1973 Dart Sport
My car club was hosting a cruise last Friday and I decided it was time to put this thing to the test. Going down a mountain road seemed a lot more daunting than anything I've done before because of how remote it was and just how bad things can get if some kinda freak accident happens (broken tie rod, losing a brakehose). I've been really wanting to hitup a test and tune at Eastside as well. So when someone mentioned it in the chat I threw out that there's only 2-3 events left this year. So, of course, the plan changed to now include both. Part of me wanted to use this as an excuse to skip out on the cruise but I didn't build this thing to sit in the garage.
Every went well actually. It's still puking a bit of oil out of the front of the intake and out of the breather. Definitely a sign of some high crankcase pressure. Not really sure what's going on but I'll be double checking my pushrods again. Hopefully I didn't bend another set. The valve guides may have burned up and the exhaust valves might still be sticking or maybe I have a ring or 2 that's still not fully seated. Not real sure but this definitely building a case to build a set of trickflow heads when they come out.
After a few introductions we were off. One brave freshmen even asked for a ride along.
Managed to keep up with the Z pretty well. The driver came over and started asking about the suspension because he was so surprised to see me in his rear view mirror. The slower cars up front obviously helped with that. The brakes did well but I definitely need some form of a power booster. I'm probably getting 80% of my stopping power at the moment with the way it's setup now and it takes a lot of pressure to get them to really bite. It's great for modulation though I will say that, just not the best for a steep downhill turn.
We got back just in time to leave for the strip. Eastside was a bit of shitshow. Definitely getting there a little earlier next time but it was wild. No real tech inspections or concerns for safety were seen anywhere. I only had the faintest idea on what I was doing and they were stacking a ton of cars up. Burnouts are definitely easier than I was expecting but I didn't go too crazy with it because of how close everyone was. I tried leaving it in 1st but I hit 5k way too fast. I tried leaving it in 2nd but the engine died when I let off. Might be an EFI issue, probably a driver issue idk. Ran a 9.59 in the 1/8th doing somewhere in the neighborhood of 70-75 so I think that's like a high 14 second 1/4 mile time. Not great but definitely not bad for a street car. Don't have any traction issues so it's time for more power.
Oh yeah the hoodscoop didn't last too long. It didn't actually fly all the way off but the studs I made got pulled out of the scoop. I'm guessing the heat and vibration were too much for the epoxy. I'm gonna have find a better way to adhere it to the hood and make it one piece. My dad is pretty good with fiberglass so I may take the hood with me when I go down for the holidays.
My car club was hosting a cruise last Friday and I decided it was time to put this thing to the test. Going down a mountain road seemed a lot more daunting than anything I've done before because of how remote it was and just how bad things can get if some kinda freak accident happens (broken tie rod, losing a brakehose). I've been really wanting to hitup a test and tune at Eastside as well. So when someone mentioned it in the chat I threw out that there's only 2-3 events left this year. So, of course, the plan changed to now include both. Part of me wanted to use this as an excuse to skip out on the cruise but I didn't build this thing to sit in the garage.
Every went well actually. It's still puking a bit of oil out of the front of the intake and out of the breather. Definitely a sign of some high crankcase pressure. Not really sure what's going on but I'll be double checking my pushrods again. Hopefully I didn't bend another set. The valve guides may have burned up and the exhaust valves might still be sticking or maybe I have a ring or 2 that's still not fully seated. Not real sure but this definitely building a case to build a set of trickflow heads when they come out.
After a few introductions we were off. One brave freshmen even asked for a ride along.
Managed to keep up with the Z pretty well. The driver came over and started asking about the suspension because he was so surprised to see me in his rear view mirror. The slower cars up front obviously helped with that. The brakes did well but I definitely need some form of a power booster. I'm probably getting 80% of my stopping power at the moment with the way it's setup now and it takes a lot of pressure to get them to really bite. It's great for modulation though I will say that, just not the best for a steep downhill turn.
We got back just in time to leave for the strip. Eastside was a bit of shitshow. Definitely getting there a little earlier next time but it was wild. No real tech inspections or concerns for safety were seen anywhere. I only had the faintest idea on what I was doing and they were stacking a ton of cars up. Burnouts are definitely easier than I was expecting but I didn't go too crazy with it because of how close everyone was. I tried leaving it in 1st but I hit 5k way too fast. I tried leaving it in 2nd but the engine died when I let off. Might be an EFI issue, probably a driver issue idk. Ran a 9.59 in the 1/8th doing somewhere in the neighborhood of 70-75 so I think that's like a high 14 second 1/4 mile time. Not great but definitely not bad for a street car. Don't have any traction issues so it's time for more power.
Oh yeah the hoodscoop didn't last too long. It didn't actually fly all the way off but the studs I made got pulled out of the scoop. I'm guessing the heat and vibration were too much for the epoxy. I'm gonna have find a better way to adhere it to the hood and make it one piece. My dad is pretty good with fiberglass so I may take the hood with me when I go down for the holidays.
