Night at the drags....ended up being a drag

Well, not THAT bad, but not nearly as good as I expected. I had no traction (but got GREAT burnouts) due to the old bald tires. Also, the linelock held me in the wet area, and the guy at the line told me to let off after a few seconds and let the water burn off for another 20 feet or so.

Lost performance when I took the exhaust dumps out, I guess not enough backpressure? as it spit and sputtered. Maybe too rich?

Then when i put the exhaust dump covers back on, I was still spitting and sputtering after 3000 rpms, and not getting the performance I had on the first two runs.

I guess I better stop being semi-serious about drag racing until I decide to fix all the little BS things I know I NEED to fix: lose the points and go MSD, rebuild the trans, electric fuel pump, wrinkle-wall slicks, and I HAVE to get a double-pumper Holley. I am still sucking the Edelbrock dry before I hit 2nd gear.

Anyone know where I can get used but rebuildable/useable of any of these? I can rebuild a carb no problem. I would also like to get some cheap but sturdy rims to put some slicks on so I can swap at the track. And I don't know if I should waste money on Pertronix-type ignition or just save up and get the MSD.

I know...same crap I have been complaining about for the past 6 months, but now that I have seen the poor performance on the lit-up board, the reality of it all has hit me.

Thanks to all of you who have made these suggestions, even if it seems like I haven't been listening. I have, I just don't have the cash to do what I want, and end up doing it the cheap and easy way the first time and then going back when I have the money and doing it right, but wasting the money the first time when I should have just done what you all said (what was right!).

Oh well...I am having fun any way

 

That is the most important part.

 

Hawko, you are always the one to point out the good stuff! Keeps me in a positive frame of mind.

 

Now that I have done the math, I guess I really cannot complain.

I improved my 1/8th mile by .5616s and 4 mph. And that is peeling out for the first 100 feet or so.

I feel a little better now. I really expected to bust 80 mph, but only went from 69-ish to 74-ish. Maybe with traction and Pertronix...

 

did you look at your spark plug after the run? id put money that you were too lean with the dumps open. also, how do you know your emptying your edelbrock? i have the same size carb on my 390 and i have never emptied it (i know its too small). the jets dont let the gas out fast enough on full throttle, but there is still gas in the bowls. try bringing your jet kit with you and putting in rich jets and rods, then run it uncapped. definately get rid of the points and put in the duraspark dizzy or at least a pertronix. if nothing else it will eliminate a weak "point" for you.

 

I have a fuel pressure guage, and it drops on hard runs. The edelbrock needs 6 psi, supposedly, so I assume that it is sucking the bowls dry, since it will drop down to 3, 2, sometimes lower. I tried richer rods, and it actually ran worse, spitting and sputtering as soon as the secondaries opened up. I am currently running as lean as I can without swapping jets.

Maybe I need to go with a leaner jet and THEN mess with the metering rods on that jet?

The plugs are clean and white suggesting that I am running too lean, but it wants to run leaner. When I richen it up, it drowns itself. I had an entire long thread about this a few weeks back. Fought with it for weeks thinking it was a vacuum leak, bad spark or timing, etc. Found that when I went back to the stock lean setting, it ran better. Not perfect, but much better. I could floor the accellerator without it puttering out.

By the way, I am running regular unleaded, and have it advanced to 38 full on, and I have never had any pinging (8.0:1 compression) even if I advance it until I hit the radiator tube.

I am pretty sure most of my problem is the points system. It ran really good when I first did the head/header/intake swap, and then has slowly deteriorated since. The dizzy is fairly new, but is a stock replacement.

My delimma is...do a pertronix/duraspark swap now for $40-60, or just save up and do the entire MSD swap? Will the short term benefits be worth the $60 loss when I finally move up to MSD?

 

Sorry to ask this again, but I did a search and could not find it.

What is the conversion that give the approximate 1/4 ET/mph based on your 1/8 times?

 

you improved your ET's by over a half second?

I can't count how many ET racers would give their left....well you know...for ONE tenth, much less 5! So, you've made some serious progress. Good job!

