Post 11 second small block combos
How does it drive on the street?
I've said in another thread that I do drive this on the street more than you'd think. Drive it to car shows, cruises, etc. I'd say it drives normal for a car with manual steering and manual brakes. But "normal" probably means different things to each of us. If I'm crawling over a roll cage side bar and strapping in a 5-pt harness, I know I'm not getting in a car for a long day's drive to granny's house. I expect it to make lots of noise and rumble along and it does all those things well. Cal-Tracs also make noise when you hit bumps but it just reminds you of what you're driving. When you pull up to a red light, the 'glass hood reminds you of the cam in the engine. And like any other 408, it just
begs you to put your right foot into it. But with a 12 gallon fuel cell, and the bright red color that may attract the wrong attention for "exhibitions of acceleration", I tend to keep my foot out of it so the ride doesn't end too soon! (Although for some strange reason, during the summer months, there have been known to be some extended tire marks on local streets that nobody quite knows where they came from....). I suspect the white lettering on the glass with the car number and whatnot probably doesn't help the stealth factor....
The car cools fairly well and the trans does not run hot at all. (It may hit 190F after a few spirited stop light antics but will drop back to 160-170F when I flip the trans cooler fan on for a few minutes.) The only thing that has let me down (twice!) is a MagnaFuel fuel pump. I don't run a return line so I'm sure the pump didn't like that to go with the extended run times of driving on the street. After the 2nd failure, it was replaced with an Aeromotive pump and so far, so good.
I built this car with the hopes to run 11.30 and still be street legal. In the cooler fall air, it clicked off a pair of 11.14's @118.2 mph. So mission accomplished there. BUT....the front suspension needs some work as, while the ET's keep improving as I tune on the car, it has gotten to the point of being unstable at speed. To the tune of having to lift too many times at the track!! It basically has no proper caster so this winter's project hopes to be some adjustable UCA's to dial in some caster and make this thing stable at speed. And then keep racing it at the track and enjoying it on the street too!
