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Jamie, Another comment on the high HP launch problem with the R230, maybe something to add to your rear brace. Something that I have noticed after racing the car both times, I was leaking a little rear end fluid. When I drive the car normally there are no rear leaks at all. This weekend I had the car out and had an opportinity to really hit it hard, no tire slip in first, second and third and damn if I didn't have another few drops of fluid leaking out the cover of the rear. I know that some of the late model Mustang Cobras with IRS rears had similar problems and if not corrected with an IRS brace, the rear supports were breaking off. Take a look at this page... http://www.billetflow.com/irs_brace.htm or look at this page http://www.steeda.com/store/-catalog/555-8118.htm Their rear brace is shaped differently, but the brace is actually part of the cover also. We had to put one of these on my neighbor's Cobra to keep him from tearing up his rear. As soon as the brace was installed, there are no more leakage issues from the high launch stresses. I am thinking that I may try and do something like this brace. At least try and get a couple of the rear perimeter bolts on each side into a brace to help the rear from distorting the cover and causing a potential problem. What do you think? Jody

Let me know if you need any of the T-56 tranny parts. I have many/most of the spare parts in the garage. Jody

The reaction time has nothing to do with any of the times, so it's nothing to worry about. If the car is spinning tires and the tires are bouncing and the driver has to get off the pedal to get it to hook up, there can be a mess as far as the time and speed. Unfortunately David had some issues getting traction and his corrections effected both the time and speed. As far as the slow reaction time..... I don't have a good excuse for him....... The idle starts and increasing rates in first and second sometimes are the trick with the small tire cars. It was still great to see David out at the track, it was the last Friday night the track will be open.... potentially forever. The track may be sold, so a ton of prople came to run. My car was running OK, but I still need to tune the motor, I just have not had time... I tried to come out of the hole harder and the tires slipped, and my 60' times went into the 1.7's but I was still in the 11.4's at 120 mph. I let pressure out of the tires, down to 12 lbs and the last run hit it harder on the launch and it did hook up better. Unfortunately the engine is not picking up as much power/speed at the higher RPM's... definately a clue that the engine needs a tune. No bent rear brace pieces, so I feel better about the rear bracket that I repaired from 2 weeks ago Now to agree with Jamie... I on average can get 1/2+ second improvement times on other people's cars, even the first time I drive it. I have actually gotten a few runs with over 1 second improvements from cars that the drivers are not used to drag racing at all..... always my excuse to drive other people's cars

Jamie, What I meant about single layer brace was that the rear mount bolts are only about 1 inch long and the brace you made is about 2" wide, so you'll have to drill out a hole in one side of the brace so you can feed the rear bolts in one side or a single layer of the frame brace you are making. Maybe it'll be strong enough... or maybe you can weld hardened steel rings on the one side of the brace to run the bolts thru. Jody

Jamie, Very interesting! The problem with mine was that I was limited with the size of the front to rear support braces because there is a small amount of space between the rear and the A-arms. Your way where the a-arm supports are part of the entire brace fixes the problem. I think you mention this but definitely weld brackets on your brace that will bolt into the stock vehicle vertical supports that usually hold the rear a-arm supports to give your brace more strength in the middle. The one thing that will be interesting is how the rear bolts of the rear will go through the frame supports, since the bolts are only anbout 1" long. Do you think the single layer of the brace will be strong enough to hold the rear... I think that may need some more support strength. As far as making a clearance for your front to rear braces for the axles and notching the upper frame support.... consider making your vertical supports a little longer so your rear a-arms brace on a little lower so you have the clearance. Since you have your own creation and you are making all of the supports you don't have to follow the same rules I notched my frame and moved up my rear also for clearances and having the rear a little higher probably helps the strength on hard squatty launches but there should be no problem with the rear a-arm support being slightly lower for all of your axle clearances. I am likeing your design!!! As far as the front of the rear brackets, make sure the supports are strong and tied into the stock strap bracket holes. I bent my front to rear support on hard launches and had to bend them back and weld braces to the strap brackets. One more thought I have with your custom design... mine requires me to pull the entire rear out to open the drain plug. Yours may allow plenty of access where the rear plug could be accessed when the rear is in place. If not consider making a little extra gap where the lower plug is. I may have to copy your design Jody

Looks awsome and similar to what I did. Now I have a question... did you attach the front to rear pieces that support the front rear support brace to the original bolt holes that the original rear strap? (I hope that made sense) Another way to ask.... did you only use your front to rear tubing to support your rear diff front brace? I did ... I originally had the front to rear braces out of 1" square tubing going from the rear a-arm supports to the front brace and on that I made a support for the front braces of the rear diff to bolt to. That was it. Then after the first time at the track, I found that the front to rear braces bent slightly from the launches. The front of the rear pulling up bent the square tubing braces. So I rebent them back and I then made braces on both sides that bolt in to the original holes (2 on each side of the hump) for the stock front diff strap, and I welded them to the braces beside where the front brace goes. I will be launching harder this Friday and the braces should hold now, but I was suprised that my original support bent. Jody

