Getting my new 406 SBC installed, running, and driving

[IROCZman15]

Went over to Island Dragway this past Sunday knowing the track prep was going to be good. Knew I am not dialed in for a big bracket race, but since there was no available lanes for Test-n-Tune, I jumped into the N2 (10.00-11.99) Bracket for the Fall Nostalgia Event. Weather was stellar. There were a LOT of cars racing, plus they had 10 nostalgia alcohol funny cars and two nitromethane vintage funny cars, so lots of crowds that day. Got there way early before the gates opened and I was already at the end of a long line of traliers and cars. After I got in, I found an available spot wayyy up by the end of the 1/4 mile where the overhead E.T. and MPH signs are.

Each group only got 1 timeshot test pass in the morning, and then it would be on to round 1 eliminations where I fully expected to get knocked out. For my first pass, I had the car setup with The front skinnies at 48 psi. Rear tires at 17.6 psi. Rear air bags 7 psi drivers side and 10.2 psi passenger side. Rear shocks at 2.0 drivers side and 2.5 passenger side. The 150 jets were in it, and I am beginning to think that when i was doing the math to pick the jutting #'s for a 150 shot, I went too big on the fuel jet? Anyways, I had a progressive tuneup for that 150 shot, and it ramped in from a 75 shot to the 150 shot over 1.2 seconds, and timing ramps from 34.0 na to be 2.0 degrees while spraying the full 150 shot at 1.2 seconds in. Nitrous bottle pressure is kinda ballpark where it should be. My gauge at the bottom can say 1100, but hte one on my a-pillar nitrous gauge shows around 950, so I am going to have to figure that situation out, probably in wintertime, but I am guessing bottle pressure is closer to 1050psi.

Pass 1: Did a decent 6 second burnout. Was not concerned with reaction time, more about getting a good footbrake rpm at the line. Footbraked the car to 2506 rpms and let off sending the flash stall to 5130 rpms. I shifted 1st at 6622 rpms and the new converter put the 2nd gear rpms at 5562. I then short shifted the 2-3 shift at 6267 and it landed at 5724 in 3rd gear. I went through the finish line after hitting the top-end rev limiter on the nitrous file, so I got off the button and shifted 3-4 actually, just to see what it would do. I shifted from 3rd at 6243 and it brought rpms to 5482. Then i went through the traps finally, at 5518 rpms. The sixty foot felt great, but not earth shattering. I expected a good 1/8th mile but the back half of the track was going to be slower because of shifting into 4th and dogging the car down. I almost wish I had a better reaction time, because the race would have been a full side-by-side-to-the-finish race with the car next to me.

Timeslip:





datalog:

r





Go Pro Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDSobVZ62uk


Dash cam video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9LvPWdTtyY


Checked 3 plugs after the run and they were good. Looked at the datalog above and noticed what might be signs of knock in the rpm trace. Lowered rear tires to 17.0 psi, but all shock and suspension setting stayed the same. Decided to go add a little of the "race Fuel" additive that I used last year when doing full track nitrous passes. Decided to put a 10.55 e.t on the dial-in for round 1, and I moved the ramp nitrous come on with more % since I felt certain it would hook on the surface; after all, funny cars were! Did a 6 second burnout. Footbraked the rpms up to 3006 rpms which I quickly found out was just a little too muhc. the car began to push forward and I was staged so i couldn't back off. The car pushed through the beams and started the clock and thene I decided to hammer down anyways to get data and a full pass. Converter flashed to 5212. I hit the rev limiter in 1st gear and shifted away from that at 6558 which dropped roms to 5557 in 2nd gear. Shifted 2nd at 6360 and that landed a 5714 rpm in 3rd gear. Knowing that shifting into OD/4th was a bad idea, I figured it was time to lock up the converter so at 6108 rpms I hit the converter lockup button (too early?) and it pulled rpms down to 5729. I crossed the finish at 6389 rpms. On the datalog, the AFR was rich, the Closed Loop compensation was maxed out pulling 20% fuel almost the whole run (yellow line)....so either too big of a fuel jet or the issue with nitrous bottle pressure. ..also, i didn't really stand a chance of winning that round, the guy went 11.608 on an 11.60 dial-in.

