delete - see previous

Well, rear is quiet and has survived some more runs (without the trans brake so far). Best run so far is 11.20 @ 119mph in the warmer humid air we have been having. Looks like I might have to wait until cooler weather in the Fall to try to get into the 10's - hot humid air really saps the power out of the engine (lower oxygen content per volume so cannot burn as much fuel). But I still don't know if and how much the trans brake will help. Right now I am leaving off the light at about 1500rpm. My peak torque is around 4500, so there is some potential for reducing the 60" time when using the trans brake to get up into the power band - exactly how much remains to be seen. Still haven't been able to put my eyeball on the A/F meter during a run ALL THIS YEAR - it's very strange - I think about it while staging but once I hit second gear it's long forgotten!

Wife bought me my birthday present early - a Daytona Sensors CD-1 Ignition Box and coil. This box not only does the CD multi-spark ignition, it also is a three step rev limiter (engine max, burnout, and stage), a limited data logger, interfaces with a laptop, and does programmed timing curves. Also has MAP sensor input available for 3D timing curves and ignition retard when you have a turbo (which I don't), but you can also program a timing retard during starting. You can build custom advance curves for a distributor with locked out mechanical advance and download them to the box. I intend to use the staging rev limiter to control my engine to a specific rpm 3000 or above while on the trans brake, instead of just going full throttle against it. My converter actually stalls at 4100 rpm when full throttle against the trans brake, so there is a range from 3000 - 4100rpm where I can investigate in 100 rpm increments what might be best rpm to leave at.

Once I lock out the centrifugal advance in my distributor and unplug the vacuum advance, I can change my timing by simply downloading a different advance curve (instead of turning the distributor). Pretty nice I think for investigating even 1° difference at a time in total timing!! and easy to return to exactly the same place!

As far as data logging I can hook up my wideband A/F gauge and digital speedo sensor and log engine RPM/Timing/fuel mix/vehicle speed - and download it to my laptop later for analysis to look at converter efficiency, wheel spin off the line, fuel mixture during the run, and know exactly what RPM it actually shifted.

I'm not planning on it, but you can set the box up to control relays to actually shift your trans at programmed RPMs for individual shift points. You see that happening on the Street Outlaw cars where they shift themselves during a run. Of course theirs is also controlling their fuel injection system where mine is not.

Probably much more I could do with it, but I think it's a pretty cool little box to play with. Hope to get it installed soon.

CD-1? Ignition Systems Overview | Daytona Sensors?

Here's the 11.20 run from two weekends ago. Note that shock adjustment on the front is keeping the front wheels down a bit more when doing the hit using my off-idle staging technique. We will have to see what the front end does using the trans brake. Should be interesting. Maybe spin and slower time? Maybe hook and really go!!

Nice run.

For the starts it will be interesting to see what will happen with your trans-brake.
Looking forward to see the results and how the suspension will react. As always it may come down to find the best balance. I could imagine that the transfer of force to the rear and downwards helps grip but at the same time de-stabilizes the front.

For a stranger. Would you consider this to be a nice drag strip? Looking good, new pavement?

Weit's a very old drag strip started in the 1950s still run by the same people. Old surface and definitely not perfect but they do prep it, even for test and tune on Fridays. It is IHRA sanctioned. Not many small 1/4 mile tracks out there these days - most are 1/8 mile to keep speeds down and that is not preferable to me. We consider ourselves to be lucky to still have it. They have a live Facebook feed on most race days if you want to watch sometime. Osceola Raceway. Just a bunch of locals.

Some success with the data logging, but have been fighting it for several weeks now. Here is AFR vs RPM. Seems a bit noisy and I have yet to get the driveshaft speed logging to work. Getting zero help from Daytona Sensors so far. I really disappointed in that after having spent $600. Haven't tried hooking up the 2-step rev limiter for use with the trans brake, or tried locking out the distributor and using the programmable timing curves yet - but that seems to be something I can go ahead and try with this box next. I've been to distracted in trying to get the noise down and the VSS working, but I guess I'll go ahead and try some other things working.

Interesting to follow these plots through a run. Mostly 12.5 to 13.0 AFR through the three gears with a brief temporary leaning out to around 14.0 right at each of the two shifts. I have read that this is actually an known artifact of the weight of the fuel in the larger passages in billet metering blocks (seen in machined vs cast passages). In pro built race carbs I understand they fill the larger passages with epoxy and then drill them out to a smaller size. It makes as much sense as anything, and mine already has the secondary jet extensions. I'm not worried about it. Also looks like I could do with a slightly smaller accelerator pump shot - goes rich as soon as the torque converter flashes to stall speed.

