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Newest pics and personal bests

PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:56 am
by spencerforhire
Just got home from the NHRA Open race in New Brunswick; Vega was awesome all weekend against some pretty stiff competition. I was #1 qualifier on Friday in Super Gas(9.90 index), only went one round, but on Saturday I went to the semi final and finished 3rd. A gear change this season from 4.30 to 4.57 has really made the car a bunch quicker, somewhere in the range of two tenths.
Car now has gone 9.35 in the 1/4 and 5.94 in the 1/8th, and that was in not particularly good air(DA of 2000ft). Previous bests of 9.45 and 6.01 were in ideal conditions near sea level.

Re: Newest pics and personal bests

PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 11:24 am
by cjbiagi
Congrats on the excellent times. You represent H bodies very well.

Re: Newest pics and personal bests

PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 4:41 pm
by spencerforhire
2 more pics have surfaced; one from the "official event photographer" taken at the exact same time as the action shot in my first post. the second from another "semi-pro" who has captured a lot of good pics of my Vega in the past. And yes, that's an IMSA style Monza in the other lane in the second pic.

Re: Newest pics and personal bests

PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:14 pm
by waybad
very nice!!! :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance:

Re: Newest pics and personal bests

PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:46 pm
by Monza Harry
Spencer I'll throw my Congrats in with Clyde and Tinker! Harry

Re: Newest pics and personal bests

PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 11:54 am
by 383VEGA
Great job Spencer! Looks like you are having a lot of fun and the Vega is very consistent. I love how it launches. I wish I could run without wheelie bars on mine, but I cannot. I have tried tuning out the wheelie in the 4-link, but to no avail. I guess the wheelie bars are a necessary evil for me.

I changed rear end gears this season too, but I went a little too steep -- 5.86 . I wanted to try to get my car to 60 foot harder. Well, it does, but I now run out of gear on the top end. I hit my high rev chip @ 8200 rpm just before the finish line. My best 60' was 1.249 last Sunday. The car ran 5.796 at 116.35 MPH. This is same ET as last year, but slower MPH. I am going to try a taller slick to drop my rpm a little at the finish line. We'll see how that goes. Maybe I can get some more speed back. Oh, by the way, I lost in the semi-finals on Sunday and finished third too!

Having fun in my Vega and holding down 3rd place in Super Pro points at Winterport Dragway.


Rick

Re: Newest pics and personal bests

PostPosted: Wed Aug 02, 2017 7:10 am
by spencerforhire
Thanks Rick. And everyone else; I'm pretty pleased with the car. With the new 4.57's, I'm now seeing about 7100 @ 143 mph at the end of the 1/4 on an all out pass. 2 of the 4 tracks I race at are only 1/8th mile where I don't get much past 6300, and the majority of the time I'm at the longer tracks I'm running in Super Gas(9.90), so the throttle stop knocks a couple of mph off the trap speed. I have another gear change in the works; I bought a set of 4.87's I'm going to try. I suspect it will be very close to the 7300(self imposed redline, it will pull past 8000) chip that's in the MSD when run wide open.
I have contemplated using two different height slicks for 1/8 and 1/4; there's 14.5x32's on there now, but plenty of room for 33's. the different steps in gear ratio change the finish line RPM about the same as a 1" height difference in tires. I have two sets of rear wheels, but the logistics of changing them holds me back. I have to disconnect the rear shocks and let the rear end all the way down and then still have to deflate the tires to get them on and off. And it can't be done in the hauler.

Re: Newest pics and personal bests

PostPosted: Thu Aug 03, 2017 12:29 pm
by 383VEGA
Wow, our engines are definitely built very differently. If I ran those low RPM numbers, I would be WAY slower. Mine makes peak HP at 7400 to 7600 according to the dyno sheet. My engine builder wanted me to shift at 7800 to 8000 RPM but I shift at 7400 and let it eat up over 8000 at the finish line.

FWIW, when I bought my car it had 4.88 gears in it and 33" slicks. The previous owner ran it at New England dragway (1/4 mile) and told me that it would hit the 7800 high rev chip at about 1100 or 1200 feet (just short of the 1320 stripe). That was with the 383 stroker engine in it that made about 620 hp, according to him. It ran 6.20's in the 1/8 mile when I got it. I have not run it in the 1/4 mile myself and have changed the setup to run exclusively 1/8 mile. I now run about 4/10ths of a second quicker in the 1/8 mile than when I bought it, but I cannot run 1/4 mile anymore. And the 12 bolt rear end makes it too much hassle to change gears for a weekend, so I guess I won't be visiting any 1/4 mile tracks anytime soon.

I hear ya on the PIA issue with changing wheels and tires. These bodies were not meant to have that much rubber stuffed up inside the rear. I have the same issue with larger slicks. My shorter 32 X 14 slicks (100" rollout) will go on and off by just deflating them and squeezing the top of the tire down, but anything larger, well not so much. Definitely cannot do a Nascar style tire change on the rear. Haha.

Re: Newest pics and personal bests

PostPosted: Thu Aug 03, 2017 4:35 pm
by Kenova
383VEGA wrote: These bodies were not meant to have that much rubber stuffed up inside the rear.

lmao lmao lmao lmao

Sorry. I just couldn't control myself. lmao lmao

Ken

Re: Newest pics and personal bests

PostPosted: Fri Aug 04, 2017 8:42 am
by 383VEGA
Oops. Maybe I should have rephrased that. :shock:

Re: Newest pics and personal bests

PostPosted: Fri Aug 04, 2017 3:16 pm
by spencerforhire
Careful there, Rick; next thing you know the internet censors will show up and brand us all as perverts.....
As to my low redline, it's self imposed for the sake of longevity. It's still pulling hard at 7100-7200, I just choose to keep it sensible. Probably not a lot more power to be made by spinning it up; the cam is an ancient Super Stock Crane piece, meant for a 302 or 327. The Desktop Dyno says it peaks around 7000; it's never been on a real "lie detector", but the DD estimates 575-585 hp.

Re: Newest pics and personal bests

PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 12:15 pm
by 383VEGA
I guess I should preview and scrutinize my posts a little better before I hit the submit button. Hehehehe.

Hey Spencer, how much does your car weigh? Those are pretty impressive times for the amount of horsepower you see on the DD. I run consistently in the low 5.80's with my car at 2600 lbs race weight. The 'lie detector' (this cracks me up. Never heard that before) tells me I make a tic over 700 flywheel hp with my 414. Your cam must give you a lot of torque to pull at those lower RPMs. Very nice.

Re: Newest pics and personal bests

PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 12:57 pm
by spencerforhire
Would you believe it weighs around 2360 with me in the seat? And I'm 280 lbs of that. Only way to go quick on a tight budget is with a flyweight car. Mild steel round tube chassis, 'glass front end, hood, doors & hatch, lexan windows, aluminum interior. The 383 pulls hard from right off the converter(5650 rpm).

Re: Newest pics and personal bests

PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 10:52 pm
by PumpGas
New member here, I have to say your Ride "ROCKS" I'm pretty sure I have seen it at an event in Greenfield a couple years ago, loved it then. :th: :th: