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[i]Back [/i] on the road again.
Somewhere around 2005 I decided I had enough of drag racing, and wanted to just enjoy my car again. The condensed story is that I put a new 14.? :1 motor in the Chevelle and it only picked up a tenth over the 11:1 motor, but it launched so much more violently that it was pretty much worthless as a racecar unless I dropped a bunch of money back into it AGAIN.
After it sat for close to a year, I worked out a deal with a buddy of mine who happens to be a great racer and a pretty good engine builder, too.
He found someone who wanted to upgrade from their 750 d/p to my QF 850... because I don't need an 850 on the street.
He found someone who had a car similar in weight and motor to my car who wanted my almost new Coan 8" converter that stalled @ 5200 in my car. I replaced mine with a nice unit from FTI Competition Converters; Greg (the owner) calls it his "tight 4000". It drives around like a tight converter, but flashes to 4000 when you stand on the go pedal. It is a sweet converter! The receipt for the converter is dated 4/4/08.
The rest of the deal was that I would get my aluminum AFR 195's back and he would get his ported Bow Ties back. He had a set of BRC forged flat top pistons for 3.75 stroke and 6" rods that only had 7 runs on them I would get. He would get his crower rockers back (because those are what work on his Bow Tie heads) and I would get my Crane Gold's back. I would re-use my crank, rods, balancer, etc.
I sent the block to the machine shop. Not the good race car machine shop - just the regular machine shop, since it was to be a street car motor. My buddy sent one of the pistons over to the machine shop as well, so the machinist would bore/hone the holes to the right size for forged pistons. ( I didn't want this motor to sound like a diesel with loose forged pistons rocking around inside. )
When it was done, my buddy sent a driver to pick it up. It sat bagged in his garage for a couple years or so.
At some point a while back, my mom was missing "her" grand car, as she calls it, and paid for everything else it needed - gaskets, rings, bearings, etc. which came to around $400.
I wasn't in a hurry at this point, because I was low on funds and caught up in something else that occupied my time... and I had canceled the insurance and registration on the car, so I couldn't drive it anyway.
Finally, I come around to my old life again and tell my friend I'm ready to get working on the Chevelle. He works it into his schedule and a couple weeks ago we got started on it.
To be continued...
After it sat for close to a year, I worked out a deal with a buddy of mine who happens to be a great racer and a pretty good engine builder, too.
He found someone who wanted to upgrade from their 750 d/p to my QF 850... because I don't need an 850 on the street.
He found someone who had a car similar in weight and motor to my car who wanted my almost new Coan 8" converter that stalled @ 5200 in my car. I replaced mine with a nice unit from FTI Competition Converters; Greg (the owner) calls it his "tight 4000". It drives around like a tight converter, but flashes to 4000 when you stand on the go pedal. It is a sweet converter! The receipt for the converter is dated 4/4/08.
The rest of the deal was that I would get my aluminum AFR 195's back and he would get his ported Bow Ties back. He had a set of BRC forged flat top pistons for 3.75 stroke and 6" rods that only had 7 runs on them I would get. He would get his crower rockers back (because those are what work on his Bow Tie heads) and I would get my Crane Gold's back. I would re-use my crank, rods, balancer, etc.
I sent the block to the machine shop. Not the good race car machine shop - just the regular machine shop, since it was to be a street car motor. My buddy sent one of the pistons over to the machine shop as well, so the machinist would bore/hone the holes to the right size for forged pistons. ( I didn't want this motor to sound like a diesel with loose forged pistons rocking around inside. )
When it was done, my buddy sent a driver to pick it up. It sat bagged in his garage for a couple years or so.
At some point a while back, my mom was missing "her" grand car, as she calls it, and paid for everything else it needed - gaskets, rings, bearings, etc. which came to around $400.
I wasn't in a hurry at this point, because I was low on funds and caught up in something else that occupied my time... and I had canceled the insurance and registration on the car, so I couldn't drive it anyway.
Finally, I come around to my old life again and tell my friend I'm ready to get working on the Chevelle. He works it into his schedule and a couple weeks ago we got started on it.
To be continued...
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