The mile is fun! But I did it in much slower cars. My best time was 143. It was in a mostly stock 79 Capri.

 

It was great to be back in the States and actually tuning the car in person. I think we got more done in an hour than over the past year tuning via e-mail and remote desktop - there are some things that the data cannot tell you and you just need to be sitting in the car to feel.

Together with Don we put together a street-safe fuel map (we didn't have any high-rpm data outside of first gear) that will survive different weather and gas quality, running on the rich side and with a few degrees of headroom once we go back and put racing fuel into her.

Speaking of headroom, at 17.2 psi injector DC was 69%, not including the 10% additional we have in #7 so we are nearing the top of the injectors, although with the power we were making I think we can do 200mph just through traction with no more power. As Don said 'the smartest guys here are the ones who are taking out power, not adding it'. We need to get another 700-800 rpm, or another 3 seconds give or take all-in, and if we can pick that up in the first half we may just be able to make it. Then again this was a first for me so who knows but it will be fun to try!

BTW, seeing one O2 peg to 14.5 AFR after the other gave me a minor heart attack in the staging lanes but when we realized it was the race gas killing them we fell back to the knowledge that the tune was good and sent Shaun down the track to his 180 mph.

Now we're just waiting for two new O2s and a nice day for Shaun to take the car to suspension spa. I'll be back over Thanksgiving and if the roads are still clean we will try a new boost control strategy along with lighter WG springs and see where we get.

I think we can do one more season on the AEM and then by that time we will have the Fueltech FT 600 on the Caprice with enough learning hours to port over Shaun's tune and put the same in his car.

 

Okay, update time!

Cliffs - the suspension was set up so bad we were getting zero weight transfer.

Big thanks to out good friend Don Bailey (official Shaunthony's team member, like it or not) for introducing us to Kevin Stevens at Ten Inch Motorsports (it's a dick reference). If the planets align, we pick up the car this weekend. Kevin had Afco custom valve us a set of big gun shocks and struts. We got her on the scales and she is a portly 3915 lbs with my 220lbs of meat in it. 54/46 weight on the scales. Kevin swapped out the front springs from the 12" 250's to 14" 175's so we will be able to store some energy. The instant center was right below the cobra emblem (drift car??). After his bar adjustments, he moved it up and back to where it needs to be. Basically, he is setting it up for as much bite as possible for the street and air strip. At the track, we will adjust shocks and struts and adjust front end height to take bite out of it so it doesn't live on the bumper. We don't want to min-tub the car and lose the tailpipes, so Kevin is working within the limits of the architecture we have in the rear.

A couple weeks ago, I had Aaron move the shift light to 8K, soft rev to 8,200, and hard limit to 8,500. We never got to see how high it would rev Indy due to traction and time, so we did a little street testing. I tossed the 3psi springs in the wastegates and went out for a rip. She pulled to 8,200 and held 4psi flat. Turned the boost controller and she made 19psi in a fraction of a second and slung to 8,200k again. Oops. After Aaron made some tweaks to the strategy to make it more conservative, she made 7psi with an 8psi target. With a little more time, Aaron will have the boost back under control. Definitely making progress. Based on data and modeling, Don thinks she will turn 8,600. It's amazing to see how well this combo is working. The intake wants to go to 9K and the port Paul put in this little Twisted Wedge head is like "I'm your Huckleberry". I'm sure Don's cam, the 7675's, and Aarons tuning is part of the magic, but its crazy how well this combo is performing and we aren't even leaning on it.

A couple weeks ago Aaron was (like always) going through the race data. "on run 5 at 7,400rpm's when you were going through the traps it was still building TORQUE. Not horsepower, torque." Hell yeah.

We went 181 at indy at 7,400 RPM's. The extra 1,000 RPM of headroom should get us well into the 200mph club without a gear change. The suspension changes and boost control should give us what we need to get down the front half of the track so we can run out the back door.

The converter is coming out this winter for a stator change (the motor is a dog until 4K then turns on like a 2 stroke thanks to the intake). Other than that, we are ready for next season. Here are the plans:

1) shake down test and tune at GLD or Byron
2) track rental (the quest for 4's/7's)
3) return to Indy and run 200pmh in the 1/2 with our pump gas tune.

Stay tuned, and as always, thanks for everyone following along!
-Shaun

 

Also, there has been lots of talk of competing in True Street. So stay tuned for that!

 

I plan to be competing in true street as well. Hope to see you at some events.

 

Gotta love these updates.
Nothing for long stretches and then the massive info unload...

Awsome to keep seeing the progress updates.
Keeps me inferior.

