I'd love to be there, but it's a little bit of a drive on a long weekend from SE Texas. Go scare the E36M3 outta those little karz!! I first experienced these beasts at Stafford Springs while working at Allyn's Point back in 1991. Oh and make the 'chicken' eat asphalt!!
And the other venue I visited was Waterford New London Speedway....Kick Arse y'all...
759NRNG wrote: And the other venue I visited was Waterford New London Speedway....Kick Arse y'all...
I'll give it a shot at Burke this weekend.
I haven't done much in the Modified in quite a while since I have been building my house (that's a little bit bigger project). Since the end of building seems to be a little closer I'm starting to make plans for next season. I have gone back and forth between options to make more power. I have finally settled on a simple conversion from the flat tappet mechanical can that I have to a mechanical roller setup. I have been told that you can gain a good deal of mid-range horsepower from the swap. Since my engine is a little low on the displacement side (318 cu in) it is pretty low on mid-range HP. It really doesn't come alive until about 4000 rpm, if I could gain an extra 50 ish HP (I know im optimistic) at say 3500 rpm that would make the world of difference. I don't really need need to make much more top end power but....... at little couldn't hurt right?
Ill post my old cam card and new once my secret engine guru comes up with grind for me.
Will be sitting here quietly.......Hey I think I asked KG this , but not sure.......from an in between event standpoint, would a hyd roller cam make life simpler(valve lash).....or are the grinds not what you're looking for?
Hydraulic rollers make life simpler (no adjustment necessary), Solid rollers make more power. There is only so steep of a cam profile a hydraulic setup can take without compressing the lifter, which effectively decreases your valve lift.
Here is a picture of the house, the reason all my car projects are stalled.
Awesome!!!! The race car can wait for this.......any fireplaces?
That first step out the second floor door will be a dooozie
In reply to 759NRNG :
Ya....there will be a porch eventually. Only so many things I can get done before the bank has a hernia from the job taking so long.
In reply to 759NRNG :
No fireplace, 2 pellet stoves for now. I DID pour an extra thick pad in the basement floor of an eventual chimney/ fireplace.
Funny thing is I have already used the basement to do an engine pull and rebuild on the race car. Haven't even moved in yet
Snow yet ....or early this week? We had a couple of inches here in SE Texas on Thursday night .
We've had a little bit here and there but nothing that has stayed.
Been doing some reading/ looking at catalogs. And I came across 4/7 swap camshafts. These cams swap the number 4 and number 7 cylinders in the firing order of a Chevy v8. Firing order changes from 18436572 to 18736542. They claim power advantages. Has anyone out there had any experience with these setups? I hear you can gain a few percent of HP on an otherwise maxed out setup. Seams hard to believe that just swapping the order could change things that much.
Cam card for my current setup for anyone who may be interested in this sort of thing. It not super aggressive cam, the new roller cam will be a little bigger but not too much
Love these projects, so many questions.
You mention (hoping for) a 50hp bump, but what is your current weight and estimated HP? I love both these projects and am convinced if I ever start doing DE's again some sort of circle track car set up for L & R turns is the simplest lowest maintenance way to go fast for cheap when compared to things like Mustangs and Corvettes.
I notice compared to Kevin I notice you have no roof and all flat panels along with more of a rear spoiler. Kevin has a roof, some shaped (styled?) side panels and a simple rear spoiler. Is this because the cars started in different classes or because of the way they've evolved or been modified since retiring from circle track racing?
Are there road race versions of these cars or do you just swap the front control arms to make them symmetrical and center the rear axle to make them L/R compatible?
Not that you'd want to with trees, boulders and cliffs, but are all the bumper bars removable to save weight if you weren't so worried about the squishy steering wheel manipulator inside?
I'm interested to hear about the differences between 25 and 70 too. Didn't I hear a story about how Smokey had this chassis built to be closer to 50/50 left/right at one point?
Based on the campfire tales I hear, the circle-track-offset doesn't matter nearly as much as I had expected.
Kevin's car is actually quite different than mine, Ill try to make this as organized as possible. Im sure Kevin will chime in if I get anything wrong on his car.
Chassis
#25 1990ish Troyer modified chassis, lots of offset built into the chassis (suspension is symetrical), most of it mitigated by relocating some items like battery fuel cell etc. His engine block sits 17ish" behind the front axle, its really front mid, not front engine, giving him a rear heavy weight bias. total weight is 2250lbs..ish cant remember if that is with or without driver.
