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62 Valiant Race Car is Back
https://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=62336		 Page 7 of 9
Author:  Dart270 [ Sat May 11, 2019 2:14 am ]
Post subject:  Re: 62 Valiant Race Car is Back
Congrats on the initial success, Ryan. This would (will!) be a feat of engineering when you get it solved, if it's not already. It looked much less bouncy to me when I saw the good run. Here's to the next set of super fast and not-so-hoppy runs. You will lose the excellent nickname, though... ;)

Cheers,
Lou
Author:  ryandcovalt [ Tue May 14, 2019 8:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 62 Valiant Race Car is Back
Thanks Lou,

As much as I liked the nickname last year and had fun with it...... I think i'd be glad to lose the name Hoppy this year. :lol: Looks like the changes were big steps in the right direction. Hopefully I can correct a few things with the shocks and make it better.

I pulled the intake and headers off tonight and found one pipe was nearly broke off at the flange and the intake gasket had split in 2 places over the exhaust ports. I cleaned the carbs out (didn't really find anything wrong there) but the linkage has far too much play. I ordered some new linkage to hopefully fix the weber setup and get that dialed in. I haven't been able to find any extremely obvious cause of the engine miss, but hopefully it was from a combination of the carburetor linkage moving and the exhaust/gasket issue. One of the low speed carb jets may have had the tiniest piece of dirt in it too. Hopefully these things fix the engine issue and I can get the car back to full power next race.
Author:  Greg Ondayko [ Wed Oct 16, 2019 4:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: 62 Valiant Race Car is Back
Congratulations to Ryan and the entire Covalt Clan!

Team blue is gettin it done!

https://youtu.be/aOx1hfDGLGU

Greg
Author:  ryandcovalt [ Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 62 Valiant Race Car is Back
Thanks for posting the video Greg.
It ended up being a great year for the blue car. It started off pulling the head off and trying to find a “dead cylinder” and thinking there would need to be a lot of work done. Turned out it was a very strange carburetor issue.

After that things just started coming together. The changes to the suspension helped a lot and the car was able to run 1.48 60’ times. Then after getting the jetting better on the carburetors closer the car ran its best 1/8 mile and 1/4 mile times. I learned that the car would run almost 2 tenths faster in the 1/4 without the hood so I did that for a few races and ran the best times ever at clay city. After that I insulated an air intake box that Seymour built and re installed that. I wrapped the header too. The cool air and the air box seemed to help a lot and the car ran an 11.008 at just over 117 mph.

The car still spins a little on take off but is greatly improved now. I think there is still a little more to be gained with better shock positioning and suspension adjustment too.

I will try to post some pictures up of the changes with the car soon.

In the future I plan to get a 2nd set of wheels and try radial tires and run some more air pressure. It could just be me but I am very uncomfortable with the swaying that takes place on the top end of the track. To get the good 60’ times I can only run 7 lbs of air in the tires any more than that and the car spins. I’m hoping I can dial the suspension in and then try radials to be more stable at the top end of the track. We will see how that goes.
Author:  Dart270 [ Thu Oct 17, 2019 2:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: 62 Valiant Race Car is Back
Nice methodical work that pays off... Kudos to you, Ryan.

Look forward to runnin' with ya next year too!

Lou
Author:  Greg Ondayko [ Thu Oct 17, 2019 4:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: 62 Valiant Race Car is Back
Even with the ~6-7# of Rear tire pressure you have now you still spin a bit.

I bet that moving the engine back or adding weight to the rear might help. It seems that by watching the video in slow mo the Trans. Brake Hits the tires hard.


Greg
Author:  slantzilla [ Thu Oct 17, 2019 10:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: 62 Valiant Race Car is Back
Props to you and your Dad Ryan, you guys are flying!

Keep playing with your shocks. You'll get where you want to be.

I have radials on my car. I run 24/25 psi, but I gots no horsepower. :mrgreen:
Author:  Greg Ondayko [ Thu Oct 17, 2019 12:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 62 Valiant Race Car is Back
Oh yes shocks too.

Double adjustables back there would be best.

Greg
Author:  Rick Covalt [ Thu Oct 17, 2019 2:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 62 Valiant Race Car is Back
Quote:
by watching the video in slow mo the Trans. Brake Hits the tires hard.
It is hitting them at 5000 rpm which didn't help. :D :D
Author:  ryandcovalt [ Thu Oct 17, 2019 3:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 62 Valiant Race Car is Back
Yes, there is an issue with the 2 step RPM limiter and the delay box. When I hold the transbrake button the rev limiter hold rpms to 4100, as soon as I release the button the rpm jumps up to 5000. With the delay box, it should stay at my 4100 rpm limit until the delay time is passed and then release the transbrake and the rev limit. Instead it turns off the rpm limit and the engine speed climbs and then after the delay time is passed it releases the transbrake.

