last race of the year this weekend

tis that time of year again. This will be the last regular season race for the year for me. There will be more "gamblers" races and some index stuff, but for brackets, this is it. Just freshened up my old converter which was all torn up, got the Maverick all buttoned up & ready (I think??). Ran into a stumble last time out-wouldn't start-just backfired. Got it home & found that the dowel in the cam was sheared off. I may have tightened the cam bolt last year when I reassembled it...I didn't have it written on my notes so it's possible that it's been loose all season. It definitely sounds different now. Sounds throatier and more responsive. This weekend at Centerville Dragway will be a good payout for street cars and Footbrake so I'm looking forward to it...and the weather is supposed to be absolutely beautiful!

I just hope I feel better during the weekend than I do now. Still fighting off that stupid flu junk that's going around.

My camera man is supposed to show up as well & take some vids. I really need him to take some from the starting line so I can analyze the launch...it appears that the rear springs could use some adjusting. Looks to me like the coil overs are bottoming out but I can't tell 100% from the drivers seat.. If I get some vids, I'll post them.

Originally Posted by mavman

...and the weather is supposed to be absolutely beautiful!

I just hope I feel better during the weekend than I do now. Still fighting off that stupid flu junk that's going around.

Flu or not, consider yourself very lucky to be able to get out and play. Our 2009 bracket race season just ended with an unprecedented 5 consecutive Friday night rainouts. I am soooooo disappointed since I wanted to race one more time.

Anyways, good luck racing and I hope you kick some ass and take home the money.

is it a $2K prize? thats a pretty good haul. good luck!!

Yes supposed to be $2K...

"rumor" has it that the purse has been increased by the promoter of the event to $3k or $3500. Just rumor so I can't confirm anything.

Rainouts? Surprised we haven't had more, considering we had 8" of rain in a day & half last weekend. The whole month of October I think we had 5 sunny days

Mavman,

Good to hear from you, I have'nt been around lately.

This weekend our local track is running a 2 day $10,000 1st place for both days with a 150 car count. This same race was cancelled last year because there were not enough to pre-enter. Have to see what happens this year.

Did you ever try the spragless converter? What was the difference between the 2 converters. What are your thoughts between the 2?

Good luck on the race this weekend...


I have not been running the Pinto for about a year now. Been driving a friends dragster. Kinda cheaper for the 2 of us to go racing, however we have not been as much as I would like to. May have to get a new set of slicks for the Pinto and be on go for 2010.

Good Luck Again,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Just got back. Didn't do worth a flip as far as winning anything. Last time out, the cam bolt backed out & sheared the pin off. I don't know how long it was loose-judging by the looks of the sprocket, quite a while (it was chewed up a little). Anyway, new sprocket, dowel pin, hardest bolt I could find and a torque job and it was up & running again-and I STILL had no clue as to what the new torque converter was going to do. Actually it's my "old" converter that I had freshened up-and the converter guy made it spragless, much to my dismay...but I went with it anyway.

Off the trailer it went 5.99/113-about on par what it should be with a spragless. 2nd time trial it went 6.13 but betweeen the 1st & 2nd I changed the pill (from 60 to 64 to lean it out a hair...it felt "rich" to me). Also lose 1 mph. I knew the pill was wrong because nothing else changed-just the pill. So I put the 60 back in (to richen it up a little back to where it was). While I was sitting there contemplating the pill issue-I thought why not try something smaller and see how it reacts to it. So I put a 56 in to richen it up even more. 1st round of elims, I dialed 5.97 and figured I could use the brakes if I had to. My opponent went red and I ran it out the back door & went 5.90/117. So it liked the pill change. Found the smallest one I had, a 50 and dropped that in for 2nd round. I could buy back in 2nd round if I had to so it was worth the try. 1.27 60' (had been 1.31-1.32 all day) and went 5.82/117 but I broke out on a 5.88 dial & had to buy back. Found a 44 pill from a friend's hilborn stack setup and tried that and I dialed 5.79 figuring it would never go that fast. Both of us had good lights (my .0031 to his .0009) so we were on a run. I was the slower car by far (his dial was 4.66) so I pretty much had to run it out the back door unless he broke. The motor sounded differently-throatier, the car left harder, pulled right up to 7400 and probably still had more in it but I kicked high gear anyway and went 5.76/120. So I am learning that it "likes" more fuel-and the 45 pill is TINY, which means I'll be buying a new fuel pump. I have an "0" gear pump and will have to step up to an "0 1/2" which flows a bit more.