Nice run's and good to have some data to work from.

Can you export into an excel sheet?

It seems to me that a data normalization could smoothen out the curves. You can still interprete between the peaks for trends.
Nice to see that the 3rd gear would pull far more. If the track is long enough I guess it would become scary.
AFR sometimes does pulsate but rpm should have a smoother curve IMHO.
I'd continue on that way.

We learn every day from every bit of data that comes in.

Cheers

Actually the sheet shown is in Excel. Had to do that in order to apply the formula to convert voltage output of the gauge to AFR. I do not feel I should have to apply smoothing to the data, and box should perform as shown in their own software examples.

Since last post I have gone on to try other things I wanted to do with the box. I locked out my distributor centrifugal advance, set timing to 37°, built an electronic advance curve, and uploaded it. Idea is to be able to accurately change my max timing at the track by 1 degree at a time (without timing light). This is done as a delay to a reference timing (37° in my case), and I have 22° max of delay to play with. So curve I made for 35° timing starts at 15° and advances to 35° between 1500 and 3000 rpm. Doesn't really matter for my purposes what timing is under 4000 rpm, so for practical purposes the actual curve just allows engine to start more easily.

Found more issues with using the box. Although timing was indeed a nice stable 35° at above 3000 rpm, delay program never took timing all the way back to 15° at idle - only back to around 18-23° and very unsteady timing. So it seems the more I expect the box to do, the worse it performs.

For $600 I expect more. Admittedly could be something about my installation or even my distributor. Could also be something about the box is bad. Finally got some customer support out of Daytona Sensors and they are sending a box for me to switch out and see. They certainly have much smoother and less noisy data in the real data example files that they provide with their software. The inaccurate timing at high-delay is a deal-breaker to me. It has to work better than that in order for me to trust it.

Aha! Found something in generic instructions for the box!! I have my battery relocated to the right rear of the bed. Need to try this capacitor next. This has to be something to fix EMI

Power connections. Connect the 12 AWG red
wire to the battery disconnect switch or the battery
cable at the starter solenoid. If the battery is
mounted outside the engine compartment or the
CD-1 red power wire must be extended, a filter
capacitor is required and minimum 12 AWG wire
should be used for the connection. You can use a
10000 UF 25V electrolytic capacitor such as our
P/N 102007 capacitor kit or Mouser

I got the $50 102007 capacitor kit from Daytona Sensors and installed it. So many different capacitors to choose from in electronics supply houses - good to know one that is made in USA and is specifically supposed to work for the application (all of the capacitors with same approximate specs for were $35+ anyhow). Also rewired installation to keep power wires completely away from the sensor and distributor trigger wires. Put the capacitor across main power and ground within 1 ft of the box. Did a quick log of AFR in my garage and both RPM and AFR seems to have much less electronic noise. But until I get an actual run down the track I won't know for sure. It has been electronically the noisiest under hard acceleration and high rpm. Can't do that in my garage, especially with open headers. I can say that the timing at idle seems much more stable when checked with my timing light, and it indeed was at 15° - having it jump around a bit before and be higher than programmed at idle was of concern to me. Wife comes home from visiting her parents in Europe this weekend, so no racing then - maybe next!

https://shop.daytonasensors.net/prod...-capacitor-kit Here's the capacitor kit. My ignition box is the 102003 at the bottom

"Can't do that in my garage, especially with open headers."

Well, you may but by risking the neighbors good relationship and your garage windows.

Nice work. Looking forward to see if it has cured that noise.

Went to the track last weekend. No luck - electrical noise is still there, especially at full throttle and high RPM. Next to try a different box. Daytona Sensors sent me a replacement box some time ago on a RA that I avoided opening (so far). I really thought the capacitor was going to cure the problem......

About the race.... Was a very nice sunny cool day about 70 degrees out. I did have my best 60' and best 1/8 mile ever (just by a touch). 1.50 sec and 7.07 sec, respectively - so that was very good! Still can't get below that 11.1 seconds and past that magic 10.99. After 2 time trials, I got lined up with the track points leader first round. Fortunately he broke out by 0.01 sec and lost! Second round I happened to get the light just right and ran right on my time - legitimately won that one against a much faster car! After my second round run, my race buddy I hang out with in the pits blew the 406 in his 85 Blazer. He pulled the heads in the pits. Rod came loose, broke the camshaft and a piston and the block and put holes in the oil pan - bent a bunch of valves - oiled down the track pretty good. He said this was the 7th year of racing for his short block, so I guess it lasted pretty well. After waiting about an hour to get things cleaned up.... third round I red lighted and on the trailer I went.