All that to say, I am leaving at 5000 rpm. I’m sure that lowering the rpm will help me get the car to hook better, I just need to figure out the best way to wire that up.

The shocks I have on the car now only have one adjuster, but it does adjust both bound and rebound. They are the Rancho shocks that Caltrac recommends with their kit. The biggest problem I noticed is, I only have about 1” of downward travel before the shocks bottom out. Because of that, I have the shocks set at their stiffest setting. I need to either find a shorter shock, or change the mounting position to allow the shock to extend more.

Is there a good double adjustable shock you recommend? I was originally considering just changing the mounting location to give more travel and then using the single adjustment to see if that would help enough. It would be nice to be able to set the shock soft going down and then slower going up. The car always seemed to try and lift itself off the ground. I know I fixed some of that but there is still more work to do.

Dennis, Thanks. When the car is swaying at the end of the track it feels like it wants to fly...... I’d love to be able to run radials and more pressure if it helped eliminate the dance at the end of the track.

Greg, The car always did seem to like weight in the back. I remember running with the spare tire and an extra battery in the back and it helped the hopping a lot. If I cant get the suspension dialed without weight, I may end up adding some back there.
Author:  slantzilla [ Thu Oct 17, 2019 7:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 62 Valiant Race Car is Back
You need more shock travel for sure. If you're bottoming them out no adjustment in the world will help.

You need to loosen them up on compression and tighten up extension to soften the hit on the tire. (When you get some shock travel)

It sounds like you have your 2 step wired to the "IN" (from the switch) side of the box. It should be on the "OUT" (to the brake) side. :mrgreen:
Author:  Greg Ondayko [ Fri Oct 18, 2019 5:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: 62 Valiant Race Car is Back
i watched the video from 2012 as well ( I am not sure if it's seymur or ryan dring then as the Blue vailant did race the Yellow Dart of Ryans'

Anyway it seems that on the 'brake after the button is released off the top bulb the RPM flares on the converter before the 'brake releases and the car launches.. FYI..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ0mxdCFdzE

Greg
Author:  Dart270 [ Fri Oct 18, 2019 11:22 am ]
Post subject:  Re: 62 Valiant Race Car is Back
That all sounds correct, based on what Ryan described in the car this weekend. Stalls up on button release, then 'brake let's go when the delay box triggers it.

Lou
Author:  ryandcovalt [ Sat Oct 19, 2019 8:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 62 Valiant Race Car is Back
Thanks Dennis, It sounds like you are right about the wiring. I will get that changed next time I work on the car. Seymour mentioned that he would bring the rpms up “softly” to the rev limiter, so he never noticed the rpm jumping way up. On the other hand, I go wide open throttle immediately so there is one less thing for me to think about. That would explain why it is much more noticeable to me.

Greg, that video is me running the car and yes, i can hear the engine speed going up there too. So it seems it has always been that way. It does seem that the converter is stalling higher now then it once did, but i’m not 100% sure about that either.

My first goal with the suspension is to move the shocks and get more travel. after that, I definitely want to soften the compression some and keep the extension tight. I really think that will help a lot. I will definitely need to soften the his some if I am running drag radials with more air pressure.
Author:  ryandcovalt [ Mon Oct 21, 2019 9:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 62 Valiant Race Car is Back
Weighed the car tonight.

Here is the race car and Just under 1/2 tank of gas (2.5 gallons) Me in it with all the racing gear.

Image

Here is the car without me in it:

Image

I made a few changes this year. I added about 8 lbs of header wrap, added heat wrap insulation to insulate my air box. Added an X pipe and mufflers, added an extra leaf spring (upside down and clamped to the existing springs) added lowering blocks and longer hardware. The shocks are heavier too. Oh, and about 15lbs of personal body mass :lol: I did remove some weight with a smaller 16v battery and removing some extra hold downs and things like that. I think the tires I have are lighter too, although i never weighed them.

I’d think if i removed the mufflers, air box and extra leaf spring and some other “non essentials” the car could weigh about 1970. If I get back down to my “race weight” the total weight could be around 2120. Now, How to lose 120 lbs to make it to AA weight class? :lol:
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