Not that anybody outside of East Texas would really care, but if you're really
bored this Sunday, here's where I'm at and where I hope I'm going with my LSR
plans.
After nearly four years of building and de-bugging, I think the car is ready
for some serious racing. Our 454 BBIC- powered 1977 Pontiac Trans Am started
out to be a streetable USFRA 150 Club car, with all developmental testing
being done close to home at the Texas Mile. The first time out yielded a fuel
starvation probem limiting speed of about 130 mph. After several changes to
the fuel pump, fuel lines, fuel filter, fuel cell and carburetor, the car
finally worked it's way up to a satisfying 163 mph in the mile.
"Satisfying" is a relative term. I had reached what should get me into the
150 club, but now I wanted more speed. The Grumpy Jenkins Merlin heads were
determined to be too small, but if I changed the heads, and wound the motor
tighter, with more horsepower, then the pistons and crank would be a little on
the stressed side. A total rebuild was determined to be needed, and a little
boring and stroking would get me closer to the 500 CID limit for A/CGC. When
my engine man started listing all the new stuff to build the motor up to that
limit, it was determined that the only thing being re-used would be the block,
timing chain, and new harmonic balancer I had just bought. He suggested just
building a new 496 from the bottom up, and maybe selling the old motor.
I told the engine man that my goal was to see 180 in the mile, and 200 at
Bonneville. He put the old motor on the dyno and found 541 HP. From that he
determined that 800 HP would be needed to reach my goals. I could have more
HP if I wanted - - - for a price! Since I was already draining my savings to
get the motor built to begin with, I told him the 800 ponies would be fine.
After five weeks of waiting, I got the call that the motor was finished and
that a "dyno day" had been set. Gail and I drove the three hundred miles to
the shop outside of Baton Rouge, and were ready to show up at the shop (eight
miles from where we were spending the night) at the appointed 9AM. Much
earlier than that, over a cup of coffee with our friends, my ears perked to
what sounded like the beginning of a NASCAR race. My friend immediately
stated that it was my motor. The dyno session was starting early. I couldn't
believe it was my motor as we were so far from the shop and separated by a
busy interstate highway. As we drove to the shop, with the windows down, and
my ears continuously tuned to the sound, it proved to be true. I'll bet that
all those people who live closer to the shop than eight miles really
appreciate that wonderful sound just as much as I did!
After a long, long dyno session, and time spent changing cams, the motor
pegged with the promised horsepower. We loaded it into the back of the truck
and headed home. After many hours and late nights, I finally had the car
ready for it's maiden run with the new "A" motor, and started it for the first
time in my own shop. I was immediately greeted by a loud "humph" and a
fireball the size of my camper trailer! Long story short, the fuel regulator
in the car was the wrong one, and the front two barrels got a full 19 lbs of
fuel pressure. Both on-board bottles and a CO2 bottle off the wall later and
the fire was out.
Needless to say, I was totally bummed. I was invited to bring the whole car
to the shop in Baton Rouge to let the "professionals" get it right for me. We
had already missed the Texas Mile, so we scheduled a day in October, with
plans to drive on to Maxton for the maiden voyage of the new motor. Once at
Maxton, I bumped the record three times and came home with a pleasing,
tire-spinning, sliding, and hitting cones at the clocks, 183 mph record
certificate.
In March, we showed up at the Texas Mile intent on making a more controlled
pass through a mile and hopefully bumping the speed up a little.
Unfortunately, unkown to me, the last run at Maxton had fried the
transmission, and it had only one position - second gear. We came home with a
171 mph certificate with the notation printed on it "in second gear".
Actually, it was a pretty impressive run, starting and finishing in the same
gear, with no shifts for an entire mile.
I got back home, spent a long time on the phone with TCI, and they put
together a replacement transmission that they promise will take the 800 HP and
hold together at Bonneville. I did have to install a high-quality
transmission cooler with a dedicated fan, but the car is finally back together
and ready to go.
I'm going to take it to a local drag strip next weekend to be sure the tranny
shifts through the gears (I'll have to short shift at about 4500 in order to
make it into high gear on such a short run), but it should set my mind at ease
that everything is ready to go before I take off for the Texas Mile on the
24th.
Assuming everything goes OK at the Texas Mile, we plan on trying the kilometer
run at Pershing County, Nevada in May, and then World of Speed for my attempt
at 200 mph in '09.
If you read through all of this, you are really bored and need to get out
there working on your car!
DickJ
In East Texas
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