'66 Malibu N/SA

[Dave Muller]

Well, it's been a while since I did anything significant to this car. Instead of upgrading anything I've been spending all my money on travel, race gas and entry fees. The best ET so far is 12.383 (-.617) at Sonoma.

I had some issues with getting the pressure switch and 2-step setup working well, and then problems with the distributor clamp (of all things!) but those seem to be sorted out now.

I managed to scrape together enough money this month to finally do something that will hopefully make a difference; replacing the heavy stock-type disc brakes with Wilwoods.

So here's the setup I started with:



I weighed components as they came off and weighed the counterparts before installation. I removed 40 lbs. from the front of the car, about half of it rotating weight.





I found in the process though that the left lower ball joint had popped out of the a-arm! I'm not sure how that happened but now I'm planning to replace the whole setup there, a-arm, ball joint and bushings to get all fresh parts there.

Once that's fixed I'll have two AZ Stock/Super Stock Association races to check it out and get some practice driving, then I'm off to the Winternationals to cross that off the bucket list. Although a big motivation to run Pomona is that my son is currently living in the LA area so I'll get to hang out with him for the weekend!

[Greg Reimer 7376]

Dave! Nice to hear from you again. I enjoyed your project build up as I have enjoyed other racer's build stories on here. I noticed you mentioned an issue with the distributor bolt.Were you using a bolt or a distributor mounting stud, washer,and nut? I found that some of the bolts would bottom out in the intake giving you the impression that they were tight when they really weren't allowing for the distributor to move at the wrong time allowing the timing to retard itself as the engine ran. That's another of the little foxes that rear their heads at the wrong time and spoil the vine.
Glad to hear you got into Pomona. I'm going to watch, probably all four days. I get there early, watch the real racers all day Thursday, get there early Friday and Saturday, then leave after they are done. If I want to hear the loud stuff, I go outside when I'm home.
Take care, have a nice trip out, see you there!

[Dave Muller]

Thanks, Greg, glad I'll get to see you at Pomona.

I was using a stud but the issue seemed to be that the clamp was pushing more sideways on the edge of the distributor than pushing down on it like it should. The clamp I have now doesn't touch the edge, it only presses down. Seems to work fine. That was a very frustrating problem. I thought I had the clamp on tight enough for round two at the Wild Horse divisional. The timing was 38 degrees before the run, but it was 32 degrees after and I ran something like .06 over my dial. And lost.

[Bob Gullett]

Originally Posted by Dave Muller

Thanks, Greg, glad I'll get to see you at Pomona.

I was using a stud but the issue seemed to be that the clamp was pushing more sideways on the edge of the distributor than pushing down on it like it should. The clamp I have now doesn't touch the edge, it only presses down. Seems to work fine. That was a very frustrating problem. I thought I had the clamp on tight enough for round two at the Wild Horse divisional. The timing was 38 degrees before the run, but it was 32 degrees after and I ran something like .06 over my dial. And lost.

I had my dist move on me a few years ago. Had a fancy billet aluminum hold down clamp. Changed it to a OEM steel one with a stud and now more movement.

[Dave Muller]

Oh, I forgot about one more addition I made to the car recently.

I added an air/fuel ratio gauge. I picked up a single-gauge panel at a swap meet and added a piece of aluminum which I expoxied to the top of the dashboard.



Then I welded a bung to one of the header collectors. One of my usual ugly welding jobs.



I ran out of room on my electrical panel so I made a small one to add to the side which holds the controller for the gauge.

[FireSale]

"Ran out of room on my electrical panel" Ha! I should post a pic of mine...


I have an LC-2 as my A/F controller and it works pretty well.


Be sure to mount it where it is easy to access those Serial IN/OUT connectors. They fit together securely, which means they are hard to pull apart for connection to a laptop.



If your laptop does not have a connector for the serial cable IMS includes, pick up a Serial to USB adapter cable at Best Buy or someplace like that. It will take a few tries to train the software to see the cable if you are going through USB.


IMS has a little SD card recorder that connects to this system called a Pocket Logger. You need to stop the recording before shutting the car off or it will trash run data but the thing is under $100. They have a remote button so the logger can be mounted out of the way. I made one using an old transbrake button but don't recommend a DYI fix unless you're a better wirehead than myself.



I just finished adding one of their extended data devices - the SSI4 Plus. It adds RPM to the data log and can do driveshaft speed and stuff like that. Any 5 volt input except exhaust temp. Can't say how well it works yet (no engine). If I can see my RPM and AFR on the same chart I can get a better idea of what's going on.


Which gauge do you have? I have the IMS G3 series. It can do warnings and such. I think it's the only straight A/F ratio gauge IMS makes. All the rest have an A/F control function that kind of duplicates the LC2.


Keep that gauge where you can't miss it during a run. Mine was in a dash pod last year and I missed the warning and toasted my engine. Now it's secured to the side of my tach.


It's no Racepak, but then it's not $2500 either.

[Dave Muller]

Thanks for the information. Mine is the LC-2.

So far I haven't even thought about doing anything more than looking over at it occasionally during a run. But I will see about pulling more detailed run data out of it soon. The connectors are reasonably accessible at least.