As for improving even more...Traction is going to be your best friend. The first 60 feet of drag strip are the most critical. If you can't hook & go, it is tough to make up for it down track. Really tough! As for trying to make it all work...on a budget, it can be done. It just takes twice as much.....thought. Why go MSD when you can go DuraSpark? Did you know that Duraspark also has mulitple spark capability at lower engine speeds? It also has a built in start retard (white wire). I used the white wire for a boost retard once too on a turbo 302. Works great, well....pretty dern good for a minimal investment anyway. Dad ran a duraspark distributor and box on his 9-second Fairmont for years until I went to a 351w (I gave him my old 302 MSD dizzy). It can be tuned--though not nearly as easily as MSD distributor. A double pump carb would be nice but if you have an E carb, use it until you can get a good used Holley. I used to have an 830 custom-built carb that worked AWESOME (no other words to describe it) on a small cubic inch engine, but somehow it disappeared. I fear that my brother may have robbed it for parts and sold the rest of it. If I had it, I'd offer it to you. I wish I still had the dang thing. Believe it or not, that old 830 was used on my old iron headed 302 that I originally had in the Maverick...ran I think 8-teens in the 1/8 mile back then, but that carb worked the best of any carbs I've used. I bought it from a guy that had it on a nasty 540" BBC in a Chevelle, said he couldn't get it to idle...I pulled a booster sleeve out and got all the junk out of it and it worked great from then on.

Keep your eyes open, especially at the track. Sometimes a guy that is having problems will start swapping parts in an attempt to fix a problem then offer up the old parts....and many times there may not be a thing wrong. That's one of the best ways to get used stuff that's still good.

 

Thanks for the encouragement. I will look into the prices and feasibility of the Duraspark system. Might help out in the short- to medium-run.

The wife just got home from a "girl's night out" and agrees that "you made a .5 second improvement?!?!" and is wondering why I am whining about it. I just expected a 1 second improvement, and I think I can get it with traction. Can't...stop...try...ing...

 

http://ondoperformance.com/calculators.html

 

scooper, don't stop trying! half the fun and frustration is getting everything dialed in right,its a learning curve along the way- one thing you might want to do is keep a journal of every run and what set up you have on the car at that time, along with the weather and tire pressure and things like that. it gives you a base line to follow if your et and performance drop off....just an idea. good luck!

 

scoop, i agree with running leaner with the pipes capped. but when you uncap it, you may need to step back up.if your current set up will not run smooth, follow the edel book to get it dialed in for normal driving. then at the track when you uncap it you will probably have to just adjust the rods and springs one or two steps richer. also, i just remembered i was running mine uncapped and it ran great with an initial idle of 10 degrees, but once i got the mufflers on i had to move back down to around 8 (and go leaner on the carb) or it would sputter off the line and under load. i think the duraspark would be the better way to go if you are looking short and long term. you may never reach a point where you need the MSD if you put that in.

 

First off, Congratulations on knocking a half-second off your previous best!

Unfortunately, and as you've pointed out, no "one" upgrade is going to get you
where you want to be. I'd look at the issue of the fuel pressure dropping off first.
I can't believe 2 or 3 psi of fuel pressure would do anything except what you've
described. To me, then engine is definetly starving (under accleration) - even
though it might be fat at idle or normal acceleration.

I also believe your list of parts for improvement is correct also (FP, Spark, Slicks).

FWIW, since you live only 5 minutes from the strip, I'd look into buying the
Mickey Thompson ET Streets. They are DOT approved, so you can run them on the
street w/o getting a ticket (standard warning: "ET Streets" are not a very safe tire
for long distance on driving on the streets).

I'd try not to worry about how fast you can get the money up for parts - you are
doing the right thing - "Family First!".

Again, Congrats on your new personal best!

 

what was your et & mph?

i have trouble believing the low fuel pressure is due to the carb. you still have a delivery problem.
if your points are set right & ignition system parts are ok, you should be able to rev near 6000. if your have the good accel points, 6500.
what rpm are u shifting at?

take your problems one at a time.

fix the fuel supply. when the level in the bowls drops, it leans out the a/f mixture. 2 psi probably means the bowl is pretty low. on a holley, this would be a problem.

fix the traction problem.

check all ignit components for condition. cracked coil? old leaky wires? points pitted? good dist cap & rotor? a dark night & a water mist bottle can show you a lot. borderline plugs can break down under a load.
go to track, dont open caps & see how it runs & see where you are at for other problems.
keep it simple and try one thing at a time. dont uncap it until it runs right capped. then if there's a problem when you uncap, you know what is probably causing it.

if you know carbs some, ebay can be a good source, but you still will need a rebuild kit & various small parts. if you need the accel points kit, i have a dusty one on the wall. i wouldnt try a double pumper unless you have at least 4.10 gears & maybe 2500 stall converter.

jmho

 

Went to the track and didn't call me. I see how you're gonna be.