Timeslip (my times all skewed because I rolled the beams and then launched, but the mph is useable):




Datalog:





GoPro video:

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


Dashcam video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs_ooW-f940



Hungout for a while with my Dad and some other racer buddies that were there; including jerry and his 57 in the N3 bracket. He was going rounds, winning like usual and picking up time/speed as the day went on but dead on his dial-ins and lights. Awesome! watched funny cars and gassers, and various groups of brackets run. After the funny cars made their last pass, most spectators cleared out. I asked the track staff if I could get one test-tune pass if there was a rbeak in the bracket action for a moment. They let me do so, and I was hopeful to redeem myself before heading home.


Pass 3: I loaded in a fixed 150-shot tuneup, one that I had used back in may 2022; no progressive nitrous ramp. All shock and airbag settings were the same but I lowerd rear tire pressure to 16.2 psi in both. Did a 6 second bunout. I footbraked, but never held a steady amount, so its aard to tell when I started to push the nose again, and unknown where I launched from. It does look like hte converter flashed around 4741 and I took first gear to 6515 rpms which dropped it into second at 5754. Took second gear to 6335 and this dropped into 3rd at 5733 rpms. Carried 3rd gear all the way to teh finish, and got off the nitrous which let me cross the line at 6503 rpms. AFR again was still very rich averaging 11.8-12.2 across most of the run. CL comp% was again maxed out removing fuel.


Timeslip:

datalog:




Dashcam video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAcgXHb51Ok

other video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9DFb0tErSg



Was decently happy with that, as it did hookup and launch pretty good but I think I gotta shot for a 2800 rpm footbrake launch. I am still hoping for that 1.3xx sixty-foot on a timeslip, and would love to run a real solid 10.4x quarter. I think it has it in it, the car pulls great and wicks through 1st gear wildly fast, but I think now my shifting habits from the old converter need to be adjusted so I stop hittingthe 1st gear limiter, and so I rev out 2nd gear more.

Anyways, I packe dup my gear, but I knew that Jerry was still in it, so I went down to watch him keep on doing what he does best. He went to the N3 brackt's finals, and won it. Got a nice trophy and that was real cool to see a friend win something at the track!

Video:

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




Some photos and funny car videos:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AArtLP0EdIE


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4XaGPf6bXM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OraVfYgXbY

the usual way I do the burnout:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM4i_1AKWrc





The wheelies I am getting:


The wheelie photo I want!!!


Pretty surprised It is wrinkling the sidewall of this drag radial. Slicks wrinkle for sure, but wasn't expecting this size drag radial to do so!




Jerry winning


And us heading out :

[thehazguy]

Dave, nice write up. Your work has really paid off. Nice to meet your dad and hang with you.

Thanks for the great video and pictures.

You forgot to post the picture of you holding the trophy in the winners circle.

Good day & good times

Friends "ROCK"

Here, I'll post it for you. Dave, yucking it up in the winner's circle.

Hope you don't mind.

[IROCZman15]

Thanks Jerry, I had a blast watching you win. well deserved. It was funny to stand there in the winners circle, but cool nonetheless!

I am planning to go to Island this Sunday for Test and Tune during the Mopar event.
Some things I want to try if I can get 5-6 passes in include.
- finally making an all motor pass withOUT touching the shifter. I have always force shifted the car, and I am wondering how good/bad it will do if I put the shifter in D(3rd) and let it do its thing!?!
- jetting down the 150 shot fuel jet to probably a .027 jet which i will buy at Bruces Speed shop when I get the nitrous filled on saturday.
- trying to figure out the big psi discrepancy in my ntrous bottle pressure gauges and determine which one is accurate.
- launching from a dead 920 rpm idle both N/A and on nitrous
- launching from a 2800 rpm footbrake both N/A and on nitrous
- maybe trying to short shift 1st (or at least not ouch the rev limiter on the 1-2 shift). while revving out the 2-3 shift longer

I think the car is capable of a 1.39 sixty foot on the nitrous, I just have to re-figure out what it likes best at the launch with the new converter. I do remember when talking to Yank converters, they said that the way they are setting up this converter is for quickness, so my mph being lower than the 126 and 127 mph is not surprising to me. A 10.5X on the 175 shot would be awesome. Then, maybe next spring I can go onto the 200 shot.


edit: my dad was there and took some videos. Here is a freeze-frame from the first pass (because I had no dial-in numbers written on the back glass) so this is when it went 1.424 in the sixty. I'm going to take some air out of the drivers bag and put some air into the passenger bag tomorrow.

