Thanks, Dave. Good luck at Earlville with your 409 this weekend. I'm headed to the new track in Onawa, Iowa this weekend for a two day Stock/Super Stock race.
Stay frosty this weekend.
-Al
We Haven't Had A Good Car Thread In A While...........My '67 Chevelle
- Thread starter jackie schmidt
- Start date
Thanks, Dave. Good luck at Earlville with your 409 this weekend. I'm headed to the new track in Onawa, Iowa this weekend for a two day Stock/Super Stock race.
Stay frosty this weekend.
-AlFBecigneul
Member
Twooooo days? Can’t you get that thing to go any faster than that?
It's just a Stocker....yawn. -Al
Mort, my index in G/SA is 12.00. I've gone as quick as 11.14 (.86 under) in decent conditions. -Al
I qualified #7 on Saturday (-.83 under) and #5 on Sunday (-.87 under). Went out second round both days. Second round Saturday I just drove the car too far before lifting and broke out by .002, Sunday second round my opponent was .016 on the tree and ran .003 over for a .019 'package' that was better than mine.
It was hot and humid....96 degrees and 80% humidity. Some recent changes have helped how the car runs in the nasty weather, though. -Al
Today's project was to fit a push bar to the rear of a good pals Cobalt.
In true race car fashion, nothing fits. So, it's over to the mill:
In the end, it all ended up pretty tidy. A push bar from the golf cart slides in with a pit pin and you can now push the car rather than pulling it:
Here's the rest of the car. 376 inches, 1,040 h.p., Liberty clutchless 5 speed. Has run a best of 8.15.
In true race car fashion, nothing fits. So, it's over to the mill:
In the end, it all ended up pretty tidy. A push bar from the golf cart slides in with a pit pin and you can now push the car rather than pulling it:
Here's the rest of the car. 376 inches, 1,040 h.p., Liberty clutchless 5 speed. Has run a best of 8.15.
dmort
Active member
Al
I assume that 's you running the mill...didn't know you had some machinist time.
The piece you made looks like you attach the chute after the push. Simple but trick.
The craftmanship on the car is top-notch, and I have never seen the linkage for those transmissions...great photos.
I have to ask why you have to push the car instead of pulling it in the pits? Push starts use to be illegal for most classes.
Again, great photos.
Mort
I assume that 's you running the mill...didn't know you had some machinist time.
The piece you made looks like you attach the chute after the push. Simple but trick.
The craftmanship on the car is top-notch, and I have never seen the linkage for those transmissions...great photos.
I have to ask why you have to push the car instead of pulling it in the pits? Push starts use to be illegal for most classes.
Again, great photos.
Mort
Mort, my good friend Stan Ware taught me some machine basics. I'm pretty much a hack but can usually muddle through and make what I need.
The pushing is to get the car from the scales back to the pit spot. The valve lift on these splayed valve Chevy engines is in excess of 1.00" and the open valve spring pressure approaches 900 lbs psi. Oddly, it's low r.p.m.'s that kills the valve train pieces in this combo. In Competition Eliminator, it's legal to push/pull the cars to the staging lanes and back from the scales. They must be self starting once they are in the staging lanes.
Here's a pic from the drivers side. On these clutchless transmissions, they will only stay in gear if you hold the lever. If you back off the throttle, they come out of gear. The bungee strap attached to the reverse lever on the shifter is to keep it in gear so it doesn't roll when the engine isn't running. The dash is out as the clutch was just serviced.
The pushing is to get the car from the scales back to the pit spot. The valve lift on these splayed valve Chevy engines is in excess of 1.00" and the open valve spring pressure approaches 900 lbs psi. Oddly, it's low r.p.m.'s that kills the valve train pieces in this combo. In Competition Eliminator, it's legal to push/pull the cars to the staging lanes and back from the scales. They must be self starting once they are in the staging lanes.
