuel. I made a third pass, but got too aggressive on the starting line and blew away the tires. The only good thing about the last pass was the MPH which finally topped 100.
The car felt like it was laying down from about the 1000' mark. It didn't hear it misfire, so I assume I have a fuel delivery issue. Here are some more details on the setup:
78 360 shortblock with the piston .088 down the hole at TDC
EQ Magnum heads with 2.02 intake and 1.625 exhaust
Mild roller cam with 224/230 degrees at .050" on 110 LSA
MOPAR M1 dual plane intake with 1/2 plastic spacer
750 Holley Vac sec with purple spring
1 5/8" Summit Racing long tube headers with 2 1/2" dual exhaust to the back bumper.
Timing is set for 16 deg initial with 36-37 total
904 Trans with mild shift kit
3200 stall 9.5" converter
742 case 8 3/4 with 3.91 gears
27" tall Ripkin Raptors on the back 255R-50-17s
The fuel pump is a new stock unit.
The fuel filter is a few years old but the car has moved less then 500 miles in that time.
Gas tank is original
What should I check first?