Chevelle upgrades.
- Thread starter rfletes79
- Start date
Lmao, they really butchered it bad. FLETES, it’s definitely an L not an i. If you pronounce all the ‘e’s exactly the same you’ll get it right.
:rofl:
Pretty cool they were so pumped on the car. Of course the attention to detail and top notch execution never hurts
Pretty cool they were so pumped on the car. Of course the attention to detail and top notch execution never hurts
Well this season is coming to an end. We’ve been busy throughout the summer with the Midwest drags, local racing here on the west coast and now the season finale in Vegas at Street Car Super nationals 15. We’ve put a couple hundred passes on the car this year and about 14k miles. It still surprises me everyday I drive it. This last trip was down to Vegas. Left the house this morning for the 575mile trip. Loaded the car yesterday and drove her down today. Cruising 80-85 passing everything in sight and still getting 25mpg. We start making passes tomorrow thru the weekend. Not looking for any records just want to do well in our class then drive her home. Not sure what the winter upgrades or changes will be. We might start on another long block with our Socal rods and I’d also like to build another trans combo. We’ll see how much I have to spend on it, might not be doing any upgrades this winter....
The changes we did make since May were, converter changes (which we had to go back to our May one) didn’t work out well. Ended up burning up the trans driving the car down to Bakersfield with too loose of a converter. Then we got a set of Ricks log headers and up pipes. Had to make some mods to get them in but they look good!! Also tried a bigger exh housing, which really didn’t seem to help any... kinda weird. Put in a 12mil pump and Upped our nitrous jets for the npk’s race and everything held together. Also added ac to the car over the summer. Not sure why I waited so long for this. It works so good and is nice to have on hot days. I need to re-configure the cooling package as the added heat exchange is taxing the current setup, this I will do over the winter.
I’ll attach some pics of these changes. It’s been a great year. Hoping next year is bigger better and FASTER!!!
The changes we did make since May were, converter changes (which we had to go back to our May one) didn’t work out well. Ended up burning up the trans driving the car down to Bakersfield with too loose of a converter. Then we got a set of Ricks log headers and up pipes. Had to make some mods to get them in but they look good!! Also tried a bigger exh housing, which really didn’t seem to help any... kinda weird. Put in a 12mil pump and Upped our nitrous jets for the npk’s race and everything held together. Also added ac to the car over the summer. Not sure why I waited so long for this. It works so good and is nice to have on hot days. I need to re-configure the cooling package as the added heat exchange is taxing the current setup, this I will do over the winter.
I’ll attach some pics of these changes. It’s been a great year. Hoping next year is bigger better and FASTER!!!
What gets me more than anything is how well you set the chassis up to handle the torque. That car leaves straight and even. Very, very well done, Rick.
9's with the AC on. :hehe: Love it. :thumb:
9's with the AC on. :hehe: Love it. :thumb:
Thx Tom. It’s been a lot of work. Suspension changes, tires and tuning. Just in the last 16 months it’s progressed so much. This pic here was from last summer, just 15 months ago.
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I have to say most guys underestimate the car. Especially when they see the trailer hitch on it. Great Job Rick!! Let me know if we can help with anything else!
2020 season has begun!! We had our first test session this weekend and go right into the NHRA Winter Nationals. We’ve never participated in an NHRA National event and have been trying to go for the last 2 years. We got lucky and got a spot in Super Street (10.90 index). Hooking my camper to the car and heading to SoCal Wednesday. Going to show them what diesels are all about!!
If all goes well we will be heading East next month for ODSS opening day at ECD then following the circuit into June. The car will stay in Florida then in Indiana during these months and it’ll take us into the Midwest drags in June again. Lots of racing the first part of the year, so didn’t do many upgrades this winter. Just made changes to the nitrous and added a second solenoid, second bottle and a progressive controller. We can now use the nitrous right on the starting line and throughout the entire pass with tons of adjustability/tuning. Should make for some fun times
. I managed to make 1 test hit yesterday with it on and screwed up my shifting. Just need more seat time with the new setup to get it right.
If all goes well we will be heading East next month for ODSS opening day at ECD then following the circuit into June. The car will stay in Florida then in Indiana during these months and it’ll take us into the Midwest drags in June again. Lots of racing the first part of the year, so didn’t do many upgrades this winter. Just made changes to the nitrous and added a second solenoid, second bottle and a progressive controller. We can now use the nitrous right on the starting line and throughout the entire pass with tons of adjustability/tuning. Should make for some fun times
. I managed to make 1 test hit yesterday with it on and screwed up my shifting. Just need more seat time with the new setup to get it right.
Yes, it lines up with the Midwest drags. We finish our last track at Norwalk Friday the 5th prob at about 4 or 5 pm. We’ll pack up and head to Xenia, hopefully make a hit Friday night. If we miss Friday then we will be ready for Saturday either way.
Got ya
As of now I plan on running the ET Class there.
Hoping my uncle gets invited back to race again. That’s part of his off season this year so we shall see.
Oh boy, that'll work!!!! :thumb:
I dont know if you knew it or not, but CompD is having a big reunion bash at that ODR race at Kilkare in Xenia on June 5th and 6th.