[IROCZman15]

Whew, its been a busy week for sure, so I have not had a chance to get all the videos, datalogs, photos, and typing done until now...a week later. Damn!

I went to Island Dragway last Sunday, Oct 16 for the Test-N-Tune portion of the Mopar Event. Weather was pretty good and with no chance of rain, I knew that I would get at least 4 passes in. I ran into a snag beforehand though, because Bruce's Speed shop (and the other place in Belville) are both out of all Nitrous-Oxide for refills. Orders have been delayed and delayed again, next delivery date is supposed to be November 3rd. So I only had half a bottle of nitrous to work with. I decided I could experiment with the nitrous stuff at the end of the day, and I was going to experiment with different launch and shifting stuff on the all-moto passes early on. So that's what I did. FYI: I haven't really had a chance to dive deep into the datalogs just yet, but i did take a look at some of them the day at the track and a little bit while I was taking the below screenshot datalog photos; I do need to dig into them a little more before hitting the track again.

Pass 1:
Rear tires at 17.2 psi, rear shock a tad lower than previous events at 1.5 drivers and 2.0 passenger side. Rear air bags at 5psi Drivers and 18 psi passenger.
Since I put the engine in the car and began racing it back in the Spring of 2020, I have always force-shifted the gears on every pass. I never had just left the shifter in D (not D-overdrive, but just D which is 1-2-3), so this was a good opportunity to see exactly what the trans does and how the converter acts also. I did this for Pass 2 also, but with a different launch technique. So, on this pass, I did a 5 second burnout and rolled to the line. I decided top launch from a dead idle, which was at 956 rpm as per the datalog. The car left and converter flashed at 4797 rpms. It made the 1-2 shift EARLY which was at 5530 and brought eth rpms down to 5043. It then shifted the 2-3 shift real quick, almost instantly, and also low in the rpm band, at 5244 rpms and dropped it to 5019 rpms in 3rd gear. It was a long long pull all the way through 3rd gear, and I crossed the finish line at 5980 rpms. I fully expected something like a 12.60 time on the timeslip, so I was quite surprised when it showed an 11.81 at 113.3 mph ! The low rpm shifts and that very quick 2-3 shift right after the 1-2 shift was interesting.


Timeslip:



Datalog:
look at the rpm trace. wow. way different and more tame than the past few years!


Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfux4Xn5zsw



GoPro Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdvV7fHXbHI



Pass 2:
I kept the tune file and all the airbag, shock settings, and tire pressure 917.2 psi) the same. 5. second burnout. All I did on this pass differently, was launch the car from a higher footbrake rpm, but I still let the car shift itself. I wanted a good 60 foot comparison between launching off an idle (pass 1) and launching from a footbrake rpm. The car looks like it held up to 3211 rpms on the footbrake and after I launched it flashed to 4540 rpms. It did spin the rear tires just a bit, and you can hear it slip/grab on the video. It shifted itself at 5413 rpms and into 2nd gear at 4958 rpms. Sidenote- my TPS (green line) is not at 100% wide-open-throttle because during this point in the run, I noticed my windshield mounted rear view mirror must have vibrated itself loose recently and it began shaking all wildly so I was partially noticing that. Anyways, it shifted the 2-3 shift at 5195 and this dropped rpms to 5001 in 3rd gear. I crossed the finish line at 6050 rpms, mirror still shaking but not falling off.

Timeslip:



Datalog:
TPS trace is wiggly as I was half watching the mirror about to vibrate itself off. whoops!



