Getting my new 406 SBC installed, running, and driving

[3.4 grape of wrath]

You're probably right about the 3/8 hose being too small, I use a single 5/8 hose. I have a vacuum gauge in the car hooked up to the drivers side valve cover to monitor crankcase vacuum. I actually don't run a catch can, air is dumped right to outside of car but only during boost. That tank was used for my water injection, it's no longer in my car. I also mounted the air pump vertically because crankcase garbage was collecting inside of pump.

[IROCZman15]

good info here and thanks for steering me in that direction.
When you say you mounted it vertically, I am imagining it on its side vertically, but also vertically with the inlet/outlet ports pointing towards the ground? Or differently?


I decided to find a larger size fitting (Dorman PCV Valve Elbow 47043) to replace the modified pcv valve idea I had planned on going with... and its basically an elbow that i can attach a 5/8" inside diameter rubber hose to and run it over to the catch can. I'll need to bring the 5/8" hose down to a 1/2 hose before it hits the -8an fitting at the can. In the can I will have the stainless steel scouring pad material to help knock the oil down before the flow is drawn out the other -8an at the top of the catch tank. Then it will be a short length of hose from 1/2' ID to 5/8" ID using an adapter because the inlet of the vacuum pump is 5/8. Thats the current plan








- I plugged the breather in the top of the catch-tank cap so that its a sealed system.

- I ran a relay to power the pump with a 20 amp fuse and it is currently triggered off the ignition block fuse panel I built under the passenger side dash.

- got a length of hose from the valve cover mocked-up towards where it will travel and meet the tank. Will mount the tank in the next few days I hope .








- Mounted the electric pump. found a spot almost directly under where the catch tank will be; behind the nose/fender and attached to to the steel bumper at two mounting points, and mounted a 90* home made bracket to the upper area to secure the pump in 3 spots. It has rubber isolators on it too, but I made sure its good and tight. I'll zip off the threads on those long bolts once the whole project is complete.






Turned it on and it fired right up. Sounds loud in the garage. Haven't fired the engine in 2 months so I will wait to hear it that way too. Decided that I am going to soon add in a toggle switch in-line of the pump relay's ignition trigger wire so that I can manually turn the pump on and off. I like doing that with the torque converter, nitrous activation, and so forth, so having a switch for it will be easier for me than building it into any efi based program. I have one un-used spot on my nitrous panel so I ordered a rocker switch with LED light on it from Nitrous outlet to replace the bottle heater switch on this panel.



At the price of about $60, I am probably going to buy a second pump just to have on hand, but I can't help but think of how helpful this will be as opposed to choking down the engine these past 4 years of action.

If I only need the one 5/8" diameter hose from one valve cover, I can finally just put a cap on the passenger side valve cover and get rid of the clunky breather that I've never been a fan of.

[3.4 grape of wrath]

Yes, the pump is mounted vertically and my outlet is pointed towards the ground. The inlet port on mine is pointed towards the firewall. Looks like your inlet is oriented differently then mine but I would guess that should be fine.I periodically pop off the cover to see how things look inside, again I am not using a catch can so you might be better off. I'm curious how much vacuum you will make at WOT. Here's a pic of the adjustable vacuum switch I installed, bought from amazon. It's listed under a transmission part if you're interested.

[IROCZman15]

It has been a while!
I got a few things sorted out on the car. Found some clamps to keep the 5-point harnesses from sliding left/right on the roll bar. Got the driver's side 5-point belt re-certified at stroud for another 2 years. Oil change (VR1 20-50) which will probably be the last time. Possibly might start using 10-40 or straight 40 next oil change. Trans filter, electrical stuff/repairs in the dashboard, an so on. Electric vacuum pump is on and working when I turn it on. Also, installed some new sub woofers in the trunk area. Downsized from the very old two 12" subs to a nice set of JL audio 10" subs.

the clamps are from Jegs brand of clamps.








