Thread: My new baby arrived today

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Took the Track-T out for a little romp, hwy 50 halfway to Tahoe so I could experience the passing lanes. All I can say is this kind of hp in a car so light, it is just too much fun. Traction for most all of my spirited driving has been excellent. First off, the blown '55 Ford could NEVER pull this hard, and even with a fraction of the pulling, traction was hit or miss. 1st gear still need to soft pedal, but 2nd gear is seeing some full throttle if I go into 2nd at 30 mph, then the engine is at 2200 rpm and doesn't produce enough in that low rpm to be a problem, so can be full throttle. As I hit 60 mph in 2nd, depending on road surface, I have 3 choices, if really good surface, keep my foot in it at 4400 rpm and accept some tire spin, if not an outstanding surface either roll off some or short shift. 3rd gear is good on most all surfaces except a road peak type undulation that causes un-weighing of the rear wheels, and that spin is has the highest pucker factor because of a much larger speed differential between road speed and tire speed. I know my local mountain roads well, and know where every un-weighing peak is, so no surprises.

Filled with gas again so I could check mileage. Maybe 10 full throttle romps on this tank, the rest was highway cruising pulling the grade to Tahoe and the grade from the valley back home. Drum roll................
12.9 mpg, almost broke into the teens. As the engine seats, and I've mellowed out on pushing deep on the loud pedal, mid teens should be easy. I know the engine is still tight because when starting hot it grunts a slow 1/2 of a crank and lights off. When cold, the starter spins the engine and it quickly lights, much quicker than the 383, but that is probably from the ignition upgrade more than anything else.

Thanks for the update, Bob. I'm using your reports as additional motivation to get mine done. Your driving reports are nice and graphic so I can almost feel what you're talking about. I wasn't expecting any kind of good gas mileage and I'm sure mine will not be as good as yours since mine weighs 500 lbs. more than your Track-T.

Can't wait to get mine on the road although it's still a bit too early in the season around here. It snowed and sleeted here today, got super slippery on the roads in late afternoon but then it stopped and the ice disappeared by early evening. A few more days and everything should be done on mine except I'm not sure about the bomber seats padding; I have to talk to that guy on Monday.

Originally Posted by Hot Rod Nick

Thanks for the update, Bob. I'm using your reports as additional motivation to get mine done. Your driving reports are nice and graphic so I can almost feel what you're talking about. I wasn't expecting any kind of good gas mileage and I'm sure mine will not be as good as yours since mine weighs 500 lbs. more than your Track-T.

Can't wait to get mine on the road although it's still a bit too early in the season around here. It snowed and sleeted here today, got super slippery on the roads in late afternoon but then it stopped and the ice disappeared by early evening. A few more days and everything should be done on mine except I'm not sure about the bomber seats padding; I have to talk to that guy on Monday.

What will be your top gear rpm at 70 mph? You might do better than me in the mpg arena because my 0.64 is too tall to use most the time so I'm having to stay in 4th (1.00) and at 70 mph is 2700 rpm, 5th is 1700 and engine no like. I would like to have the TKO-600 with the 0.83, that would be perfect.

As soon as you came on this thread reporting that your pro built 427 also just came in, I felt a kinship. Then you turn me on to your 700+ hp rice rocket, and I figure you like rides the way I do, insane hp for the application. Top that off with your comment that to cool your compressed intake charge your running a 50/50 water/methanol injection and I'm thinking you have done this stuff before. Since I have zero experience with modded automatics, I've heard of the manual valve body and need to ask how it works? If you can get an automatic to ignore both the vacuum signal and throttle position, then in the case of cruising in "drive" at about 35 mph and you get challenged, it is just a matter of pulling into 2nd and nailing it, knowing it won't drop lower into 1st, and stay in 2nd? This could be good on a modded 700R4 where I know you can install a switch to lock up the torque converter. You could basically drive it like a manual.

Bob, when I got my roadster it didn't have a tach in it. Now it does but I have never driven it with a tach so I'm really not sure about the speed vs rpm yet. Plus it had a 30" dia. tire on it but now I have a 28" dia M&H drag radial; I'm already thinking ahead to more "normal" street tires after I burn off the DR's so that might change again. Previously when I was breezing down the highway at 80 mph or tad over (in Mexico of course, I would n'ever do that on domestic speed limited roads) I kept wondering if the old 350 was just making noise due to where the exhaust dumps were (in front of rear axle) or if the motor was a bit high on the revs at that speed. I think it'll be OK since the rear axle ratio is just 3:50.

Btw, my just rebuilt TH350 is not a manual valve body. I have never owned a manual valve body automatic but I'm reasonably sure it goes into whatever gear you shift into....which of course you don't want to downshift into too low a gear to avoid overreving and sweeping up engine parts from the road. But that also applies to a stick shift.

Btw, around where is El Dorado? Since you mentioned kinship I want to know how far I have to drive to meet my new brother-in-arms. And also possibly get a ride in your airplane. Here's a shot from a little Grumman 2 seater looking down on my buddy's place where my '32 is being worked on. The pilot also owns a 1926 stunt bi-plane of some sort that I think I weaseled a ride in pretty soon.



My headers are all mounted and ready to rumble. Now on to the exhaust and mufflers.

Nick,
FYI, at 70mph with a 28" tall tire and 3.5 gears you'll be turning 2940rpm. At 80mph, 3360rpm. With your 30" tall tires those numbers would be 2744 and 3136 respectively. An OD gear would help you tremendously.

Many thanks, Roger. Those rpm numbers don't seem so bad to me but I'll wait to hear/see how it actually behaves.

What option do I have for an OD gear? I know about Gear Vendors OD units, and I know the 200R and 700R trannies have OD; when I was looking into rebuilding my TH350 I got the impression that some of the short tail 200R's are the same size as the TH350 and can also be built to take decent HP/TQ. I thought the TH400 was quite a bit larger and I don't want to start hacking to fit this trans. I also gave the evil eye to the Keisler manual trannies which are very nice but I wasn't ready to change to a stick yet.

Nick,
Gear Vendors units are great, especially for sticks where you actually get a hi-lo for each gear if you want it. Same applies for the auto, providing the converter locks up in the intermediate gears. The big thing to watch though, is your power band. Like Bob has pointed out, his new engine has a power band that is considerably higher than his 383 was, and his OD is virtually useless at legal speeds. An OD might put you too low in rpm's, especially if you go back to taller tires? IMO you really need to settle on what size tires you're going to run, then pick your rear gear ratio to best match your rpm band and with that info decide if you want an OD gear. The only real advantage OD brings you is cruise economy, and running at lower rpm on the highway (which is generally desirable, depending on your torque curve and staying in your power band). The choices on tire diameter, rear gears, OD gear, and acceptable cruise rpm are all inter-related.

I can't speak to the dimensions of the various auto's, and what fits or what doesn't. I'm running a Tremec TKO600 with the 0.64 OD, and I dearly love having the third pedal.

Great input, Roger. Thanks. Consider it burned into my brain and I won't forget it as I move forward. But sadly that takes up the brain space I had allocated to remember things my wife says to me so next time I forget what she said I'm going to have to blame it on you, bud.

Nick,

Placerville airport is my nearest, FAA Identifier: PVF
Lat/Long: 38-43-27.2000N / 120-45-12.0000W

I no longer live at Cameron Park Air Estates, so you can't taxi to my house.

As to gear ratios, this is a site I use http://www.precisionsite.com/auto-x/tools/

Ratios of most transmissions Tranny Ratios

Here is your speed in gears for 28" tire and 3.50 rear end.

