First Time Out!!

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75DartSE

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Hey Guys! So this past weekend we finally made it out racing. Our local track has run into problems with it's upgrade so we followed some of our friends down to Bremerton Raceway. It's such a different track compared to our home track, but it was quite nice. Good pits, even nice and grassy, decent race surface, and friendly, helpful staff.

So about my Dart. 75 SE with a 318 .030 over, XE268H comp cam, EQ heads, 9.3:1, old school eddie performer intake, and old school Holley 780 vac secondary.
Trans is a 904 with stock convertor and Fairbanks street/strip kit, and 4.10 gears, 26x10.5 ET Streets. The car is heavy.....about 3650 with me in it.

My best ET was a 13.82 @ 101 mph. Best 60' was 2.15

The car ran good until the carb tried to suck the hood insulation into it when the secondaries started to open. Ripped that out Lol. I still need to do some tuning, it's a little rich yet, so I'll lean it out slowly, watching the info from my Innovate LM2. I also know I'm gonna need a convertor one day, the car will definitely see some improvements with about a 3000-3200 stall. Overall I'm very happy with how the car worked, I managed to make it to 3rd round in sportsman when I had another bad light and took myself out. I just need the seat time to improve on R\T and shift points.

Kris
 
Nice run! Yes, those 74-76 are heavier than what most people think, almost B-body weight! Couple of things that jump out at me: Yes, you are correct on adding more stall. That would really drop your 60' time and over all E.T. Also, you can eliminate some weight (50-70 lbs) by removing the extra steel braces behind both bumpers. I removed the bumpers and unbolted braces and cut out all the extra steel, then when the bumpers were installed again, nobody could tell. If you have power steering, going to manual will be a 40 lbs reduction too, plus more header room and one less belt to turn. Weight is a killer for 318's and 60' times.
 
Ya everyone looks at me like a have 2 heads when I tell them how heavy it is lol. I've been eyeing up those braces and really considered removing them like you said but I haven't had the time. For now the power steering stays cause it is also partially a streetcar. Those things I might do next winter though. I thought about loosening the belt off a bit or taking it off all together but steering can become sketchy. I would really like a rack and pinion deal but that's way down the road.
 
i think you have huge crash bars inside the doors as well. a fiberglass hood will shave an easy 50lbs also.

a 2.15 60ft is a big red flag. is it spinning out of the hole? or did it bog real bad? with a 4.10 gear and decent tires id expect you to be in the 1.7 range with ease.
 
younggun2.0 said:
i think you have huge crash bars inside the doors as well. a fiberglass hood will shave an easy 50lbs also.

a 2.15 60ft is a big red flag. is it spinning out of the hole? or did it bog real bad? with a 4.10 gear and decent tires id expect you to be in the 1.7 range with ease.
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Beat me to it about the sixty foot times. Address that and a converter and weight and you looking at a low 13 maybe high twelve 318 and that impresses me!
 
Nice on the first passes. Nothing broke = Good day!

If you have room, try a 1" open spacer under the carb before making any jet changes. Tuning will pick up some more HP and resulting MPH.

Changing launch technique can make a difference in 60' times. May be hard to improve a bunch with a stock converter. If you can mat the pedal without the car killing itself, try launching from an idle and making the converter flash as hard as possible. Load it until it almost pushes through the brakes and everything in between!

Put that thing on a diet. There's a lot of weight that can get trimmed without affecting outward appearance.

Have fun with it.
 
Great run on the teen.
I had a 1973 4-door, weighed in at 3500LBS.
 
younggun2.0 said:
i think you have huge crash bars inside the doors as well. a fiberglass hood will shave an easy 50lbs also.

a 2.15 60ft is a big red flag. is it spinning out of the hole? or did it bog real bad? with a 4.10 gear and decent tires id expect you to be in the 1.7 range with ease.
Click to expand...
1.7 60' times are usually mid 12's. He may not get there unless he puts at least a 3500 stall and puts the car on a 200 lb diet. I would think low 1.9's would be respectable for his motor and car set up if he lost about 100 lbs and went up to approx. a 2500-2600 street converter. 1.9 60' would put him low 13's or perhaps a high 12.
 