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


GoPro:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxfFpvTkSGg




Pass 3:
Shock and airbag settings are the same, but I brought the rear tires down to 16.4 psi. These next two passes I wanted to shift the car where I typically shift but launch as I did in pass 1 and 2 for some comparison data. I did a 7 second burnout, and launched the car from a dead idle, which was 947 rpms. It flashed the converter to 4851 and then I shifted 1-2 at 6449 and it dropped to 5147 9which is more of a drop than I've seen in recent weeks using this new converter?). I made the 2-3 shift at 6279 rpms, and it dropped to 5152. Crossed the finish line at 6006 rpms. The big drop-off in rpms between the shifts is all of a sudden similar to my results with the Edge Racing converter, so that confused me. The yank converters datalogs can be seen in previous posts I made during the recent month since installing it. Strange, but ok? IT launched good, pulled the wheels up, and I shifted real close to my target rpms, nothing outrageous happened, so it is good comparison data to pass #1 where I launched from an idle also. sixty foot times were close, but E.T. i went faster on pass 1 which had MUCH lower rpm shift points.

Timeslip:



Datalog:




Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jgbantIaVQ


GoPro video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poDYweKiyhg






Pass 4:
Rear tires were both at 16.6 so I left them there. Decent 6 second burnout. Brought the rpms up to 2564 and left off the footbrake. Flashed at 4856 rpms, and shifted 1-2 at 6450 which dropped it to 5233 in second gear. Shifted 2-3 at 6285 and dropped to 5331. Crossed the finish line at 6013 rpms.

Timeslip:


Datalog:




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


GoPro Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X-69XNWX_M




I figured I had gotten some good info for comparing footbrake vs idle launches and me shifting vs trans shifting itself, and I might enough time to turn on the nitrous bottle and make two passes. Remembering that I had been overfueling the nitrous the other weekend, I did two things to compensate for it; in hindsight, I should have just done one. First, I left the fuel jet set for the 150 shot and put the nitrous jet for a 175 shot in the plate. I left the ClosedLoop Compensation fueling range to =/- 20% thinking this should cover it. The other thing I did, and this was because for a few months I have had a substantial PSI difference in what my two nitrous system pressure gauges are reading. The one mounted to the bottle never zeroes out even when system is disconnected, it is always reading 175-200 psi. The one in the a-pillar drops down to zero. The gauge at the bottle I have had probably 8 years now, so its seen its life, but I wasn't sure which one to trust. In recent months I have still trusted the bottle gauge, so when I have been making nitrous passes, I let it get to 1,000 psi and in-turn, the one on my a-pillar is reading in the 850 range. However, for Sunday's race day, I decided to try to rely on the a-pillar one and I heated the bottle up so that the A pillar gauge read 1,000 psi. Therefore, the gauge at the bottle was 1,200 psi, probably closer to 1,225. Again, experimental situation here.


Pass 5:
Tires at 16.6 psi all other settings the same, did a 6 second burnout. Launched from a 957 rpm idle and the nitrous was set to start coming on at 3300 rpms. It did, and it flashed the converter to 5976 according to the datalog. It spun the tire a very slight amount, I did a quick pedal of the throttle, Shifted 1-2 at 6353 rpms and this dropped it to 5639 in second gear. Should have started looking more intently at my AFR gauges, because AFR was dangerous, but thankfully the safe-guards I put into the tune-file caught it and turned off the system. I have the high side limit set to anything over 13.5 afr for more than .5 seconds, it kills the nitrous and runs all motor. But here is where I am still confused, as the rest of the lame and confused pass, the AFR still stayed pretty lean.. see the pink line, thats actual AFR and it should be very tight to the light-blue line (target AFR) that is below it. Not good. Got nervous after that run, which was unsuccessful in having a good timeslip whatsoever. Event eh 60 foot was off, it should be at least low 1.4s, yikes.

Timeslip:



Datalog:



Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29Otnd0TRF8


GoPro video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kocRzpdDlPY




Pass 6. I knew lanes were closing and I had almost no time. I pulled up to my spot in the pits, gabbed the computer and a spark plug socket and went right into the lanes before they closed. Pulled two plugs and thankfully they looks ok. wow, whew. I didn't have time to change the nitrous jets, so I did what I thought was my only option, I opened up the ClosedLoop Cfuel compensation limits to 60%. and re-uploaded the file. In hindsight, now that I think of it... I could have simply lowered bottle pressure, and kept the jets and CL comp the same, but it did not dawn on me until the ride home. This time instead of leaving from an idle, I footbraked to 2209 rpms and it flashed at 4691. AFR numbers were getting wild, so I abandoned the run.


