Quote:
Originally Posted by goinbroke2
Looking at the pictures I see another issue...no radio and no heater controls....dang it!!!
Can you replace radio and heater controls with gauges and lights??
Or, are these "must have" as well?? I guess I'll have to look for that crap, man 1 step ahead and 2 back every time, lol!
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Radio can have a block off plate/plug, but Heater/AC controls must remain. The 2024 NHRA Rulebook is avail. Free online, Section 11A, get familiar with it, and on your phone so you can quickly find your answers, section by section, item by item, it pays off quickly.
My 84' has been in the family since the dealer lot trip (Feb. 5, 1985), sold without a radio, helped install the cheap K-Mart special Kraco w/Cassette player stereo, that same afternoon, and still have the original poly plastic blocker plate that came factory in center console dash tower. But, due to sentimental reasons, the speakers are gone, radio is now only 1" deep (just weighs ounces now, and no longer makes noise, but still has a light on it, and the tuning needle is permanently set to 102.7 Mhz KIIS FM (The SoCal Classic Rock Station I first set as programmable button 1 to drive my dear departed Mom nuts as this was her daily driver for her career job w/the AAA of Southern California). The Heater and AC box sits in the corner of my garage now, but the controls are right above that fake radio front. All the lights work.
Even w/the rulebook in hand, I still have questions still unresolved. (But, that list is getting shorter by the day). 1 foot in front of the other, horse before the cart, 1 change at a time. Sometimes 1 step forward, 2 steps back. Progress is slow, but getting faster w/each step in the right direction and constantly experimenting.
Old projects, need a bumper to bumper nut and bolt ck, then you can fully concentrate on the improves, rather than the repairs constantly. It will show the weak points, and those need improves then, not later.
I started my fully re-built powerplant out w/ the biggest fully ckd legal cam for the combo I had on my shelf at the time (though it was a new to me recent purchase, a specially ground 1 off Reed cam, tons of overlap, almost maxed on the exhaust side for lift, intake side was mid range, and it sounded amazing, but 1/8 mile passes were 7K in lo gear, it was in the car 2 whole test sessions (1/8th mile and 1 quarter mile, zero vacuum until 3K rpm (no go w/current power brakes), left like a turtle for 100 then stormed out the back end, would not run the number w/ those brakes, and that converter as tight as it currently
is, swapped it out to my next lower mid lift cam, same settings, and 4 race events (and 1 Class Wally later), ended the 2023 season almost -.800 under index at Pomona.
But, without experimenting to find sweet spots, and forging ahead with a pretty sound car in the beginning, and taking the time, spending the money, I would be
mired in repairs, rather than improves, as mine also sat from 1997-2022 (26 years between racing it actively in STK 1994-97', and a redebut in late 2023).
Good luck on your mission brother! I am enjoying the build thread. I need to update mine too after April (Class racing again this month for 2024! 9 days to Vegas 4 wide, followed by LODRS Double w/Class, all within a 2 week period).