3650? Wow!

I'm glad you enjoyed your first outing. It only gets better with time! You'll finally get everything worked out. Don't be in a hurry with tuning. Slow and steady is the way to go. Good luck with it!
 
Thanks guys! It was a fun time for sure. The car isn't spinning, it doesn't even spin on the street lol. I forgot to mention there is an open spacer under the carb already. One day I'll get to putting a 3500 stall convertor in it, but that will have to wait because of time and money. I'm way over budget already (you know how it goes). I'm still playin with my shift points as well as my own consistency with that and reaction. The last type of racing I did was years ago with a 5 liter mustang and a stick. I've tried all sorts of launching methods, like you said crackedback, but the best so far seems to be very slight load and then a bit of flash on the convertor. That stock convertor is real tight, not much room for any throttle.
I'm really considering pulling those bumper beams out and maybe the door bars. I don't know why I didn't think of the doors earlier, I know better!! For now though I'm just gonna leave it and change jetting to a better mixture. Good times anyways!!!
 
For a 318, that is very impressive. I am basically running the same top end and cam as you, but on a stock, 360 short block. My compression came out to 8.7 with the EQ heads. Yes, the pistons were a mile below deck at TDC. Race weight was almost identical with the tool bag and full tank of gas.

My best pass was a 13.44 @ 98MPH. My 60ft was 1.91 and the 1/8mi was 8.53@81MPH.

The biggest differences are I am running a 9.5" 3200 stall converter on street tires. Low 1.9x is about the best these tires can do. If you installed a good converter you could easily drop your 1/4 mile ET 1/2 - 3/4 of a second.
 
Maybe if I get some spare time I'll yank the bumpers off and lighten them up. But the convertor will have to wait until the winter I think. I'm not looking forward to pulling the headers to get the trans out to change it, even with a hoist. I'm just gonna keep having fun though, that's for sure!
 
The fun part of it all is trying to get it a little faster every time you go to the track. But the faster you get the harder it is to get faster and more expensive.
 
if your plan is to race the car and make changes regularly then i would highly recommend a log book. its very fun to log your progress and keep track of what the car did and what way your changes effected the performance. you will also be teaching yourself and learning what the car does and doesnt like. my dad log book started with his 71 demon running 12.50s to 10.60 in 4 yrs time. its pretty cool to have all the info to look back on.
 
75DartSE said:
Maybe if I get some spare time I'll yank the bumpers off and lighten them up. But the convertor will have to wait until the winter I think. I'm not looking forward to pulling the headers to get the trans out to change it, even with a hoist. I'm just gonna keep having fun though, that's for sure!
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I pulled my tranny a few times out of my dart without removing the headers. I left the starter resting on the header after removing the bolts, never even removed the wires (be sure to disconnect the battery). I unbolted the converter and removed it with the tranny. (just a couple of tips for when your ready)
 
sledger46 said:
For a 318, that is very impressive. I am basically running the same top end and cam as you, but on a stock, 360 short block. My compression came out to 8.7 with the EQ heads. Yes, the pistons were a mile below deck at TDC. Race weight was almost identical with the tool bag and full tank of gas.

My best pass was a 13.44 @ 98MPH. My 60ft was 1.91 and the 1/8mi was 8.53@81MPH.

The biggest differences are I am running a 9.5" 3200 stall converter on street tires. Low 1.9x is about the best these tires can do. If you installed a good converter you could easily drop your 1/4 mile ET 1/2 - 3/4 of a second.
Click to expand...
Your speed and E.T are below what you should run. I would guess (without knowing your gears) that you should be into the 12's for sure at around 105 mph (with 3.55's). Your speed is slow even for your 13.44. Most mid 13 second passes would be around 102 mph. Keep tweaking, you have a lot of performance to be discovering in your 360 !!;)
 
What kind of timing profile is on the 318. How much initial, total and all in point?

Log book is a great tool. There are some sheets on the net you can print out or if you are a carry a computer kind, they are in digital format. maybe a smart phone can run them as well.

