XXO/BVGC '38 Chevy Coupe Build

[Milwaukee Midget]

The front looks like a 1/3 scale model of "The Phoenix" with a hood scoop.

It's not ugly at all - it's frickin' cool!

[Rex Schimmer]

Buddy,
Really like your new concept, a narrower front with good flow down the sides is a great way to go. Looks great. You might also consider doing something similar to the front of the rear fender area, where the salt is stuck on your car in the picture. I am not sure of the rules but if you could also add some additional body in this area to reduce the step from the body to the rear fender I would think it would help in your 200 mph quest.

Rex

[38flattie]

Thanks Everyone!

Rex, we'll look at the rear fenderwells, and see what we can do. We have to be careful, because we still want to bounce between classes- the narrow front end in comp coupe will mean an axle change back to ALT class. All body mods will be Dzus fastened, for a quick and easy removal.

This time next week we'll be in Wilmington, OH, for the Ohio mile!
 
Hotels are lined up, entry fee paid- we're good to go! Goal is to hit 150mph- this would make me feel good about the 160mph we need at El Mirage!
 
I'm going to sit this one out, driving wise, and crew on the car.. Along with Dale, we're going to break Randy, and Danny out driving. Everyone puts sooo much work into this car, it's time for them to have some fun too!
 
Stop out and see us!

[SPARKY]

 

[Captthundarr]

Wish we could make it. I'd love to stop by your pit and check your the ride. Good luck on the 150.

[38flattie]

Captain, We'll meet at one of these events!


I just received an email from a gentleman, that I invited to hang out with us at the Ohio Mile. This is what it said, in part:

"Hello, I appreciate the invite to hang out with you guys, but I see on the HAMB that you are not driving and it will be more of a fun thing rather than a drop dead assault on setting a record. With that in mind I can't justify taking a weekend off from my shop."

I feel the need to clarify this. Dale is still driving the same class he ran on the salt, the ALT class. He'll drive first, as he knows the engine and car, and should be able to detect if we have issues.

Randy has the only drag racing experience out of us. This is going to be a mile long drag race, so it's a natural place for him to start.

Danny was a Pro off road quad and motorcycle rider. He's very competitive, and has great instincts- he'll take over for me in comp coupe.

In truth, we took it easy on the salt, because we were still learning the car and engine, and we needed to get a good baseline to build from.My goal for the Ohio Mile is 150mph, so the car will be tuned hot, and we will be running hard.

I apologize to all of the ECTA members if I made it sound like we were taking this meet lightly-That's not the case! We're going to have fun, but we'll be balls to the wall!  

[SPARKY]

OO      Is that because you had to stomp on the brakes so hard because you were going so fast after the run!!!

[Captthundarr]

Flattie, Aint no thing to appologize for. Many folks run The Ohio Mile for shakedowns or testing for the salt or the dirt. It is quite costly for us to build then drag our junk 3/4 the way across country just to find out that somethiing wasn't quite right.

Frank

[straight8]

Buddy and crew, I've followed your build since the beginning mostly because I own the '38 Buick that you mentioned as holding an ECTA record. You have done a hell of a job getting that brick to run that hard. The '38 has the original straight 8 in it w/ a blower. Fastest it ever ran was @ B'ville while it was devouring itself. No back up run no record. Hope you continue to do well. Bobby Minis

[BoredAndStroked]

We ran 138 in BVGALT - with only 4 cylinders in 3rd and 4th  (boost and valve float squished some plug gaps).   The car was geared for 140, so we didn't feel too bad about 138.6.   We changed gears, put more fuel into the tune and swapped over to BVGCC and threw the belly pan on for Randy and Danny to give it a try (first time in the car).  Tune was really fat for Randy - couldn't pull the bigger gears.   Changed the tune and Danny ran a 152 at 6100 RPM in 3rd!  He briefly shifted into 4th, but it didn't have time to pull it . . . so back to 3rd, ran it to 6100 and got off it right before the traps.

