Cuda at SEMA

[preston]

I usually think of shifting/rpm problems as clutch/bellhousing alignment issues. Is it sticky at all at low rpms or stationary ? You probably would have mentioned that if it was. I'm sure you have covered the basics with clutch alignment, throwout bearing engagement, etc.



I have the opposite problem - My tremec TKO + McLeod street twin clutch (dual 10.5" discs with alum flywheel) doesn;t like to go into gear when I'm stationary, but shifts fine at speed. Unaffected by heat.

I'm sure you've been hot rodding as long as I have, but my advice for what its worth - I would never take a new car with no seat time and run it at those speeds. I start my cars off with baby steps - street time, autocross, open track, and work my way up slowly on the track. I ALWAYS uncover lots of little problems and things to solve, I think you're pushing your luck to take that thing to a big event right now.

[ProStreet R/T]

Have you tryed calling tremec or gforce? I know we do run 75/90 in the vipers as you said, but don't be mistaken. While they share the same name (t56) they (the viper trans vs Z06 transaxle) have very little in common internally. With the torque of that hemi i'm shocked you decided to run that corvette trans. I would plan on having a couple spares around, they don't take big power very well what so ever.

Hope you get it figured out in time, judgement day with the vipers is coming up soon.

[Bob Johnson]

I usually think of shifting/rpm problems as clutch/bellhousing alignment issues. Is it sticky at all at low rpms or stationary ? You probably would have mentioned that if it was. I'm sure you have covered the basics with clutch alignment, throwout bearing engagement, etc.

I have the opposite problem - My tremec TKO + McLeod street twin clutch (dual 10.5" discs with alum flywheel) doesn;t like to go into gear when I'm stationary, but shifts fine at speed. Unaffected by heat.

I'm sure you've been hot rodding as long as I have, but my advice for what its worth - I would never take a new car with no seat time and run it at those speeds. I start my cars off with baby steps - street time, autocross, open track, and work my way up slowly on the track. I ALWAYS uncover lots of little problems and things to solve, I think you're pushing your luck to take that thing to a big event right now.

You're very wise and correct. We are rushing this car. We have checked the scattershield alignment, and the throwout bearing engagement. We have the t/o bearing releasing about .150K more than they require for release. I didn't get to drive it cold but at speed, it just doesn't have the shift feel that you want..where you can feel gear engagement. Alan flogged on it Friday for awhile. Then he made several passes Sat Morning, adjusting tire pressure, setting the rear ride height and camber, etc.. Then I started driving it very hard for the first time. I made sabout 6 passes...felt the motor trying to bind I thought, so I shut it off. I told Alan and crew I thought I had galded a bearing or something. They cranked it for a second..they thought it was a rocker..Pulled the Valve covers and nothing was wrong. Took it back to the shop, pulled the dry sump pan and you could see the rods ends had been scortched. We won't make Maxton. Alan was wanting to rush it to Indy and get it back and try and make it. I told him we were moving too quickly. We need more time in this car..We need to do exactly like what you said. This trans might loosen up with a little more time. The clutch feels fine..whether it is not releasing, which I think it is releasing, whether it has too much inertia/weight..I don't know about that. I need to drive it cold and shift normally w/o power and make a conclusion. One off things require a lot of thrashing. By the way, as far as what your advice is worth..It's worth a lot..

[Bob Johnson]

Have you tryed calling tremec or gforce? I know we do run 75/90 in the vipers as you said, but don't be mistaken. While they share the same name (t56) they (the viper trans vs Z06 transaxle) have very little in common internally. With the torque of that hemi i'm shocked you decided to run that corvette trans. I would plan on having a couple spares around, they don't take big power very well what so ever.

Hope you get it figured out in time, judgement day with the vipers is coming up soon.

I've been dealing with Rockland Gear since they built the trans. But I think I will call Tremec and G Force...We have G Force gears in the tranny. They say this trans/rear set up is good for 1,000 hp. I guess that's for us to find out. I do plan a spare trans and rear. I sent mine up there to get set up.

[ProdigyCustoms]

I would be looking at the steel shaft, inertia is exactly what I am thinking. Sorry you are going to miss the show, the boys and I were breaking our our cheerleading outfits and headed that way.