Installed a UMI bump-steer kit and had the alignment done on the front and rear. Brought it to a local autocross guy's house who has a big garage in the back with machine.
caster 5.1 (D) and 5.3 (P)
Camber -1.5 (D) and -1.4 (P)
Toe In 0.01" (D) and 0.01" (P) Total toe is 0.02"



After the alignment was done I was ready to get it to the track so I went to Island Dragway for the Test and Tune Friday night on May 24.
Kept all these values the same for all 5 passes:
Rear tire pressure 18psi
Rear Air Bags: 6 psi (Drivers side) 18psi (pass side)
Rear Koni yellow Shocks: 1.5 out of 5 on each side (so basically pretty loose)
93 Octane pump gas and for the nitrous passes I added some Race Gas concentrate
Nitrous Bottle Pressure: 950 psi
Nitrous jets: .063 (nitrous) and .027 (fuel)







Pass 1: All Motor (with 34 degree timing all in)
This was just a shakedown pass to make sure the car held together after 6 months of not going fast. Did a 5 second burnout and footbraked to a 2647 rpm launch. Converter flashed at 4912 rpms, I shifted 1-2 at 6164 rpms, shifted 2-3 at 6022 rpms, and across the finish line at 6055 rpms. It was a clean run, despite lots of heat soak on everything but the car felt good, about a tenth off from where I expected it to be.

Timeslip:




Datalog:




Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp8A5x6x5Dc





Pass 2: progressive 150 shot
Added Race Gas Concentrate and turned on the bottle. Did a 5 second burnout and footbraked the car to a 2605 rpm launch and it launched real good. Converter flashed at 5091 rpms and I shifted 1-2 a little late at 6363 rpms. It sixty footed real well and I Shifted 2-3 at 6073 rpms but then I immediately realized that my new electric vacuum pump switch was not on....the bottle heater LED switc was! So I stayed WOT, but took my hand off the nitrous button, reached over and turned off the bottle heater switch and turned on the vac pump switch, and then got back on the nitrous. Datalog shows that this all took 1.4 seconds. After I got back on the button, I then reached over with my other hand and turned on the converter lockup..finally coming through the finish line at 6362 rpms. Was surprised that it was a decent E.T. despite all the nonsense inside the car mid-track.

Timeslip:




Datalog:




Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uMkfxKhOhU




Pass 3: progressive 150 shot again
Another 5 second burnout and a footbrake launch from 2707 rpms. (I can't ever remember it being able to footbrake that high either, usually its low/mid 2000s, but today I had good luck with higher than usual footbrake rpms before the car started to creep forward). Anyways, at the launch, the converter flashed to 5017 rpms and then I shifted 1-2 at 6357 rpms. Shifted the 2-3 shift a little earlier, at 6026. It got into 3rd gear and felt weak (see datalog, red trace is its almost flat-lining, and actually only gained 100 rpm in 2.13 seconds of 3rd gear, and thats on the spray at WOT! what the heck? But then when I Activated lockup while on the nitrous, it began to climb to finish at 6415.

Timeslip:





Datalog:





Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9MO6a7QUEQ










Pass 4: Progressive 150 shot again

The usual 5 second burnout. Footbraked the launch at 2267 rpms and converter flashed to 4798 rpms. Shifted 1-2 at 6442 rpms, shifted 2-3 at 6262 rpms, and then hit lockup almost right away this time. (the 2-3 shift dropped rpms from 6262, to 5355 in 3rd gear, and then the lockup dropped rms to 4605. I pulled my finger off the button for .8 seconds after this, and then got back on it, crossing the finish line at 6344 rpms with the converter locked in 3rd gear and hitting the top end nitrous limiter cutoff.


Timeslip:





Datalog:






Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4EJ6qyguk0




Pass 5: Another progressive 150 shot. Same tune file all day.


Same 5 second burnout but right at the end of it, the engine seemed like it did a weird rpm flare and wanted to stay high rpms for a moment. Lined up and launched from 2535 rpms. I was a little lazy/cautious on the throttle pedal and it did sound liek the engine had a flare pulling through first gear. I kept in it and shifted at 6203 rpms into 2nd and it seemed to miss a little bit more early in 2nd gear but then cleared itself up well before shifting into 3rd at 6306 rpms. I let it be in 3rd for a moment before locking the converter at 5882 rpms and eventually crossing the finish line at 6382. I was confused by the engine breaking up early in the run, but definitely happy to see that my back-half of the track is picking up 24 mph, which is promising (typically its about 20 or 21 mph the whole back-half) . If you listen to the videos, its pretty typical for me to be at the red-line nitrous rpm cutoff with about 100 feet to go in the pass, so despite TCC lockup working well, if I want to go faster I am going to have to figure out the best plan for how early in 3rd gear to activate TCC lockup, or if shifting into the dreaded Overdrive is a better solution while on the button. It does seem like 3rd gear (which is 1:1) is a lazy dog compared to when the converter is locked, so I am back to wondering about converter slip etc.

Timeslip:




Datalog:




Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVpXoxiOs_0




Drove home with no problems and no sign of that engine rpm flare resurfacing. Caught a lot of bugs that night. Too early to tell if there are any gains at the track from the electric pump, but there is no doubt it pulls suction enough where I cant get the oil fill cap off or dipstick out when its running and engine is running.

[townsend]

nice times dave! but hit it harder out of the hole, turn that progressive UP!!

[LTb1ow]

Whats the details on the alignment guy?

[IROCZman15]

yea, going to run it harder out of the hole this year, in the quest for a 1.39 second sixty foot somehow!

For the alignment, There is a guy named Steve who I met at one of those M.S.N.E. autocross events at Met Life stadium parking lot probably about 3 years ago. Hes got a great setup with a hawks alignment machine, wheel and tire machines and whatnot. He is in Jefferson Twp, I think technically the Oak Ridge area.
http://www.sjfperformance.com/

[townsend]

Originally Posted by IROCZman15

yea, going to run it harder out of the hole this year, in the quest for a 1.39 second sixty foot somehow!

For the alignment, There is a guy named Steve who I met at one of those M.S.N.E. autocross events at Met Life stadium parking lot probably about 3 years ago. Hes got a great setup with a hawks alignment machine, wheel and tire machines and whatnot. He is in Jefferson Twp, I think technically the Oak Ridge area.
http://www.sjfperformance.com/

ohhhh may need to use him on my mustang, lowered sn95's with everything adjustable are a pain, especially with bumpsteer kits

[IROCZman15]

yea, He definitely knows mustangs, he autocrosses and won national events various ones, and after I was finished on the machine, my buddy Ryan King was putting his beast of a mustang on the machine for some adjustments. He raced that car to be up in the top of the contenders in last years UMI King of the Mountain Event, and trusts Steve at SJF to spin wrenches under it. Hes taking a piss in the woods right behind one of Steve's mustangs I saw on the property.










- One thing to note, he doesn't have one of those on-lift hydraulic jacks built into his car's lift. So if I had wanted to give it positive camber, we would have to drop the car, roll it off the lift, setup a floor jack, adjust the camber beyond where we expect it to be, and then reload car on the lift, and pull camber back out while watching the numbers. Or He said i could just adjust it this way at home, arrive there with excessive positive camber, and then just make all teh on-car adjustments with one up-down on the lift.

[RamblerRacer]

Hey, never got your name but it was great to finally see the car in person



JT

[IROCZman15]

yes indeed, it was nice meeting you real quick. I've seen your user name on here a bit, so definitely good to say hi.

Bit of an update.
June came and went with no dragstrip action. Events got canceled due to weather a few times and my schedule was just booked up too. Made a few quick changes to the tune file since the dragstrip day at the end of May, and also added my 1/2" thick phenolic 4-hole spacer back on the engine just to help combat heat soak to the throttle body and its internal ECU. It might help plenum volume too and also makes future jet changes easier at the nitrous plate actually. I put it above the nitrous crossbar plate but below the sniper TBI obviously. Also had the rear right MT tire un-mounted and re-balanced yet again for a vibration that comes between 55-65 mph at that wheel. Those SSR wheels aren't close to true at all, I might have to end up replacing this one.

Got a chance to run the car this past sunday 7/7/24 at Island Dragway for the Nostalgia Nationals event they do (cars 30+ years old) and had a blast despite the relentless unforgiving heat we have been in. We got two timeshot test runs and then eliminations were at 2pm. There were four classes, and I went into the N2 class which is 10.00 - 10.99 E.T. class. That meant that the bottle would be ON today.


Car Setup essentially was the exact same as I ran it on May 24:
150 shot jetting. Rear tires at 17.5 psi. Rear air bags at 7 drivers side and 18 pass side. Shocks were both set at 1.5 out of 5, so pretty soft. Electric vacuum pump on only for the burnout and the run down the track. full tank of 93 octane Shell gasoline with Race gas additive (a full 16 ounce can this time...more on that topic later)

Test Pass 1: Did the usual 5 second burnout which has been working. Foot braked the car to 2047 rpms and for no good reason other than being impatient and probably rattled by hit loud trans-brake, I launched. The car hooked, lifted, chattered, clawed, and took off...in the process going a surprising 1.384 sixty foot. All that rattling caused the holley USB cable to rattle loose from the laptop...so my datalog is just a few 10ths of a second long. The whole run felt fast but I had been out of the seat for a while so I wasn't sure. I was aware that the guy in the right lane consistently runs 10.0 so when i was only a few car lengths behind him, I knew it was at least a decent run. Never expected to hit 130 mph because I haven't been close since May 2022 when the car went 127.7. That run set me in a freakin great mood for the rest of the day! Steve bell was the track photographer that day and got a nice photo of the launch, so I bought the digital copy.

