[68rs406]

heres a couple of videos of the nova we run in pro street (my buddys car), this was our season opener.
heres the fastest its gone, http://www.npsaracing.com/Videos/Trevor.wmv
and heres the semis the same day, watch the top end, thats what pistons look like when exiting the exhaust in vapor form. http://www.npsaracing.com/Videos/TrevorPistons2.wmv
the second clip shows a good over line burnout in it, too bad it also includes the "crossing the line" piston burnout..... its all better now though.

[Larry's 69]

I got audio, but no video?

[camaroman7d]

Worked fine for me. That car looks very smooth from the videos. I would have never guessed those were 7 second runs just by looking. Of course it could be a handful behind the wheel. Nice clips, FAST car.

[rolling-robert]

just insane, if you drive a car like that here in europe you would be the hero of the year

[68rs406]

royce, you know, the chassis is dialed in so well on it now that it is amazing how smooth it is. i agree that doesn't even look anywhere near a 7 second pass, its crazy. i'm usually behind it, but i gotta say, when it went the 7.73, it LOOKED like it was hauling *** even from the starting line!
it rarely tries to wander out of the groove, it pretty much just hooks and goes, hits the bars but not too hard, and leaves nice and straight. its actually very consistent as well, it will run darn near bracket car consistent if you leave the nitrous tune up alone, but racing heads up like we do, you generally are stepping it up each round. its a ladder bar car too, most guys are amazed how well it works, really.
it will go quicker, that .73 pass was only on the 2nd system about half of the pass. we leaned it out about .25# and he stayed in it longer than the .73 pass, and well, you saw what happened. thats the first time its ever smoked pistons. fortunately is was just the pistons, a fairly easy fix.
the cars' smooth launches definately are thanks to lots of time spent scaling it. with the new motor thats in it, at first it was getting wicked twisted up off the line, and it got out of the groove a few times at 60', but it always kind of found the groove. the guy who built the chassis did one helluva job. once we scaled it and got the struts and coil overs adjusted right, it scaled darn near 50/50, with a bit more over the rear, perfect. not bad for a 3300 pound car, that aluminum block sure helps things too .
thanks Robert, its definately not the fastest car around, but its usually one of the fastest at the track, as far as pro street cars go. its gorgeous too, it definately gets lots of attention.
i cant take credit for it though, its my buddys car, i just do lots of wrenching on it, and have consumed many beers during late nights in the garage trying to dial it in. its a blast, and it also helps me keep my camaro drivable by satisfying my need to race
and oh yeah, royce, the buick is really coming along! i'm looking forward to seeing it done. very cool, very unique.
Sean

[camaroman7d]

Thanks Sean. At times it seems to be moving slow but, I have been busting my butt on it. The pictures are a little behind (not much). Had to order new rims, the front offset would not work with the fenders on. Just ordered the fuel cell and pump today. Need to bend up some brake lines and route the fuel lines. After that I will try to get the sheet metal done and then tear it apart and start painting the frame, etc.. then on to the body work. I still might make August.

That Nova is set up RIGHT. I didn't realize it is a ladder bar car, that makes it even more impressive.

[BBC1]

Is it just me or does the end of the track seem SHORT?
Doesn't look like they give you much time to slow down at that venue.

[68rs406]

cool royce, you should still get some good quality cruise time with it. its gonna look good with that huffer hanging out the hood.
yeah the novas' chassis is working very well, esp. for a ladder bar car. we set it up first at its regular weight, just under 3300, then put our "vegas weight" in it, bringing it up to 3545, and had to do very little adjusting. it actually works pretty well with or without weight, its nice when you can add weight wherever you want, to keep things balanced. it just sucks that this car is an all steel body with real glass and interior, and is real close to any ol street car, but since its running a big tire and strut front end, theres a huge weight penalty, even though its more "street car" than most in the class . we have looked at running a 10.5 tire, and running outlaw, then weight is not an issue. it hooks so well i think i just might work too. problem is, the outlaw 10.5 cars are running low 7's, that might be doable, but we'd have to lean on the nitrous tune up quite a bit, and drop a few pounds. in heavy street, the cars break so often, just staying alive keeps you competetive, and thats kind of why i like that class. oh well, its all fun anyway!
BBC, the video is actually decieving, the track is a good 1/8 mile longer than it looks in the video. the 1/4 is in a straightaway of a road course, and it goes beyond what you see, then drops a bit into a sweeper, so its a good long shutdown. you'll notice he doesn't even dump the laundry, he brings it down from 176 on brakes alone.

