AlkyIROC

I had the car running a few times today. After having to reinforce the front of the frame so it wouldn't move when I turned the steering, I finally got it on the alignment rack. Caster and camber were almost perfect. Toe had to be adjusted but my eyeball adjustment wasn't bad. The rear axle is dogtracking about 1/2* to the left. The toe adjustment means the car will still go straight to compensate for the rear alignment.

After that I took the car over to a weigh scale.
Front 1785
Rear 1190
Total 2975

I was hoping to be in the 2800 pound range after all the winter changes. It looks like I was only able to remove about 75 pounds. I did put a bunch of tubing in the front for supports and reinforcments. It's not going to be easy to find another 75 pounds off the front of the car. It's still very nose heavy with a 60/40 split.

After driving on and off the trailer a few times and around the parking lots, I don't think I'm going to be happy with the way the engine runs. It idles fine but has a flat spot when I step on the throttle then runs fine except it then has a high idle. Either some adjustment is wrong on one of the carbs or I have a vacuum leak. I have no idea how it will run at WOT yet. A couple of Ron's Flying Toilets may be a next purchase to get rid of the carbs. Time to go injection (non EFI)

onefast85

after you make a few passes,if it stumbles off the line..try bigger shooters,if it gets worse try smaller.most of the time the bigger ones help.

AlkyIROC

I haven't made any passes yet with this engine. It just stumbles off idle driving around in the parking lot. Bigger squirters may help but don't forget, I'm also using two 850 DP carbs converted to alcohol on a tunnel ram. When I was running a single carb I never had this problem so it might be a syncronization problem or one carb isn't adjusted quite the same as the other. Once I get it going, it's responsive except the idle goes too high.

When I fire it up, it idles around 1200. After getting enough fuel into the engine to get the car moving (flat spot), the idle is around 1800. I can fire it up, rev it up, and the engine always returns to the low idle. It's only when it's in gear and I try to move that it starts to act up. It's possible I need to set the idle in gear.

I launch off a delay box, 2 step and transbrake so I'm at WOT as soon as I see the first amber light come on. There is no pump shot when the green light comes on. When the delay box counts down, it releases the 2 step that was holding the engine rpm at 4500 and releases the transbrake at the same time. I'm already at WOT so I just hang on for the ride.

onefast85

2 carbs can be handful,thats for sure.that is why went back to 1 dominator and it runs just as fast.

just for conversation..i pulled the 598 from 3900lb 85 and stuck it in my 3400lb 68 camaro.(weights are with me in the car).

went from a best of 9.89 at 139 to a 9.33 at 145 in the 68.and on the juice it went from a 8.95 in the 85 to a 8.40 at 162 in the 68.time for me to lose some weight.

AlkyIROC

If I really wanted to go faster, I'd just yank the engine out and drop it into an altered or front engine dragster. Something that weighs less than 2000 pounds doesn't need much HP to run quick.

It's nice to have a fast door car but trying to move a heavy weight quickly is hard on parts.

onefast85

apperently you want to go a little faster beings you put 2 carbs on it.if you were interested in consistancy you should have bought an alky dominator.i see no advantage to the tunnel ram in a motor as small as yours.just my honest opinion.but the wow factor of a tunnel ram is way up there though.

IHI

iTrader: (1)

Seems this has all been said once before

Hope your one of the lucky ones that can figure out the tunnel ram and make it consistent for a bracket car. I'm sure there's guys out there that can do it, but 99% of the guys I've seen try it cant, might be why about 99% of bracket cars in the winners circle have 1 carb or 1 injection set-up and run just as fast.

It does "look" impressive though

AlkyIROC

If I can't get it working the way I want this year, I'll put a couple of toilets on it next year or find an Enderle injection system. It was cheaper to set up the tunnel ram with only needing to buy a second carb than it was to get a dominator. I've done my own alcohol conversion.

Running alcohol allows for more consistancy anyway. Hopefully it compensates for any other consistency problems the system may have. When I was only running a single carb, under normal racing conditions, I never had to change the jets all day. It would take a huge change in density altitude before a jet change is needed.

The way my race seasons have been going for the last few years, if I get past second round, I'm happy. Getting into the final round is just a bonus. If I want to get into more final rounds, I'll go back to racing my truck in Street class.

unknown_host

iTrader: (1)

Not sure what kind of cylinder heads you are running, but I think that is still an impressive weight with a big block, especially if it still has cast iron heads.

AlkyIROC

Canfield aluminum heads.

The aluminum heads went on during the winter but so did the tunnel ram and second carb. Those might have cancelled out each other for weight. I also installed a Profab k-member and A-arms. The new headers are larger so they're also slightly heavier.

Increased weight is steel added to the front. I made a tubular front support for the nose of the car. I only have to unbolt 6 or 8 bolts, pull a couple of hair pins and the whole nose piece comes off. That added a bit of weight as did the extra supports I've mentioned and have pictures of in the Suspension forum in the thread about rack and pinions. The nice thing about the nose support is that it now holds the nose piece up so there isn't a huge gap between the nose and the hood.

BBC, powerglide, Ford 9", full cage. Driver is approximately 170 (not on a scale in over 10 years now ) That would put the bare car just about 2800 pounds. That's what I want as a race weight so I still need to find another 175 pounds. There's not much left to trim or remove that can give me that kind of weight savings. An aluminum block would be nice. There's still a lot of multi layer sheet metal in the car that could be cut out and replaced with a single layer of thinner sheet metal. Fiberglass, lift off doors would be nice. I know each door is around 75 pounds stripped.

unknown_host

iTrader: (1)

That is still impressive. Out of curiosity, where did you see your biggest weight savings as you built your car? Where did you see the least?

AlkyIROC

Hard to say. When I bought the car, it was street legal with a 383 stroker. the original L98 350 TPI was already removed. I never even drove it on the street. First thing I did was strip it for a race car. I think the first time I weighed it after it became a race car, it was around 3400 pounds but that was 6 years ago so I may be wrong. There's wasn't any interior but structurally it was still stock. Glass, steel hood, etc.

Although I'm always finding ways to remove weight, I seem to be adding it at the same time somewhere else.

I only weighed a couple of things during changes. The original power option door complete with inner panels were 105 pounds each. I found a set of manual doors in the junkyard that were in very good condition. I cut out the crash bar, cut out most of the inner metal panel but still had glass windows that rolled up and down. Each door weighed 75 pounds so switching from power to manual doors, removing the interior panel and cutting out the crash bar shaves 60 pounds off the car. Since then I've gotten rid of the window regulator and have a fixed Lexan window so they weigh even less.

Converting windshield to Lexan saves 20 pounds. Finding a set of Lexan T-tops saves 5 pounds. I'm not sure on the seats. The factory power seats are very heavy compared to the single race seat in the car now. An empty gas tank is 25 pounds. There's now a 4 gallon plastic fuel cell mounted up front.

The front and rear bumpers behind the plastic are excess weight. Heat/AC, power steering parts are all heavy. Stripping the steering column down to just a shaft saved 5 pounds. I have no idea what the rear glass and deck lid weigh. They're still in my garage. I'd guess to say at least 80 pounds total. Try lifting one that has blown lift shocks. A sheet of 1/8" lexan now fills the rear window and a sheet of aluminum held on with Dzus fasteners is the deck lid. Total weight? Maybe 10 pounds including the framework to hold it all. I remember the original 1-3/4" 6 point roll bar was 70 pounds back into the car.

The list is endless.