#70 1995 Howe Perimeter Chassis. Bought new by Smokey, and built specifically for hillclimb. The cage is offset 2"left (the smallest offset available at the time). The front of the engine block is 5" in front of the front axle. The car is front heavy and tail happy. Some of its weight bias has been mitigated through moving items around and some lead weight. Total weight is around 2500lb I believe. Kevin is currently working on setting up a set of scales that we are going to share. It will be interesting to see how much they differ weight wise.
Engine
#25 IIRC it is a 381ci SBC. Built for torque and a broad power range. Something like 400ftlb @2000 rpm. Very flat power curve with lots of it being around the 500 hp mark.
#70 SBC all cast iron (I know, the humanity) 318ci (350 with a 3.120 crank). 12.5-1 compression, edelbrock victor jr intake, currently a mechanical flat tappet setup. Pretty cammy engine, doesn't make much power below about 4000 rpm. I was told peak power is close to 500hp, but I think that is pretty optimistic considering its only a 318. Rev limiter is set to 7500, and she really sings. My hope with the new cam and roller setup is to gain midrange power so I have to shift less.
Body
#25 some sort of chevy econocar roof I think, the panels are mostly stock from troyer I believe.
#70 Originally a stock car, not a modified. It was bought with a nice Monte Carlo body. But that is long gone, im not sure what the story is behind its demise. Now it just has enough simple aluminum panels to keep the rocks and flames off of the driver. The rear spoiler was a fairly recent add on, Because race car. Whether it actually helps or just helps confidence is still up for debate. I am jealous of Kevins roof when it starts to rain, but now have an umbrella velcro'd into the car.
In reply to Adrian_Thompson :
I hope this answered your questions, as far as removing bumpers and things for weight. We are known to add bars where there weren't before. We do this for fun and need to make it to work on Monday. We've seen cars hit a tree sideways at 80 mph and the driver survive, that's worth sacrificing a few pounds. Racing is life, but you gotta be alive to race .
Adrian_Thompson said:Love these projects, so many questions.
You mention (hoping for) a 50hp bump, but what is your current weight and estimated HP? I love both these projects and am convinced if I ever start doing DE's again some sort of circle track car set up for L & R turns is the simplest lowest maintenance way to go fast for cheap when compared to things like Mustangs and Corvettes.
Adrian, The only down side to cars like ours, is that they don't really fit anywhere class wise besides Hill Climb. Most track day events don't have a class that a modified will fit in. I suppose you could autocross one but im not sure its the best instrument for that type of event. If you get something with a body you could probably get it into SCCA GT1 or something like that.
In reply to Challenger392 :
I'm just day dreaming, I'll never do it. However I do live in Michigan where you can put a plate on absolutely anything and drive it on the street. Once it had a plate on I'm sure you could take it to a track day as long as it met any noise requirements.
The one and only time I went to Solo Nationals in 1997 there was someone running an old wingless sprint car in AMOD. It was the slowest car in the class, but man was it fun to watch. Would love to do that.
Challenger392 said:Body
#70 Originally a stock car, not a modified. It was bought with a nice Monte Carlo body. But that is long gone, im not sure what the story is behind its demise. Now it just has enough simple aluminum panels to keep the rocks and flames off of the driver. The rear spoiler was a fairly recent add on, Because race car. Whether it actually helps or just helps confidence is still up for debate. I am jealous of Kevins roof when it starts to rain, but now have an umbrella velcro'd into the car.
Challenger392 said:Kevin's car is actually quite different than mine, Ill try to make this as organized as possible. Im sure Kevin will chime in if I get anything wrong on his car.
Chassis
#70 1995 Howe Perimeter Chassis. Bought new by Smokey, and built specifically for hillclimb. The cage is offset 2"left (the smallest offset available at the time). The front of the engine block is 5" in front of the front axle. The car is front heavy and tail happy. Some of its weight bias has been mitigated through moving items around and some lead weight. Total weight is around 2500lb I believe. Kevin is currently working on setting up a set of scales that we are going to share. It will be interesting to see how much they differ weight wise.
A bit confused by these two statements. Does that mean #70 was built new as a stock car for hillclimbs, then lost it's body or am I missing something here?
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