A good track day over all!

Nice getting close but it's always a pun to miss by just that little.
Next time!

Electrical noise can be a nightmare to cure, especially dealing with sensors. They are built sensitive, but also the cabling is prone to pick up signals and if the box is sensitive it may interpret noise as a signal and store it. Good luck on that one.

Doesnt' look like tens are in the cards for this year. Might make it to the track this weekend but it's supposed to be high 40's for temp so traction will be significantly down.

I installed the new CD-1 box (separating power and coil primary wires from signal wires), and believe there might be a little improvement with the noise - but hard to tell in the garage. I'm done chasing noise. Guess the AFR and RPM logs well enough to be used. The box still functions as a 2-step rev limiter for using the trans brake, and I can program timing changes without turning the distributor. Guess that will need to be good enough.

Starting to collect parts for off season upgrades. Going to go with a much stouter cam - get rid of my Comp Cams XE274H and into a race-type cam, but staying cheap because my existing short block will never be upgraded (will start from scratch with aftermarket block and bigger heads if bottom end ever gets improved). So I'm 95% sure I'm going with a Crower 00307 solid flat tappet. I've been agonizing over it for a week, checking out others, and keep coming back to it. It's a 106°LCA High Rocker Ratio cam on a P55 core installed at 102° intake centerline. Lift with 1.6/1.5 rockers will be 0.554/0.540. Duration @ 0.050 is 248°/256°. If a lobe hits a rod (and it may in a 383), I'll send it back and get a small base circle cam made of the same. I've been reading and supposedly (at least according to Vizard - my favorite condescending automotive author) the 106°LCA is much more correct for a 383 and should boost the upper midrange torque a lot over my current 110°LCA cam (as much as 30-40 ft lbs) but the torque curve will be much narrower with less on the bottom end. Vizard has a lot of ego, but I find he also has the education, reasoning, and experience to back up his claims. Also, piston/valve clearance decreases with decreased LCA (increased intake/exhaust overlap) and increased lift - so that may also be an issue (I suppose I could always keep 1.5 rockers on both intake and exhausts if necessary). Peak torque for a 383 with this cam is supposed to be at 4500, so that will be up from 3900, peak HP at 6000 (same), and should rev to 6500 (same). My TC stalls at 4100 and I shift at 6500 or so with drop-back to 5000. Hope my engine will respond favorably at all pertinent RPMs. Shouldn't go much higher than 6500 because of my cheapo hypereutectic pistons, and I'm already right on the recommended horsepower limit of my aftermarket connecting rods (hoping they are both over-engineered). Already bought some Howard's lifters with the EDM oil hole in the face to keep the flat tappet cam lobe lubed. Of course I'll do what seems to be my annual leak down test to see how rings are doing, and then pull the engine and remove oil pan and heads for bearing/piston/cylinder inspection/cam installation and degreeing/cam lobe interference checking - put the heads on and go back together with the mix of rocker ratios and original pushrods, check piston to valve clearance, select the best pushrod lengths, and get those sourced. Put together with only the outer valve springs, install engine, and break in the cam - then finally put the inner valve springs in and button things up.

But before the teardown I want to get it on a Mustang dyno I found (sorta in my area) for a "before" reading. This dyno should be an order of magnitude better than the Superflow Inertia dyno I had it on last year. Been talking to the operator and he said I can even start in 3rd gear on the trans brake with roller stopped if I want - then just tell him how fast I want to ramp the speed and where I want to stop increasing speed - he can hold the roller against the engine while ramping to any speed (or holding steady) and measure up to 900 horsepower. With the (Superflow) inertia dyno, power is measured by how fast of a rate you can increase the speed of a heavy roller - speed increases so fast that accelerator pump shots were still happening during half of the dyno run (works OK to get a peak HP, but not for carb tuning). The Mustang is an eddy-current design where it uses (adjustable) electrical power to work against the engine. This should be so much better. Then after the cam change and break-in, take a half day of dyno time and look at the ignition timing as well as dialing in the carb using the AFR gauge.

That's my plan! There's always hope for 10's next year! My converter may not be quite optimum for this cam, but it should hopefully be net positive horsepower for most of my RPM range. Bet I'm going to need to use the trans brake to get into the power sooner and to get rid of that power brake booster. Smaller LCA = more overlap = less vacuum. Should really have a nasty but powerless idle and run very poorly when cold!

Nice, looking forward to see that assembled. Let us know how the clearances work out.

Using trans brake and 2-step
 

Nice run, how was your time? Rt?

Thanks! That one was 11.23/119 with a 1.52 sec 60'.

RT was horrible (still trying to get used to the trans brake) - think it was around 0.3 sec. I kinda freak out when my foot isn't on the brake pedal, but pushing on the accelerator - and the trans is holding it there. I end up late getting up to the 2-step RPM and then subsequently late letting off the button. The first one of the day was RT=0.7 sec!!

In eliminations later I just went off the foot brake. I can get down around 0.05-0.07 using the foot. Hopefully that will tighten up to even less when I get the trans brake down. Times seem to be pretty much the same either way, but wheels come up a little more with the trans brake.

Nice to see it work with the trans brake now.

And BTW nice free-hand filming.

From the (before cam upgrade) Mustang Dyno session. 386 RWHP at 6100 RPM; 365 torque at 4700 RPM - both uncorrected. This is about 15HP less than what I saw on the Superflow Dyno last Winter. This is typical as I understand it when going from an inertia dyno to an eddy current dyno.

Took cranking compression and leakdown rates on warm engine before pulling out for teardown. Seems to still be OK after 4 seasons of racing. No evidence of detonation on the pistons. Ended up buying a Lunati 401B1 camshaft which is nearly the same as a Crower 00307 (106° LCA) but designed specifically for 383 and 406 Chevy engines with 10.5:1 compression running in the RPM range where I am at (100° intake centerline - 6° advance ground into the camshaft!). Should be an entirely different animal than my little XE274H street hydraulic cam (110° LCA, 106° intake centerline)! Engine is disassembled down to the short block and I'm ready to try out the new cam for rod clearance tonight!

Interesting thing is that the lift/duration on the XE274H with my 1.6 rockers is similar to the lift/duration on the 401B1 with 1.5 rockers (what I will be running). It's the valve timing that is WAY different! The lower LCA valve timing should make the torque peak much bigger, but in a narrower range. The intake centerline of 100° (full 6° advance) should help bring that peak down a bit in RPM (for the lower RPM limits of the stroker motor). Apparently this is why the 401B1 cam is specified for the 383/406 with the 3.75" stroke. Should idle extremely poorly, but really come on like gangbusters when it hits the RPM where it can take advantage of the greatly increased intake/exhaust valve opening overlap! The exiting exhaust starts to pull in the intake charge even before the exhaust valve closes - why race engines can have greater than 100% volumetric efficiency. I don't care about the idle, because my converter stalls at 4100RPM and I'm not trying to drive it on the street anymore.

One other thing I will need to check when going back together is the piston to valve clearance. It won't really be opening the valves much more than before, but it will be opening them at different times.

Here's the compression and leakdown

#1: 200# 4.5% #2: 200# 4.0%
#3: 200# 3.5% #4: 205# 4.0%
#5: 210# 4.0% #6: 200# 4.0%
#7: 210# 6.0% #8: 200# 5.0%


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Very nice. It will be interesting to see to what it boils down with the new cam. That one will definitively have a poor idle. ;)

Just been taking the measurements of how far below deck my pistons sit. With a bit of luck the deck machining will be minimal.

So, you have been running that engine for four seasons. Respect!
Nothing broken and steady improvement. Nice.

If you find time and you are willing to share some pic of the heads and combustion chambers - that would be nice.

When I get the heads disassembled and cleaned up I'll take some photos for you. AFR heads have CNC machined ports and combustion chambers and lightweight stainless steel valves (2.05" intakes). They are a thing of beauty.

Here's some photos I found on the AFR web site of my heads. 195cc SBC Street Cylinder Head Mine are the 65cc P/N 1034.

Oh nice heads. Too bad not available for the V6. Gives you compression in the 10:1 range I would guess, depending on the pistons.

My pistons are 4cc valve relief flat tops and they are 0.020 down in my standard deck height block. CR comes out to 10.3:1.