We learned a lot more about fuel injector tuning -- the data logger convinced me that the motor was really rich on Randy's run (hard to tell by the plugs with the really hot mag).   When Randy ran, the EGTs only got to about 1200 (way cool) and it was popping at higher RPMs (the sound of fuel not being burnt).  We switched the pill from a 95 back to a 100 and that really cleaned things up (before Danny's run).  The EGTs on Danny's run were about 1375 or so - which is about where we like them to be with our port and header configuration (where the EGT bung is in relation to the valve).

All in all a fun meet with a lot of great friends/family of the FlatCad crew and our newly found friends in the ECTA world.  We all had a blast, accomplished what we set out to do and packed it up for the winter tear down.   Will be very interesting to see the inside of the motor in the next couple weeks.  I'm curious as hell as to how all the internals have held up - we pushed this engine quite hard yesterday.

Our Guesses on HP:   On the dyno we made about 530 HP or so at 5200 RPM,  575 at 5500 with 14 lbs boost -- we ran 16 - 17 lbs of boost at Wilmington, at 6100 RPM.  Danny said it was a whole different engine above 5500 - said it pulled really, really hard and set him back in the seat.   Buddy and I guess that we were easily over 600 HP . . how far, who knows.   The real question is what can this engine design/build take . . . so far it has been a really amazing beast and has surpassed our expectations (and surprised a few along the way).   We're working with a total unknown entity -- trying to learn along the way and not hurt it . . . so far it has 'played nice' with us.

Thanks to the LSR community for all your help . . . has been an amazing race year for all of the FlatCad Crew!

Time for the winter tear down and inspection . . . will keep you all posted.

B&S

[38flattie]

Buddy and crew, I've followed your build since the beginning mostly because I own the '38 Buick that you mentioned as holding an ECTA record. You have done a hell of a job getting that brick to run that hard. The '38 has the original straight 8 in it w/ a blower. Fastest it ever ran was @ B'ville while it was devouring itself. No back up run no record. Hope you continue to do well. Bobby Minis

Bobby, Thank you for the kind words! Hopefully, I'll meet you at Bonneville, or the Ohio Mile next year!


What a year!

Bonneville was great, even if the car was set up too light.

The Ohio Mile was a big learning experience, engine wise. We had been taking little steps all year long, and Sunday I decided to roll the dice. Much to Dale's consternation, I decided to run the engine HARD, with a max tune on. 16lbs boost, shut the rev limiter off, and told Danny to drive the effing car to 6000. Dale was very hesitant, but I said something like "Eff it- we built it to race, not take pictures of!"

Unfortunately, I thought we could pull the 2.96 gears in the mile, and have a speed of 169. Wrong-the track is just too short! I should have left the 3:08's in there. Danny drove the wheels off of the car, and crossed the finish line in 3rd gear, at 152.592 mph, and 6100 rpms.

The engine sounded like an angry herd of water buffalo! So, we know the engine has a LOT of potential left, if we make the right tweaks to it this winter.

....and Dale, we won't run it like that again!




..........Unless we have to, to make 200mph!
 

[GH]

I went to Maxton for the shake down run before Bonneville with the #787 Studebaker. Went 179 with a powerglide and didn't use the Gearvendors OD, was going pretty fast when I made the right hand turn at the end, no front brakes, rear drum brakes and a Bonneville chute, boy that was fun!

[WOODY@DDLLC]

Unfortunately, I thought we could pull the 2.96 gears in the mile, and have a speed of 169. Wrong-the track is just too short! I should have left the 3:08's in there. Danny drove the wheels off of the car, and crossed the finish line in 3rd gear, at 152.592 mph, and 6100 rpms.

The engine sounded like an angry herd of water buffalo! So, we know the engine has a LOT of potential left, if we make the right tweaks to it this winter.

[/quote]

Buddy, Dale was grinning when the snotty bitch went by! 

[gearheadeh]

The engine sounded like an angry herd of water buffalo! So, we know the engine has a LOT of potential left, if we make the right tweaks to it this winter.

Buddy, Dale was grinning when the snotty bitch went by! 
[/quote]

Love the quote's and the pic is a keeper too!

[38flattie]

Thanks guys!

Woody, it was great catching up with you again! Thanks for the awesome pic!