Spring is here and both the ’57 and ’71 Chevelle are now ready to hit the strip. Over the winter we freshened the old 331 in our ’57 with new bearings, oil pump, rings, valve grind and valve springs and replaced the rods. We replaced our clutch that had a warped pressure plate after 90+ runs and clutch disc. Installed new Aldan Eagle rear coil-over shocks (our old rear shocks were “dead”) and have installed new slicks.
The Chevelle now has a new air-shifter installed with an updated delay box and we replaced all the pushrods and one rocker arm and checked the seat pressure on the valve springs. Our goal with the Chevelle is to run just a tad bit slower by softening the leave slightly but be more consistent thru a broader range of track conditions to make the dial-in more predictable.
Weather permitting, we’ll be able to get both cars out for testing at Pacific Raceways in April.
Our best,
Roger Young
April 2010 update: Edwards & Young Test & Tune Report posted!
Roger (driving), Chris & Paul Young
Edwards & Young 331 in our '57
Here’s a much stronger pass on May 8th, 2010. The old car ran great running a 10.602 @ 125.90 MPH on this pass and leaving the starting line at 8,000 rpms. Too bad this old man was asleep on the starting line and gave the first round away! This was our quickest pass for the ’57 ever at Pacific to date, 2nd quickest pass for the ’57 in its history. Again, this marked improvement over the video above all came from chassis adjustments we made prior to going back out.
15 May 2010 – Pacific Raceways – ’71 Chevelle
I’m very happy to report we feel like we made excellent progress this evening. The air shifter is working properly and life is good again! Chris did a excellent job in the first round leaving the starting line with an outstanding .010 light and running a 10.491 @ 122.22 MPH [on the brakes] on a 10.47 dial-in to take the win light. On to the 2nd round where we lost breaking out with a 10.424 on a 10.44 dial-in. Again Chris did his job and left on our competition but our opponent ran a 8.863 on a 8.86 dial-in to take the win light. There’s great races here in Super Pro!
Top Sportsman cars were also out this evening at Pacific. Here’s a video Paul took of Barry Hobson (far lane) & Joe Loch [near lane] on a qualifying hit. Hobson runs a 705 Sonny Leonard engine in his GrandAm. Loch runs a 800+ Sonny Leonard wedge in his Cavalier – both normally aspirated.
Our old ’57 beat the heck out of me on April 17th! When we get the old girl toned down it should be quick again as I’m happy with the MPH with the cam retarded.
However, retarding the cam and lightening the flywheel took bottom end from the launch and on the gear changes as we desired but we may have overdone it a bit as we are carrying the front end thru the first three gears!
My thanks to Chris, Paul & my wife Pam for helping me get the ol’ buggy back on the strip. It was fun to roll the shifter once again but remind me to wear a kidney belt next time! 🙂
I want to thank Chris, Paul, Pam and Torri for their support getting the ’57 back on the track. This old man is certainly past his prime, but the ’57 is once again flying down the quarter-mile running a 10.602 @ 125.90 MPH on May 8th 2010 at Pacific Raceways.
This was our quickest pass ever at Pacific with the ’57, and the 2nd quickest pass in the history of our ’57.
After reviewing the data from our outing of our ’57 on 8 May 2010, there MAY be a little left in the car.
With the cam retarded and us using VP C-14 for the first time in the ’57, it appears it would like a tad leaner jet.
The other thing I noticed when driving and hitting high gear (and you can hear it in the video above), it sounds like the little 331 would like to be shifted a couple hundred RPM higher going in to high. We might give that a try the next time out. Listen closely and you’ll hear the motor being pulled down going in to high.
Meanwhile the entire Young family is now on “baby watch.” Torri and Chris are shortly expecting the birth of their daughter and the entire family is excited! So racing for us is now on the back burner until our new granddaughter arrives!