Firepunk is hosting the party, IIRC. There's also a tour/party planned at, I believe, Mayer Farm Equipment in Jeffersonville, OH on Thurs the 4th.
Ive been planning on going to this since November. Would be a great addition to see the Chevelle and you in person.
I dont know if you knew it or not, but CompD is having a big reunion bash at that ODR race at Kilkare in Xenia on June 5th and 6th.
Firepunk is hosting the party, IIRC. There's also a tour/party planned at, I believe, Mayer Farm Equipment in Jeffersonville, OH on Thurs the 4th.
Ive been planning on going to this since November. Would be a great addition to see the Chevelle and you in person.
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Oh boy, that'll work!!!! :thumb:
I dont know if you knew it or not, but CompD is having a big reunion bash at that ODR race at Kilkare in Xenia on June 5th and 6th.
Firepunk is hosting the party, IIRC. There's also a tour/party planned at, I believe, Mayer Farm Equipment in Jeffersonville, OH on Thurs the 4th.
Ive been planning on going to this since November. Would be a great addition to see the Chevelle and you in person.
Sweet, we got a long road these next few months but this is the plan.
The kit that we added is run off this pressure switch. Once armed then it relies on boost to activate it and its adjustable. Currently set for 27psi, so essentially right when I let go of the trans brake.
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Well didn’t realize this thread had not been updated in over 2 years 
. I thought I had posted somewhere here about the latest engine in the car. I’m sure I did, I think it was on another thread where we were talking about the SoCal rods. Anyways. Here’s a list of current parts/mods in the past 2yrs or so.
.020 over Mahle race cast pistons, SoCal street rods, SoCal 6480af, s&s 14mm pump and 150% injectors, 5 blade s472, stock cali heads with SoCal springs, 4L80 Reid case, Jake’s brake, aermet input, billet direct drum, billet main, billet od, billet clutch hub. And lots of nitrous.
The trans combo went in in august of 2020. Engine in in October of 2020. Got the car into the 5’s first pass out at SCSN 2020. Made some real good headway first 6 months of 2021 and picked up 10 mph and best of 5.64@125.
The nitrous, been running 2 super pro shot solenoids this whole time with the combo above. Each capable of flowing 400hp. We’ve typically ran a 52-63 jet, with 4 nozzles. Sometimes as small as 31-35 jets. Just for reference the 31 jets are 30hp each. While the biggest jet we’ve ran is the 78 which is 200hp.
Car has never been on a dyno but has trapped 160mph in the 1/4 with the 4-78 jets. Typically goes 153-156 with the 63’s
First season with this engine was about 300 passes. This second season is on track for another 300. Would have never though this combo would work so well, live at this power level and still be super streetable. Last year we put about 5k miles on the car. This year we are about 3k, but still have a few more events planned and lots of street driving.
We struggled a lot last year and this year with the ring and pinion. We’ve broke 3 sets of street gears and just last week got a new street gear to try. I did find the elusive 9.5” 2.91 pro gear late last year. We’ve ran it without any issues for about 7 months of the last 8, but really don’t want to wear it out. Hoping this new street gear is the answer.
Tons of data, info and broken parts over the last 2 years in the trans and converter. Specially with lock up. This was a huge learning curve for sure. But think we finally got it figured out. Time will tell.
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. I thought I had posted somewhere here about the latest engine in the car. I’m sure I did, I think it was on another thread where we were talking about the SoCal rods. Anyways. Here’s a list of current parts/mods in the past 2yrs or so. .020 over Mahle race cast pistons, SoCal street rods, SoCal 6480af, s&s 14mm pump and 150% injectors, 5 blade s472, stock cali heads with SoCal springs, 4L80 Reid case, Jake’s brake, aermet input, billet direct drum, billet main, billet od, billet clutch hub. And lots of nitrous.
The trans combo went in in august of 2020. Engine in in October of 2020. Got the car into the 5’s first pass out at SCSN 2020. Made some real good headway first 6 months of 2021 and picked up 10 mph and best of 5.64@125.
The nitrous, been running 2 super pro shot solenoids this whole time with the combo above. Each capable of flowing 400hp. We’ve typically ran a 52-63 jet, with 4 nozzles. Sometimes as small as 31-35 jets. Just for reference the 31 jets are 30hp each. While the biggest jet we’ve ran is the 78 which is 200hp.
Car has never been on a dyno but has trapped 160mph in the 1/4 with the 4-78 jets. Typically goes 153-156 with the 63’s
First season with this engine was about 300 passes. This second season is on track for another 300. Would have never though this combo would work so well, live at this power level and still be super streetable. Last year we put about 5k miles on the car. This year we are about 3k, but still have a few more events planned and lots of street driving.
We struggled a lot last year and this year with the ring and pinion. We’ve broke 3 sets of street gears and just last week got a new street gear to try. I did find the elusive 9.5” 2.91 pro gear late last year. We’ve ran it without any issues for about 7 months of the last 8, but really don’t want to wear it out. Hoping this new street gear is the answer.
Tons of data, info and broken parts over the last 2 years in the trans and converter. Specially with lock up. This was a huge learning curve for sure. But think we finally got it figured out. Time will tell.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk