66 Chevelle PT build (ours)

[tommycomfort]

We had been hearing a lot of folks talk about going to stiffer rear springs based on the way we use the car and the capabilities of the BFG Rival tire. Nobody had the same opinion on what we should use, so we chose a number in the middle and decided on a 350lbs spring. DSE ships their A-body kits with a 175 spring so it was a big jump. The car really didn't feel much stiffer on the street, but on the track and auto-x it felt like it was turning in faster. Right after making the change we ran the Faceoff at Road America event and it felt great and performed very well and then a few weekends after that we pulled off a win in the street machine class at Des Moines, Goodguys so I would say that I am really happy.





Between events this is pretty much how the windshield always looks. Actually, this is odd because everything is marked off, the norm is to pull off what doesn't get done and try to get to it next time.

[csouth]

Tom are those the Hyperco springs?

[tommycomfort]

Tom are those the Hyperco springs?

Yes they are Chris. 10"

[csouth]

Ok.... Hoping everything goes well out west!

[tommycomfort]

When Sam was running the car at the USCA Michigan International Speedway in August we grenaded another alternator fan. This time instead of going straight through the hood, it went down and cut an oil cooler line, power steering cooler line and mangled some wiring and a little bit of the inner fender. Violent!!! We're starting to see a pattern of destruction when Sam drives the car... ;-)

[tommycomfort]

I'll cut to the chase, we were pretty worried about the condition of the engine after Sam oiled down the track, but after making the repairs and realizing there were still a few quarts of oil in the pan and accusump we started it up with no ill effects. Whew!!!

Here's the solution we went with. A Powermaster alternator with a larger pulley to slow down the RPM's and a fan backing plate. The old fans and alternator have been sent back to Vintage Air for some troubleshooting.

[andrewb70]

Tom,

I don't understand why you don't use a modern alternator with an integral fan. There is a reason GM and most other manufacturers switched to that design...I haven't used an alternator with an external fan on my GTO wince I first built it back in 2002. Back then I used one of these:

http://performancedistributors.com/p...mp-alternator/

with a 6 run pulley swapped on. Clearly this is a safety concern now.

Andrew

[72BBSwinger]

Denso baby! Such a killer car Tom, I love how you have fine tuned it bit by bit and it just gets more "dialed". Hope to see you at an event next year.

[tommycomfort]

Tom,

I don't understand why you don't use a modern alternator with an integral fan. There is a reason GM and most other manufacturers switched to that design...I haven't used an alternator with an external fan on my GTO wince I first built it back in 2002. Back then I used one of these:

http://performancedistributors.com/p...mp-alternator/

with a 6 run pulley swapped on. Clearly this is a safety concern now.

Andrew

Andrew, I have zero doubt that the safety concern has been addressed with this new setup. I will say that an internal fan alternator is in the future, but wasn't in the cards right now.

[tommycomfort]

Denso baby! Such a killer car Tom, I love how you have fine tuned it bit by bit and it just gets more "dialed". Hope to see you at an event next year.

Thanks Emil! Hopefully we have an event or two in middle America next year where we can run together.

[tommycomfort]

We've been running 18x11" Vintage Wheel Works V-40's with 315 and 335's but decided for the 335's we should have a set widened. We decided to take a our old 9.5" rears and have them widened to 11.75" by Weldcraft Wheels in Michigan. Very nice job, but next time I think I would pay extra to have the welds cleaned up and polished.

[tommycomfort]

I finally bit the bullet and decided to buy Baer floater ends and have Moser weld them on Sam's 12 bolt (which we installed in the 66). Moser is only a couple of hours from us so Sam and I took everything up to them in the trunk of the 66. My goal was to just have them weld the ends on and build the new axles, but by the time we had left, they had upsold us and we were paying for a new girdle cover, powder coating and assembly. It is an awesome piece, but I hated to spend the required dollars!







This one doesn't really show anything, but it looks cool with the new wheel on there.

[tommycomfort]

A 315 Rival on an 11" wheel compared to a 335 on an 11.75" wheel. I can't really say we noticed a difference driving the car, but it just looks better in the wheel well.

[Rick D]

Nice updates Tom, glad Sam is getting used to racing the 66!!

Question, how wide are the 335 Rivals total and how much wider are they then the 315??

[tommycomfort]

Nice updates Tom, glad Sam is getting used to racing the 66!!

Question, how wide are the 335 Rivals total and how much wider are they then the 315??

Thanks Rick! Sam is getting plenty of seat time for sure. We need to get his car done so I can get back at it.

335 Rival on the 11 3/4" wheel = 13 3/8" total width and the 315 Rival on an 11" wheel = 12 7/16" total width.

[66Malibu]

Hi Tom. In past I believe you mentioned adding a roll bar/cage to your car. Wondering where your thoughts are with this now?

[tommycomfort]

Hi Tom. In past I believe you mentioned adding a roll bar/cage to your car. Wondering where your thoughts are with this now?

We still haven't pulled the trigger on that yet. We've looked pretty seriously at the Tiger Cage from ridetech and also talked to some friends about building one from scratch. We're getting faster on the track every year and it just seems like a good idea. Whether it happens this winter or spring is yet to be seen though.

[tommycomfort]

Yep, same old story, almost a year behind on updates but that certainly doesn't mean we've been taking it easy. Between the firehouse, National Guard stuff, shop and car projects and eight driving events, we've never been busier. Well, surgery on my shoulder a couple of days ago is going to allow me to get caught up on build threads. I'll start with the most recent and significant event and fill in the past stuff after that.

Like I said, significant! Bob Bertelsen has put on a great event the last four years named the Ohio Muscle Car Challenge. The first year it was just a huge auto-x in an unused parking lot, but then moved to Pittsburgh International Race Complex or what used to be Beaver Run when they lost access to the parking lot. Anyhow, second lap of the first session of the day I was trying to hang with Chris Jacobs in his C6 Vette so I could see his line. I can throw out all kinds of excuses, but when it's all said and done, I out drove my skill level. The grass was soaked with morning dew and once I was off I had zero steering or brakes. Bottom line, we've been running the Chevelle pretty hard since 2010 and knew that eventually this could happen. Now it's time to take advantage of a bad situation and make some improvements.

[andrewb70]

Ouch...Sorry to see this Tom!

What's the plan now?

Andrew

[Paraman1]

My Buddies son races carts on dirt track and has a lot of wisdom for a 10 year old . He told me after he flipped his car 3 times down the track that there were only 2 kinds of racers , "Those that have wrecked and those that are going to wreck."

Hope the shoulder heals quickly , I had mine done shortly after turning 40 and don't envy you . The 1 pound lifting restriction for 4 months about killed me .