Timeslip:



Datalog:



Video: no need for video here, just a bad run.






Packed up the tools and headed home, this time it was NOT raining so that was a bonus.
Typing this up hopefully will help me get my brain into the data I obtained regarding if all-motor the car launches faster and runs a better ET if I footbrake, and/or if I let it shift itself vs me power-shifting. Wish the nitrous passes went better, but I was experimenting. I called Bruce's speed shop again and hopefully I can get a bottle filled November 3rd and ALSO buy a new in-line nitrous PSI gauge to mount at the bottle, as I do think the 8 year old gauge is reading incorrectly.







Any launch photos are of the car all-motor as the photographers were not taking photos during the late afternoon nitrous attempts/fails.

[townsend]

great passes. i clicked off a 10.84 at 123 on a 150shot super super rich (like low 11.xx on the afr gauge) this past sunday at island. Love your car man

[IROCZman15]

thats awesome. a nice solid 10.80 feels great in the seat, doesn't it! Very cool. We could have a nice side by side run one day.

I'm hopeful to get tot eh track either this weekend or the following weekend. I would prefer to make some nitrous passes, but I only have like 3 pounds left in the bottle and Bruce has been waiting on his nitrous delivery for over a month, so there is still none to be had. Last I spoke with him on the phone, the tentative delivery date is November 3rd, so I will be calling him then to see if it arrived. Where doyou usually get nitrous filled at? I tried Spencers speed shop as well as a few others, but everyone is still waiting on suppliers to supply.
I'm itching to see if this car can go a nice low 10.5 or high 10.4x before the winter happens. You planning on heading back to the track this year ?

[townsend]

Originally Posted by IROCZman15

thats awesome. a nice solid 10.80 feels great in the seat, doesn't it! Very cool. We could have a nice side by side run one day.

I'm hopeful to get tot eh track either this weekend or the following weekend. I would prefer to make some nitrous passes, but I only have like 3 pounds left in the bottle and Bruce has been waiting on his nitrous delivery for over a month, so there is still none to be had. Last I spoke with him on the phone, the tentative delivery date is November 3rd, so I will be calling him then to see if it arrived. Where doyou usually get nitrous filled at? I tried Spencers speed shop as well as a few others, but everyone is still waiting on suppliers to supply.
I'm itching to see if this car can go a nice low 10.5 or high 10.4x before the winter happens. You planning on heading back to the track this year ?

yes, hoping to get there again either this sunday or next sunday. i cant get my bottles filled, they are out of date, but the previous owner has 2 bottles with 6lbs in em, so hoping to pick those up saturday and atleast get a few more passes in. i figured out that my 2005 vintage mallory 685 is making the car break up etc on motor and on spray, so disconnecting that and hoping this summit window switch shows up by saturday.

i think i can get down to 10.7x if i can get the car to not foul the plugs and break up at the top of 2nd and 3rd. i went a 1.46 60ft on that 10.84 pass, so i think it has the potential

I have a buddy in pa that fills bottles, but its an hour from me in warren county, so i imagine it would be a very very long ride for you.

I gotta start a thread about the formula

[IROCZman15]

nice! and thats a great sixty too, but it still has even more potential too. Definitely.
Yea, PA would be a bit far to travel. I called 4 places today and all of them said they no longer are involved with the nitrous filling business so that was tough to hear that up by me it will probably only ever be Bruce's Speed Shop and Spencer's. Dismal future for nitrous street cars here in New Jersey I guess!

[wretched73]

Originally Posted by IROCZman15

nice! and thats a great sixty too, but it still has even more potential too. Definitely.
Yea, PA would be a bit far to travel. I called 4 places today and all of them said they no longer are involved with the nitrous filling business so that was tough to hear that up by me it will probably only ever be Bruce's Speed Shop and Spencer's. Dismal future for nitrous street cars here in New Jersey I guess!

Sounds like this winter's project is a turbo??

[IROCZman15]

haha, nah, not for this car. I have always planned to keep it a nitrous car for a variety of reasons. I could go into detail if curious, but this car is going to stay real close to its current state/usage for a few years while I keep stockpiling money to hopefully eventually buy that 1975 Pro Street camaro that belonged to my uncle 3 decades ago....

