Black Jack: Made it to the track - New Quarter Mile Times

That shop is an hour away from me. I wish I had known about them when I dropped my 306 build off at a machine shop in Greeley.
 

I didn't see the blower. Somebody needs to fix the images issues we have around here.
 
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Ok, question: your opinion, should I swap the PCV baffle on the bottom of my intake (GT40) to the bigger one?
The one I'm using has some port work done, the other is prolly an explorer lower, looks to be a basic swap.
 
It's a basic swap with just a little drilling/tapping required. Make sure to use blue loctite if you do it. You obviously don't want a bolt dropping into the lifter valley. I have only ever had the small stock-like one. The intake I just swapped on has the large Explorer version. I had a lot of oil in my upper & lower. I hope that clears it up. I'll try to remember to hit you up if/when I figure out how effective it is. I'm planning to do something else when I swap to the new combo, because the Edelbrock Performer & Performer RPM lower doesn't accept the Explorer version baffle.
 
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No Drag strip, again, tonight:
Couldn't make it out to the track again tonight, because of a severe thunderstorm. Man, I have missed every racing event I've wanted to attend, this year. Hopefully, next week.

Made $$$ & got an upgrade out of it.
It's not sexy, but I bought a hood for $250, stripped the liner out of it, installed it in blackjack, and sold the hood for $300. I got a hood light with it, but I spend so much time under the hood, that I really don't want it installed, yet.



Following up on last week's fender bender:
I've got a couple of estimates from recommended body shops in my area:

Elite's Estimate:


Perry's estimate:


I think I'm in a good spot now to haggle with the USAA adjuster. Guys, this may be my first litigious action. If he/she lowballs me, or tries to 'total' the car, I'll pay for the repair, and take 'em to small claims. I'd rather a judge decide than a low balling adjuster. I feel like this is a pretty good spot to be in.

What I may actually do is use the money towards a full paint job. There's some pretty bad oxidation on the driver's side front fender. I've got restored quarter windows on the way. Might as well do it all at once. I don't wanna go crazy, but it would be nice to have a nicer looking daily.

Fiddle Fart Fab Fail #2:
After sending back and getting a refund on my door strikers, I gave up on the hatch striker, and I replaced it with the stocker, again. This one is on Black Jack, I think. The hatch just kept popping open & it was so hard to close. I tried adjusting all over the place, but couldn't get it into a spot that made it both easy to close and made it stay closed. I was really trying. I hate replacing the stocker's bushings. After reinstalling the stocker, though, it closes just by giving a minor shove, and it should, like it previously did, stay closed. I know the door strikers were a design flaw. However, I think this is more about Black Jack's hatch & latch alignment than FF's hatch striker. I'm still willing to try the 3 I bought in the other cars.
 

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Can you post a pic of the itemized part of the estimate? Labor times and all that. Just curious. I’m in the biz.
 
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Thanks @FastDriver, those estimates vary quite a bit. The one from Elite looks more accurate, but I bet Perry’s is right that the rear body panel has “some” damage, not sure if the would have to really be replaced. I bet that can be pulled and repaired, which is what I would try to do, rather than cut it off and replace it. With your car being black, I doubt the blending of the quarter panels would be necessary as Perrys wrote.
 
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On those bumper cover replacements, I'm not sure if AM sells the same ones as LMR but I bought mine from LMR and the fit was pretty good, or at least Kevin didn't complain about it much which means it must have been decent.
 
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Rockingham Dragway 1JUN24: DA's ranged from ~ 1,600ft to 1,300, which was right in the same ballpark as the DA the last time I ran the car at the Mooresville 1/8 mi strip back at Foxtoberfest. Then, I ran a best of 8.36 ET and a best trap speed of 83.8mph on a 1.86 60'.

Since then, the changes off of the top of my head include (I think):
- Switched from BBK to Accufab 70mm TB (no expected HP gain -- just helped with the whistle)
- Went from 4.10s to 3.73s
- Added electric fan
- Put U/D crank & waterpump pullies & oversized alternator pulley
- TMOSS/MMOSS ported the lower intake

It was different track, different day so not the best scientific comparison, but today's best was:
8.28@85.86 in the 1/8 on a 1.95 60'. To get there, I was launching off of the limiter that I set at 6,100 RPM and also shifting at the limiter.

This was, in fact, a 1/4 mile track, and that worked out to a 12.84@108.38, which is *technically* the fastest speed Black Jack has ever trapped, because with 4.10s it was gear limited. I say technically, because way back in the day it did run 86.47mph in the 1/8 when it wasn't full of Kilmat, didn't have the nitrous bottle, had 1/8 of a tank instead of 3/4 like tonight, didn't have the heavy T56, the wheels and tires weigh more, & it had the more efficient T5. That's at least 150 extra lbs, tonight. Plus I probably had better air at Kilkare. Something it will undoubtedly do again NA in better air. I definitely think it's making more power now than it ever has.

The interesting takeaway for me, tonight, was that Black Jack liked 15* of base timing best. I'm certain that back in the day it liked 18*. I wonder about that.

I did not get a chance to open up the bottle. I wanted to get a good baseline N/A again before doing that.

On the 2nd to last run, when I didn't ice the intake, & everything was at normal operating temps, it still went 8.30@85.18 & 12.90@107.24 in the 1/4 on a 1.89 60'.

It's hard to account for what impact the gear ratio change had on trap speed. I'm hitting the traps NA at ~5,300 RPM instead of at redline like with the 4.10s. So, that probably means peak power gains are probably a bit higher than that estimate. We'll see if that estimate was worth anything when I'm able to get it on the dyno, again.

 
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Nitto 555RIIs and they're hooking well for a tire I can daily. I won't call it a 'dead hook', but if I go any more aggressively with the clutch, it's either bog or spin.

There's not much I can do NA. I'm launching flat-footed off of the limiter and aggressively slipping the clutch without wheel spin. I made some intentional decisions that I knew would put me in a spot off the line. 1st is just too tall.

It went from 4.10 * 3.35 = 13.7
to
3.73 * 2.66 = 9.92.

Makes for a nice driver/cruiser, but I had 38% more torque multiplication in 1st than I do, now. The reason it still 60's close is because I used to launch off of idle and now I'm launching at 6,100.

The solution here, I hope, will be the nitrous.
 
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I kinda miss my whistling throttle body… lol

Congrats man-sounds like steps in the right direction
 
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That might require 35 spline axles, driveshaft and Billet yoke.
Those Hoosiers can take a lot.
I have gone 1.28 60ft on 26X10.5 Hoosiers. It was an Auto trans though.
 
Way to go Black Jack! How much more fun can a guy have in a car than to run an all time best 1/4 mi trap speed last week at Rockingham dragway, and then to set the fastest lap of the day for the novice school at this week's autocross. Better be careful, Black Jack, you're making some really awesome memories! Can you believe a foxbody posted the fastest auto-x times of all the newbs, today?!

Anyways, I'm grateful & thankful to have so many nice events and awesome people around me. Special thanks to @Warhorse Racing and Randy from the THSCC car club for the motivation and education, today.

Guys, if you're reading this and are in the North Carolina area, you don't know what you're missing. Come out and have some fun. The next event is on 23 JUN. Hit me up and I'll help you get out here.
 
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