New 408 for the Flyfish

I got the engine back together Saturday morning at about 9am and drove straight to the track (stopped for fuel, but that’s it)…no trailer….yup, I’m an idiot, lol. As I pulled in the front gate I noticed smoke coming out from my hood scoop. I stopped, removed my hood and found the valve covers leaking big time…no biggie, tightened them up some more, wiped down the motor and went in. Passed tech, grabbed a pit space right as they called Pro to the lanes. Took the car to the lanes for my first time shot on the new motor.


Air was BAD, 3200’ DA and high humidity thanks to the rain the day before. Warmed up the tires that have been sitting for 4 years, staged the car, launched nice an hard….Now, I normally shift between 6000-6500. I was watching the tach and the needle swept past 6000 so fast that I didn’t react in time and I smacked my 7000 RPM rev limiter (Doh!!). On the 2-3 shift it happened again (smacked the limiter)…..I’m either really rusty, or this thing winds up faster…or both. ET was 6.71 @ 102mph. Got back to the pit with more oil leaks, and one exhaust pipe fell off (was hanging in the safety hanger I made). Fixed everything, got ready for second time shot.


2nd time shot, drove better, tried to shift @ 6000, which got the shift by 6500 (man I’m rusty!), car ran 6.63 @ 103mph. back to the pit, exhaust fell off again…so I removed the exhaust completely for Rd 1 for safety’s sake.


Rd 1, dialed 6.63, cut a 0.007 and won on a double breakout running a 6.62, took the stripe by 0.0004 (lol).


Rd 2, dialed 6.62, opponent dialed 6.66…I wouldn’t dial that…just sayn….anyway, I was late with a 0.043light to his 0.028. I was pulling away form him hard…I thought either I was breaking out, or he was late, so I womped the gas once and smacked the brake to run dead on with a zero…MOV 0.0002. The driver earned his keep on that one, lol. Car looked like it was on a 6.59-60 pass.


Rd 3, dialed 6.61, pretty even on the tree, both of us were not on time, but I was 5 thousandth slower on the reaction time, and was mathematically eliminated at that point because my opponent ran dead on with a 4. I broke out on the brake with a 6.59…probably would have been a 6.58 (which is about 10.3-10.2 in the ¼).


It was a good day, I was able drive to the track, race, and drive home…no breakage ….and the car ran about what I was expecting, which was a 6.5x (at least with this air). My friends that raced the previous race said they all slowed by a little over a tenth on Saturday…so that should put my car in the 6.4x’s in good air.