Jump to content

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation on 12/23/2021 in all areas

  1. Blue car 235-70-15 Tan car 215-70-15 Both with 15x7 rim
    3 points
  2. The car I was hoping to authenticate didn’t pan out BUT I was after a big block 70 and I found one So now a new question Am I able to verify if my car is a factory 4 speed? I know it is not a real SS (it is badged as one)
    3 points
  3. Thanks. I’m sure your Monte will run like a scolded dog when you’re done I’m following you’re videos on YouTube. I’m hoping to hit a 1/2 mile drag race next summer. If I can make that happen, we’ll see what she can really do. MIS was too slick and I’m not one for unnecessary risk.
    2 points
  4. I just found this thread. Cool stuff! When you were going around the track I was stomping on the floor wanting to go faster. 🤣 My current build has a Vortec Pro 467. It dyno'd at 605/605.
    2 points
  5. Long post, should be entertaining for fellow gear heads. For those not on social media, and maybe for those that are on social media too, what a racing/cruise-in season it has been! My goal for my Monte Carlo has always been a street cruiser first, quarter mile car second, and a sleeper always. Maintaining the factory appearance is helpful considering I’ve been playing around with the idea of running in the FAST Class of the stock appearing racing series. So far, I’ve been able to attend the FAST Test and Tune events in the spring and fall, but I’m only a few details away from becoming class legal and running in the official events. For me, the goal for the car has always been 11-Second quarter mile times. Don’t get me wrong, 12s are still very respectable, but 11s puts you in a different league, even if the division is completely arbitrary. I know it’s not just me, there’s something inherently fascinating about cars which are sneaky fast. Cars that make you wonder, “How did he do that?” I put my own twist on things, as I like to combine mildly sneaky fast with having a car friendly enough your wife can jump in it and drive it anywhere. To that end, that’s why I kept the 2.56 gear and factory converter when swapping in my first big block. It’s also why I’ve chosen to build the new engine to compliment these pieces. This post outlines how I took a car running high 12-Second passes to a car capable of running high 11-Second passes, and doing so with the factory gear, torque converter, stock wheels and tires, and a cam mild enough to work with power brakes. The best part is, anyone should be able to do it, and have their wife drive it. Enjoy! Season Opener Started off in May with a personal best of 12.92 @ 108.96 mph with my 781-headed 467 at US131 during the FAST Spring Opener. The Engine Build Then in July, the 496 project I've been working on for two years finally came together: 496 (4.310" x 4.25") Built following Mark Jones (VortecPro videos - 620 hp, 467 build videos) Scat 4.25" cast crank Scat 6.385" I-beam rods MAHLE Power Pack 18cc pistons and rings (1.5/1.5/3.0mm), 10.1:1 Isky 275/284 HR cam, 228°/238° @ 0.050", 0.553"/0.578" (ground on 111°, installed at 109°) Isky 8005A springs Howards 91167 lifters Factory 049 oval port heads (2.19"/1.88" Ferrea valves, 11/32" stems) Intake guide replaced, bronze liners in intake and exhaust Ported according to VortecPro videos, flowed on a 4.5" fixture Flow Bench Results 049 Casting Lift Good Port/Bad Port/Exhaust 0.200 153.1/152.0/122.2 0.250 192.5/191.1/142.9 0.300 229.3/228.6/161.1 0.350 260.3/260.0/177.8 0.400 283.7/267.7189.4 0.450 297.4/273.3/197.9 0.500 305.4/281.6/204.7 0.550 307.9/288.0/212.0 0.600 303.5/296.1/217.1 Scorpion 1.7 Rockers Performer RPM Air Gap 950 ADP carb on dyno (box-stock Holley 3310 750 vacuum secondary on the car) A few issues prevented the engine from reaching its potential on the dyno. Intake valves were floating at 5300 rpm (look at the actual horsepower) Too much oil (7 qt pans only need 5.5 qts), and Incorrect correction factor on the dyno. Dyno video: The engine came off the dyno July 3rd, July 5th I was at Jegs picking up spring locators and shims. While I was pulling, measuring, and resetting the intake valve spring installed height, my best friend pulled the engine and had it on the ground. Before coming in that night, the 496 was sitting in the car. Blue Suede Cruise was that Saturday so there were consecutive 11 PM evenings over the course of the next several days, with only one rain out (all car work occurs in my driveway). I proceeded to tie up the loose ends, which