 

Update time!


Once again, thanks to everyone who still cares and is following. The Shift-S3ctor ½ mile event is next weekend, so watch us on the 1320 live stream Saturday 8/13 as we continue our quest to go 200MPH.

Here is what has been going on with the car:

1. Changed stators in the converter for around 2,000 more RPM of stall speed. She flashes right into boost now!
2. Changed to a 4 port boost solenoid for better boost control
3. Added a Motion Raceworks parachute mount and Stroud 430 parachute
4. Added a roll cage mounted fire extinguisher
5. Sent seatbelts to Stroud to get re-certified
6. Bought a Hans device
7. Ford Master Tech and good friend Paul Zick did an alignment
8. Roll cage gets certified this Saturday
9. Picked up 15 gallons of C16

Aaron has been remotely working on cleaning up the accel fuel and mapping the boost controller. We plan on finishing mapping it this weekend.

Don and I took the car to Mexico last week and worked on getting the car to leave on an up-prepped surface. We adjusted the shocks and struts, then Don cut the nuts off the car (think ZERO degrees of timing). Now we have a tune that we can leave off the transbrake on a virgin road.

That’s all I have for now. Aaron and Anthony can add anything if I missed anything.

Any prayers for safety and success next weekend would be much appreciated!


Thanks!
Shaun

 

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Here is the link to the live stream if anyone is interested: https://www.youtube.com/c/AirstripAttack

 

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Good luck!!! Be safe

 

I don't see how any good can come of this.

 

I see you pitted next to Clark. How did you both do?

 

Full update once I’ve had some time to regroup and get my head right, but the weekend was another (humbling) learning experience. Don was racing last weekend, so Aaron, Anthony, and I were on our own aside from phone calls to Don.

To cut to the chase, we weren’t able to put together a clean run. Our best run was 179.X (180.X on the draggy), which bests our official 178.X from last year. We were plagued with AEM challenges, maxed out the 120# injectors and fuel system (at about 21psi of boost), and lacked the knowledge (and foresight) to adjust our shock and strut settings.

We new the AEM was a turd, but thought we could make it work for one last event. This car will never be raced with the AEM again. It is either a dog or an literally undriveable monster. A Fueltech, larger injectors, and larger fuel pumps will be installed before the next outing.

The good news:

The motor seems to be happy. Shifting 8,600-8,850 and it is still making power. Trans and rear end are holding up well too. I think the chassis is shock adjustments away from being happy. Once we get the power management and fueling issues sorted we will have a legitimated 2,000hp car.

 

Clark, his wife, and friends we all amazing to pit next to. Wonderful people. I believe he ran a best of 207 and broke a couple gear vendors through the process.

 

Update coming soon. We just registered for all 3 days of the 1/2 Mill in August today! Lots of new parts waiting to be installed in the car.

 

I always get excited and all nostalgic when I get the email alert for a new update on one of my favorite TTF threads! I can't wait to see what you guys are up to!

 

Thanks for the kind words jaquetapus!


Here is what is going on:

1. Initial inspection after the last half mile showed that we lifted the heads at some point. The front of the block was covered in dry rusty water stains and oil. Radiator was down on water a bit. We hit the boost/fuel cut a few times and maxed out the 130# injectors, so hoping that is what made it upset and that we aren’t at the limit of the head rigidity. Feeling optimistic. Regardless, at these power levels the head gaskets are maintenance items.
2. Motor is almost ready to come out for new head gaskets. Plugs all look fine. Oil looked good (no water) and cut the filter and that was good. So no signs yet that this bullet minds being shifted at 8,800.
3. Upgrades:
   1. Full Fueltech FT600 set up with all the sensors (DS speed, wheel speed, pan vac, back pressure, etc)
   2. CO2 boost control
   3. Ditching all the stock and aftermarket gauges to clean up the interior. Mounting FT600 dash in place of stock cluster
   4. Fueltech 230LB injectors (good to 3,800 at the crank at 90psi base pressure).
   5. Still need to figure out pumps, but thinking 3 hell cat pumps in tank.
   6. I have all of the new A/C stuff on hand, but plan on tackling that next winter
   7. Changing the front springs (higher rate) to address the chassis issues (nose diving and going up on 3 wheels when the front end drops)
   8. Fresh set of 275 pro’s for the back

So those are the cliffs. We will now have full control of boost and power management. Traction control, timing by time, etc. Real grown up stuff. Now if I can find the time to get this thing wired and back together to go racing. The plan is (time permitting) some hits at GLD to get some data before Marion/the quest for 200 in the ½.