Travis Horton
Well Known Member
It was a cool day and it also rained a bit but we still raced. First pass was 11.2199 at 117.98 with a 1.6016 sixty foot time. I told my good buddy that it just felt lazy. Then the rain came. After about one hour down time it was decided to start eliminations. I put the car on 11.22 and hoped for the best. I cut a heart-wrenching .4986 red light and ran it out the back door to a 11.3372 at 116.09. Not good! It seemed like the timing was too slow but I didn't touch it since it came off of the dyno. I went ahead and put the light on it and the timing was only 25 degrees total. Hmmm. I bumped it up to 37 (it made best numbers with 41 on the dyno) and it sounded very crisp. We have second round buybacks so I took advantage. I went ahead and dialed 11.33 not knowing what to expect. The car left strong and I caught the other car around the eighth and started pulling away. At about 1100' I let off and coasted. And lost. I couldn't believe I broke out. The slip read: .5113 reaction and 11.0898 at only 109.03! The other guy was purposely sandbagging and broke out by .1928 to my .2402. I've raced long enough to know I should have taken the win light by a fender but didn't think I needed to. The heartbreaker is my .511 would have gotten me the bye run in the third round and a much needed time run to see exactly where I was at! I bumped the timing to 41 degrees and asked for a time run. It ran 11.0481 at 118.42. With the 6.9496 eighth mile time I was expecting a 10.95 to 10.98 from previous experience with my small block. I think the 380hp intake is limiting the back half acceleration. I'm going to try backing the timing off to 36 degrees and try 37, 38, 39 and even 40 degrees to see what it likes best. And the reason for the fluctuation you ask? The MSD conversion distributor I bought from SC last summer. The slip collar that adapts it to the W engine, although tight, slipped enough to retard the timing. I'll pull it out this week and modify it slightly to avoid this problem in the future. Not bad for the maiden voyage. I have the quickest 380hp W in southeast Kansas without a doubt! Now I've got to trick it into the 10's.
Way to go! 
bang I remember that your engine dynoed at about 550hp with the single 4 barrel but I was just wondering what tranny and gears you're running. I'm looking forward to seeing that car in Sept.
