Spencerforhire's NEW drag car project

[chevyart]

good luck. videos, videos, videos. art

[spencerforhire]

Sorry, no video. The Vega performed flawlessly; the engine repairs worked out great. Spencer's right thumb and the trans brake switch that the thumb pushes did not perform quite so well. If the switch worked , the thumb(or more correctly the connection between brain and thumb)malfunctioned and a couple of times the thumb pushed the button an the brake didn't actuate.

[chevyart]

SPENCWE HOPE YOU GOT A BUNCH OF GOOD RUNS. DONT UNDERSTAND THE TRANNYBRAKE THING. IS THE SOLENOID BAD OR JUST YOUR THUMB MALFUNCTIONING? ART

[spencerforhire]

Art- What I was trying to convey was that BOTH of us(me and the trans brake switch) were having issues. Now that I'm thinking more clearly, I also recall the car was fussy about backing up in the pits(a couple of runs I had to push the button 2 or 3 times to get the car to move). I had to replace the switch yesterday; I checked it with a meter and it only worked probably 8 out of 10 times it was pushed. It failed to hold on the line twice in 8 passes; managed not to red light but rolled out of the pre-stage beams and both times the tree started down just as I got it to hold. How's .909 and 1.68 for reaction times? There was also an issue with the two-step blowing fuses and not holding the revs at 4200 on the t-brake; when I try to hold it at part throttle with my right foot the car would bog just off the line.
As for the problem between my brain and thumb, it was probably a combination of factors; too many new things to learn at once(trans brake, delay box, two-step rev limiter) plus not the least of all HEAT- black car, black 3-layer SFI 3.2A-5 jacket, black helmet and 85 degree(way hotter than normal for around here), no wind and 85% humidity. In the staging lanes I watched the engine and trans temp gauges crawl up to 150 degrees with the car not running. I checked with my non-contact thermometer; pavement was 135 degrees and the hood scoop was 150. Because of my size and mobility issues it takes me something like 2 minutes to get in the car, do up the belts, fasten the window net and get my helmet on; this means I pretty well have to sit in the car ready to go once I'm less than 8 or 10 cars from the front of the line.
Excuses ,excuses; the bottom line is that I screwed up repeatedly all weekend and never put together one perfect run.

[chevyart]

spence. good news for us this week. the hot weather is finally leaving. im going this saturday with my new 377 engine..i cant take the heat, and like you, i strap myself in the car and wait in the lanes, like a mother hen sitting on her eggs. i cannot just jump in and strap in quickly. just not possible.dont know how you handle all those electronics. guess it just comes natural with time and confidence. i would watch that tranny brake solenoid. i lost two of those things over the years and one of the times the car started going backwards (creeping) at starting line. thats scary. think about releasing button at 4500 rpms and going backward instead of forward. i got tranny rebuilt right away. think it was the bands that were going bad, but those solenoids do go bad frequently. bought a good heavy duty one from Dynamic Converters in Deleware.PS i got bored last week, so i went to new jersey and bought the 383 engine from my buddy that sold me the 377.. he ran 960s in his 3200 lb nova with the 377 and 930s with the 383. my car is a nova and weighs about 150 lbs more. he runs 2-4s and alcohol, so between the weight difference and fuel differences, my 3350 lb nova(with me in it) should go a 10.50 -60 with the 377 and later on with the 383 i should be doing 10 flat. reallu dont want the 9s, then i need to be certified, new fire suit, and worst of all , new diapers. good luck next time out. ill let you know how i do this week at the test and tune art

[spencerforhire]

I was really excited yesterday when the Vega ran a couple of 9.80's @ 138+ but was too tired to post anything here. Had 4 time trial passes within 4 one hundredths and was ready to dial-in somewhere around 9.90 for today's race. Even started to get a handle on the delay box and my routine with a bunch of lights in the .520's Then this morning it decided to go 9.72 right out of the hauler. Where did that come from? Then another run at 9.777; I was pleased but confused. Got spanked in the first round by a guy who cut a .510 light and proceeded to run .01 over his dial. pretty hard to compete with that.
I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

[chevyart]

spence those great ETs probably came as a gift from mother nature (god air). you get used ti the car and you will run just as good as those other guys using the delay boxes. they are not any better or smarter than you, they just have more time in the drivers seat and have probably spent extra thousands on little do-dads and trick parts. good luck for your next race. art

[spencerforhire]

