Nova

2006 Season End

I didn't race a lot last year due to many reasons, but did get out a few times. The season ended last year with tore up parts after a bad wheelstand...

I sure wish I had kept my foot in it, the ol' girl was loaded for bear and I was throwing all I could find at it!  Prior to that header cruncher, I did get it down in the 8's finally with a 8.77@155 pass at Tulsa during a MAKO shootout. With the record in our class in the low, low 8's I made the decision to step it up for 2007 with a new engine. The 505 will be retired and I'll reuse a few parts off of it for the new one.

7/17/06

This date is a very important one to me, it marks the death of my dear wife, Corinna. She finally was overwhelmed by Melanoma Cancer which she battled valiantly for years. Cherish your loved ones and live every day like it's your last, you never know when your time will come.

6/9/06

Wow, it's been a while since I updated this page. Here's what's up with the ol' Nova since the last post.  New 5" VFN Cowl Induction Hood. This is the first one off their new mold that incorporates the cowl panel into the hood assembly. It really didn't gain me much more clearance over the 4" Harwood that I had on it, but I like the looks of it better. If I would quit sticking carb spacers on the car I wouldn't need such a tall scoop!

The new shocks and anti-roll bar worked well, on the cars maiden voyage in 2006 we got it down to a 1.289 60 on KCIR's sticky track. Since then even in hot weather it has been capable of 1 .31's/1.32's. A big improvement over last years mid 1.40's.

This is a pic at Tulsa's May 20th MAKO shootout, it's doing a 1.301 in this picture. Most of the passes this year have been finding glitches in numerous things but we've got to the 2nd round twice in MAKO Real Street competition and I know I have the chassis working at least as good as most others in the class, maybe better than some. Just a lack of power at this point keeping the Nova from challanging the faster cars.

Best pass so far this year has been 1/8th Mile at MoKan where I finally started to get everything working better. The Nova qualified #4 in an 8 car field with a 5.74@123, still a few tenths off the target, but I'm getting there. Right now my goal is to get an 8.50 ET out of this current motor combination (the old 505). I think that's possible with a bit more work on the tuneups, but it won't be enough to get to the final round when there are several in the class running 8.30's. So the next project will more than likely be a bigger badder bullet or we might just see how much spray this old 505 motor can take!

3/16/06 Chassis Work

Here's about all I got done this winter, the addition of an anti-roll bar and moving the shock mounts to allow for longer shocks. New Afco 7" travel Double Adjustable shocks should be here any time now and I can see if these changes help any.

The holes in the trunk floor are for the shocks, I'll find a boot of some sort toput over them and make that look a bit better. David Lemmond fixed me up with the chrome moly anti roll bar, you can certainly tell the difference with the shocks off the car. I have a few odds and ends to do which I hope to finish up this weekend then will be ready to do some testing before long.

If you're wondering what those aluminum arms are in the center of the shock mount, that's something I'm experimenting with, it's some mounts for a travel sensor for the data logger. I'll see how it works there before making something a bit more permanent.

Otherupcoming changes for this winter are a 5" cowl induction from VFN, some nitrous system work (top secret) and some fresh rubber.

12/14/05

Making plans for the 2006 Season

Last year wasn't a very productive year with only about 1 month of drag racing available in my case. I'm going to try and get out a lot sooner next year and hopefully I'll have the time to do some more racing.

This winters changes to the car include an anti-roll bar, new design shock mount, new shocks and definately some new tires. Sometime in the next few weeks I'll post some pictures of what I'm doing on the new shock mounts and the anti-roll bar.

In the meantime, I'd like you to visit my new Drag Racing Forum over at DragStuff - it's at http://www.dragstuff.com/forum There are quite a few Nova Nuts over there already, stop by and do some benchracing with us.

Racing in Real Street at MoKan against Ryan Livingood's blown Capri. This is the last run of the year where I toasted the clutches for sure in the tranny, bounced it off the rev limiter in all three gears just trying to get down the 1/8th mile. Needless to say I got to see Ryan's tail lights on this pass. I'll work on showing him mine next year! (more…)