Didn't bust nothing but didn't win anything either. Mixed feelings but I had no clue what it was going to do with that converter & a "tight" cam sprocket....

Pinto306-I bought an 8" spragless last spring and was running it all summer. Very repeatable but the 60' times were off by a couple hundredths and the MPH at the 1/8 finish was down 2. But I could predict what the ET was going to be so I went with it. I had my "backup" converter at home gathering dust and a few weeks ago I decided to dig it out & put it back in. I knew it ran some 5.70's last year. Dug it out & flipped it over to drain some fluid and some metal shavings came out with the oil-time to freshen it up. Meanwhile I had the 8" sent in to have a sprag & C stator put in hoping to pick up a couple MPH and maybe be a bit more aggressive on the launch. Got it back before the other one was done...tried it out and boy they missed that setup BAD! Original stall speed was 5800. After the sprag & stator change, it went to 6600...crossed the finish line at 8200 and decided to load up early before something got torn up. So I got my "old" converter back....it was torn up BAD. One fin on the pump broke off and rattled around inside-probably for a good many passes-and tore up the pump, turbine, sprag and stator. So basically the only thing "old" about it now is the cover. But here is the kicker-the converter guy called me the minute he finished it and told me that he was done with it, and told me what he had to do. Instead of putting a sprag back in, he made it into a spragless, which I DIDN'T want him to do, but it was already welded back together and the other one is a sprag converter so I went with it. Obviously this guy knows what he's doing-and he is just a "small time" shop...not too many people know about him (yet). But he's GOOD. And thorough-although expensive. And his business is Christian owned & operated, and I tend to support folks like that when I can. Oh, and I too bought a dragster, but it will be a WHILE before it's ever done. Just a chassis right now but it will be pretty neat when it's ready. Planning a V10 engine (Ford of course)...have a dummy motor at the shop, planning to start working on an intake of some sort (alky injection most likely) but haven't decided on a tunnel ram type intake or use some old sprint car parts & build a stack-type with individual throttle bodies. Already have a guy who can grind cams, we have located high compression pistons and I have the ignition covered. I figure if it makes 500-600 HP that will be plenty. Trans will be a powerglide-which I already have...just need a modular ultrabell and flexplate. Should be interesting...and "slightly" different. Hopefully it is somewhat reliable...being that I have never seen a V10 before until this one, I don't know what kind of reliability factor they have. It will DEFINITELY sound different....5 into 1 header on each side and havent decided on upswept or downswept yet. Probably downs but I have been known to change my mind at the last minute.

So it's time to pull it down & go through it over the winter months. I usually strip the chassis of most of the suspension and inspect all welds, etc, do the motor, freshen up the 'glide and all that. Lots of work but that's what it takes if you want to race.

Mav,

You are the man,,,,,,,, I really love what you are up to. We are like in so many ways, speaking of the V10 idea......

Tell me more about your spragless converter....stall ect....

If you have forgot, I am running the spragless also. My converter flashes about 6200 and shift @ only 6850, seems to like it.

I feel the 6200 needs to be only in the neighborhood of 5500-5800, however It works and is really consistent which is what it is all about. I just want to push it a little more.

Sounds like you got the Mav. running really good. Keep it up................

I think I will purchase those new slicks for the Pinto and try it again......to see what happens.

Mavman,

One more thing, how about that LM-1?
Was it not telling you that it was lean? You were pushing alot of fuel through that Toilet....

mavman--I am impressed with your times-- What is your engine combo, and how much does your car weigh ??I am new to eighth mile racing, but my son runs at a local eighth mile track- He has run a best of 5.87 at 117 mph, which everybody thinks is very fast- Your times are very fast-- What altitute is your track at ?? Sorry for all the questions. Again, I am impressed with your performance


JOE SHERMAN RACING ENGINES

Originally Posted by BIGJOE

mavman--I am impressed with your times-- What is your engine combo, and how much does your car weigh ??I am new to eighth mile racing, but my son runs at a local eighth mile track- He has run a best of 5.87 at 117 mph, which everybody thinks is very fast- Your times are very fast-- What altitute is your track at ?? Sorry for all the questions. Again, I am impressed with your performance


JOE SHERMAN RACING ENGINES

Joe, I am impressed also,

I have ran a 5.74 best I remember but only 118 MPH

I would like to run that 120 MPH, I thought that a sprag converter would get me there or a little different cam.

HOW ABOUT IT MAVMAN.......
LET JOE AND I IN ON THE COMBO.......