Here's a pic from the drivers side. On these clutchless transmissions, they will only stay in gear if you hold the lever. If you back off the throttle, they come out of gear. The bungee strap attached to the reverse lever on the shifter is to keep it in gear so it doesn't roll when the engine isn't running. The dash is out as the clutch was just serviced.
powderbrake
Member
Lots of big block and drag pics in this thread. I had some smaller engine cars in the past. Here is my 1959 Berkeley, with an Excelscior 500 cc 3 cylinder, 3 dellarto carb, 2 cycle engine. Chain drive to the front wheels. 4 speed transmission, but no reverse. To get into reverse, you turned off the engine, threw the reverse switch, which switched polarity to the combo starter/generator on the end of the crankshaft, and started in reverse. It was easier to pick up the back end and slide it to the curb. The car weighed 700 pounds.
These pics are from around 1964, and my two year old daughter used to love it, yelling "faster, daddy, faster".
These pics are from around 1964, and my two year old daughter used to love it, yelling "faster, daddy, faster".
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powderbrake
Member
Here is another small engine car. My son's dune buggy. We assembled it when he was a freshman in high school. He wanted a dune buggy, so I agreed to fund 1/2 the cost, and build it with him with two basic rules.
1) He could not work on the car until he finished his homework.
2) I would not work on the car unless he was there working also.
So we found a 1972 dual port beetle to buy as the donor, and purchased the frame, shocks etc from the local dune buggy shop. We we finished it drove it to high school for 3 years, in sun, rain, snow, sleet, whatever. He never crashed it, but bent a couple axles coming off jumps at the dune buggy park. He did all the repair work himself.
1) He could not work on the car until he finished his homework.
2) I would not work on the car unless he was there working also.
So we found a 1972 dual port beetle to buy as the donor, and purchased the frame, shocks etc from the local dune buggy shop. We we finished it drove it to high school for 3 years, in sun, rain, snow, sleet, whatever. He never crashed it, but bent a couple axles coming off jumps at the dune buggy park. He did all the repair work himself.
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powderbrake
Member
So here is a kit car which I built, again small engine, it has a Honda S2000 engine and 6 speed gearbox. The engine produces 240 hp , runs 9000 rpm, and the car weighs 1400 pounds. It is a replica of a 1967 Lotus Model 7. It made the cover of Kit Car magazine in September 2005
The frame is 1" square tube, powdercoated, the body shell is aluminum, the hood is fiberglass, fenders are aluminum. Front spindles are Fieros, streering is MGB, diff is a limited slip from a Subaru, as are the rear axles. QA1 shocks, SSR forged wheels, 12" dia Wilwood disks, with 2 piston Wilwood Dynalite calipers. Auto meter Pro Comp gages.
Th car is fast, and turns 12.6 @ 105 in the quarter on street tires. It will eat the vettes and the cobras in the twisties…. but those big V8's will catch it on the straights. It won quite a few trophies at Run & Gun between 2004 and 2007. I sold it last year to a guy who is seriously autocrossing it.
The frame is 1" square tube, powdercoated, the body shell is aluminum, the hood is fiberglass, fenders are aluminum. Front spindles are Fieros, streering is MGB, diff is a limited slip from a Subaru, as are the rear axles. QA1 shocks, SSR forged wheels, 12" dia Wilwood disks, with 2 piston Wilwood Dynalite calipers. Auto meter Pro Comp gages.
Th car is fast, and turns 12.6 @ 105 in the quarter on street tires. It will eat the vettes and the cobras in the twisties…. but those big V8's will catch it on the straights. It won quite a few trophies at Run & Gun between 2004 and 2007. I sold it last year to a guy who is seriously autocrossing it.
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powderbrake
Member
Mort;
I would love to take credit for the headers, but asI said it was a kit Car, and the headers came with the kit.
I am proud of the wiring job and the overall fit and finish. The last pic is my wife and I at the Tail of the Dragon, along with a lot of other Lotus 7's
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powderbrake
Member
Powderbrake: Beautiful work, sir.
Al, thank you.
As an engineer, I enjoy building things. When I retired, I knew I wanted to build a car, but as I have a Corvette, I didn't want another big V8, so after looking at lots of different cars, I settled on the Lotus Seven. It was a great choice, super fun to drive, scary fast, and really different.
At car shows, or parked at a stop sign or in a parking lot, it is the soccer moms and the kids who like it the most. I always let the kids jump in and sit behind the wheel, and it really blew their minds.