The LT1 is a 385 stroker (.040 over, 3.75 stroke) with a Lunati Crank, Lunati pro mod rods and Ross pistons. Ported stock heads. I am running a Crane 234-242-112 cam and 37lb injectors. 4 bolt splayed mains, Canton oil pan, electric water pump. I have the R230 limited slip rear, Moser Axles and billet stub axles from MMC. As you can tell from the videos I am launching off idle and making 1.6 60' runs. I am granny shifting and not red lining the motor since it has not been tuned yet. I am working on a tune now and after a Dyno session it should be making more power and I will be shifting at a much higher RPM. I have a roll bar and additional tubular sub frame connectors welded in Parellel to the stock sub frames from just behind the front engine frame to the rear just behind where the stock car rear sway bars bolt in) which makes the entire car extremely stiff which helps keep the car straight. I am running the 6 speed tranny and a twin disk McLeod clutch with a 1 1/8" Tildon master cylinder. I then had to weld a large nut on the clutch pedal and run a large bolt through it so it stops when I push the clutch in about 2" so the pressure plate does not over extend. It makes speed shifting really easy. (which I have yet to do at high speed yet) What else do you want to know? Jody

A friend took video of a couple of my runs last week, so I posted them in the video section of Hybridz. I was able to set the line lock and do 3rd gear burnouts to heat the tires. I also did just off idle launches. Unfortunately he did not get my best run. On the run where I raced a yellow Nova, you hear an engine cracking up and making noises, but that was him, not me. I can not wait to be able to really launch hard, run the engine to redline and speed shift. Enjoy. Jody

A couple of things to look at. Unless your have a HUGE oil pan, you should have plenty of oil to prime the motor. Did you check the oil pick-up to make sure it is fine? Is your dip stick properly seated in the block? Is the dip stick going in properly? (with my 4 bolt mains the dip stick needed a tweak so it did not hang up on the main) How fast are you turning the oil pump? Mine required a drill running at a high RPM until the oil all primed and then it was tough to turn, but the oil pumped great. WAs your oil filter filled first? Most chevys pump from the pan then to the oil filter and then to the motor. If you did not prime the filter it will need to fill first. My oil pan is 6 quarts and then 1 quart for the filter plus 1/2 quart for the remote oil lines and I was able to prime my motor with 3 quarts of oil easily. Once you get the oil primed and it is coming out of the push rods, turn the motor over by hand to get all of the oil journals full.

David, Sounds great! I got alot of attention last time, I can imagine that three of these cars will really suprize them. Don't worry about reaction times... it's all about fun. Also if you break the 180, I have the stock R200 in my garage Also, I always take my cars up to the track on a trailer incase I have breakage.... I also have a winch on the front of the trailer. Also I had a friend that works at the local Mineke bend my exhaust pipe and add temporary turndown onto the ends of my pipes last week (so they would quit rattling on the floor) The owner was there and he told me that he was the one that had done the exhaust repair for your car. He told me the whole story.... small world. Jody

I have run radial fronts and slicks on the back and had no problem. The thing is running slicks with too little air can get the wiggles on the big end... that is no fun! Tires with more sidewall are usually better with a stick car since they absorb alot of the shock when you dump the clutch, same with a trans brake. I actually really like the stock 4th gen wheels. I even left the long ARP studs on my billet stubs I bought from Ross and drilled the center caps. If the Welds/Slicks do fit, I'll need these long studs to pass tech at the track. Pete, Next Friday night they are closed... but the following Friday night is the last Friday night this season. (check the schedule http://www.7580dragway.com/ ) I am planning on being there that night. Bring your car up and run it. I know 75 & 80 is supposed to close at the end of the year but it has little to do with the whining people. The owner has been sick and has been trying to sell the property because of his poor health. There are rumors that the track property may not have actually sold to the developer that is trying to buy the property, so who knows... there is a possibility that it may open next year even though it is announced that it is closing on the website. Wishful thinking since it is 15 minutes from my house. Jody

Scott thanks for the tips. I have been used to 5000+ RPM launches in my Camaro and the front wheels 12" to 14" off the ground, so just off idle launches are something I think are "light" launches. The one thing that suprised me was that these old dry rotted tires stuck like glue and I had about 17-18 lbs of pressure in them... I had to take them as low as 11 lbs to get any kind of launch in the Camaro. I needed to go to full slicks in the Camaro to get decent launches. I have Tokicos all the way around and ran them 4 in front and 5 in back. It seemed to weight transfer fine, but I'll try lightening up the fronts to see what effect it has. The new Mickey Thompson ET drag radials are awsome and I have seen alot of people getting better launches than full slick cars, so by changing to them it should help. Also I am running 255/50/16's on the street and have a ton of wheel well space, so they sould be better than the M&H's. I have one more thing I need to try. I still have the 15" Weld wheels with ET Drag slicks on them in the garage. If they fit.... They should hook well. As far as the wheels, they are stock 4th Gen Camaro wheels... sometimes called "Vegi-matics" The LT1 is a 385 stroker motor with stock ported heads. I have 1.6 roller rockers and a 236/243-112 cam. I fully expect 10's with this motor as soon as I get it tuned and am able to launch hard. I am very happy with the NA times so far considering I babied the car some. I may try a Nitrous run one day after I get things worked out Jody

