www.the351cforum.com

The race I entered the weekend before Thanksgiving was a door car only, all Top ET race, and there were 290 entries. There were guys there from Ohio, Maryland, Ontario Canada, there was even one guy there from Montana.
Thanksgiving weekend, the same track and promotion group hosted an all footbrake race, and they had 358 entries. I have no idea how far away they came for that race, but I bet there were guys from a long ways away there. The 10 grander I entered at a neighboring track was Top ET only, and we had about 130 entries. Although, both races held Thanksgiving weekend found out it's really too late in the year as both tracks had multiple crashes. When the temp drops in to the high 30s as soon as the sun sets, it doesnt take long for the track to get cold regardless of how many cars are there.

Yes, we pushed to get done before we fell into the 50s. If the track gets much below 50s we pretty much are done. However, the next three days will be first time in the low 30s with like one exception this year. I'm still watering.

Attn Texas - Winter is scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, this week only.

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Chris - Merkel, TX
http://raceabilene.com/kelly/hotrod
"Owner built, owner abused."

That didnt go as planned.
I thought I would get the cam swap completed today, get the car fired up to get the timing set, then I would be done with all that part and it would be ready for the first race. I had to swap out my electric CSI water pump as it started leaking like a sieve the last race, and I stuck my good old trusty Weiand aluminum pump back on the car with the Moroso water pump drive. ~buzzer sound~ That's not gonna work. The lower radiator hose for the pump is right smack in the way of the belt drive fuel pump. No matter what I do with the hose, it's in the way. Well crap, looks like I need to buy another electric pump. That means the car is not running and I need to swap out water pumps again.

Too cold here now to do much, thank goodness the shop has heat. you can see the tear down results in the other thread LOL. Need to get the carb parts to my carb guy, fix up a huge order for Summit and build a new rear motor plate. Have put several heads together and came concluded that the rear plate is flexing and locking up the driveline - the reason for the launch hesitation that I could never work out. Right side of the motor plate mounting hole is wallowed out from 3/8 to 7/16. Will be making a full 1/4" plate that runs down to the bottom rails and have a friend weld on some lower brackets. Thinking about making some 3/16" steel reinforcements for the upper mounts.

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Chris - Merkel, TX
http://raceabilene.com/kelly/hotrod
"Owner built, owner abused."

Got the new electric pump on yesterday, but need to buy a couple of hose clamps for the short section of hose where it attaches to the radiator before I can finally fire it up with the new camshaft.
The old clamps were about wore out, and I want to start with some new ones since stuff like that usually ends up biting me in the butt.
I decided I wasnt going to spend $340+ on a new CSR or Meziere pump, so I bought a $170 Mr Gasket pump. Hopefully it will last a couple of years before it needs replaced. I'm sure it's chinese made, but hopefully since Mr G sells them the quality control will be a touch better than some of the chinese made units sold by off brand companies.
Once I get it started, I need to set the timing, check lash, and then the engine side of things will be ready to go.
I'm also slightly changing where my transbrake button is mounted and adding a bump down button this year. At some point I want to replace the front spring perches with some double roller units and install double adjustable shocks, but that's not required for the car to be competitive, so that thousand dollars can wait to be spent.
I have already pre-entered a 3 day race over Labor Day weekend. It pays $20k to win each day. Hopefully I'll have enough seat time this year by then I can actually be competitive again.

Just soent 1800 at Jegs primarily for the fuel system change. Trying to find a mount spot for a big A1000 pump.

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Chris - Merkel, TX
http://raceabilene.com/kelly/hotrod
"Owner built, owner abused."

I fired it up today. Set the timing and checked for leaks. I still need to check lash again and put some new valve cover gaskets on it, but it sounds pretty danged good, even on the primer system. I bet it's gonna sound killer when I get some alchy in it.

Sound any different from the last camshaft?

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Brent Lykins, Lykins Motorsports
www.lykinsmotorsports.com
brent@lykinsmotorsports.com

I think it sounds a little different, but kind of tuff to tell until I get the alchy system back on.

old cam;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnyMHgKQ7PM

new cam;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vZdyo3 ... e=youtu.be

Kv. What valve cover gaskets do you like? I put the Edelbrock gaskets that have the I believe aluminum insert molded with it. I wanted to check the rocker clearance last year but they are really stuck on. I kinda don't like them especially cause they both leak a little on the back side