Rhett, what did it sound like? Deeper sound than a valve tap? One of my 401's makes an intermittent tinka-tinka sound. Thinking it may be a valve hanging up in the guide. Sorry to hear of your woes.... Stark.... is there a preferred method/tool to removing valve springs on an installed head?
Walt, strangely no...it was faint, somewhat light toned and rapid. So faint my passengers rarely heard it but I could clearly. It was deceivingly exponentially more rapid than RPM because multiple pistons were hitting with every revolution, so it had a "sewing machine" cadence, not unlike valvetrain at high RPM, but it would only happen at a true, hot 2500RPM and above as the rods, bearing clearances, etc..went to full runout. Dont worry bout me, in a year I'll look back and laugh.
so as an update - Motor is still noisy and coming back apart this fall, but runs crazy good. Great response, idle , vacuum and power. Really love the Camcraft cam too. So I figured I'd run the car at fall Musclepalooza, whats the worst that could happen? Short version: Ran 4 back to back runs at low 13.9's at almost 100 mph. calculating back from a 99 MPH 1/4 mile, this motor is putting out just shy of 375 hp at the flywheel, 300 at the wheels. And honestly I havent touched it yet, no tuning or experimentation, just stabbed in the distributor at 34 degrees and go...Once it's squared away, this motor is gonna be a contender. I wish I could have let Bob know how his heads worked out... https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2231059060355223 https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=3466632556684036
Yeah, it's sad he can't be a witness to it in person. BUT, I bet Bob is watching from above Rhett. Tom T.
whats with the mirror on wrong side of passenger visor ? is that some old drag racers trick you and Tom T. came up with.
Watching the run from the inside! It looks like your shifting out of 1st gear pretty quick into the run? or are you switching out of high stall as I think your still running the SP300?? Also its still 3.42's out back? Wow all those 4 runs are sure consistent
Hey! Actually, I'm not shifting at all - the governor is set to about 5200, which happens about 5-6 seconds into the run. Thinking about bumping that to 5500-5600, but that wasn't the weekend to experiment. The Bruce Roe delay box holds high stall 3 seconds into run, and you can just barely hear the converter switch..It still does have 3.42's and I like that gear, but I think I'm leaving something on the table. Probably gonna throw some 3.73's in this winter, I just need to be mindful of overpowering the 215-75-14 tires at launch, although they're doing just fine now..I want to see another full tenth out of the 60 ft and I'd be happy. I think the gears and shift point ought to be good for a tenth each, and maybe another tenth for mixture/timing tune and I'd be damn close to the 13.5 goal. And Joe - The mirror came with the car that way! I'm just glad its on the passenger visor and I'm not looking back into my ugly mug!
lol . thinking maybe it was to see how far behind the car is in the other lane your racing.or blinding the other guy with the sun.love the way you have the front end lifting up with your hole shot. I know Tom has some good points with getting the car out of the hole.
I def learned a lot from Tom, and there were plenty of days when he was faster than me in my own car. I dont usually brake torque like that, but it's the only way I can get a decent light on a pro tree. On a sportsmans tree I can time the lights and whack the converter.... Here's another run with the tree (and the other car!) in view: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=3466633530017272
Exactly - I didnt want to jinx myself on the 1st run by wearing the helmet, then the track asked that I wear it from then on out... Yeah the car was hooking, and I cut a better light than Gene and held him off to the 330 anyway. His car is just a full second faster than mine, I usually race him with the Stage 1!
How are you evening hooking up at at launch?? My all stock SP300 66GS with even a undersized 500cfm carter afb would spin the 195 and 205 x 14 radials pretty good with 3.23's out back. OK I never heated them up before to see if it made a difference. The only tires that did hook up were these sticky 205 x 14 recaps that they use make in the day.. Stupid question, do you think the little more flex of the convertable helps transfer the load compared to if it was a hardtop? Wondering what the total weight is as it's pretty loaded?
So the car weighs 3950 with me in it. I do heat the crap out of the tires (that’s a crowd pleaser!) It hooks up well enough to floor it at the launch with 215/75/14 whitewall passenger radials and not spin (generally, assuming the track is halfway decent). Right now, it’ll pull 2.0 60 foots all day long, and with more gear I expect to get it into the 1.9-1.8 range eventually. That’s competitive with the best musclecars around, the competitors at the PSMCDR (https://www.psmcdr.com/pastyears) But there’s a lot of work that went into that: Tommy and I years ago attended a chassis seminar that the NE GS/GN club sponsored, we scaled the car and balanced the weight on each corner by pre-loading the front springs to even the side to side weight on the rear. I changed the front springs to Moog 6304 (65-70 Full Size Chev, big block w/ air) for greater spring rate and stored energy. I cut the serrations out of the lower control arm bushings, and greased the contact points. I shimmed and greased the sway bar frame mounts, and used 88-98 Chev C1500 sway bar lings for greater extension, with the bushings ground to an angle. I used Afco low friction ball joints, and removed the rubber upper control arm stops. I had been using Calvert 90/10 drag shocks, but have moved back to a 50/50 for slower rise. The 65 Buick has greasable solid bushing upper control arms, I use those on the 71 too. In the back, I used Airlift airbags mounted with individual feed lines to adjust pressure, regular 50/50 Napa gas shocks, F-41 frame reinforcements, boxed arms with stock rear sway bar, stock rubber bushings and have not needed anti-hop bars. I used the original weak rear springs that kept the pinion angle stock at desired airbag pressure. I use anti-bind aftermarket lower rear shock mounts from a Grand National supplier (cant remember who). I keep the tire pressures at 23lbs, and have been playing with L/R air bag pressure. I used to run 10/15 lbs, but recently having good luck with a much stiffer rear at 25/30lbs to hit the tires harder. All of this is designed to let the front lift quickly and freely, and to evenly transfer the weight to the rear and keep it there. The convertible uses a boxed frame, it doesn’t flex notably but I’ve used the sway bars/springs/airbags to transfer the side/side rotation evenly too. I want the car to be dead level as it launches. Not rocket science, but there are a LOT of variables to get right.
Oh ok, thought so....... NOT Wow this is some great reading and need to re read it plenty! I also didn't think it weighed as much as it does even with you in it.. Do you have a estimate of torque output and what rpm range it comes in?
A pure SWAG on torque, based on post build improvement on ET and MPH, is maybe 485 tops? If it was much higher my 60's would be better (or I'd blow the tires off every time)
Was looking at your expectations on the Feb 10th post on your "Stone Soup 401" thread.. Amazing! you are spot on track
