Slant 6 Turbo 68Dart Project

"I promise to post the results of this first outing, however ugly it may be...

My guess: quarter mile times of 13.50 at 100 mph (converted to 1,320 feet from the 1,000-foot times they give you.) I estimate a 60-foot experience at 1.8, or thereabouts..."

Well, I'm back from the wars with war stories, as promised!

This is an eighth-mile/1,000-foot strip (there's not a quarter-mile drag strip in Arkansas!) so I had to go with the times printed on my timeslip and have the online Wallace Automotive Computer program extrapolate them to what they would be, in a quarter.

Well, there was a problem (see photo.) My first run was an aborted single, because my 76 year-old brain malfunctioned, forgetting that the reverse-pattern Turbo Action shifter requires that you pull back on the shifter to go from 2nd to third, not push forward, but, old habits die hard when you've lived for over two thirds of a century, so, I did the stupid thing and hit 1st gear, which, fortunately, is on a sprag, so just overruns... aborting the run.

On THAT run, I experienced an unfamiliar phenomen, and didn't figure it out for a while... I was running with no hood on the car. When the transmission shifted into 2nd gear, I couldn't help but notice a spray hitting my windsheld, momentarily. When it dried (which it did, immediately,) it left a residue that was not oily.

I just dismissed it as some sort of fluke, not being able to figure it out.

Here's what happened: My Snowperformance Boost Cooler had pure alcohol in it. The cold-side plumbing that delivers air to my carb hat was forced loose by the boost and the spray from the Boost cooler escaped into the atmosphere, and ended up on my windshield.

That was the aborted run.


The second (and, final,) run was done with me unawares of this significant boost leak; I hadn't figured out what had happened, yet.

I did a better job of driving my wounded steed in the second stanza, and was rewarded with an 8.81 for the eighth, which translates to a 13.71 for the quarter.

I had predicted a 13.5 last night, but, that was for a healthy motor; not one leaking significant boost (see photo.) When I get back to the track (see "more" developments,) I'll try this again and see whether my prediction comes true.

added development... when I tried to put the car on the trailer for the trip home, it had no reverse. This is a new transmission that has performed flawlessly,so far, so. I am clueless as to what is going on... It does everything well; it just won't back up...

Stay tuned for chapter II...

Oh yes,a pitiful. wheel-spinning 2.11 60-foot time... ugh!