[JayR]

Hey Bob/Alan Who made the curved glass on the car? I was trying to find it in this thread but started to get carpal tunnel from scrolling.....
Thanks in advance!
Jason Rushforth

[Steve1968LS2]

I would be looking at the steel shaft, inertia is exactly what I am thinking. Sorry you are going to miss the show, the boys and I were breaking our our cheerleading outfits and headed that way.

Hey Frank.. you gonna be at Maxton?? Bringing out any cool cars?


Bob, sorry to hear about the engine troubles and that you will miss Maxton.. I know you will eventually get it all sorted out.

[Bob Johnson]

I would be looking at the steel shaft, inertia is exactly what I am thinking. Sorry you are going to miss the show, the boys and I were breaking our our cheerleading outfits and headed that way.

maybe..it's only 2.5 ft. long..3"diameter..we were wanting carbon fiber..but for heat reasons we couldn't. I don't know if 3' dia. aluminum will stand the strain

[Bob Johnson]

Hey Bob/Alan Who made the curved glass on the car? I was trying to find it in this thread but started to get carpal tunnel from scrolling.....
Thanks in advance!
Jason Rushforth

rear and side glass is coated Lexan..from Shields..do a lot of Nascar stuff. rear is bigger than stock..not really curved any more to speak of..sides are probably curved a little more to meet the roof that has been lowered by the front and rear pillars being angled in a little

[Bob Johnson]

I would be looking at the steel shaft, inertia is exactly what I am thinking. Sorry you are going to miss the show, the boys and I were breaking our our cheerleading outfits and headed that way.

I guess I need to weigh a stock torque tube and see how the weight compares..but remember that my shaft is a lot smaller in diameter and we both know that the smaller diameter will react differently than a larger diameter..They say that the Exidy small diameter clutch has a lot less inertia and they say I will be able to shift it then. I couldn't feel the clutch not trying to release..I just haven't had enough seat time to get a feel for it yet. We didn't RIM the trans gears like we did the rear end..Since this was the first time Rockland had used the G Force gear set, they didn't want to RIM them until we tried it out first..I'm feeling like a guinea pig with all this new untested one off stuff I'm running everywhere..

[Bob Johnson]

I would be looking at the steel shaft, inertia is exactly what I am thinking. Sorry you are going to miss the show, the boys and I were breaking our our cheerleading outfits and headed that way.

I really appreciate your support..sorry I'm not going to make it..I don't like breaking my commitments..I'm very disappointed to say the least..got to learn from this..Gonna flow the intake and see what's going on..We are definitely getting more air to the front cylinder..it diminishes each cylinder as we go back..We had the correct overall air/fuel ratio..but obviously the front ones were too lean and the back one was fat..at least we didn't seize it completely and blow the engine, spewing oil everywhere and putting the Cuda on the roof with all that cross wind we had out there.

[Bob Johnson]

I need to get the Cuda engine from Gadsden Ala, to Indianapolis Indiana..any ideas?

[ProdigyCustoms]

I use a company called Forward Air, http://forwardair.com/ It is a depot to depot service that is based out of major airports. Reasonable and fast. But I have no idea what Gadsden is near

[Steve Chryssos]

Call Connie

http://www.kalittaair.com/

[syborg tt]

I need to get the Cuda engine from Gadsden Ala, to Indianapolis Indiana..any ideas?

I can make a couple suggestions as i have shipped at least 10 engines in the past 3 years.

Your best bet is to get a metal Engine Dolly or make a metal engine dolly and then secure it to a heavy duty wooden Pallet.

Once it's secured to the pallet you build a Plywood box around the engine so no one know's what's in there. Don't be afraid to use good wood either. You goal is to protect the engine.

You also want to put a sacrificial corrugated carton on the top of the pallet to prevent the shipping guy's from placing another pallet on top of your skid as crushing it. I can also send you "Do Not Double Stack Labels" to put on the pallet.

I have some really good pictures of a lotus body that was crushed in transportation from some idiot putting a heavy pallet on the crate.

