Either way, sounds like a win-win to me!:thumbsup: :cheers:

:unibrow:

Todd,

Regarding your chassis, suspension, and brakes, if you had to do it over would you make any changes?

Specifically:
-DSE front
-Shocks
-G-bar
-Moser 12 bolt
-Wilwood rotors & calipers

Answers in Red

Thank you! Your input is invaluable in developing my master plan.

Well, I just spent my morning going through the last 15 or so pages of this thread. (I've been away from the site for a while). Man, all I can say Todd is congrats on an awesome build and for your tenacity with always looking to improve. We're never really satisfied are we? The car looks sick and its amazing what humble beginnings it had with a little 307 and a powerglide. Whenever I get off my a** and find the time, I need to get my but out there to see that car. Maybe you can take me for a ride that makes me change my shorts.:woot: Been a while since I had that much fun in a car.

Congrats again Todd on all you've accomplished.:thumbsup:

Appreciate it Nick...:thumbsup:

I'm headed down to El Toro to run RTTC next Thursday. I'm registered to run Saturday and Sunday. Last year was the best time I've ever had with the car so I'm looking forward to the racing and harrassing everybody. Before every major event I like to give the car a decent inspection. Top off all the fluids, lash the valves, etc... I did find that one of my o-ring fittings that screw into my fuel filter had worked loose. It wasn't leaking but a ticking time bomb. Glad I caught that. With all this power, things do tend to come loose on these cars. Locktite and lock washers are very important anywhere you can use them.


I also played around with shock settings. It's really impossible to duplicate race conditions on the street so it's really a guessing game. The front end has always been soft and I still feel it may be a little soft even after the spring change. The car feels in harmony. More so than ever before anyway. I have a feeling it may be a little on the loose side but I'll find out next week. :D

On my last desert hail mary, I hooked up a vacuum gauge and ran it into the cock pit. I was curious to see if my power valve was coming in a little early. On the cruise at highway/freeway speed it seemed perfect. Once I drove around town I realized it was a little pre mature. I swapped it out for a lower vacuum opening point that will keep it out of enrichment under what I would consider less than heavy loads. Basically tuning for gas mileage. :rolleyes: My dad was in town for my last hail mary and I let him drive a little while. He was pretty impressed and couldn't believe how nice it drove. My Dad doesn't get excited about much. After all the driving, I haven't bottomed out the rear shocks. They have better than a 1/4" left before bottoming out. RTTC will be the true test.

She's all polished up and ready for the rain. :willy: I took her out for one last blast tonight before the event. I didn't have time for a tripod or this photo may have turned out....

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...ck1969/015.jpg

Todd the car looks great. Which camara do you use to take these picturers?

You must know people to be able to shut down a section of road so you can snap a few pics. :lol:

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: Love the photo Todd! You? Not so much. :rofl:

Wayne, I shoot with a Nikon D80. I had the tripod but didn't have time to use it.

It's a great road with little traffic. Unfortunately, the cops are known to play hid and seek. :unibrow:

Todd,

I like all the tunning you do with the car. I am trying to reread to learn from it myself. This year my goal is to learn the limit, and how to improve myself so I know how to improve the car. Thanks for all your insights, and I look forward to seeing your car next weekend.

Great photo shot Todd. Looks awesome man.:thumbsup:

Nice pic, what spring rates did you go with? Looking forward to seeing it in Cali.

I ended up choosing a 550 out front and 275 out back. See you next week!

Have a safe and VERY fun trip! You have deff worked hard to get the car ready! Time to enjoy it!! :cheers:

OK, I lied. I played a little today. I wasn't thrilled with the RPM matching capabilities of the carb. The primary squirter was lean and it was very difficult to make a a good downshift. I found this chart that graphs all the different accelerator pump cams. The carb came with the pink cam and I never changed it. I had played with squirters multiple times over the past couple years. I decided to step up to the blue cam which brings on the fuel much faster than the pink cam. It made sense with the rpm match scenario. It's a quick pop of the throttle on a down shift that likely doesn't see more than half throttle. It was pretty good cold but got a little fat as the engine came up to temp. I decided to drop the squirter from a 40 to a 35 and I can now rpm match pretty damn good.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...nessBar002.jpg

Nice! Cant wait to see how that beast does this year at RTTC. Not to many BBC cars Im sure. Hey Todd do you have any Vid's of you car at idle with the new motor??

