Any updates on the Nova, Glen?

[Rrumbler]

That's wicked good, Glen.  Great camera shots, too.

[UGLY OLDS]

Neat run & camera angles Glen .. Saw a car similar to yours at World of Wheels show yesterday ..  Thanks to your build thread I  "kinda" knew what I was looking at ...  
I will post photos later when I figure out how to fetch them from the camera ....

Thanks again ... );b(


Bob....

[Bruce Dorsi]

Thanks for the update!

It looks like you're having FUN !!!

Great camera angles!

[40]

That's an awesome video.......Keep them coming! It is a welcome diversion for us idiots who live on the frozen tundra!

[kb426]

I watched the last video several times. There's lots of interesting things going on. Congratulations on your progress.

[Glen]

I watched the last video several times. There's lots of interesting things going on. Congratulations on your progress.

interesting?...feel free to give advice you wont hurt my feelings.  I know that dribbling that front tire down track is nothing to be proud of, but I made a big step at keeping it down compared to Las Vegas.

[kb426]

Glen, I wish that I had an answer for you. Being a dragster guy from the blown ranks that have similar power to what you have, I don't have any answers right now. Our chassis flexed and twisted so that we didn't have to even think about wheels on the ground. With that said, does that wheel need to touch to be the optimum for your chassis? If we carried the wheels to 900', we knew that there was no more traction to be had. We didn't have cameras to mount all over to see what was going on. When the racepack computer came out, users were confused with the amount of info they got. The generation that I'm from used it for diagnostics to compare with a really strong run to see if anything had changed. From what I've seen, you are very capable and have good skills. My thought is more runs and seat of the pants feedback and use the datalogging and camera to clarify what you think. We all run by the et slip. If you have someone that is really good on the starting line at watching and tuning, that's the person I'd want to help me. With 10.5 tires, it appears you have to be really careful about breaking traction and getting too much wheel speed and trying to recover. With that in mind, the sooner you can implement full power, the quicker you will be.  I'm sure you know what I just said. One my friends told me that when he started out, they took the car to the strip and made 75 runs before they knew enough to run the division points circuit. That person was Vern Raymer who's son Brian was a world champ in alky dragster. Be patient Glen. You've made good progress. You haven't wrecked. You haven't blown it up. I predict that this year you will have a 6 second slip. The day you do, I hope you blow it up to full page size and post it with no explanation!

[kb426]

After thought. How much travel is on the front? is it tied down so it can't move? All the prostock cars I watched never looked like there was any travel. Does that mean you need a higher rate spring? How about travel limiters?

[Glen]

I agree with all of your comments above, it has been a safe learning session and im trying to make one chassis adjustment at a time so I don't get lost.  Yes, I want to limit the struts next.

Based on the fact I have zero experience I think we are light years ahead of most.  Due to the fact I have the best equipment and a straight chassis.

I decided in round one today I was a sitting duck with accuracy, the clouds were out, the air was good and the track was tight.  Why run another 7.25 with the same setup? I cut my launch retard in half and went for a fast time slip instead of a win.  It carried the front wheels high and the wheelie bar painted the line longer than it ever has......at that point they were probably lifting the rear end because the back end washed out and I had to let off.

**We had two highlites this weekend.  The 7.25 time slip was awesome.
remember the story on page one about the 7 tech guys fine tooth combing the car?  Well it turns out after the run Pat came over and told me the Nova was picked for best engineered car of the event.  I lost the race but feel like a winner!

[kb426]

Great story. I thought you might get a best eng. award. That's a serious compliment.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

very nice.  Limiting the strut drop?  Front tire seems barely in contact with the pavement now.

Would the tire retain that contact?  Or is the power gonna carry the tire more?  Interested to see the results.

I've never tuned this power or this quick of car, so I am interested in the learning curve too.

[kb426]

A dragster guy would put lead on the left front.

[Glen]

A dragster guy would put lead on the left front.

a lot of guys have told me to put a ten lb. weight on the left front corner, they said even a small amount makes a world of difference.

Tony, I think the idea is to reduce the extension length so the nose of the car stays down instead of full extension, its the weight of the wheel/brakes that keeps it down there.  I measured tonight and it only extends 1.75.  There is a strut guy that rebuilds them for your setup and does a lot of skinny tire cars.  I might send him the video and strut measurements.  they are just off of the shelf strange struts so im sure he could work some magic.

[chimp koose]

Glen before I had the struts modified I would look into a travel limiting strap. This would allow you to get the front end cinched down on sticky tracks and allow suspension separation on the not so good surfaces.Pro stockers typically have 1" or less front end travel but only run on well groomed NHRA tracks with a larger tire than you and a rather sophisticated clutch set up. We use travel limiters on the wagon and will limit travel if it carries the front too high . On tracks where there is limited bite we will go for a lot of travel to get the car on the rear tires for more crush.We have had situations where the track was greasy enough that we would ET better with the rear tires clipping the 60' timers.We run 1 stage of n2o right off the line with no timers or anything.Being able to dial back the power in your situation could be a real advantage,however dialing back the power each time the track is slick may have you leaving some ET on the table.I guess that is what makes this sport so much of a challenge, there is no 1 right way to set up a car.

[Glen]

That is a good idea...thank you.  I appreciate all of the comments.

I am learning so much so fast and Im very fortunate to be as fast as I already am with my total lack of experience and knowledge.

The entire operation of the car has become a total obsession of study.