Rodney, good luck with the Black Widow on the 6th & 7th. I have no doubt you have the power to run 8's in that car. My project is moving slowly due to my economic situation, but I finally got the chassis home and started removing the parts I need to modify or just get rid of. A plasma torch makes changes fast! The engine plans have changed some, as I will probably use the street 455 I am building for my Riviera as a test engine to get some seat time in the car and get the suspension dialed in. The SP4 cam was sold to another board member when I found a great deal on a 308S cam, and I just made a deal for a Weiand 440 mopar tunnel ram intake that will be used with some spacer plates on the 455 race engine in the future. I am currently working on plans for the 4-link suspension and the steering components. Hopefully I can find some great deals on race parts this winter and get this thing a little closer to spending some time on the dragstrip! Later, Randy
Well, we ran the 1/4mi on Nov.7 at "Silver Dollar". The weather was outstanding and Buicks were in abundance! We only managed the 9.20s at just over 140mph, so I was a little stumped. The car has always had handling issues, and the more power we unleash, the slower it runs. After maybe 500ft it settles down and runs straight, but on the launch, the left rear tire tries to leave the ground! It steers itself hard left and Charles has to drive the hell out of it to recover. I think I am going to try and preload the crap out of the right wheelie-bar and back off the left side, and install some new slicks. I feel there is an 9.0 or maybe 8.9 in there, and a bigger carb might get us a 150mph top end, so it's time to spend some money this winter... RB PS: Pics coming on disc, will download and post ASAP.
you are right about the nice weather! we were there running the X and two turbo cars. Dang! wish I would've known that was you there, would've been nice to have met.
Rodney, how about an update on the Black Widow? I am slowly picking up parts for the altered, mainly little stuff like guages, a shifter, and a seat, but I did score a used Mark Williams built 9" ford rearend housing and 40 spline axles that came out of a blown 57 chevy pro-mod car for $850. I am also trying to scrape together the cash for the M/W nodular iron center section, spool, and 4.10 gears that were in it, but I gotta feed the money tree a little more before that happens. The rearend is a little bit of overkill, but then again, it is one less part I have to worry about breaking, and the 4 link brackets line up perfectly with the frame rails on my chassis. I have the front half of the 4 link designed, and just need to print off the dimensions and get busy in the metal shop to finish them up. Later, Randy
About that 38 degree timing you first mentioned. It is often, that running better with more timing = rich fuel. Jetting down a size or two, may run better and the engine will like the reduced timing. After all, advanced timing is Negative HP. (and Dangerous to the engine). I guess you used some extra gap on the hyper pistons top ring, yes?
