wagon to the winners circle

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71gtdart

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Not an A body, but cool anyway.

Took my 78 Volare wagon off the street and dedicated it to being a true footbrake car to use at some big money footbrake races and another local track that wont let me run the dart because of the 2 step/transbrake.

Best in street/strip trim was low 7.30's in the 1/8th mile. Last week, took the exhaust off, installed electric fan and water pump, run a fuel return line, installed alky fuel pump and regulator, mounted switches, and put on an E85 carb.

Went to test Friday night, and ran five 7.13's in a row over a 2 hour period.

Took it to the bracket race the next day, and won in the no box class.

It was nice to win with it in its first race. Posted a few pics from Saturday, and a video from Friday night.

Thanks for looking.


View attachment IMG_4869.jpg

View attachment IMG_4871.jpg
 
Cant get the video to load for some reason.

Sorry guys.
 
Well, it does have a healthy engine in it, but I don't know if I would call those cars tanks.

It only weighs 3420lbs with me in it.

My 67 Belvedere weighs 3550 with me in it.

The wagon has a cage, full 12gal fuel cell, one battery, and two plastic seats in it.
It has a full dash minus the heater box, and all the factory wiring. Also has the factory door panels and all the glass.

It does have a fiberglass bumper from a 73 Duster and the steel hood with most of the framing trimmed out.

Engine is a 410 cubic inch small block with 10.75-1 compression and stage two ported Edelbrock RPM Performer heads.

8 3/4 rear with 3.73 gears.

Yes, you read that correctly, 3.73 gears.

The catch is the low first gear set of 2.74 that's in the transmission.
 
No,no, I thought they were tanks, cause they handled like it.lol .More accurately, mine, with 318s, were heavily underpowered. I would never have guessed they could be made to do what yours does.Awesome.
 
Like the look of the car. Like wagons a lot too.

Why is the 2:74 gear trans a problem? Seems like lower gearing would help launch better.
Just wondering.
 
Lower 1st gear means greater rpm drop on the shift. Nice wagon,especially the wood siding.
 
Ima thinkin that stroker dont much care about the slightly greater rpm drop. Besides if you do the math ;
2.74-1.54-1.00 ; splits are 56.2%,64.9%; Shifting at 6200,drop-ins are 3484 and 4024
2.45-1.45-1.00 ; splits are 59.2%,69% Shifting at 6200,drop-ins are 3670 and 4278
.............increasing the shift rpm to 6500 with the 2.74s yields drop-ins of 3653 and 4218
So the 12% better launch gear costs 4.8%increase in shift rpm.At most.
I say thats a win win situation.
Its not a 273
Its a 410.
 
I use the low gear in our Demon.
It's a 11.20 car that 60fts like a 10.60 car.
It is basic 340 that's .060 with KB replacement pistons, stock crank & rods.
Real good air, 1.46-1.48 60ft. bad air 1.49-1.51 60ft.

Helps to put a lot of distance between you & the guy you are racing.
Kinda catches them off guard a little.

I use the standard gear behind my 414 in the other car.
Had read that the Stroker motors didn't like the low gear. Don't know if that is true.
It will 60ft 1.38-1.41.
 
60ft times with the wagon are 1.55 on a 28inch tire, in the current conditions, which are 87 degrees, 44% humidity, and 29.35 barometer.

However, I only have a 3.73 gear in the rear. I have a 4.30 and a 4.56 gear in the shop that I could try, but on Saturday, my 60ft times only varied .004 over nine runs.

I'm not messing with that!

I shift at 6200, and anything over that causes the car to nose over. Never have looked at the difference in RPM drop between the shifts, but it is not noticeable.

Car pulls very hard all the way down the track.

MPH on the big end is a little over 95mph.
 
67redcudavert said:
Like the look of the car. Like wagons a lot too.

Why is the 2:74 gear trans a problem? Seems like lower gearing would help launch better.
Just wondering.
Click to expand...



Its not a problem at all. Helps that 3.73 gear think its a 4.30 on launch, and helps get that big car moving.
 
I had a 1987 5th Ave. weighed 4100 lbs with me in it.
ran a 2.94 rear gear & low gear 904 to launch it.
Stock E58 spec 360 with headers.
It was a 14.80 car with all the OEM accessories.
That was a fun car.
 
Installed a Mini Aero III hood scoop on the wagon last week. Took it to the track this past Saturday, and went 7.10 back to back in the heat of the day. Air was way worse than last week when it went 7.13 in the evening to night time hours.

I want know until I run it at night with similar air, but with the difference in air factored in, I would say that the scoop picked the car up from 5-8 hundredths.

I know on my dart, if I leave the plug in the hood scoop, it slows down five hundredths.

Should see some 7.0's out of it in better air. That would be moving pretty good for what it is. Fun for sure.
 
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