RPM First Gear Second Gear Third Gear
200 1.9 3.1 4.8
400 3.8 6.3 9.5
600 5.7 9.4 14.3
800 7.6 12.5 19.0
1000 9.4 15.7 23.8
1200 11.3 18.8 28.6
1400 13.2 21.9 33.3
1600 15.1 25.1 38.1
1800 17.0 28.2 42.8
2000 18.9 31.3 47.6
2200 20.8 34.4 52.4
2400 22.7 37.6 57.1
2600 24.6 40.7 61.9
2800 26.4 43.8 66.6
3000 28.3 47.0 71.4
3200 30.2 50.1 76.2
3400 32.1 53.2 80.9
3600 34.0 56.4 85.7
3800 35.9 59.5 90.4
4000 37.8 62.6 95.2
4200 39.7 65.8 100.0
4400 41.6 68.9 104.7
4600 43.4 72.0 109.5
4800 45.3 75.2 114.2
5000 47.2 78.3 119.0
5200 49.1 81.4 123.8
5400 51.0 84.6 128.5
5600 52.9 87.7 133.3
5800 54.8 90.8 138.0
6000 56.7 93.9 142.8
6200 58.6 97.1 147.6

My 383 the way it was built was perfectly happy cruising at 1400 rpm top gear which is 57 mph. The 427 accepts a cruise rpm of 2200, which is 90 mph. Starting at 2000 in 4th gear is 52 mph to 3000 is 78 mph, yet 78 mph in 5th is 1900 rpm and the engine doesn't like pulling a load that slow.

Thanks for the link and gear info, Bob. I'll make note of where to find it for when I need it. If I try to put all this into my brain I'll be lucky if I even hear my wife calling me, let alone remember what she says.

Btw, great news!!!: my daughter moved to Oakland area about a year ago and that seems not far from Placerville Airport. Two good reasons to do something is usually more than I need

Oakland International Airport from Placerville
103.6 miles on a heading of 229.

How's it running, Bob? Any more vids bombing around? That reminds me: do you have any interest in taking it down the dragstrip to see what it'll run?

Let's think about that over a beer.

My little Track-T generally isn't allowed to even participate in the Wednesday night "Run What You Brung" due to "calculated ET". I did get to run at Sacramento Raceway when I heard their scales were down. I showed up and tech inspector asks "Do you know your weight?", I reply "2390 lbs" with a straight face. He then asks if I know my engine's output, I reply "Factory 290 hp crate engine". He does some number crunching and reports I'm borderline by his numbers, and my run could be in the mid 12's which was back then the cut off for cars like mine that are open and no roll bar. He says since I was an older guy (thanks for that), he would let me run, but it would be a solo pass with no one in the other lane. I thanked him and got in line. When I arrived at the burn out box I drove around the water and staged. I did an easy launch and didn't speed shift because I didn't want to break anything, 10.8 @ 132. Of course the track officials told me I couldn't run again till my car was NHRA compliant for 9.99~10.99. Not going to do all that to the T, besides I have a G-Tech for tuning, what most the car magazines use for the cars they write reviews on for their rag. This was the 355, which had 66 hp more than the 383. G-Tech tells me in just a 3 second romp in 2nd gear how much power I put down, my 0~60 and 1/4 numbers. It told me my 383 would have given me an 11.3 et.

damn 10.8 @ 132 is serious! ...at least in my book. I think with your much lower weight and equivalent power I can't expect an et like that.

But I'm going to have the same dilemma with no roll bar. I'm talking to my fabricator buddy to see what kind of ideas he has for a removable roll bar that won't screw things up. I'm also going to try to take a couple laps at the Thunderbolt track at New Jersey Motorsports Park (I've driven that track many times in my other car). Can't drive it too hard (limit it to what the car can handle) like I'd like to do since they won't allow that. But maybe just a quick cruise around with a camera in the car would still be cool to do in a '32 roadster. They have events to familiarize newbs and they advertise that anything with wheels, bicycles, skateboards, baby carriages ...so why not the '32. I think if they can squeeze me in when the track is clear they'll let me loose a little bit.

Do you use a G-Tech?