Tne flares are from MAS. The stock wheel well was cut out and these flares were added. I am not complaining about the flares (or my installation), it's just the fact that the car squats so much the flare lip is getting contacted. I made the lip turn in about 3/4" wide. I suppose I could trim the lip edge, but I was hoping to lessen the squat with a heavier spring rate maybe.

I painted the car Monday, put the glass in on Wednesday and aligned the front end. Thursday put most of the interior back in. I drove the car to work Friday and all seemed well so I took it to the track Friday night. The car has a total of 50 miles on it. I have not dyno tuned the motor yet, I am running an old program from before the cam swap. I made 5 passes and the car tracked perfectly down the track and the brakes are awsome! The rear tires (M&H 305/40/16) were rubbing the front part of the flare when I got on it hard even with the Tokico shocks set to 5. I was launching just off idle and granny shifted to keep the tire rubbing down and it still ran 11.43 at 120.4 with a 1.63 60'. Not too bad for the first time out and not hitting it hard. Can't wait to tune up the motor and be able to launch and shift hard. Plus I am still getting used to the car. These M&H tires are about 6 years old, worn out and dry rotted on the sides, so I will be getting 255/50/16 ET Street drag radials. Hopefully they will not rub on the flares when I launch. Otherwise I will be upping the rear springs. Right now I have 200 front and 225 lb rear springs on my coil overs. What spring rates are other drag racers using?

Changing the Autometer gauges into the stock speedo and tach housings is very easy. Look at my pics/post http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=101620&highlight=autometer+gauges Jody

It is a metal flake blue base with clear, I was able to get most of the wavyness out of the car, but there are a couple of spots that I can see now that I could have block sanded more. ( I notice more than my friends ) Dark colors really show any imperfections. Jody

We'll rename the color to "Hybrid Blue"

I picked the color from the paint chip book at the local paint supply. It is Dupont BM465KHX ALT#1. No more videos yet, I need to get the glass in and the front end aligned first.

Things went very well. The car turned out great. Painting in a paint booth is awsome! It'll need some minor buffing, but that's it. I am VERY happy. I still need to paint the core support and front area (grill area) black. Base coat Base coat Clear coat

I ran air bags in my Camaro for years. (springs and shocks are separate) The air bag was stuffed inside the rear coil springs. Separate air lines run so each side can be "tuned". Once I upgraded to the QA-1 12 way adjustable shocks I thought I would ditch the air bags, but I kept them since it allowed me to keep the car launching straight. The air bag manufacturer suggested a minimum of 4 lbs be kept in the bag at all times. I ran about 6 in the driver side and 12 - 14 in the passenger side. I suppose if the separately mounted air bag (separate from the coil/strut) allowed the suspension to travel properly without binding and it did not interfere with full travel, it may work just fine. I would guess that in an IRS car, the pressure should be the same in both sides. Good luck, sounds interesting.

I have the car loaded and early tomorrow morning I am taking it to a friend's body shop to borrow the paint booth. I primed and wet sanded it now I'm ready for color I painted the engine compartment and the primer in the garage, but I'd rather have a better place to do the body. I have limited experience painting, so I am hoping for the best... Jody

I covered the area with masking tape and laid 3 layers of fiberglass on the car making the back half shape. I pulled it right off of the car and I cut and trimmed it to the edge of the indentation. Then I made a flat 3 layer piece of fiberglass (boards and wax paper). Then I cut the flat piece to the right size and then fiberglassed it to the back. I am not a body guy at all and there may be better ways using foam and vaccum bagging.... but sometimes you use what you have. Jody

I laid some fiberglass in the "bump" and made a filler piece tonight. I still have some work to do, but it may work out. The end still needs to be closed in and it needs to be sanded to fit better. It will attach with screws from the inside of the fender or double stick tape or both and will be painted the same color as the body. Comments please. Jody Here is a picture of the filler taped in place.

Picture of the grill??

Pete, Don't feel too bad about just briefly cleaning the ARP bolts... I did the full monte after the machine shop, super cleaned the head studs and chased and cleaned every thread and I still had a couple of lower head bolts leak using the ARP sealer. The GM pills and 30 minutes later never leaked again it's been 3 or 4 years. I have also heard of some engine builders that actually throw a pill or 2 in the block behind a freeze plug just for good measure. Sneaky trade secret! Jody