Slobalt

[goinbroke2]

Originally Posted by Billy Nees

Doesn't everybody have at least one? ;-)

BWAHAHAHAHA!!!
I got the softest combo out there...I'd have to get another!!
78-79 foxbody 302...fairmont? Zepher? 2dr/4dr? Wagon?

I've got 4 engines and 5 sets of heads/intakes, I have a VV carb as well as several 1.08 2bbls....hmmm....LOL!

[Mike Gray]

Originally Posted by goinbroke2

And just like that...I have an excuse to get another car, a "back up" stocker! Telling the wife now......

I could use another race car, let me know how that goes (If you can still type after you wake up)

[goinbroke2]

Originally Posted by Mike Gray

I could use another race car, let me know how that goes (If you can still type after you wake up)

can't...see...the....screen....through....swollen. ...eyes....I think....it's...a...no...for ....now...

[Cglrcng]

Originally Posted by Billy Nees

Doesn't everybody have at least one? ;-)

Nope, the smile (but, slight wince I see in the background of my 39 year this month bride), says to me "Don't even try that buddy"), and I will stick tothe original plan of just making this slow 1 faster and faster until is is bad fast for the class. And leave her (when the Good Lord decides it is my time to leave the planet for hopefully better things), just again hopefully, 1 complete and running slow go but bad fast race setup to sell in a single shot.

But, if I could find my 80's era 1963 Dodge Polara 500 bracket car (last seen in Dec. 1984 in a El Paso, TX salvage and impound tow yard w/ a highway robbery 5k towing bill attached to it). I would buy it back at almost any price and suffer that wince forever.

It was a magic car that earned me many more wins than I ever deserved.. A story for another day about losing the magic carpet ride.

So, for now list me in the group of the just 1 right now crowd. It is a smaller group.

[Cglrcng]

Loving the Slobalt thread Mr.Buth, and the struggle is always real, but so rewarding when things just work.

[JP1738]

Originally Posted by Ellis V Buth

The Slobalt has now been to 4 events this season, with 3 different drivers. Each driver has brought home some money with the car this year, including a semi final and final round appearance in its 2 most recent races. With that, we decided it was time to give the old girl some upgrades!

I've been talking about putting a new head and cams in the car since the beginning of the year and now she's actually going to get them. Last weekend at Indy, we saw consistent runs between 16.06 and 16.14 across 3 days. Consistency is perfect, but we'd like to see a little bit more performance out of it.

Fun note: Blake Hooper drove the car in stock for the first time at Indy last weekend and made his first stock final! He was also the first person to ever race the Slobalt back when it was still a street car (c. 2020). He didn't win a single round in it that day and said he didn't ever want to drive it again...

Would it be too much to ask to get a full race recap? The race wasn't streamed and I would really enjoy a round by round break down from the race!

Also I know it's getting a head and cams, but could you recall for us what all has been done to it so far? I know you've tuned it and put some lightweight oil, but all the little stuff adds up too!

[Ellis V Buth]

Originally Posted by JP1738

Would it be too much to ask to get a full race recap? The race wasn't streamed and I would really enjoy a round by round break down from the race!

Also I know it's getting a head and cams, but could you recall for us what all has been done to it so far? I know you've tuned it and put some lightweight oil, but all the little stuff adds up too!

Round by round recap will be a little tough because I wasn't physically at the track with the car this time. I was in Brainerd for the double divisional, but I'll do my best! We did have a phone call before each round to discuss weather data and dial ins so I do have some insight:

In qualifying, the car ran a 16.070 Friday night and a 16.067 Saturday morning.

Round 1- Saturday afternoon. Weather was a little worse than the runs we had so far. We dialed 16.10 thinking we were running a 10 or 11. Blake hit it .036 to his opponents .003 but opponent drove behind and ran 11.67 on his 11.56 dial at 109 mph. Blake dropped late, killing very little, to run 16.133 at 84.15 mph.

Round 2- Saturday late afternoon/early evening. From the previous round data, we think the car is running a couple slower so we put a 16.14 on the window. Opponent is dialed 10.85 and Blake doesn't want to have to try to judge the stripe so we are trying to be honest. Blake hits it .010, opponent is late, Blake runs 16.196 at 77.95 mph for the win.

