Penny is done and on the road!
 

http://picsorban.com/upload/moneyshot.jpg

Today was the day, the first drive.

The dyno tuner in Claremont, CA, called me up to say she was all tuned and ready to go home. They are located about 40 miles away and there’s no easy way from there to here. Usually when I start “breaking in” a newly done car I take a spiral approach. This is where I drive around the block, then around two blocks, then a little farther until I feel the car is officially “road worthy”.

However it was Friday night and I couldn’t arrange a flatbed tow. Screw it, I decided to drive her home. At first it was strange, but as I drove I got more confident with the way she shifted and felt.

She’s fast, smooth silky speed…

On the mustang-style dyno she put down 440rwhp and 390 rwtq. That’s right around where a new Z06 comes in on his dyno.

My max torque is at 4500 and at 6500 I’m still at 90% of that. Gotta love a flat torque curve. At 6500 rpm the car still accelerates to the tune of 7.4 feet per second. A bit above a new Z06. She would pull to 7000 but we decided to set the rev limiter to 6700 to save the rods.

She idles very nice. During the drive home she never went over 190 degrees. The brakes worked great. The car road like a new car. It was firm but didn’t fell like an old car. I still need an alignment, but the car tracked well and was rock solid stable.

I got a ton of thumbs ups from people. Several shouts and three times I caught people taking pictures. On the 91 fwy the people in one car were video taping me, so I dropped a gear and hit it. :)

Oh, and several people tried to race, I declined.

When I got home my wife loved the car. It’s the first time she’s seen it in over a year and she very much liked how it turned out. That was nice and I’m a lucky guy.

Ok, the bad..

On the way home I guess I went too fast. In my driveway there was a small nick in my door, no dent just a scratch like a knife hit the door. I couldn’t figure it out until my noticed the passengers side (vertical) stainless window trim was gone.. poof. I guess it came off and nicked the door on the way to the great unknown. Lol. Maybe I need to safety wire my trim.

Anyways, I will fix that and BOS will fix the nick. Just part of the sorting out process. Saturday we shoot the car in an old machine shop, should be cool and I’m almost done writing the story for Super Chevy.

After driving her I’m hooked, it was such a blast. The suspension felt great, it felt stable and it felt reliable. All this without tuning or even an alignment.

It’s going to be a fun fun summer…

Here’s the missing trim and nick..could have been worse.

http://picsorban.com/upload/done2.jpg

Here’s her new license plate :D

http://picsorban.com/upload/done1.jpg

And best of all, here’s a vid of the max effort pull on the dyno.

Thanks to all those who have helped make this happen. Best of Show, Lateral-Dynamics, Marquez design, Rick’s hot rods, DSE, American Autowire, Classic Chevy 5-speed, Optima, Stewart Warner, ATS, Modo Innovations, 21st Century Street Machine, AFCO, COMP, Varishock, Inland Empire Driveline and everyone that helped give me opinions, ideas and encouragement.

This community is family and this family has a new, and soon to be very active, member.

Also,

I drove her 40 miles today and 40 miles yesterday. Tomorrow we are taking her to the mountains to shoot action shots for Super Chevy. So far she is working well although the oil pressure guage (elec) reads lower than the mech guage I have mounted on the engine. Damn elec gauge. :lol:


I have a very nice "max effort" dyno vid to share but nowhere to host it and it's in some strange format (quicktime I think). I shot Scott a copy last night and I'm sure he will be able to size it down and convert it (it's 18mb)

Anyways, the shoot we did tonight at the factory was WAY cool. Look for the full feature in the August Super Chevy Magazine. It's going to be a LSx issue.

Thats awsome! That pic is just awsome, portrait i think :yes:
Congrats mate :thumbsup:

Very cool stuff!! I love that car...congrats on another great build!! Oh, and it's always nice when the wife likes the end product too!! :thumbsup:

Great news Steve!! Its been a long trip and now you are there:thumbsup:

Shame at you trim flew away. Sorry for OT but is there any magazine feature of how to install trim correctly? I have looked those trim clips from parts book and service manual but still dont get it.

Awesome Steve, awesome!

I can't wait to check this car out in person! Did a great job.... :thumbsup:

WAY cool Steve!! Now the fun begins and I'm sure there will be more scratches and nicks as you thrash on it. Congradulations....

congrats
 

steven

sounds like a fun trip home from the dyno...:drive:
im sure your thrilled to have a car to drive again...
looking to know that feeling again myself...check your email and pm please...


radrambler

Beautiful car man!

Alex

That's just an awesome looking car, and even better it sounds like it will drive as well as it looks.

Every time I see pics of Penny, I'm struck by the color. What color is that?

Maybe you should leave the nick, perfection will just discourage you from putting that car on the track where it belongs!