Hey Walt , Did you get the new engine in the Dart yet?
You been runing on Sundays?

 

now now people... what are your favorite places to travel to?

 

So, Tall Sheila
What do you race, and where?

 

Tall do you race this cruise ship?
How many knots to a quarter mile?

 

I just put the 431 in on Monday. I haven't fired it up in the Dart yet, we ran it on the run-in stand last fall. I had to change a few things to fit the 2 1/8 TTI's in there. The little Schumacher headers were so easy! I bought a special wrench from TTI that only worked on three of the plugs. The socket I had worked on three other plugs. I need to create a socket for the last two plugs.
I have been running Sundays. This coming weekend there is no points race. That is why I decided to change the engine now. I have almost two weeks to get it swapped and running. I would like to get some runs this weekend and do some tuning.
We had quite a few rainouts. I ran 4 Saturdays; I won a Gambler's Race, I went to the semi's at Musclepalooza, I cracked a convertor and only made one pass, and I won another Gambler's race. I ran 7 Sundays... Usually out in 1st or 2nd round, one trip to the semi's (six rounds).

 

Wow, Sounds like you've been having fun.
What made you decde to swap engines now and not wait till the end of the season?
I just fired up the Demon tonight. To bad it was 9:00pm and my kids are in bed. I only fired it for about 10-20 seconds. Tomorrow I'll Let her rip, get the tranny fluid up to level, and let her warm up a bit so I can do the final valve adjustment.

I hear you about the spark plugs, the ProParts headers don't make it easy either. I would hate to have to pull them at the track, or with the engine hot.
Good luck getting it going soon.
Are you going up on both Saturday and Sunday's?
If so You will probably catch me up there in about 3 weeks.
Going on vacation for a week then I still need to get the rear gears swapped again, Put the new belts in, seat bracket, and a few other odds and ends.
Do you know if the M2000 Helmets are still good for this year? If not I'll have to pick up a new one of those also.

 

Next gap in points races is September. I didn't want to change the engine right before Bracket Finals. This gives me some time for tuning. If I waited until after Bracket Finals, the next weekend is Mopar day, points race the weekend after that, it would be October 9th before I could change it. Last track day is October 29th.

I bought an old 1979 Minnie Winnie on a Dodge van chassis. I leave it at the track. I go up Saturday morning and come home on Sunday.

I think M2000 is good.

 

It has to be a Snell M and not a DOT M helmet.

According to the NHRA Rulebook, a "Snell M" is the same thing or equal to SFI Spec 41.1A (open face) or a 41.2A (full face) helmet. Also, the Snell K-98 is acceptable in place of any Snell M-rated helmet (or vice versa).

Here is the list of approved helmets:

Snell 95, K98, 2000, 2005 or SFI 31.1, 31.2, 31.1A, 31.2A, 31.1/2005, 41.1, 41.2, 41.1A, 41.2A, or 41.1/2005.

 

That is of course if your track tech inspector knows and/or checks. The things I've seen at some tracks

 

Thanks for the info on the Helmet.
The tech inspector ALWAYS checks mine.
Just haven't been there this year to know if it was still good, and it is an M2000

 

No problemo, as an ex NHRA bronze tech inspector I still try to keep current on the rules.

 

It's in there...

 

It looks good in there too. =D>
What do you think this one will pull the Dart through the traps at?

 

I was shooting for 10.90. I was still planning on 11.0X street racing when I thought this 431 up...
Jimi and Denny think it's going to be quicker....

 

It does look good in there Walt!!! =D>

 

Walt,
You need to post up some times, if you get to run it this weekend.
Looking forward to hearing how it runs.

 

Track was a disaster on Saturday, and then it rained... I got 3 passes in. Not enough to do any real tuning. 11.79, 11.69 and 11.73. I made 1 timing adjustment.
Sunday I dropped the jetting by 4. ET dropped to 11.62, MPH up to 115.97. Points day so no other changes. I bulbed in the 4th round.
11.62 is a new low for me. The 383 ran 11.63 in perfect air back in April. It is no where near where it should be. The weather and bad track days don't allow much tuning... Which it obviously needs...

 

Ok. I am trying for 3 days this weekend.
http://www.dragway.com/Drags/Misc/NOF06ad.pdf

 

Night of Fire:

11.606@116.00



Found a bad spark plug Friday night. Ran 10.840@123.56 Saturday!

 

Oh WOW!
You have got to be Happy with that Number. =D>
How did it feel?
I hope it was one of the easier plugs to get to, but I suspect it wasn't.

Hey , When did you decide to put all the stickers on?

 

Very happy with that number! I was aiming for 10.90's when I was putting this engine together. I was still hoping for 11.0's in the Street class. This is with the Dynomax Super Turbos on. Now that I race Pro it doesn't matter, I can put the loud mufflers on (or no mufflers). I have the 750 Mighty Demon from the 383 on it, I have a 1000 Demon sitting there...
It felt great after I changed that plug! That 10.84 was with a hiccup out of the hole because of the lack of jet extensions. (and a 1.555 60') I have a set with a notched float but they were sitting home on the K-car. I did manage to borrow a set of slip on extensions which did clear up the hiccup(s) on launch. I ran a 10.89 on Sunday, but redlit in the 1st round...
None of the plugs are easy with this combo; low deck, B1/BS heads, TTI 2 1/8 stepped headers and an A-body. Plug 1 is ok with the kevlar glove so I can check jetting. TTI sells a special wrench that makes it possible to do most of the plugs. I am glad I bought it! Plug 4 is almost impossible. I made a custom socket; I shortened, rounded off some of the hex and drilled the inside of a cheap spark plug socket. I could tighten it but it is still too long to remove the plug.

The stickers went on for/at the Bracket Finals last year. They pay contingencies for that event. As long as the stickers were going on I added the Vignogna Racing, V&V, RMS (Bill Reilly from BigBlockDart.com and the AlterKtion) and NEBR.
http://bbdart.com/mycar/dart/dcp00501.jpg

 

Looking good Walt And Congratz on all your hard work!!!

 

Man, with some tuning, it will be even quicker.
I figured you stickered it for the contingencies.
Looking good.
So are you keeping the street tires, or switching to some real slicks now?

 

Is it still streetable Walter?

 

I test drove it on the street when I put the engine in. I will keep it as a "street" car. I may try "loud" mufflers and slicks someday, but it is supposed to be a street car.