So far no major winter upgrades but a lot of TLC items and beneficial improvements are on deck. Called Bruce's today and dang, kinda expected it, but they are delayed again until this upcoming Monday on the supplier making the delivery. So I still want to go to the track this weekend, but Sunday is the only day they are open. I could make some all-motor passes and hope to improve upon the PB of 11.67; and then I might have 3-4 pounds of nitrous left in the tank, so maybe I could try one nitrous run towards the end of the day. That's the gameplan at this point

[sweetbmxrider]

Get some medical grade nox from a welding supply

[townsend]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

Get some medical grade nox from a welding supply

i just applied for my permit to purchase mother tanks. once i get that we will be ok, i got you dave

[IROCZman15]

Adam, yes definitiely.
Sometime last year I was in my local welding supply shop (county welding in Wharton, NJ) and I asked them about how I could go about getting nitrous through them. They hemmed-and-hawed about how its not something that they have done before and they were unsure of the feasibility. I let that topic sit there at that point, but recently I called Praxair (in Dover, which is now changed names to Linde Welding Gas supply) and asked them also; kinda expected and got the same answer.
Bruce does sell the medical grade nitrous and I even asked him what I would do if he ever went empty long-term. He said its possible to do what townsend is doing, but we didnt get into too much details. Last week when I was hunting for nitrous I called a bunch of NJ speed shops and followed some leads, and one guy was giving me all these reasons why its going to be such a hassle for me(a hobby racer) to get my own mother bottle. Stuff related to the government CDC, regulations, and audits, etc. Sounded wild, but I think he was laying it on a little thick. Anyways, I think that this winter I might do more solid research and find out how I can go about following Townsend's footsteps, and plan on getting a mother bottle to keep here at my house. I'll always keep this car a nitrous car, and my late uncles 75 camaro is also a nitrous car, so I will want to have a relaible source for bottle fills long-term.
If I try to plan on going to the dragstrip to do more competitive bracket-racing events, I will probably run the car more all-motor since it can be more consistent. But for the "glory" timeslip runs, nitrous will be used.

Townsend, as you go through the process, if you want to PM me or write about it on here, feel free. It would be good info to learn. I do have my nitrous permit to posses/purchase nitrous with the state, and I have had it for probably 8 years now, so i am hoping that smooths the process along. They I assume it would be convincing one my local welding gas supply stores to help me acquire the bottle.


oh, and bummer, rained out today. Car packed up, fueled up, food packed, and ready to race...but rain all day means the track is closed. I am keeping it all setup and ready so that when next Sunday comes, I am good to go.

[wretched73]

I've hear of too many accidents that happen when filling nitrous tanks. I do a lot of risky **** but there is a 0% chance I'd ever mess with filling my own tanks.

[townsend]

Originally Posted by wretched73

I've hear of too many accidents that happen when filling nitrous tanks. I do a lot of risky **** but there is a 0% chance I'd ever mess with filling my own tanks.

I work with refrigerant on a daily basis, i am an hvac tech. All nitrous is is a pressurized gas and has a gaseous state and a liquid state. Nitrous itself is very safe. the accidents you probably are seeing are people that are STUPID and using a torch to heat a mother bottle, filling bottles with no relief/gauge etc.

mother tank with a heater/hot water bath, 10lb bottle that was chilled in a freezer, and a scale. its that easy.

Originally Posted by IROCZman15

Adam, yes definitiely.
Sometime last year I was in my local welding supply shop (county welding in Wharton, NJ) and I asked them about how I could go about getting nitrous through them. They hemmed-and-hawed about how its not something that they have done before and they were unsure of the feasibility. I let that topic sit there at that point, but recently I called Praxair (in Dover, which is now changed names to Linde Welding Gas supply) and asked them also; kinda expected and got the same answer.
Bruce does sell the medical grade nitrous and I even asked him what I would do if he ever went empty long-term. He said its possible to do what townsend is doing, but we didnt get into too much details. Last week when I was hunting for nitrous I called a bunch of NJ speed shops and followed some leads, and one guy was giving me all these reasons why its going to be such a hassle for me(a hobby racer) to get my own mother bottle. Stuff related to the government CDC, regulations, and audits, etc. Sounded wild, but I think he was laying it on a little thick. Anyways, I think that this winter I might do more solid research and find out how I can go about following Townsend's footsteps, and plan on getting a mother bottle to keep here at my house. I'll always keep this car a nitrous car, and my late uncles 75 camaro is also a nitrous car, so I will want to have a relaible source for bottle fills long-term.
If I try to plan on going to the dragstrip to do more competitive bracket-racing events, I will probably run the car more all-motor since it can be more consistent. But for the "glory" timeslip runs, nitrous will be used.

Townsend, as you go through the process, if you want to PM me or write about it on here, feel free. It would be good info to learn. I do have my nitrous permit to posses/purchase nitrous with the state, and I have had it for probably 8 years now, so i am hoping that smooths the process along. They I assume it would be convincing one my local welding gas supply stores to help me acquire the bottle.


oh, and bummer, rained out today. Car packed up, fueled up, food packed, and ready to race...but rain all day means the track is closed. I am keeping it all setup and ready so that when next Sunday comes, I am good to go.

You have your permit already, thats all that is needed. these gas suppliers are a pain to get a bottle from even with the permit. From what i know, once you have the permit, that is it. You just have to keep receipts of your mother bottle purchases. What the other guy was referring to is if you actually sell sell nitrous, then you have to keep crazy records for 2 years etc.

i was in the same boat sunday, spent saturday getting the car ready again, then sunday morning rain in phillipsburg

but i did get a few street pulls on the bottle saturday night to make sure my tune was correctly pulling timing and window switch was working. she felt much better now that i took the mallory 685 off

[IROCZman15]

good point wretched, I've considered that aspect of things too. I'd find a way to make it as safe as possible. Topic I will research over the winter in detail. Definitely interested in the details as Townsend goes about it too though

[townsend]

rained out again ��

[thehazguy]

and next week looks cold with snow showers early

[IROCZman15]

yea, definitely another big bummer about another rain-out.
jeez
Tough to be hopeful for any upcoming weekends, but I am going to leave the car packed with the racing gear in it for one more weekend. If that gets canceled, I will just take the car out one day/night and beat on it as much as I can get away with, so I can go into the 4 month winter break feeling less dismal about future excitement with the car.

[townsend]

Originally Posted by IROCZman15

yea, definitely another big bummer about another rain-out.
jeez
Tough to be hopeful for any upcoming weekends, but I am going to leave the car packed with the racing gear in it for one more weekend. If that gets canceled, I will just take the car out one day/night and beat on it as much as I can get away with, so I can go into the 4 month winter break feeling less dismal about future excitement with the car.

2 sundays left and black friday

[V]

Originally Posted by townsend

2 sundays left and black friday

I need to get there myself

[thehazguy]

Today's text from Island Dragway

SUBJ:Island Dragway
MSG: Due to continuing low overnight temps, we are now CLOSED for the season.

See you in 2023

[IROCZman15]

total bummer.

[townsend]

yep, so mad im taking my engine out lmao

[IROCZman15]

Haven't had much time to do anything with the car in quite a while. Hadn't even washed it since October. Drove it around occasionally. I have a small task list of things to do this winter on it.


- Holley RetroBright Headlights
- Check Balancer and pulleys
- Cut 1/4 coil off of rear coil springs
- Buy spare 10 pound nitrous tank
- Vaccum pump (electric)
- new side window weatherstripping
- Buy spare U-joints and spare rubber trans mount
- Poly grease everything


I saw that Holley had a big savings sale a few weeks ago, and it was my time to save $80 on the pair of the RetroBrights. For owning this car for almost 23 years, I have only ever had the glass sealed-beam oem style headlights on this car. Never did anything different, just didn't fit the look for me. With Holley now making the look-alike version of a 3,000 k LED and in plug and play I decided to go for it. I put these in earlier today and only did a test comparison during the daytime and on the bask-side of the garage door. Not sure if I will get out to drive this car at night since the winter weather is basically here.









side by side. new light vs oem style sealed beam that I removed.






Drivers side is the new holley light passenger side is oem style




Garage lights all off, and lights on the back-side of the garage door. drivers side is new light and passenger is oem style


finished: