So, I posted a reply yesterday and apparently it disappeared. So here we go again

Rob, The Valiant is basically ready. I need to re-jet the carburetors and set the Caltracs and then load it on the trailer. I'm not making any other changes till I get some more passes. The control arm bushings were completely gone in some and broke in little pieces in others so hopefully it really tightens the front end back up. I remember feeling like the car was swaying a lot more than normal but thinking it was only the low tire pressure. Hopefully the new bushings help with that swaying.

Thanks for the help on the Valiant Greg. I definitely had a good time working on the car, hanging out and going for an early evening cruise in your Dart. Its always a good time having you stay here with us. It definitely is more fun working on these things together...... If it wasn't for working with my Dad, none of my cars would be running.

Dennis, I might be able to put the car on the scales before this weekend. Is there a different way to set the caltracs with 4 wheel scales? If not I will just set them like you suggested before and see what happens.
I had the tires up over 14lbs of pressure to start with accidentally. (I checked the in the morning but forgot to check them before the first pass and it was much hotter). At 14 lbs it spun very badly. Then I dropped to 9 lbs and it improved so I dropped to 8lbs and it seemed a little better. All of the videos i posted were with 8 lbs of air pressure. I didn't go any lower because it was swaying so much on the top end.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone this weekend and hopefully getting this thing dialed in a little better on the launch.

_________________
Ryan Covalt
62 Plymouth Valiant Race Car 2170# 11.008 @ 117.65 MPH 1/4 Mile Best
72' Dart Swinger Street Car, 4 spd, 3330# 14.061 @96.58 1/4 mile Best

Air pressure is something you'll need to play with as you get the car less violent, especially if it's wandering around downtrack.

_________________
Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Great. Did you get the 'porposing' fixed, or at least under control?
I really like that car and I know you will annihilate the record.
-Matt

_________________
-MattMan
LEANED & MEAN

It was much better Matt!

_________________
2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

What broke? Nothing major I hope.

_________________
-MattMan
LEANED & MEAN

Developed a miss. We worked on it during Saturday and in the eve back at Ryan's, but did not solve it. It does not seem to be ign or plug or valvetrain related, so probably carb-related. Compression readings were a somewhat variable, but none below 185 psi.

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Thanks Matt. Yeah, hoping it is something wrong with one of the carburetors. It was running great and all at once started missing running like a 5 cylinder. It really seemed like a cylinder died but like Lou said, we didn't find any noticeable failure. I'm hoping a piece of debris clogged up a carburetor jet completely. It is weird that it happened so fast and never cleared up. Hopefully I find something obvious when i start taking things apart.

The cars hopping was significantly improved. I don't have enough shock travel because I put longer/stronger shocks in the car (shocks that seymour already had). But the changes we made were a huge improvement. I think If I can move the shock mount position up higher it will give me the travel I need and hopefully fix the issue entirely. Since last year, I lowered the rearend about 3 inches with a combination of lowering blocks and then clamping an extra leaf spring upside down to the existing spring. That pulled it down and really stiffened it up. I also raised the front end 1" so it really leveled the car out. Hopefully I can figure out the current problem and try to fix a few more things at the race at Lou's next month.

_________________
Ryan Covalt
62 Plymouth Valiant Race Car 2170# 11.008 @ 117.65 MPH 1/4 Mile Best
72' Dart Swinger Street Car, 4 spd, 3330# 14.061 @96.58 1/4 mile Best

not enough shock travel in the front or the rear?

_________________
-MattMan
LEANED & MEAN

Rear. I need more room for compression. Hoping to move the shock more upright and raise the mount about 2" That would give me a good amount of travel both directions then.

_________________
Ryan Covalt
62 Plymouth Valiant Race Car 2170# 11.008 @ 117.65 MPH 1/4 Mile Best
72' Dart Swinger Street Car, 4 spd, 3330# 14.061 @96.58 1/4 mile Best

Could you use a pair of these from a Dodge pickup? You could flip them and clamp (on top) them wherever you needed to on the axle. Admittedly, they are a little clunky for a race car but may be good for test purposes.

_________________
-MattMan
LEANED & MEAN

Maybe we could move this mechanical discussion to another thread?

Thanks much,
Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Oops, sorry. I forgot which thread it was.
My bad.
-Matt

_________________
-MattMan
LEANED & MEAN

Is it possible for a moderator move the last few posts to the "62 valiant race car is back" thread, so it isn't here in the records thread? I will put some more details about the car and suspension there.

Back on the topic of records, I've heard of at least 4 people trying to set or break nitrous records this season so hopefully we see even more records set this year!

_________________
Ryan Covalt
62 Plymouth Valiant Race Car 2170# 11.008 @ 117.65 MPH 1/4 Mile Best
72' Dart Swinger Street Car, 4 spd, 3330# 14.061 @96.58 1/4 mile Best

Could you use a pair of these from a Dodge pickup? You could flip them and clamp (on top) them wherever you needed to on the axle. Admittedly, they are a little clunky for a race car but may be good for test purposes.

_________________
-MattMan
LEANED & MEAN

I need to post some pictures of how the suspension is set up now.

We added 3" blocks to lower the rear of the car. I don't think I could add any more space with blocks because it would put the spring hardware lower than the wheel and if a tire went flat it would dig into the ground.

We added 1" extension to the front coil over set up so it would bring the front up and still keep the softer spring settings.

We clamped a leaf spring upside down to the back 1/2 of the spring to stiffen it up and pull the back down another inch.

With the extra distance gained in the rear suspension (because of the lowering blocks) we were able to add the longer and much stronger Rancho shocks. These are far stonger than the other shock i've used and really seem to slow everything way down in comparison with the other shocks I tried.

All of these things seemed to make the car hop far less. Problem is I only got 1 full power launch to test it before it broke. It seemed far improved so hopefully once I get the engine figured out I can get back to testing.

I do need to raise the shock mount on the back to help get a couple more inches of shock compression.

_________________
Ryan Covalt
62 Plymouth Valiant Race Car 2170# 11.008 @ 117.65 MPH 1/4 Mile Best
72' Dart Swinger Street Car, 4 spd, 3330# 14.061 @96.58 1/4 mile Best