Dunnville Track Layout

This past Sunday we tested the car at the Dunnville Autodrome which is small, technical 1.36 mile (2.2 km) flat road course located within the confines of the Dunnville airport.  First thing I did after unloading the car off the trailer was bed-in the new brakes while I had the track to myself.  After some administrative duties of running a lapping event, I went for my first session which lasted approx. 10 laps.  I knew right away something was NOT right with the rear suspension.  There was a “clanking” sound with every little bump I hit thus making the rear of the car jump around like a frog.  It was not very pleasant and I couldn’t push the car to it’s limits because of it.

My 2nd session start 30 mins later and went on for 15+ laps until I noticed I could not get into 3rd gear anymore.  At that point I pulled off track, where I noticed I could not get into 1st, 3rd, 5th or reverse.  This was not what I wanted to see.  What was really suspicious was that it never gave me any warnings, or grinding or other noises.  I thought at that point it might have been heat soak related.  So I parked the car for almost an hour, but that did not make a difference.

Lapping at Dunnville

Instead of sitting around waiting for 4:00 PM to come along, I decided to go for a 3rd session with only 2nd & 4th gears.  That lasted about 5-6 laps before I could not get into 4th gear.  I pulled off the track, and loaded the car on the trailer at that point.  For sure I thought I needed a new trans rebuild.

The next day (Monday), I took off the rubber boot that sits at the opening of the shifter in the car.  Low & behold, the problem;  The bump stop screw had turned itself in blocking the shifter from acessing the top  gears (1, 3, 5 , R), and eventually when it was out enough, it would not let me get out of 2nd enough to get to 4th.  I was extremely relieved that it was a simply 5 minute fix.

Now for the rear;  checking the shock travel, there is approx. 1″ left so that was not the problem.  Turns out it was the spring plates that are used for the weight jack setup that were touching.  Since I’m only using an 8″ spring in the back, there was only 1/2″ clearance between the 2 spring plates.

Other things about the car;  the engine worked great.  Pulls really strong with not issues.  The brakes are fabulous and actually feels like the skin is pulled from your face under heavy braking.

With everything dealth with at this point, I’ll be off to Shannonville Speedway this weekend for my first SoloSprint event.  At this point, weather looks great.

First, Scott at Can-Alignment did a fantastic job on the alignment.  Final specs are as follows;

-2° camber
+3.8° caster
1/8″ toe out (total)

Caster and camber were maxed out, but evened both sides.

Car was also weighed, and corner balanced.  Final weight was 3091 lbs (with 1/2 tank fuel), 50% cross weight, and a final F/R weight distribution of 56/44.  I was hoping to be lighter than that, but it is what it is.

On to the DL Motorsports for the dyno tuning;  Once Dan loaded up a default tune for the car, we ran a baseline run to get the Air/Fuel ratio.  From that point, he tweaked the tables to bring it down to a 12.5 ratio @ WOT from 2500 to 5500 RPM.  Final result was 290 RWHP (approx 335 crank HP), and 328 RWTQ (approx. 380 crank TQ).  Very happy with that for a stock LT1 with some minor bolt ons.

But, something else cropped up;  A nasty “bounce” when the rear wheels are spinning, almost like something is egg shaped.  This will be investigated further tomorrow.

Tomorrow (June 4th) I will be spending the day in the Hamilton area.  First thing in the morning at 8 AM, I have appointment with Scott Murfin at Can-Alignment to get the car aligned, and corner balanced & weighed.  Scott is an expert in the field of setting up track cars.  I was there a couple times before with my 86 Camaro and he does a fantastic job.

Later that day, I will be headed to DL Motorsports in Burlington to get the car dyno tuned.  My buddy Dan will be coming down from Waterloo, is an expert with LT1 tuning and will be tweaking the snot out of the beast.  Then I will get my 3 referrence pulls for the CASC Classification in case I need it.

I will be posting pictures and videos of the day.

This Sunday, June 7th, I have organized a lapping session at the Dunnville Autodrome to shake down the car before the CASc SoloSprint event the following weekend at Shannonville Motorsports Park.  Should be a good time.  Pics & video will follow that also.

Ray