Fed Ex Freight would be the common Carrier of Choice since they are one of the largest and most reliable (est 200.00).

You must tell them that you want it insured for full value and it is a new engine 'Not Used". You will also need proper bill of lading & packing list stating the contents of the engine and pallet. I can create one for you if you like.

Your other option is to call a private car Hauler (open trailer guy's) and have them haul it for you and they usually only charge loaded miles.This may seem a little safer in the end as you know the guy is going straight there with your engine.

shoot me an e-mail if you need my help

[email protected]

[Bob Johnson]

I can make a couple suggestions as i have shipped at least 10 engines in the past 3 years.

Your best bet is to get a metal Engine Dolly or make a metal engine dolly and then secure it to a heavy duty wooden Pallet.

Once it's secured to the pallet you build a Plywood box around the engine so no one know's what's in there. Don't be afraid to use good wood either. You goal is to protect the engine.

You also want to put a sacrificial corrugated carton on the top of the pallet to prevent the shipping guy's from placing another pallet on top of your skid as crushing it. I can also send you "Do Not Double Stack Labels" to put on the pallet.

I have some really good pictures of a lotus body that was crushed in transportation from some idiot putting a heavy pallet on the crate.

Fed Ex Freight would be the common Carrier of Choice since they are one of the largest and most reliable (est 200.00).

You must tell them that you want it insured for full value and it is a new engine 'Not Used". You will also need proper bill of lading & packing list stating the contents of the engine and pallet. I can create one for you if you like.

Your other option is to call a private car Hauler (open trailer guy's) and have them haul it for you and they usually only charge loaded miles.This may seem a little safer in the end as you know the guy is going straight there with your engine.

shoot me an e-mail if you need my help

[email protected]

thanks...

[Bob Johnson]

We're diagnosing what went wrong with the Cuda engine. It is our theory that the volume of air in the plenums and runners is not suffecient to supply a motor this big. Our first 2 cylinders were lean..they got progressively richer as they came back to the rear 2 cylinders which were rich. The overall fuel air mixture was set when we dynoed it, but this didn't allow for each cylinder and discrepancies like we had among each cylinder. We theorize the first cylinders were getting more air and robbing the subsequent cylinders of air until the last cylinders were rich from lack of air. The overlean cylinders were detonating early in the stroke and hammered the bottom end..rods and inserts..It's a silent type of detonation..We knew our power was off when we did the chassis dyno. We were trying to get the uncorrected raw numbers from Indy(they engine dynoed it with carb, intake, distributor MSD etc) to try to figure out where our problem was, but we found out the hard way. Anyone got an EDUCATED opinion on how much volume you need in your plenum/runner system as compared to your cubic inches..in a normally aspirated motor. We felt that it was insuffecient when we got the intake but were assured it was enough volume to handle our engine..We have 314 cu in of volume in the intake tracts for a 572 in. engine.. I know what you read, but I would like real world knowledge. We had 2 ea. 90MM throttle bodies which is more than enough.. I love one off unproven stuff..

[JayR]

rear and side glass is coated Lexan..from Shields..do a lot of Nascar stuff. rear is bigger than stock..not really curved any more to speak of..sides are probably curved a little more to meet the roof that has been lowered by the front and rear pillars being angled in a little

Thanks Bob!
Sorry for your engine woes. If it was easy, everyone would do it. Keep doing what you guys are doing and it will rock very soon.

[Steve Chryssos]

........Anyone got an EDUCATED opinion on how much volume you need in your plenum/runner system as compared to your cubic inches..in a normally aspirated motor........

EDUCATED


I love that. Yeah call John Meaney.

http://www.bigstuff3.com/

[ProdigyCustoms]

Bob, Based on pictures, it would seem you have plenty of volume. Is that thing on a crank trigger? If it is a XFI on a crank trigger, you can set it up to tune it sequential. You can tune each cylinder individually regardless of the erratic flow. Fatten lean cylinders, lean out rich cylinders. It may not be as much plenum design as tuner limitations. I don't pretend to be able to do it myself, but I have the best FAST tuner in the country available when you get it back together. If you would like to talk to him, and I think you should, let me know and I get you two in contact.