involved cutting out the core support for a HD radiator and switching original fan tunnel over to the big block shroud. The Maiden Voyage The weeklong effort culminated in a local cruise-in Friday night (didn’t even have the clutch fan installed due to time constraints), with a shake down run after installing the fan and lowering the engine oil level. Let's just say, I knew the maiden voyage down the track was going to be epic when the Draggy showed 0-60 as 4.8s with four passengers and a fully loaded trunk (and this was on 15 year old 255/60-15 Kelly Charger radials). Let's just say, it sounds great and drives unbelievable. The 496 idles smoother, with about 13" of vacuum at 840 rpm, than the 467 it replaces. It has more mid-range, more top-end, more everything. That's with keeping the same carb and distributor - no changes at all to these pieces. The car is easy to drive...but when you stand on the throttle, you had better be pointed in an appropriate direction because it picks up speed at a phenomenal pace. The best way to describe it, it feels like a healthy small block Chevy with 3.42 gears, only you’re gobbling up much more real estate with each gear change. It's a unique experience, for sure. 6:30 AM Saturday morning came quick, as my son and I began our hour and fifteen minute drive to Summit Motorsports Park. It was an uneventful drive. We arrived, completed registration, and as we pulled into the car show lot, we noticed a group of first-gen MCs nestled together. To my delight, they said there was space available next door, so the group of three First-Gen MCs belonging Paul and his two sons, Jared and Kaleb, became four. After a quick chat, I figured out that Paul owned the hard-leaving, blue '70 Monte Carlo which caught my eye in another friend's Facebook post (see photo below). After swapping details, I figured (Paul would agree afterward) we'd be a pretty even match as I was guessing my maiden voyage would be in the 12.3-12.4s range, and Paul ran similar times. After Paul and his boys took a short warmup drive through the show (they camped the night before), we paired up in the staging lanes. After a short delay for track clean up, this turned out to be one of the best drag races I've had in a several years (the best was against my best friend a few years ago). To set the scene a little better, Paul's '70: 489 factory iron heads 0.600" roller cam RPM Air Gap Full exhaust w/ cutouts open 3.73 gears 700R-4, 3000 stall 275/60-15 M/T ET Streets On paper, it would appear Paul had the advantage of a similarly built engine but a much better setup car. All I knew is that I had been studying parts, builds, videos, and ported these heads to the best of my ability, and was confident we were going to run similar times, despite what appeared to be an obvious mismatch on paper (and do it with my son riding shotgun, to boot). i won the battle at the tree, but Paul’s better tires, gearing, and converter quickly ate up my initial advantage and pulled ahead. At 330’, my front bumper was even with his rear bumper and it looked like I’d lose for sure, but my horsepower was kicking in, and It was a race out the back door, with the only question, “do I have enough real estate to reel him in?” Watch for the head-to head battle for yourself, my son was quite excited. That was a close race! For a drive in, unload your junk, call out your opponent, and run heads-up, side-by-side with another 1970 MC race, we could not have asked for a better race. Pure awesome! Check out the ETs and margin of victory. On the next pass (much more boring race), I came out a little harder (definitely still not flat-footing the throttle as I know the rear end had a tendency to axle-hop on the street at that point so I was doing everything I could to avoid spinning my 255/60-15s at the time). Anyhow, I dropped in 5 gallons of race gas and pass #2 for the fresh 496 netter a 12.29 @ 116.45 at 4275 lbs. As a gear head, Blue Suede Cruise was one of the best events I’ve ever been to. In addition to Paul and his sons, I met Mike ('70 MC) and Jim ( a beautiful, highly optioned '72), who also have first-gens. For those considering coming to Monte Carlo Take Over at BSC next year, the event is incredible and will not disappoint. I plan on camping, just not sure how yet. Regroup and Improve After BSC, I knew addressing the wheel hop was a high priority so I ordered all new rear control arm bushings and the steel plates to box the lowers. With the rear end squared away, my best friend and I rebuilt