My harness bar came in yesterday from Ridetech. The were nice enough to give me a $250 gift certificate for placing their stickers on my car during the Optima Challenge. After watching the road course video, I realized how often I had to reposition myself. Rodney and I cooked up a plan to make one of their Tiger Cage cross bars work for my application. Rodney sent out the clamps and I measured the center to center and they welded it up and sent it my way. I'm really impressed with the Tiger Cage materials and fitment. Rodney mentioned they may start offering these to the public and set up a jig for my bar.

The plan is to install it for events only with a set of 5 point Simpson harnesses.(I need to order tomorrow) Two bolts and a little love from a plastic hammer is all it takes to install and remove the bar. I switch back and forth between two seat settings on the street and the farthest back postion I like isn't available with the harness bar. I plan to lay the lap belts in the rear floor board and bolt them into the same position as my current 3 point. Some of you are probably wondering why the bar is so high. Your belts should be close to 90 when belted in the car. Opinions vary but they should be mounted between 10 degrees down and slighly above 90. Sure I could've mounted them lower to make them less of an eye sore but I'm always function over form.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...nessBar024.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...nessBar019.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...nessBar017.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...nessBar010.jpg

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Looks great Todd!!

Very nice Todd, your car is a benchmark. :thumbsup:

What carb are you using?

It's an 850HO from AED Performance. I've had to change pretty much everything. :D I enjoy the tweaking and tuning aspect. I still want to chassis dyno the car this year.

Ron, I can't believe it but I don't have a decent idle video. I use an elph for video and the sound sucks.

..........and I want to see those dyno charts! :unibrow:

Tuning carbs is good sport, I used to run side draft Weber's on a car I auto-X'd and they were fun even though they changed wth the barometer.

Have a 650 Speed Demon on my '69 with BG's mistake baseplate, I'm changing to something, possibly a 770 Avenger or ?

Me too.. I chassis dynoed the previous engine and it made 491hp/497 ftlbs. It should make in the +or- 550 rwhp/rwtq range if the tune is dead nuts. That is my primary reason for wanting to chassis dyno.

When I drove the car with the vacuum gauge, I found out that I had 2-2.5 inches of vacuum at wot. I almost pulled the trigger on a Pro Systems HP 1000 due to all the positive feedback. At the end of the day, I decided not to chance starting over from scratch on a tune. Since then I found that my throttle cable had stretched and I was getting 15/16th throttle. I'd love to go injected but that ain't happening. :willy:

550 out back should be adequate. :D

Fast EZ EFI looks tempting but efi is getting better and less expensive, I'll be an observer a little longer. :yes:

The 600hp bridge takes out quite a few economical options. For under 600hp, EZ Efi seems like a great option.

WOW..thanks, I need the motivation

It's good for 600hp + now too. :thumbsup:

Dual Quad Upgrade......

http://www.compperformancegroupstore...stemEZIEFIKits

Great car Todd.
Very cool of Ridetech to hook it up for you.

i come on man you work hard enough...go ahead and splurge the $$$ on a precision metal craft intake and all the other stuff you'll need... what another 5-6 k on that motor!lol

It ain't happening....:D

Gee.....how could that possibly happen....:thumbsup:

Not that he ever pushes the envelope with the car. :cool: When adjusting the throttle cable he might want to factor adrenaline induced floorboard flex. :D

Car looks tits Todd. Ready to go. Yours are the Modo pedals, correct?

Sparco I believe.......

Looks like their Grip series: http://www.sparcousa.com/ptuning_pedals.asp?id=351

Todd - Are you satisfied with their performance?

I don't recall my foot ever slipping off a pedal in all my miles and racing. I did have two of the rubber pads pop out but they have stayed put every since.

I like to set the throttle so the pedal arm bottoms out on the floor board INSTEAD of putting all the strain of my right foot and adrenaline on the throttle cable and throttle shaft. It's tricky getting it right but I feel it should be more reliable.

tha dash is killer, makes me want to get rid of my covans/ultalite setup really bad.

Wouldn't fabricating an adjustable throttle stop on the floor/firewall pan be possible? Then you'd have throttle shaft and pedal travel adjustments.

I think we'd be surprise with actual telemetry data for psi load on the throttle pedal stop recorded during the heat of battle. :D

I've thought about that but don't need it. The pedal arm bottoms out on the firewall itself. I wouldn't mind a higher pedal for racing but not for street cruising. My pedal arm is splined for large adjustments and the small adjustments can be made at the throttle bracket housing and connection at the carb.

Just an awesome car overall. That car can go grab some beers on a weekend run and rip up the auto-x on another weekend. Very nice Todd.:yes: :thumbsup: