426Roadrunner68
Active Member
First things first, fix the vacuum leak. We are going to use a smoker/fogging machine to find out where we are leaking crankcase vacuum. Did this earlier in the year and it was coming from the valley plate. Pulled intake, made some modifications and boom, vacuum where it should be. After one race, pulled covers to check valve lash, after that, at Norwalk for mopar race, vac was down again. Tried to see if we could do something at the track but no luck. So we WILL fix the vac this time. The valley plate is a thin piece of aluminum that is fastened to the bottom of the intake with Allen headed cap screws and silicone. So if the vac leak is coming from there again, we will be using an Indy valley plate that needs modified to be run with the manifold we have. We also had some vac leaking from the valve cover bolts which we fixed with aviation sealant. The valve covers we have are aluminum valve covers which are nice looking but they’re cheapies with 5 different length bolts to make them work. Plus we have to drop the passenger side shock to get the one cover off. They’re a pain in the butt. I got new Ray Barton valve coming which will work with his rocker system and hopefully be less hassle than the current ones, and hopefully seal better than the current covers. If we have to pull the intake and switch valley trays, we will pull the engine out of the car to do that on the engine stand. That’s first. It was crazy how much the car slowed down when the vacuum went down from 10” to 1”. It was worth .05-.06 in the 1/8.
Next, we got new valve springs coming to put on. Had to order a very expensive on head spring removal tool from Barton that is made by Buxton. Should be in this week.
We almost pulled the trigger on a Stage V dual carb manifold with 2 edelbrock carbs so my dad can run in the Hemi class at Mopar races. But we decided to stick with the one dominator setup since it’s a bracket car and works very well as is. No sense in spending thousands of dollars on a new setup to race in the Hemi class 2 times a season.
If the engine comes out and goes on the stand, will likely get a Peterson primer pump to put on so we can prime the engine without pulling the distributor.
Next, we got new valve springs coming to put on. Had to order a very expensive on head spring removal tool from Barton that is made by Buxton. Should be in this week.
We almost pulled the trigger on a Stage V dual carb manifold with 2 edelbrock carbs so my dad can run in the Hemi class at Mopar races. But we decided to stick with the one dominator setup since it’s a bracket car and works very well as is. No sense in spending thousands of dollars on a new setup to race in the Hemi class 2 times a season.
If the engine comes out and goes on the stand, will likely get a Peterson primer pump to put on so we can prime the engine without pulling the distributor.