the front suspension, sandblasting and painting the A-arms and brake hardware as well as exchanging the Hotchkis 1” lowering springs with Moog factory big block replacement 6330s. While we had the car in the air, we installed a drive shaft loop (UMI, and it fit like a glove) for added safety. You can only imagine what a difference the springs made for weight transfer, with the additional stored energy. Shocks are still Bilstein. Somewhere in the middle of summer, the factory transmission started taking its sweet old time shifting from first to second, which is a pretty important shift when you’re only using two gears going down the strip. The transmission was replaced with a TH350 which was rebuilt in the early-2000s, but I kept the original 1970 torque converter. For comparison: Hughes 10”, top 1970 TH350 SB, middle TH400 RV, bottom With wheel hop gone, weight transfer now working like it should, and the transmission shifting like it should, I replaced the 15 year old mix-matched tires for a full set of 225/70-15 Cooper Cobras (black wall out of course) and switched back to the factory, body-colored hubcaps (from the rally wheel trim). I was having idle cooling problems with my new (to me hand-me-down) HD two-row aluminum radiator (due to narrow core, it created a large gap with the fan shroud), so I measured the core and a friend and I headed to the local pick-a-part in search of a suitable donor. Electric fans from a 2005 Chevy Equinox were the closest match I could find to the 18”x28” core, so I plunked down $35 for the dual fans and relay setup. I installed them before heading out on the Hot Rod Power Tour, and it’s a good thing I did. Enjoy! Having never been on Power Tour before, I can tell you, I was not mentally prepared for the 94°F stop and go traffic between the small towns. It literally took 30-45 minutes waiting in stop-and-go traffic waiting to reach the four-way stop or stop light in these small towns between Norwalk and Dayton. I literally drank a gallon of water between Norwalk and Dayton. Anyhow, the car never got over 175°F, performing well the entire drive. Enough complaining, what about the racing? Unfortunately, really bad air and poor track prep wouldn’t allow me to dip below 12.46 @ 115. Disappointing! So much in fact, I used the track time at Norwalk to offer those interested in a ride down the track the opportunity for a unique experience (not many people have felt a near 600 hp/615 hp in a street friendly package). A few comments were golden. One father/son pair loved their first 12-Second pass. Actually, it was their first pass down the track, ever, I hope I didn't set the bar too high. A couple other passes included fellow First-Gen Monte Carlo owners (Jim and Joe). Lucas Oil Raceway in Indy wasn’t any better. After working through one of the most unprepared tech processes I’ve ever seen (I don’t blame them, a whole bunch of things happened quickly to lead to the disorganization), I made two passes, with 12.52 @ 115 mph being the best, with heavy spark knock off the line (so I retarded the timing for the heat and humidity) Missed Opportunity Of all the events I did make it to, I was really looking forward to the Airfield Drags in Three Rivers, MI. https://www.facebook.com/airfielddrags In the end, the event was rained out, then rescheduled to a day I could not attend. https://www.facebook.com/events/194336716079579 If you get the chance, check it out, it was way cool! Get it Done! That brings me to the last chance of the year to run 11s - the FAST fall track rental at US131. I wasn’t taking any chances this time, I reset the timing to 37° and I picked up 6 gallons of CAM2 110 octane race gas the night before and packed it in the trunk. Mentally, I had a plan and was going to stick with it - get there early, let the car cool, air down the rear tires to 25 psi, drop in the race gas, pull the fuse the electric fan, and hope for the best. I left the house at 5:30 AM, stopping only to clear the frost from my windshield and to pick up my Dad and Uncle and proceeded to drive my Monte 3.5 hrs (264 miles) to US131, in an attempt to make the dream became a reality. Upon arriving at the track, the fuel tank was nearly empty, which was perfect as I dropped in the race gas to work with the timimg. From there, I checked the fluids, lowered the rear tires to 25 psi, and removed the last fuse for the electric fans (each fan is individually fused, under 75°F, only one is needed, it was a cool day at the track so I could get away without any fans at