Originally posted on September 23 — Updated April 14, 2018:
We’ll be discussing our plans for the 2018 season on this page throughout the off-season.
TENTATIVE Pacific Raceways Schedule as of 12/8/2017:
See more information available from Pacific Raceways
‘71 Chevelle:
On the Chevelle, new wheelie bars are on the wish list. The old bars are too short and the spring rate is too low for controlling the rate of rise and height of the front end on the launch. This is a priority upgrade for 2018. With better control the car will be quicker.
October 7, 2017:
We checked the 1.550″ PacAloy 1225 valve springs, all checked good between 230 – 245 lbs. on the seat. Spring run count: 128.
Please note our Buxton on-head spring tester reads 30 lbs. less than our Rimac bench tester. These are Buxton readings.
We will need new lash caps on the intakes because of the slight rocker misalignment with these heads.
January 20, 2017:
Today Chris got his new S & W Race Cars wheelie bars mocked-up on the Chevelle which are 9-inches longer than the old bars. Now they are out to Bill Parsons to get the x-braces welded. We’ll see what happens the first time out.
January 28, 2017:
Bill Parsons did an excellent job on the wheelie bars and they are now installed on the Chevelle.
Bill Parsons doing his magic on the new Chevelle wheelie bars
Completed wheelie bars
February 23, 2018:
Chris has ordered a complete Moser Ford 9″ aluminum center to lower the gear ratio from 4.71 to 4.86. The Chevelle was quicker when we had 4.88’s in our old 12-bolt rear in 2009 to 2011. There are 228 runs on the current 4.71’s which are still in great shape!
February 28, 2018:
The new Moser center section with 4.86 gears has arrived:
WARNING: DO NOT USE THIS CENTER WITH A LIGHTENED RING GEAR AND SCALLOPED SPOOL IN A HEAVY CAR! IN THREE RUNS GEARS WERE FRACTURED AND THE REAR END WAS DEFLECTING AND BINDING UNDER A LOAD WHEN WE TOOK IT OUT ON MAY 5TH 2018!
Moser aluminum 9″ Ford center with thru bolts
March 3, 2018:
Chris has installed the new Moser center section and the axles back in the rearend housing of his Chevelle. The aluminum center is 15 lbs. lighter than the Strange nodular iron center.
March 24, 2018:
Today we installed new lash caps on the intake valves, and set up the valve-train for 2018. We also load tested the battery and a new Optima or equivalent is needed before going out this Spring.
March 31, 2018:
Today we installed a new battery that Chris purchased from Frank Nelson, Jr., fired the wagon, scoped the ignition system, charging system and warmed up the new rear gears. Chris changed the oil & filter and cut open the old filter for inspection which looked great! We’ll re-check the valve lash before going out and the Chevelle is ready for the track!
Ignition pattern from the Chevelle
April 9, 2018:
Today we ran the valves again after we fired the car on March 31st, replaced the valve cover gaskets and the car is ready for it’s initial outing in 2018!
‘57 Chev:
On the ’57, we’ll be pulling the bellhousing and removing a slight amount of lever weight from the new Ram clutch we ran for the first time in August 2017, and we’ll be testing all the valve springs in the motor and general maintenance. Plus some electrical modifications to add a 3-step rev control to take advantage of our new clutch. [We currently have a 2-step].
September 30, 2017:
Thanks to Chris & Paul for a lot of hard work, we got the clutch adjusted. 980# base pressure, 3.3 grams of lever weight (down 1-gram). Next to test the valve springs.
October 7, 2017:
We checked the 1.625″ PacAloy 1224 valve springs, all are good between 290 – 300 lbs. on the seat. Spring run count: 25
Please note our Buxton on-head spring tester reads 30 lbs. less than our Rimac bench tester. These are Buxton readings.
January 21, 2018:
Today Pam helped me replace the broken hub bolt, stop and missing spring from the damaged sprung-hub Ram disc from our old clutch. So now we have a usable backup flywheel & clutch assembly for the ’57. Pam is now officially part of the clutch team! This is the damaged disc we found last summer:
Damaged disc, note missing dampner spring and missing stop bolt
March 10, 2018:
Chris got the burnout switch wired in to deactivate the launch RPM limiter during our burnouts with our new clutch. This eliminates the low side chip during the burnout. Following the burnout the driver must turn the launch chip back on with the switch.
March 12, 2018:
Misty kept me company this morning as I installed the valvetrain back on the ’57 for 2018. We’ll fire the engine soon and change the oil & filter prior to our first outing this year. – Roger
March 24, 2018:
We got a LOT done today, Chris fired off the ’57 while I scoped the ignition system, changed the oil & filter, cut open and inspected the old oil filter which looked great, and Chris replaced the one damaged spring on our Long shifter which we stretched the last time we installed the transmission.
Now we’ll recheck the valve lash, index a new set of sparkplugs & clean up the car for our first outing in 2018. My thanks to Chris & Paul for all their help and a thanks to Pam for providing us lunch and coffee on this cool day!
’57 Ignition Pattern with 7AL-2
April 9, 2018:
Today we indexed and installed a fresh set of sparkplugs, drained and flushed the antifreeze, filled the cooling system with distilled water and pressure checked for leaks. The ’57 is ready, like our Chevelle, for its initial outing in 2018!
Paul’s ’85 Mustang:
No major issues at this time! Many of the bugs have been worked out over the past two seasons including rebuilding the transmission for 2017 since Paul purchased the car. The Mustang ran well this year with very few issues.
We will be installing an in-line fuel filter prior to the fuel pressure regulator to address the regulator and needle & seat issues we had early this season from small particles from the old fuel tank. [Fuel filter ordered on December 7th].
March 16, 2018:
Torri’s ’66 Tempest:
Torri Young – Jim Doyle pic
We may have surprises coming for the Pontiac which will likely be a long-term upgrade. We’re in the discussion phase at this time! More details in the future.
2018 Motivational Video:
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