I thought yesterday was a good day; had no idea I'd go all the way to the final in Super Pro today! Had some good lights(3 in the .50's) and a couple of runs close to my dial(actually got a bye into the final) but never really put together a great "package".Even took out a few heavy hitters; apparently my "run wide open and ignore what's in the other lane" philosophy most likely played a large part in the fact that 3 of my opponents broke out against me. I'm waaaay too new at this to be playing games at the finish line. Only lost in the final by .017 to a good friend who has probably somewhere near 1000 runs on his car. In fact, this win probably put him in first place in the points race here in Eastern Canada -our organization the ADRA(Atlantic Drag Racing Association) covers 4 tracks in 3 provinces.
My first trophy(and the $$$$ that came with it) sure make all the hard work feel like it was worth it. I'm still inshock

[monzajer]

Congrats Spence. After all the thrashing and headaches, after all the late nights and "WTF am I thinkin? this is BULLS#!T. I'm throwin in the towel" After all the busted knuckles, thrown wrenches and "Damn I blew up another one", after all that and then some, and just when you think "why do I do this"...you win the seemingly ever elusive trophy. Then all the nightmares and "memories" of the tuff s#!t goes away. I reckon it is something like a women having a baby. Hurts like crazy for what feels like forever and then when the cool thing happens ALL the pain is gone and you are in the moment, smiling and beaming like Alpha Centauri. Been there, done that. It is an AWESOME feeling. Congrats man. You deserve it.

jer

[chevyart]

nice work spence. your oponents didnt give you any respect and thew paid for it. go get them again next weekend. cooler i hope and some 9.60s. nice job spence arf

[spencerforhire]

When I finally got this car built I had no illusions about actually winning races with it this year; I hadn't been down a drag strip for 20+ years and that was in a 14 second street car. All I realistically expected was to get it sorted out and learn to drive it. I was pretty pleased when it ran in the nines(as predicted by a couple of desktop dyno programs) on it's third outing but a little bit disappointed when I promptly blew it up. After repairing the engine everything worked fine except for the driver; I had a hard time learning how to use some new "toys". Getting my delay box, two-step rev limiter and trans brake routine sorted out was way harder than I expected.
This weekend everything came together in the end with my unexpected runner-up finish yesterday; 6 rounds of racing with finishes so close(.010- .019) that I didn't know whether or not I even won until I got my timing slip.
I may need to buy a bigger helmet with all the congrats on this and other boards plus posts from other racers on my facebook page about a "cinderella story".
Thanks to all of my H-body friends for their words of support and encouragement along the way.

[spencerforhire]

This past weekend I thought that the Vega might have been leaving a little harder than it had previously; now I know for sure. A couple of 60 ft. times under 1.40 and the fact that my "souvenir photo" from the runner up finish shows some air under the tires. I've been telling people that the car doesn't wheelie; that now turns out not to be true.

[chevyart]

spence i watched an earlier(recent) video of your launch and the car just goes straight out. dont look like anything raises or squats in rear. just straight on out. you probably shouldnt have to touch a thing on the suspensions. every so often you will only have to clean the heim joints.gfo get em spence... art

[spencerforhire]

Another year of drag racing is wrapped up here in Atlantic Canada; the first of the year-end banquets was last night in Cape Breton(my "home" track). I couldn't go due to my lack of mobility(herniated disc in my lower spine) so my brother had to accept my 4th place trophy is Super Pro(10.99 & quicker). He was there anyway as a founding member of the association, as well as to receive his own 4th place trophy in Sportsman(13.50 & slower).
I though that I had already posted the pic from my runner-up finish in August, but I guess I didn't.
I have a whole bunch of ideas for improvements on my Vega over the winter; once I get back on my feet I've got a lot of work to do. Most of the mods are in the direction of reliability and consistency, not ultimate performance; I'm not looking to pick up any more than a tenth or two. Also I'm going to enter a couple of 9.90 Pro/Tree events, so I'll also have to find some way to slow it down when necessary.
I plan on a slightly more intensive schedule for next year; there's 4 tracks within 4 hours, and if I wanted to I could run every weekend between mid May and mid October. Without leaving Nova Scotia there's 5 races at the local track(1.5hr away) and 4 at my home track(4 hours), plus I'll probably do the other regional points events- 2 each at the other tracks in PEI and New Brunswick. That's 13 races in 22 weeks; pretty ambitious, but I'm really hoping to develop some real consistency with this car.

[73astregt]

congratulations spencer! thats one heck of an accomplishment for your first year out with the car!( and a rusty driver ) a big thumbs up to you and heres to kicking even more butt next year! at this rate youll be giving those armstrong boys some competition real soon!