all). First pass, I was cautious and smooth on the accelerator. It came out smooth and hard, but I didn’t have my Draggy set up and the guy I raced took both time slips so I wouldn’t find out what I ran until after the second pass. I knew the air was going away quick so I connected my Draggy and hot lapped it Well, it happened! Video of my first confirmed 11-second pass (second 11-Second pass, actually). Yes, I was excited! And yes, I did it without a tach or shift light in the car. After the second pass, I hunted down the first time slip, which turns out, was also an 11-Second pass. Knowing that the traction was there, on the third pass, I completely flat-footed the launch to a 1.88s 60', running a 11.86s. In summary, three 11-Second passes in a row: 11.93 @ 119.46 (soft launch, best air) 11.84 @ 119.27 (a little harder launch, wrose air) 11.86 @ 119.27 (completely flat footed the launch, but the air was a going away) Knowing I gave it all that it had, the air was going away, I needed to be home for the kids, and most importantly, I had not broken anything, I decided to call it a day. Project "Run 11-Seconds with 2.56 gears, stock stall, and 225/70-15 Coopers" an unequivocal success! Race weight was about 4100 lbs, give or take. Many people to thank, my friends (Scott, Mark, Doug, and Will), my wife (for her patience), Mark Jones (VortecPro) for great general advice and videos on how to port the 781/049 heads, and Mike Graham (Graham Performance Engines) for the performance headwork, machining/assembling, flow bench and dyno testing. Stay tuned: There’s a legit VortecPro engine in the wings for next year. It should be exciting, I plan on trying to run 11.50s with a little more torque and horsepower, using the same basic drivetrain.
    1 point
  6. That’s actually on older one but still no updates. I moving further backwards than forward. So I won’t update lack of progress. Lol. But hopefully soon. I’m off work till Tuesday so let’s see what happens.
    1 point
  7. Thanks for the reply. I got VERY lucky with that piece. Nothing but a good scrubbing with hot water and soap was needed for prep before paint. No stripped holes / no cracks: not bad for a 50 year old piece! Funny part was I read about the GP housing accommodating the "uprated" motor / squirrel cage and decided to make the change. I figured it would be near impossible to find one however. After the decision was made I immediately logged onto Ebay and there it was, first inquiry produced a score. Here is another pic of the housing install. I got lucky again a second time with the install. It was tight but I got the old housing out and the new one installed in the car by just removing inner fender and exhaust manifold on pass side.
    1 point
  8. Thanks, my Monte has come a long ways since the post on Chevelle forum about the Summit 238/248@0.050”, .540”/.540” lift cam. Don’t look to me for advise on your wife’s Denali, It’s hard for me to imagine modifying such a new vehicle, at least while it’s still under warranty. But, it seems you have a history of doing it 😂 I like seeing the classics powered by old school small block or big block engines, although plenty have been swapped for LSX or even LSA. Can’t say I’ve seen an LTX swap yet. My newest car (daily driver) is a 2006 Yukon XL Denali (picked up used for $10,500), and I can only imagine keeping the 6.0 original. My goal is to keep the Yukon for another 10-15years, or until they stop selling gasoline - at that point, the Yukon will have about 250K miles. I split street duty between the Yukon and my Monte, which sees about 3K-3.5K miles during the summer months.
    1 point
  9. Jesus lads, that was a stressful drive home. The 50 year old tyres failed halfway home. I thought the car was going to shake itself apart. Stopped for fuel and it wouldn’t start because I couldn’t figure out how to turn off the warning light and it must have drained the battery. The connectors are rusty and loose and needed a tighten then a jump start. the tyres have worn back to the wire on the back left, I’d doubt she would have made it another 10 miles. anyway, made it home! Tyres first on the list, then bleed the brakes, tidy the battery, and everything else! What a trip. IMG_0024.MOV
    1 point
  10. Had another opportunity to make a few laps at MIS yesterday for their 13th annual MIS Cares Track and Toy Drive. Good times for a good cause. Track was a little frosty, tires breaking loose at 50 mph 😂 settled down and had some fun.
    1 point
×
×
  • Create New...