Round 3- Sunday morning. Best weather we've seen so far for the week. 16.04 dial in against a 10.80 dial. Again, hoping to not try to judge the stripe too much. .016 light to her .030, and a 16.053 at 84.91 beats her 10.840 at 113.90. Tight race against a former division champ!

Round 4- Late morning/early afternoon. 16.08 dial in due to deteriorating weather. Opponent dial is 12.37, so Blake feels slightly better about driving the stripe. Blake cuts .028 light to her .040, and takes .001 stripe on the brakes to win a double breakout. This was the first time this weekend that we were on a breakout, so we felt fortunate to get this win light.

Round 5- Car is starting to retain the heat, as we don't have a switch for the fan to be able to cool the car between rounds it is still run by the computer. 16.07 is the dial, and the opponent pushed through the beams and Blake elected to lift at 1000' in order to build less heat. Blake was .028 on the tree and the car was slowing down due to the built up heat in everything. Run completion suggests we were running 16.10-16.11. This run earned the bye in the semis!

Round 6- There was an incident on the track that delayed this round by a bit. We were able to get the car back to cool like it was in the earlier rounds. Blake decided to do 1000' drop again on the bye, so he puts a 16.27 dial on the window (ran 16.241 previous round). Blake is .044 on the tree and runs 16.246 on the run. Now we've got to get the car as cool as possible before the finals.

Round 7- Final round, the first one for the car as a stocker. Its only other final was its 2nd race as a bracket car which was 2 weeks before we started "Project Slobalt". This is the only round where Travis and I were unable to talk to Blake before the run, as dad and I were still in round 3 up in Brainerd and dad was literally pulling onto the track when Blake ran his final in Indy. I was watching on Live Timing towards the end of stock up north. Blake hits the tree .034 but misses his dial, as the 16.130 at 84.93 is all out against his 16.09 dial in. We believe the inability to properly cool the car between rounds is the main reason for this, so we are going to address that before the next race. Opponent was .023 and ran .015 above, leaving Blake only a .004 window even if we had the dial in right.

I know this got long winded, but this should give you some in depth round by round breakdown like you wanted. Opponents throughout the day included Randi Lyn Butner, Mike McGinley, Rosalyn Gresens, and event winner Brian Rogers of course among others. Blake was pretty happy with his RT spread and the overall predictability of the car. He felt like he missed on both ends significantly in the final which resulted in the loss.

[Ellis V Buth]

Originally Posted by JP1738

Would it be too much to ask to get a full race recap? The race wasn't streamed and I would really enjoy a round by round break down from the race!

Also I know it's getting a head and cams, but could you recall for us what all has been done to it so far? I know you've tuned it and put some lightweight oil, but all the little stuff adds up too!

Dawson, I believe I've touched on everything that's been done throughout the process. The tune is the main thing to this point, as it allowed us to get the timing curve optimized and the fuel curve as well. Before the tune, the car was really really rich and it was begging for timing to get it off the line. With the tune we were also able to lower the line pressure in the transmission to keep the car in the power band during the shifts which picked up quite a bit as well.

Smaller front brakes so the 13 inch rims would fit. 19.5 tires on the 13 inch rims. Electric water pump, we removed the balance shafts (5 ish lbs of rotating weight) and tried to change cam timing without having an adjustable gear but we aren't sure that really gained us anything. We put lighter oil in the transmission, put an "off the shelf" header on the car and a short tube. We haven't experimented with tube length yet or stepped collectors.

The head and the cams are in now and the car sounds COMPLETELY different than it did before. Blake is entered in Indy, and the car is going to be in Bowling Green this weekend to try to get it dialed in for the Big GO! Andrew will be driving the Cobalt this weekend and Blake will be in my gray Mustang.

[Mike Meier]

I don't have my Cobalt anymore, but curious as to what car you got the smaller brakes from?

When I put my car together I ordered a 13" rim to test fit and it didn't work out, however the light weight 15" rims I eventually went with were the same bolt pattern for a late 90's Honda Civic.