Timeslip:


Datalog:



Launch Photo:




Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydPSjHzWHaA&t=5s




Pass 2.
I checked two hot plugs and while they are definitely orange from the race gas, they read that everything was safe. I made no changes to the car whatsoever, and despite knowing that the rear tire pressure experimentation is lower than it should be, I returned both tires to 17.5 psi because of how quick it launched last pass. After the usual burnout, I footbraked to 2535 rpms, and the converter flashed to 5222 rpms. Sixty foot was quick again, shifted 1-2 at 6567 rpms, shifted 2-3 at 6301 rpms, and activated TCC lockup at 5903 rpms in 3rd gear. It pulled good again across the line at 6491 rpms while going 130.12 mph, so I knew the previous run wasn't a fluke!


Timeslip:

Datalog:


Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIU7SkQYmio


Pass 3:
Elimination rounds. Quite honestly I wan’t really concerned with trying to go “slower” and win rounds, otherwise I would have put a 10.99 or something on the dial, but I was having a blast on the last two passes so I figured I’d keep on that path. In case I spun, I set a 10.80 dial in. Tires, airbags, everything, all stayed the same. Footbraked to 2175 rpms, got too excited and red-lit with a -.007 bulb. Car did leave good though and flashed converter at 5214 rpms and shifted 1-2 at 6561 rpms. Shifted 2-3 at 6262 rpms and then from 3rd gear into lockup very quickly this time (only .3 seconds on datalog) at 5903 rpms. Listening to the engine during the run and on the videos tells me that is gotta be slightly laboring the earlier I activate it… so I gotta still work on exactly how quick in 3rd gear to flip the button. Anyways, the car pulled through the line at 6490 rpms, (last run was 6491 rpms).


Timeslip:



Datalog:


Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH6yl1rVx8I



One day I want to overlay the two datalogs (P2 and P3) to see if I can learn something about the effect of the rpms I choose to lockup the converter at in 3rd gear.

The day was so relentlessly hot and after watching a few round of racing I packed up and headed for home. After driving only a little bit I noticed my battery voltage going low and there was an ever steady voltage drop as I drove home. The alternator was in nuclear meltdown and there was no recovering it. Made it within an actual mile of home before the volts were too home. Ran home on foot! Grabbed my battery box, went back, wired it up and drove the last mile home. That alternator is from May of 2016 and it has been through a tremendous amount of abuse, so it owes me nothing. It was a 140 amp powemaster unit. I bought a 220 amp TopStreet alternator via summit racing and it should be here tomorrow actually.

I gotta get this car turned around for the Camaro Nationals out in PA which is only 9 days away. So the drag setup comes off, everything gets cleaned, polished and setup for a 2+ hour drive and 2 day car show. https://camaronationals.org/


There is some stuff to discuss from my track-day but I can write about that soon; just wanted to get the recap typed up.

[townsend]

nice pass man! love that picture!

[IROCZman15]

Thanks man! much appreciated

Switched the wheels off the car, put the front sway-bar on, cleaned the interior and exterior and did the once-a-year polish/wax/shine routine.
I drove on out to the Camaro Nationals in Morgantown PA yesterday.
Car drove fantastic. Good amount of cars yesterday but probably close to 700 Camaros will be there today.
Also drove over to Maple Grove racetrack (15 minutes away) to watch some Friday night drag racing for a bit and then ripped a spirited drive through the Pennsylvania roads afterwards with some burnouts, and wound up at a BBQ and brisket place for a late dinner

I’ll fix the image hosting later, just posting a few quick photos.
Weather looks great for tomorrow, come on out!


























I unknowingly parked next to a big pile of dung when we went to the BBQ place.

[IROCZman15]

Photos from Day 2 of the event.
Saw a few familiar camaro buddies, some from this board too!

Afterwards, my buddy Joe and I had a damn good drive home. My car gave me zero issues, the entire 260+ miles of the event, and didn't even get that dirty. Converter lockup makes 75 mph on the highway effortless.
Not sure what is coming up next for events with the car, but I sure am havin fun with it.

[RamblerRacer]

We crossed paths again.
My cousin and I were at MG for Geezers at The Grove 7/20

[RamblerRacer]

Car looks good

[IROCZman15]

awesome! Wish I saw ya again. Yea, it was a fun filled weekend!