This was the first day out for Chris’ ’71 Chevelle in 2015 at the season opener at Pacific Raceway after freshening the motor and having the TH-400 transmission gone through in the off season.
On his first hit of the day, the car pushed through the lights when on the trans brake. Our transmission woes continue. After that Chris decided to foot-brake the car the rest of the afternoon and did very well making it to the 3rd round before being eliminated. He made lemonade out of lemons!
It was that last round that the car performed its best running a 10.468 @ 126.08 MPH with a 60-foot time of 1.434. That is an excellent pass for not having the use of the trans brake. With the brake it would have been in the 10.30s at a density altitude of 1815 feet. We’re very pleased with how the 406 is performing, but certainly not with the transmission that continues to plague us despite where we have it done!
So, we’ll once again pull the transmission and see if the trans brake problem can be solved. – Roger
May 11th 2015:
Just spoke with Bill at Hughes Performance, they are building us a complete TH-400 with brake, solenoid and deep pan. It will be about a month before we see it but I want to end the transmission madness and quit wasting runs on the engine.
Hughes wants us to use the Lucas Sure Shift ATF and we’ll follow their recommendations! – Roger
June 8, 2015:
Our new TH-400 arrived today and we’re looking forward to getting the Chevelle back out to the strip on June 20. – Roger