Been doing a bit more work over the holidays. Trial installed my new cam and checked for cam lobe to big end of rod clearance (necessary with 383 stroker) - it was 0.040"+ (I cut/made a conveniently shaped cardboard shim with a handle out of 2 layers of inserts used behind carbon copies in notebooks - 0.020" each). I then installed (weak) "checking springs" on #1 intake and #1 exhaust valve, put head back on with a couple of bolts/old gasket, installed a couple of lifters/pushrods/1.5 rockers, and checked piston to valve clearance by turning degree wheel to indicated position, setting dial indicator to zero, and depressing the valve until it contacted piston before reading the clearance. Then moved crank 2° and did it again and again throughout the known valve clearance problem range.

The piston to valve clearance per dial indicator with checking springs on my new cam and adjusting valves to 0.024" cold (cylinder #1 only) is as follows. I'll check all exhaust valves
before I am done:

Exh
15 BTDC = 0.176"
13 BTDC = 0.169"
11 BTDC = 0.163"
9 BTDC = 0.160"
7 BTDC = 0.160"
5 BTDC = 0.162"
3 BTDC = 0.166"
1 BTDC = 0.173"

Int
1 ATDC = 0.070"
3 ATDC = 0.062"
5 ATDC = 0.059"
6 ATDC = 0.056"
7 ATDC = 0.059"
9 ATDC = 0.068"
11 ATDC = 0.080"
13 ATDC = 0.092"
15 ATDC = 0.105"

A little tight on the intake valve, but should be OK as valve is chasing the piston at a time when the valve won't be floating, and a solid lifter cam will never pump up the lifter. If a spring breaks - all bets are off anyways! sure am glad it's not a hydraulic cam. 0.056" is not much room for lifters to pump up before mass destruction occurs.

Checked my rod and main bearings and there seemed to be some surface fatigue (per Mahle bearing diagnosis guide). Note the irregular spots of missing bearing material from cracking and then flaking off. These were cheapie King bearings that came with my rotating assembly from Eagle. Had the crankshaft polished and then went back together with new Clevite HN series bearings. Left the pistons in the bores and spun the crankshaft in, so not to disturb the position of the rings.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/blazerf...ad4b2dd22a.jpg


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/blazerf...d4b438262a.jpg

Cleaned up the ports and combustion chambers and valves with a nylon (for aluminum) or brass scrub brush (for valves) and solvent. yeah, I know I used the brass brush in the aluminum chamber a little. Checked valve face sealing with blue machinist's dye. Checked spring height to make sure was 1.800" under the spring retainer. Installed new valve seals. Installed only outer springs (this is the BEST valve spring tool in the universe) to lower spring pressure for camshaft break-in.

Next to degree the camshaft carefully and check intake valve to piston clearance on all cylinders.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/blazerf...15ad7118a4.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/blazerf...e579c32f94.jpg
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Thanks for the update.
Nice heads. Interesting, that we end up on the same spots. I use pretty much the same pistons for my build. 0.020 below deck with an 0.027" MLS gasket will yield me 10.3:1 compression. I hope that the deck only needs minimum machining, then the compression should end up being 10.7:1. Should produce a nice squish even with the OEM heads. Too bad that only BRODIX makes aluminium heads for the V6 which are a direct fit. The Brodix heads have way too big ports for a low rpm torque engine.

Nice detail. What do you use as a plastic cap for the valve stems? I guess you push the valves through the valve seals with this not to damage the seals?

Interesting that one of your intake valves sits so much higher (away) from the piston. Old re-cut seat?

Nice work!

Have a good start into 2019!

Cheers

Marc

Yes, you use the plastic protectors to protect the seals from the grooves in the valves. I got a couple of the protectors from my machine shop. I think they come with sets of seals. Unfortunately I bought mine individually and didn't get any.

If you are talking about the photo with the valve with the height gauge, it's just an optical illusion caused by cheapo cellphone camera.

im curious about the front springs youre running. I have a 89 S10 set up very similar to yours. Right now im in the process of upgrading the front suspension, tubular upper control arms, drag shocks, solid lower bushings... My question is what moroso part number are you using?

After weighing my front at 1640# on a truck scale, I bought the 47130 springs and installed them as-is (not cut). They are super soft and it doesn't take much to raise the front. Takes a bit of getting used to but they work. Suspension will come up against whatever suspension stops you have in place and stay there until you let off. Not recommended for the street.

Thanks, I really appreciate it...