For the 360, fuel delivery might be where I'd think about looking. Jet it up and if it stays the same, doesn't pick up or slow down, fuel delivery issues might be present. If it slows, start leaning it out.
 
I also have race iq. I didn't have time to pick up a new paper log book so I'm using my phone for now. We have a paper book from the old race car but I wanted to keep it apart from this car. It's funny how with a slower car a slight change in shift point can throw the et off a bunch whereas our old 9 second ride she could tag the limiter before shifting and the et barely changed.

It's only a 318, a couple of you referred to it as a 360, but it's just a little guy. The fuel mixture was at 10.8 before so I brought the jets down some and it's at 11.4 now. The only issue is I can re-jet before first round of time trials but I won't change them after that because then I won't know where to dial. I have an innovate LM2 that I'm using for air fuel so I can record my passes and examine them after. It's a great tool. It should pick up a tiny bit once it get it leaned a bit more cause it's just too rich right now.
I'm not too sure where the timing is at currently. I have lots in it. Close to 40 total. The distributor is a stock 75 smogger unit. That really doesn't help matters. Lol.

The gears are 4.10's. I'm heading through the traps at about 5800-5900 rpm right now. It's still pulling hard too. I'm pretty sure it looked hard to pull the trans. The headers are hedman so the fitment isn't the best. Maybe I can just pull the right side one cause it's easy.
I don't intend on trying to go any faster except for the fine tuning and a convertor and losing weight right now. That's why I have other projects!!!! This is just something cheaper to play with in the mean time.
 
75DartSE said:
It's only a 318, a couple of you referred to it as a 360, but it's just a little guy. The fuel mixture was at 10.8 before so I brought the jets down some and it's at 11.4 now. The only issue is I can re-jet before first round of time trials but I won't change them after that because then I won't know where to dial. I have an innovate LM2 that I'm using for air fuel so I can record my passes and examine them after. It's a great tool. It should pick up a tiny bit once it get it leaned a bit more cause it's just too rich right now.

I'm not too sure where the timing is at currently. I have lots in it. Close to 40 total. The distributor is a stock 75 smogger unit. That really doesn't help matters. Lol.

The gears are 4.10's. I'm heading through the traps at about 5800-5900 rpm right now. It's still pulling hard too. I'm pretty sure it looked hard to pull the trans. The headers are hedman so the fitment isn't the best. Maybe I can just pull the right side one cause it's easy.
I don't intend on trying to go any faster except for the fine tuning and a convertor and losing weight right now. That's why I have other projects!!!! This is just something cheaper to play with in the mean time.
Click to expand...

The 360 was to the other posters comment about his 360. Might be best if he started his own thread.

A tiny bit rich? That is REALLY rich. What jetting is in the carb? Does it have a metering plate or block on secondaries? If those A/F's are correct, there is a LOT more in it!

The distributor will need to be altered. Those smog distributors usually have a ton of mechanical advance in them. My guess, the engine will like around 16-20 initial timing with total falling where it MPH's best. The greater initial timing setting will help the low end grunt.
 
crackedback said:
The 360 was to the other posters comment about his 360. Might be best if he started his own thread.

A tiny bit rich? That is REALLY rich. What jetting is in the carb? Does it have a metering plate or block on secondaries? If those A/F's are correct, there is a LOT more in it!

The distributor will need to be altered. Those smog distributors usually have a ton of mechanical advance in them. My guess, the engine will like around 16-20 initial timing with total falling where it MPH's best. The greater initial timing setting will help the low end grunt.
Click to expand...

Oh ok that's cool. I see what you were saying. Oops.

Ya I know it's really rich. Lol. That's why I'm gonna bring it down a bunch for the next outing. It is a wide band O2 setup and I've used it on other cars with good results, and seems to be accurate. It has metering blocks on both ends so I can jet however I want. It's an old 780 vac sec carb. I think it has 73 front ,76 rear jets right now.

That's a good point about the timing. Right now I have it super advanced to help with the bottom end a bit but maybe there is too much total as a result. Maybe I'll have to look into re curving it then. Any suggestions with that?
 
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