Race night

[bakerlaw67]

The stage is set to try out Jack Evers' old street slicks on Friday, 10/31 at Firebird Intl Raceway in Phoenix. PM temps are probably going to be in the 70's.

I had them mounted on my partially refinished GTA rims, but kept the little 14 inch N78 wheels up front (can't afford tires for the front yet). In fact, the chrome(plastic) center caps fit the GTA rims! Right now almost all of the trim has been removed, the hood is sanded down to bare metal, the pinstripe sanded off on half of the passenger side. With the black over silver paint it looks like Frankenstein!

This will be my first trip down a legitimate dragstrip. I'm not expecting much except an idea of what the car does before I perform any modifications.

 

[b4black]

Excellent, another racer!

Comparing ¼" mile times is the best way we can compare to see what works and what doesn't. My first runs where in the 17's. Hopefully your first runs will be at least in the 16's. If they aren't, we can fix that.

What gauges do you have? Other than the slicks, what's the rear suspension like (open rear?)?


You're gonna have a ball.

 

[b4black]

Well, how did it go???

 

[bakerlaw67]

Hmmm.

Well here's the story. I got there barely early - 20 minutes before the gates opened AND I WAS #3!!!! So I go down to Tech Inspection (which started 25 minutes late) and they check everything out. Turns out I don't have a battery tie-down. So I jump in the Jeep and drive 14 miles round trip to get something. I wound up zip-tying a battery tray to the inner fender and then bolting the battery down to that. Good enough for tech. My buddy who flew in for the NASCAR weekend and I got at least 8 runs in a little over an hour! We switched every other run. He kept his slips so I don't know exactly how he did (just slightly worse than me I'm sure! )

It kept dying after the burnout, and my friend kept getting frustrated and flooding it. Nothing requiring a pushback or anything, but an annoyance. The slicks were awesome. THere was no chance of those monsters breaking loose! The track looked like a sheet of glass and felt longer than it was. A couple of cars broke loose about halfway down. The Penguin never got hot. It ran great AND I drove it to and from the track. (30+ miles each way.)

I have done no mods except an Accel drop-in air filter (because it was as cheap as a good NAPA/WIX filter). This bodes well since I have a newly rebuilt carb on the workbench, and the plugs and wires are probably crap. Can't wait until I start tweaking! Oh, and this was 91 octane pump gas!


Here's the real scoop:
8:00pm L Lane___8:27 R Lane__8:47 L Lane____9:09 R Lane
R/T___.486__________.697________.497________.415
60___2.506_________2.654_______2.601_______2.618
330__6.944_________7.158_______7.158_______7.189
1/8_ 10.566________10.818______10.847______10.903
M.P.H _67.27________67.13_______66.31_______65.92
1000_13.753________14.008_____14.062______14.122
1/4__16.471________16.722______16.787_____16.854
M.P.H_83.13________83.36________82.93______82.68


The track is around 1100 feet above sea level
71* farenheit, 41% humidity, 29.85 in barometric press.

This SHOULD mean that my altitude adjusted best run was 16.03@85.36mph

A Lightning club showed up and were entertaining, as were the 2 Viper ACRs. The wierdest thing I saw was an electric dragster that was running over 110 mph. (I forget the E/T though). No other Buicks at all. There were only about 30-35 cars altogether. Well worth the $10 to watch and another $5 to race!

 

[fc227]

How many pounds of boost where you running? What boost did you leave at?

 

[bakerlaw67]

No idea about boost. I'm running the stock actuator, so whatever came from the factory I guess. I have a boost gauge, but haven't hooked it up yet. I just held the gas and brake as hard as I could until launch.

B4, "open" rear? I do not have limited slip diff.

BTW, there was nothing beyond the cat except the "Y"

 

[b4black]

I think those are great times for factory stock and 1st time out.

That's a good mph for that ET, which makes me think you should work on the lauch. I can 60' in the 2.1's on street tires. Get the boost gauge hooked up and see what psi you're leaving at (actually I suspect you're leaving well below zero). Work on leaving with more. The torque converter stall my limit how hard you can leave.

Factory boost is 9 psi, but don't be surpirsed if it's different. At 9 psi and 93 octane, I have a fair amount of knock retard. With 91, it will be worse. The best thing you get right now, IMO, is a knock gauge. Getting rid of the knock is more important than anything else right now.

Those two thngs alone could get you into the 15's.


Oh, the stall after the burnout might be a vacuum leak. And open rear = no limited slip (not some strange anal reference )

 

[bakerlaw67]

Back at the track

Did some daytime running today. Didn't get to talk to anybody but Jack Evers, but apparently some good stuff happened at the track.
9 sec stock block

Of course that wasn't me, but I did better my times. Must be the GN bucket seats that I put in Still on premium pump gas. Still drove it out there (60 miles) and back and had NO breakage or damage.

Speedworld Motorplex
Temp: 50°
Humidity: 40%
Track Altitude: 1240 feet
Pressure: 30.2 in.
Density Altitude = 685 feet


11:41 L Lane___12:03 R Lane
R/T___.689_____________.667
60___2.531____________2.480
330__6.908____________6.814
1/8_ 10.496___________10.388
M.P.H _68.170_________68.547
1000_13.550__________13.435
1/4__16.313__________16.192
M.P.H_84.152__________84.459

CORRECTED (using Altitude Correction calculator (plus other drag racing tools)

1/4____16.19____________16.07
MPH___84.76___________85.07

 

[fc227]

You need to get we Boost gauge IMO before you go any future. You have to know what boost you are running.

These are good times out of the box. You where asking about the rearend if it was open or limited slip. Does one wheel spin when you do a burn out or Both ?