It lives!!!! Taken right after I finished break in of new Crower solid lifter camshaft and adjusting carb. Idling at 1500 rpm. This one is quite a bit racier than my old cam. I wouldn't call it a lope, but it smooths out above 2000. It's 106 LCA running on a 102 Intake centerline with 70 degrees of overlap - I'm getting only 7.5" vacuum if I slow it down to 1000 rpm idle in park. At 1500 I get 12" vacuum and some power brakes. Fortunately torque converter is loose enough for pretty much any idle speed. Definitely not for the street. Now to put in my inner valve springs and readjust valves tomorrow. Note that I finally found a use for the old exhaust system I had on it before I went to fenderwell headers!

So made it down to an 11.04 ET @ 121 mph during cool weather and spent a lot of time on Friday Test N Tunes trying to tune. Then I decided to switch to a crank triggered ignition and got sidelined for quite some time trying to get it to work right with my Daytona Sensor's box - never did - always misfires at high RPM no matter what air gap I used between the trigger wheel and the sensor. I ultimately came to the conclusion that the FAST Inc. crank trigger that I bought used a sensor type that put out a waveform that was not really compatible with my ignition box (FAST Inc. unlike MSD and Moroso uses what amounts to a Ford cam position sensor). But not before kickbacks during starting took out my noisy, screetchy little Ebay mini-starter that would never shim correctly. So first I tried a factory starter. Too long - hit the frame. Then a Hitachi-style gear reduction mini starter (still 1/2" too long). Finally found a Denso-style gear reduction mini-starter with the clocking changed to one specific upside down position cleared everything and worked great with no shims at all.

So with starter fixed, I went back to using the distributor to trigger the ignition and now I'm full circle back to trying to tune myself into the 10's. But now weather is much warmer/humid and you don't make so much power. So last weekend best was [email protected] I've been telling myself I'll be into the 10's when the weather cools down, but turns out the race track sold and the new owners are supposed to close it early this year as soon as the points finals are done for major improvements. Word is that Terry McMillan (a top fuel driver who lives locally) and associates bought the track to conveniently test his race car and plans to raze everything and start from scratch. Should make for a very nice track if that happens. But that doesn't help me out this year!!! Well, maybe September will have a nice weekend where I can get to my goal!

Good luck!

Nice sound and clean looking engine bay.

Good luck with the tuning.

Thanks guys!

Looks like my 11.04 is my best for the year. Last weekend - 11.08/121 in good air.

Looks like I only got 20-25hp more out of the Crower 00307 solid lifter cam over my Comp XE274H, even after jacking with the tune all year. 60' is a few hundredths slower from 1.52 to 1.55 sec, but trap speed is up a couple of mph (the indication of the top end hp increase, and a little less power at 4000 rpm). Knocked around 1.5 tenths off my best 2018 time, but doesn't look like I'm going to make it to 10.99 this year. Maybe with some shock adjustment or even a different torque converter to keep the RPMs up a bit more I can improve the 60' enough to get to 10.99. Small improvements are costing a lot!

Nice run! Maybe some tweeking over the winter months will get you something... or a new Christmas present lol...

Thanks!

Unfortunately the only place to test in the Winter is on the dyno and it won't tell me anything about my 60'. Guess I can build some stops into my front control arms to limit upward travel and be prepared to adjust them. Maybe adjust my cheapo adjustable drag shocks or even buy some real double adjustable shock$$$$. That potentially should help keep the front tires just off the ground and keep me rolling through the light (instead of hopping out of it all of a sudden when the wheels come up). If the timer starts later, the ET will be quicker (all other things being equal). Also any lost motion upwards doesn't propel the car forward, so take the amount of energy required to get the front off the ground and push the car forward an additional amount with that same energy. At least that's my theory of how I might improve the 60'.

Only improvement I want for the engine this year is to go with a different crank trigger for my ignition box. I tried a FAST (brand) crank trigger, and it didn't play nice with my Daytona Sensors box. I gave up on it mid-Summer. Need to go to something like a MSD crank trigger, which is more expensive and requires re-alignment of my alternator and p/s pump with the crank pulley due to the thicker trigger wheel. Right now I'm back on my locked out billet distributor and the timing is not all that steady. I got a taste of steady timing with the FAST system. Only problem was misfire at high RPM which really sucks for a race car. But had amazing looking steady timing with a timing light when sitting in my garage! It's difficult to go back, knowing that precision in timing = a little power.