BBR's 83GT - 552 BBF version 3.0 (at least)

[BBR]

Judd installed the rockers in Saturday. Whoo Hoo!

[DanStokes]

The ones I have on the Stang are a bit thrashy sounding but seem to work perfectly. Hope you guys dig 'em! AND, they're real race car parts!

Dan

[BBR]

We now have a carb! It's a Holley 650 double pumper.

[CDMBill]

Fun to see this going forward so well. I give it too weekends at the track before 'someone' puts a happy gas plate on it.

[BBR]

It will likely have a happy gas plate from the get-go. But, the bottle won't be in the car until they get the hang of it!

[BBR]

I've never been so excited about taking something apart. lol

This weekend, we will be at our annual Buick vs. Ford race in Noble, Ok. It's is always a good time when we go there and the car always runs it's best due to the low elevation. It will be the last hurrah for the 552 in the Mustang. Once we get home, we will start pulling it and getting the car ready for the 302/T5 to go in.

I went ahead and bumped up to the 150hp jets in the plate. The plan is to make some n/a qualifying passes, then turn on the N2O and let it eat. I really think my converter is going to be too loose, but I won't know for sure until I hit the button.

On a scary note, I changed the nitrous/fuel jets and accidentally left the other set lying on the carb. I didn't notice until I pulled the air filter the next time! Yikes! That would have been bad news had one of them bounced into the carb!

[DanStokes]

Sometimes we DO get lucky! And sometimes, not in the bedroom.....

Dan

[SuperBuickGuy]

wow

and

Dan, TMI... I need brain bleach.

[Deaf Bob]

Must not have big enuff compression?

Lucky for sure!

[BBR]

Well, Buick V. Ford didn't really go as planned, but we still had a good time. Got up at 5 Sat morning, left the house at 5:40. Made good time, then..... ran out of gas!

The low fuel light never came on! I was planning on stopping at the next exit.... haha. So, we pulled over, drained some fuel from the Mustang, filled up a a water bottle a few times and were back on our way. Gates opened at 10am and we showed up at 10:40, so we did ok.

Got the car unloaded, teched and prepped for a pass. The plan was to make some motor passes then turn on the N2O. Plugged in my phone to datalog and didn't notice it was not connected to the ECU. Car ran 10.30 @ 130 which was ballpark for what I expected. No data. Boo. Motor made a little heat on the run so I decided to pull 2 degrees of timing.

I messed with the phone, and Megasquirt for a bit and realized the baud rate was not set right on the phone. Good! It works again! Wheew!! I also realized I never lowered the tire pressure. I usually air them up over what I need and bleed off back to desired pressure. On the first pass, one tire had 17 psi and the other had 16. Oopsie. Went back up, and the car ran it's best pass ever. 10.18 @ 132 mph. Whoo hoo! Now we are getting somewhere!

Back in the pits while letting the car cool down, my boys spotted fuel dripping from the rear accelerator pump arm. Crap! We took the bowl off and put a new gasket on, still leaked. Took the bowl off and removed the accelerator pump diaphram. Yep, it had degraded and had a hole in it. As luck would have it, my buddy John had a box full of Holley parts and had a 50cc pump diaphram! Disaster averted!

Loaded up the nitrous timing table in the MS, installed the bottle and went to make my first nitrous pass of the day. Car launched, popped, banged and basically drove thru the converter all the way down the track with pops, and bangs. 10.12 @ 136. Boo. It was not a happy motor. The datalog really looked weird, likely from misfires. I decided to just ditch the N20 idea and just run NA for the rest of the day.

While we were sitting around, Judd walks up and says 'Hey you better come look at this." I walk to the back of the car and he is pointing at the driver's rear slick. It was completely chowdered from rubbing on the rear edge of the fender. I'm done. I almost loaded the drag radials, but thought "what could go wrong?" Haha. Well.....

So my day was done, but our group of cars really ran well with John Turpen and Jonathan (jws4621) both logging new bests. Ford went on to win the shootout 33-28 so it was much closer than in previous years. Such a fun event. I really look forward to it every year.

After the event, we loaded up, went to eat BBQ with the gang and then hit the road for home. Got home at midnight. It was a very looooong day.

So, I guess that is how the big block 83GT era ends. I'll be honest and say it stings a little to get so close to a 9 on motor and not quite make it, but I am very excited for what we have planned for this car and the truck.

[DanStokes]

Bummer!

Dan

[Crank]

Are you still happy with the electric water pump? I am thinking of running one on the street. My current water pump is iron and I believe it is bad. To replace with aluminum pump, plus new pulleys will be more money. Tried gilmer belt drive for water pump and alternator, very noisy, would not recommend for street. What brand electric and where did you purchase? Learn so much from Bangshift conversations and all the builds. thanks, Lowell (Crank)

[Beagle]

I was sad when it left the Ranger... I'll be sad when it leaves the Mustang... I'll get over it quick like I always do because it won't take you long to put it in something else, like a larger Ranger. The Mustang was a great show, I'd back you up if you called it a 9 second discount rocket ride. Soo damn close.It would have been at Atco or somewhere that isn't a million feet above sea level. Looking forward to Mustang the 2nd.

[BBR]

Are you still happy with the electric water pump? I am thinking of running one on the street. My current water pump is iron and I believe it is bad. To replace with aluminum pump, plus new pulleys will be more money. Tried gilmer belt drive for water pump and alternator, very noisy, would not recommend for street. What brand electric and where did you purchase? Learn so much from Bangshift conversations and all the builds. thanks, Lowell (Crank)

First pump was a Procomp and it was the best thing I ever did to the cooling system on this thing. Engine temp became very consistent and predictable. When the motor seal eventually began to leak after several years, I would have replaced it with another Procomp. But I was sitting at a check point on DW and had to buy whatever Jegs could deliver overnight. So, I ordered a Meziere. It is more expensive, but really works no better than the much cheaper Procomp version I had.

[BBR]

I was sad when it left the Ranger... I'll be sad when it leaves the Mustang... I'll get over it quick like I always do because it won't take you long to put it in something else, like a larger Ranger. The Mustang was a great show, I'd back you up if you called it a 9 second discount rocket ride. Soo damn close.It would have been at Atco or somewhere that isn't a million feet above sea level. Looking forward to Mustang the 2nd.

I wish I could have gone to a track that has mineshaft air. It would have certainly run in the single digits on motor. Last outing at Noble, the DA was 3000 feet, so there was definitely room for improvement. Really really I think it would have done it with a tighter converter. This one had a fairly high slippage percentage on the top end and I think it is going to be too loose for the pickup. But, I guess time will tell.

I enjoy the build as much or more than actually driving stuff, so I am jonesin' at what this car and the truck are about to become. Particularly after seeing Jonathan's h/c/i 302 go 122mph on a 150 shot! Yowza.