Little test session at a local autocross today. The best examples of the clutch slipping are at 40 and 49 seconds...



Rear sway bar was disconnected on the driver side and the rear shock rebound was at -7 clicks from full stiff. It still lifted the driver side rear tire twice that I saw which made the pass side rear tire shudder. Still very driveable though, not edgy at all. Not sure what corner exit grip would have been like because every time I was hard on the gas corner exit it would slip the clutch. Rear rolled over a bit more than normal with the rear bar disconnected but really wasn't even that noticeable. I got used to it very quickly.

This issues I have had in the past with loss of grip on corner exit were not evident today with the sway bar disconnected. It would be interesting to see how it would do while really putting the power down on corner exit.

I saw you southbound on 169 yesterday. Car looks exceptionally cool driving down the road!

Thanks! I wasn't speeding was I? :whistling: :angel: :drive:

I was actually on my way (or driving around with) another Lat-G member Mike https://lateral-g.net/forums/member.php4?u=23183 who I met up and hung out with for a while yesterday.

Turns out yet another online friend met in person is NOT an internet ax murderer...my 100% streak is still intact. :D

I sold my LS4 Fiero last week and although I love my replacement, I don't think it will be a racer. SRT Challenger

Why not? I got beat by a late model Challenger in Lincoln last Sept. Nice cars...

I think I'll back out for a drive this afternoon, dang it's nice here this week.

Lance, did you get the clutch issues figured out? I see your looking for cylinder heads also...what's up?

Haven't fixed the clutch yet, it's still slipping if pushed hard. Since the trans has to come out to fix it, I'm contemplating pulling the engine as well and finally cracking the seal on the crate engine. I'm going to lean more toward track days and road course time trials next season instead of autocross, so I can forgo getting the latest fastest trick tires and rear suspension upgrades and concentrate more on going faster in a straight line.

I currently run this crate engine:
http://www.chevrolet.com/performance...ck-ht-383.html
http://www.chevrolet.com/content/dam...83-482x244.jpg

If I bolt on some aluminum Fastburn heads and this cam, it will magically become this crate engine:
http://www.chevrolet.com/performance...nes/sp383.html

http://www.chevrolet.com/content/dam...25-482x244.jpg

Should be a real nice upgrade in upper RPM horsepower while remaining very street-able and reliable.

Might also throw a road race style pan on it while it's out.

I didn't realize these heavy things could handle. Thanks for the info. Now to search for some recommendations.

So a new phase of upgrades has officially started. I finally decided to crack the seal on the crate engine and upgrade the heads and cam in an effort to keep up with the LS powered cars I race against on the straights. I plan on doing more road course events from now on and less autoocross so this was a necessary upgrade and actually makes more sense than upgrading the rear suspension, wheels and tires just to try to keep up with all of the autocross specific CAM cars coming out of the woodwork.

I picked up the top end from a blown up 604 crate engine from a local racer, a set of worked over fastburn heads, 1.5 roller rockers, the 604 cam and a single plane intake. I had our local speed shop do a valve job on the heads since a few of the valves had been hit, ended up replacing three of them, all of the springs were checked and all of the valves were lapped in again.

I'm going to custom order a cam Monday to meet my needs and will reuse my dual plane intake, Q-jet, and MSD and just about everything else. Only thing I'm really swapping out is the heads and cam...but those alone should bump me about 100 hp in all the right spots with only giving up just a scant bit of torque way down low (built in traction control).

So we started today by pulling the transmission and then the engine. Only took about 2 hours to get the trans out, then we inspected the clutch a bit...took some time to loosen up a few things underside...then lowered the car to start under the hood.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psrjtjozju.jpg

The flywheel side wasn't too bad

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...pst3v8crri.jpg

The pressure plate side was toast though

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...pskafwjsgy.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...pst5seje8k.jpg

The flywheel surface is okay, the pressure plate surface has some small ridges in and burn spots on it...so it looks like a whole clutch kit is in order.

This was taken when we stopped for lunch.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...pskwhqmxrb.jpg

About an hour later...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...pszwuiglpd.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psudyfnxvi.jpg

These plugs have been in this engine since my "electric fan upgrade" 5 years ago now. Interesting to look at them and the corresponding header ports.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psof2iyjmi.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psppqovbgz.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psuzincmpv.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psq6rritj5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psztywxwz7.jpg

In the next day or so I'll start to tear this apart...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psfkjy5kaj.jpg

and get ready to put these heads to good use.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psug00kxe0.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...pswlxbqq8b.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psbav4n7ul.jpg

Purple and yellow is my current engine, Dark blue and Green is what we are shooting for power wise and lite blue and red are a stock LS2 like I'll be racing against.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psszoomcdi.jpg