updates on dirt racin maverick

That must be a blast to drive, nice car. I do scca solo racing and some 1/4 mile streetnights but always wanted to powerslide around a dirt track.

Really nice to see mavericks in different formats...

 

poof

Three races in and i coulded get the engine dialed in before catastrophe. Building a new mill... better stronger faster!!!

 

Nice work, you have to love it when they come apart so easy. Are you going back with a 351?

 

Fresh mill under hood.

Took a lil bit to get it all together, finding the right cam, prepping the block, and ordering pistons in the last hour. But its all together and what a sweet sound it makes. Dad took it out last weekend, qualified 3rd with a finish of 5th. Got some chassis fine tuning, The new mill has a few extra ponies. Chassis adjustments have been made and the dented panels have been repaired. Rubbin is Racin.
The new mill is a .030 over 351. Cheap sealed power pistons, rules state 4 valve relief. Stock rods with the oiler holes to keep the pistons cool, the old motor didnt have em and really coulda used em. Ive heard the argument both ways but no nitrous flowing in this one. Stock crank with the casting lines smoothed out. All balanced of course, had to add a lil weight to the crank do to the heavy pistons. The block is a 70 windsor with extensive work done. I smoothed the oil galleys, vented the lifter valley and drilled .125 holes over all the cam lobes, installed plugs in the rear valley drain holes. The cam is Comp Cams lms circle track cam and with the high lift short duration, i wanted to get as much oil as possible flowing on it. And since the rear drain flow directly onto the rear throws of the crank, i installed stacks in the rear drain holes in the heads to limit the drain from up there too. All the drain holes in the front of the motor drain onto the timing chain and theres really no chance of the oil throwing the balance off. I did however chamfer the front holes and drill the holes threw the block bigger. I also installed restrictors in the cam bearing galleys, not the svo ones they seemed just a lil bit small for my application. I made my own drilling them to 9/64s, I didnt use the lifter galley restrictors either as rules require hydraulic lifters and didnt see the point. And of course decked the block to get close to .000 deck, I took .040 off bothe decks which left the piston .005 in the hole. The cast piston scared me so i didnt try to achieve max compression, most of the time i like em about .005 outta the hole. The heads had been milled quite a bit previously, with a small cleanup pass and new valves installed these 69 windsor heads they came up with 60cc combustion chambers. All this gives me a compression ratio of a lil over 10to1. Plenty for a stock lower end. To give u an idea of the amount milled off the heads, the 1 in 351 cast into bottom of the head is just about gone. No cracks and these heads were run over 200 degrees in there current thickness.
I know it prolly seems like alot of work for a basically stock 351w but the rules are restricted. I wanted to build a Ford the best the rules would allow and maybe get it in the winners circle. Around here its all Chevy's that run up front. As I said overall good first race with the new mill. It sounds bad a$$ out the tailpipe, it ran 170-180 degrees water temp at full race conditions, 200 under caution. It held 40 psi oil pressure at idle all night. The driver said wheel spin was the big problem, hopefully the chassis adjustments will allow him to push down on the gas harder.

 

Sounds like your back on track (so to speak)

Does your tech frown upon long connecting rods? As I said in a previous post, we ran pavement with a 355 Chevy engine 10.5 to 1 compression. The last couple of engines we built had 6 inch rods. The long rod combination gives you a whole lot more, off of the turns, when you step in the throttle. Of course, you have to get the pistons to match. We had a stock rod rule too but tech never ever dropped an oil pan, and even if they did, the rods were a stock appearing rod, so nothing would have been said anyway. Based on this, my 393 Cleveland also has 6 inch Chevy rods to go with the stroker combination.

Do you have a link to your track's web site. I would like to watch your progress.

 

http://www.dublinspeedway.com/gallery/?level=picture&id=6980 link to a pic of the mav's first nite out. From the track website.

 

Man that car looks good.

 

win win win

5th race out! After some spring changes, a couple shock changes and moving some weight around!

 

video of how fast this mad maverick runs away

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=422594891785

Those are chevy Camaros gettin dusted!

 

CONGRATS

Standing in Victory Lane makes all of the BS you go through worth it

 

Awww...vid don't work

 

Exhaust system failure leads to 2nd place finish

Below is a photo of header failure on the Mav. Going for the lead when failure struck, Ive always known a good exhaust can make horsepower. I am surprized as to how much difference the failed header caused. After the failure the leader pulled me a car length on every straightaway, and i was catching him by that much previously. I'm sayin it makes a world of difference, pay close attention to the exhaust, horsepower is not just about intake. If any of you have listened to the video you can hear my mav has a unique sound. Ive changed the collectors on the headers to tri-ys and ran 2 2.5in pipes into one 3in pipe to a stinger tip. Take care in your exhaust design bigger aint always better. Also is a pic of the new Hookers, the old set were Hedmans and i will say fit inside the engine bay better but the flanges and tubing were not to my liking... i am hoping that the change in flanges does not hurt performance. Its a gamble ill take for more correct looking flanges and of course the Hookers are a thicker tubing which should hold heat better. The thoery is better match at the flange and more heat down the tubes should produce better scavenging. Dont think ill gain HP but as long as i dont loose HP ill be happy.

PS Ive been tellin the Chevy guys in the class the ole Ford burnt a valve, no need to let my speed secret get into the wrong hands!!!

 

A hole there will definatly screw you, to much of a loss in port evacuation and the power goes away sometimes really far away..... Hopefully the new set-up will get ya some more then you originally had.....

 

man that thing is sweet!!! love it!

 

Same to you!

Your ride is looking pretty sweet... Keep doin it right and not the easy way and youll have hours of enjoyment!