[JimM]

Originally Posted by Larry's 69

I got audio, but no video?

interesting, I got video but no audio??

great car tho

[camaroman7d]

You're right it's just for fun in most cases anyway. Not easy to make money drag racing (legally). That's one reason I like to just drive my cars on the street, get some enjoyment out of them.

That Nova is very impressive, I like it. Being all steel with real glass is a bonus too. That's the problem with racing in a classes, there are so many rules/restrictions that unless you build a car specifically for a class and to bend the rules it is hard to compete.

Put a slighlty more "streetable" engine in that thing and he could cruise with the rest of us (maybe have to drop the spool too) but, that's really not far from a "real" street car. I know of a lot of cars that are more "race" than that and don't run anywhere near those numbers.

What kind/size of front tires are on that nova?

[68rs406]

thanks for the good words royce, i love the car also, working on it/thrashing at the track is a blast. plus if you met my buddy, it would be even better, hes just a straight up good guy, just a good 'ol bench racing motorhead like myself, and many of us, and hes worked hard to get where he is, with a few of his best buddies over a bunch of cold budweisers (its all he drinks ), sometimes lots of busted knuckles and pain, but its always a blast to say the very least.
and yes, its totally a street car, still has full doors and roll up glass, factory door panels, dash and all. of course its tubbed so the back seat is long gone. its very cool, in fact i'm usually the one to talk him down when he starts talking about a big "diet" for the car, i love all the factory steel and glass. i'll have to see if i can find some pics of the interior. even with the current motor (all aluminum 632) some races require a "cruise" to prove its streetability, and he can drive comfortably all over and the car seldom sees above 170*. now the huge valve springs and 10$ a gallon gas (and the spool) make cruising totally unrealistic, as you say, it would be easy to make it a cruiser. all this and 7 second et's .
oh yeah, the tires on front are mickey thompson sportsmans, i believe 28-7.50/15 . weve been told they are very heavy, and the race only ones would save a few pounds over them, but they have been on the car for a few years now, and are still in good shape. seem like a decent all around tire.

[Hrod382]

Why is it a ladder bar car? Just the rules or is it an actual preference? A while ago when we put a big motor in our car and it was jumping all over the place we considered a 4-link but it was just going to be too much trouble for a 9 second 3000 pound car.

And what in the world are you buying for gas? Where I'm at it's $5 a gallon for the purple.

[SnakeEyes]

NICE launch.

[68rs406]

Originally Posted by Hrod382

Why is it a ladder bar car? Just the rules or is it an actual preference? A while ago when we put a big motor in our car and it was jumping all over the place we considered a 4-link but it was just going to be too much trouble for a 9 second 3000 pound car.

And what in the world are you buying for gas? Where I'm at it's $5 a gallon for the purple.

well, its a ladder bar car because..... it is . it was when he bought the car, the old motor went 8.80's +/-, and it worked ok then, and when the new motor went in, it worked but would twist up real bad when it launched. we just spent some time scaling it, and then tweaking it a bit at a time at the track, untill it leaves like you see in the video, straight and smooth. basically, it works good so there is no need to start over and spend unecessary cash, know what i mean.
it ran a 1.19 60' in that 7.73 pass, thats a best, but its consistently low 1.20's. its extremely consistent in fact. so untill a reason crops up to need suspension changes, it will remain a ladder bar set up. there is no doubt they can work well.
even funnier thing is it was still running a 12 bolt beginning of last year, went 7.87 at 174, in just a plain ol 12 bolt, with mark williams axles. it came out for a little tlc and was found to be twisted all to hell, guess we found a 12 bolts' limits... its got a plenty stout 9" in it now.
the gas is C16 , its actualy about 8-9$ a gallon, sometimes less, sometimes more, depends on amount you buy. and the reason? nearly 14:1 compression and in the neighborhood of a 600 horse nitrous tune up.
thanks snakeyes, credit goes to my buddy, hes a helluva driver, we just try to keep it going between rounds