68 firebird 461 stroker daily driver

[69MyWay]

Awesome thread!

[heyhiitsmevlad]

thanks, cut up the old drag racing scoop that came with the hood. trying to figure out the best way to cover up that hole left after i had taken the goofy scoop off.

[geberhard]

Very cool and subscribing to thread. Digged the stripes and cards paint tutorial (my buddy wants to do something similar on his ride). And you got some mad nailpolish paining skills too!

[heyhiitsmevlad]

thanks, yeah the whole front end cost $10 to paint, for now anyway. hope the cards thing helps your buddy out, I was amazed 7 years ago what this homeless crazy man in hawaii named "nova" could do with $5 in paint and a handful of stencils... after that and watching some airbrush tutorials (i used to think airbrush was magic, now i know its just stencils...) i realized anybody can do it, and for the cruder bigger shapes you can do it with 96 cent spray paint...

took the car to the track again today and learned two things... a 5/16" fuel line is not enough to feed a 461 at full rev through 3 gears... and a 5/16 fuel line running all neat like right next to the block will vapor lock like none other...

so after one halfway decent pass of 13.7 and 106 miles an hour with a 60ft of 2.5 seconds, i had a few disapointing passes. I was able to get a 2.3 second 60ft time but then the motor fell flat on its face from heat soak to the carb and the rest of that pass sucked.

after that I went home and grabbed some 3/8 fuel line at a parts store, bent a new section from the fuel pump to the carb that was completely free and clear of any heat sources, I won't know untill next week how that works out for me. My next mod is gonna be to pull off my manifold and JB weld the heat crossover under the carb shut and use gaskets that eliminate that damn crossover...

also will weld in some exhaust cutouts, just cause. can't hurt really.

biggest thing though is gonna be to get some tires that actually hook up, not just corner good on freeway cloverleafs and last forever... ;-)

some may wonder what a pro-touring car is doing at a drag strip, well. Its a great family activity and there was no autocross events that were fairly close by in the last few weeks... not to mention, its a good way to iron out all the things that would've been bad for time at an autocross event 300-400 miles away... once thats all hammered out i'm willing to drive any amount of distance to partake in the fun, and boy am i itching...

[heyhiitsmevlad]

[geberhard]

Vladimir! Checking out the vids and very cool how the car is turning out. Love the bird hot rod theme, so keep it coming!

was going to make a few suggestions:

1- the routing of your fuel lines could be re-routed a bit more away from the heat sources, also wrap your fuel pump line to carb. If you are planning to drag more often, may be worth looking into getting an electric pump, and routing the line at the firewall, shoudl help address the heat soak issues going on. I would also remove the current filter setup at the drag and go plastic if you have to, or closer to the carb.

2- heat tip: you mentioned few free to shoot some tip your way, and here is a good one: add some insulation so not all of the heat is creeping inside the cabin (wife's feet and kids). I would add it to some areas, best bang for buck is the Home Depot Sure it is not Duraliner but works excellent for a budget rod. I run in on a few rides and at a 1/5 of a price it beats the heat big time. One side has adhesive, so very easy to use. You can run2-3 rolls for the whole interior, (I would add to the roof area since you do not have a headliner, and about $20 a roll. It will help specially on the summer taking a bit of the HOT and loud out of HOT rod



http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/1000286...r5&R=100028603

http://www.fordmuscleforums.com/inte...nsulation.html

I run it on my orange hot rodded bird and was a night and day difference as the headers were really close to the floor and firewall and made driving the bird on the summer not too fun.



3- Manifold cooker going on another day drag trip or pic-nic with the kids? Yes this is a bit redneck, but works great, manifold cooking\burrito warmer. I had this on my buggy running a Pontiac 400 engine, a ammo box by the manifold or block, open the lid, throw a couple burritos in tinfoil in, and works freaking awesome

[Panteracer]

Cool car... love the Poncho

I have a 3/8" line at the firewall and when routing
some water lines I zipped tied them to the fuel supply
and returns... the car would stumble after running for a
while but no vapor lock.. It took me a while to figure
out that I was heating the fuel... moved it away and
problem solved

Panteracer with a 494 Pontiac in my bird

[heyhiitsmevlad]

Great minds (or cheap ones) must think alike... I've used that actual flashing tape on my 70 vw when I drove across the country in it last december, good stuff. Drove from upstate new York to oregon in -5 degree weather... worked good.

Also, I've been cooking food using motor heat since I was 14.

I'm getting ready to cut out the floors on both sides so I'll have to hold off on the flashing until I replace them, even at $20 there's no sense in buying three rolls twice. Plus cutting the floors out would then be a nightmare.

Drag times are a third priority, first being daily driving and second being road course work... so I need stuff that'll last thousands of miles. I just bought an edelbrock performer rpm pump and installed it, it's mechanical and I tend to trust mechanical things more when rolling through nebraska open plains and such... love the two birds you posted a pic of, I have a staggered set of those same black wheels going on my 67 tempest...

[geberhard]

Vlad, cool! I would go with the insulation on the roof area to keep the nogging from cooking and the kids and wife out of the heat

Where are you guys located at?

[heyhiitsmevlad]

North Carolina, in laws in nebraska and my family in Oregon so I drive all over the country.