427ci LS2 sleeved, dry sump oil pump, engine build & install, 69 Camaro

[Ron in SoCal]

Great vid Dale! Definitely not a momentum car

[214Chevy]

Enjoyed the video. Motor sounds were music to my ears.

[Sieg]

Nice and smooth buddy.

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Awesome dale

[Track Junky]

Looking good out there. Try and get yourself a pyrometer to check front tire temps to dial in front camber. Chalking the outsides of your tires is a good way to dial in air pressures.
Also, dont be afaid to experiment with brake pads. You'd be amazed how much time you can make up driving deeper into the corners.

[PTAddict]

Hey Dale, where in the NW are you? Portland here. We should make it a point to be at PIR, ORP, or RMP at the same event one of these weekends.

Great car, good to see you're out there driving it the way it was built to be driven

[DaleTx]

Originally Posted by Flash68

That Lotus didn't stand a chance.

Looked like you had a blast out there. Very nice looking track as well.

Originally Posted by tubbed69

nice video Dale,looks like alot of fun

Originally Posted by Ron in SoCal

Great vid Dale! Definitely not a momentum car

Originally Posted by 214Chevelle

Enjoyed the video. Motor sounds were music to my ears.

Originally Posted by Sieg

Nice and smooth buddy.

Originally Posted by Vince@MSperfab

Awesome dale

Thanks guys... appreciate the kind words about the video . I had a great time at PIR and look forward to the next time! The car is a whole different animal now with the new engine... it was quite a rush for me to say the least. The engine is a screamer... pulls hard and picks up speed very quickly. I never got over 6K rpm in 4th gear... which is 125 mph. The peak power on this engine is 7K... at his point I can't imagine going up to 7K in 4th I think I might need to do some more work on the chassis and suspension now (leafs need to go).

The most fun was coming around turn 12... entering the main straight up against the wall... shifting into 4th... listening to the engine wail, and then thinking how far can I go and still make the turn... that moment is gold. I felt like I was on the edge a couple of times coming into the chicane (most fun part of the track).

Originally Posted by Track Junky

Looking good out there. Try and get yourself a pyrometer to check front tire temps to dial in front camber. Chalking the outsides of your tires is a good way to dial in air pressures.
Also, dont be afaid to experiment with brake pads. You'd be amazed how much time you can make up driving deeper into the corners.

Thanks for the tips... appreciate it Do you have any recommendations for brake pads to try? Right now I have the Baer Track PBR 4-wheel disc brake set up with ceramic matrix pads.

Originally Posted by PTAddict

Hey Dale, where in the NW are you? Portland here. We should make it a point to be at PIR, ORP, or RMP at the same event one of these weekends.

Great car, good to see you're out there driving it the way it was built to be driven

Thanks Scott! I saw the You Tube video of your car out at PIR... looked good. I live just north of Vancouver Washington. I would be very interested to meet up at a track day event with you... let me know.

[DaleTx]

Originally Posted by garickman

Dale, just wondering what kind of a pain it was on the those valve covers. I have the Katech covers also and I will be running Comp Cams shaft rockers which I think are made by T&D. All my engine components just arrived to Wegner Motorsports this week. Casey Wegner warned me they were having trouble finding valve covers to clear shaft rockers on another build they were doing. I just got the valve covers so I have not shipped them to Wegner yet. Wondering what the work was to make them work so I can let Casey know.

Greg... I tried several different options to try and find valve covers that would clear the T&D shaft rockers. The Katech valve covers are the only ones that even came close to fitting. I started out with their cast aluminum covers... ran them for a while... then bought a set of carbon fiber valve covers. Both sets had to be modified to clear the rockers.

I tried stock LS covers with 1/2 inch spacers, Holley aluminum valve covers, and neither would clear the rockers without major modifications. The Katech covers required the least amount of grinding to fit. I am using GM LS7 heads and the T&D shaft rockers with 1.8 ratio. Not sure exactly what your running.


Here is a shot of the T&D rockers... they come right up next to the rails... Nutter had to modify the rockers and heads slightly just to get some clearance.




Here are some shots of how I modified the Carbon fiber covers for clearance










When I mounted the modified valve covers I pushed them up towards the fuel rails a much as possible... the rubber o-ring seal will end up right on the edge of the lip on the head. It is a very tight fit for sure.. but I was able to modify the covers and make it work.




Hope that answered your question... it's always a pain for the engine builder when they have to do extra work to make things fit. You just don't have a lot of options to clear the T&D 1.8 rockers.

[Sieg]

Originally Posted by DaleTx

Do you have any recommendations for brake pads to try? Right now I have the Baer Track PBR 4-wheel disc brake set up with ceramic matrix pads.

Tobin recommended Hawk HP Plus to me for street and track compromise. While I haven't had them on the track yet they work well on the street, they don't require preheating to stop at the first stop sign you come to, and they're pretty quite. As he warned they generate dust and will wear rotors........THEY GENERATE DUST! but visually the rotor wear doesn't appear extreme. Did I mention they generate dust?

What's the old saying...........drive hard into the braking zone until you see God then stand on the brakes!

Hard to say from watching the video or feeling the chassis coming into and under braking but it looked like you were off the throttle well before the 500 mark and coasting into the braking zone. Start challenging yourself and the car on a corner that has no penalties if you go in too deep. Pick a throttle off point and brakes on point and gradually shorten them up until you get on the edge of not apexing the corner properly. Then you can confidently apply those references to most braking marker zones. Off-chambers, elevation changes, bumps/seams, brake over-heating, greasy tires, etc. need to be compensated for.

Once you learn your braking points around the track(s) you should see lap times improve. Also create drive-out reference markers past the apex point to aim the car at while rolling into the throttle they can serve as a point where you should be able to deliver maximum throttle for available traction.

You appear to have one of the toughest skills mastered......smooth. Most really fast drivers are really smooth. How they become really consistent is through establishing and adhering to personal reference points on the track.

[garickman]

Originally Posted by DaleTx

Greg... I tried several different options to try and find valve covers that would clear the T&D shaft rockers. The Katech valve covers are the only ones that even came close to fitting. I started out with their cast aluminum covers... ran them for a while... then bought a set of carbon fiber valve covers. Both sets had to be modified to clear the rockers.

I tried stock LS covers with 1/2 inch spacers, Holley aluminum valve covers, and neither would clear the rockers without major modifications. The Katech covers required the least amount of grinding to fit. I am using GM LS7 heads and the T&D shaft rockers with 1.8 ratio. Not sure exactly what your running.


Here is a shot of the T&D rockers... they come right up next to the rails... Nutter had to modify the rockers and heads slightly just to get some clearance.




Here are some shots of how I modified the Carbon fiber covers for clearance










When I mounted the modified valve covers I pushed them up towards the fuel rails a much as possible... the rubber o-ring seal will end up right on the edge of the lip on the head. It is a very tight fit for sure.. but I was able to modify the covers and make it work.




Hope that answered your question... it's always a pain for the engine builder when they have to do extra work to make things fit. You just don't have a lot of options to clear the T&D 1.8 rockers.

Awesome post Dale, that really helps me out. Thanks for posting so much detail. It's people like you that make this such a great site.