Project No-Flight Update
January 2003
The new rear end has been installed into the chassis. The rear consists of an Alston Fab-9 housing with back brace and Eliminator II 4-link mounts. The center section is a Strange aluminum housing with a Detroit Heavy Locker and 4.86:1 gears. The pinion support uses the large Dayton bearings and a billet steel 1350 pinion flange. The rear was fitted with Ford Explorer disk brakes (with custom drilled rotors for the GM wheel bolt pattern). The brake assemblies use an internal drum brake for the parking brake, just like a "normal" Corvette!!.
It's hard to get a good photo, but this shows the installed housing with all of the frame tubes and roll cage supports. It is equipped with a large port for filling the gear lube that also allows for inspection of the gears without having to remove the center section.
The Strange axles before installation in the housing. These are extra heavy duty 35 spline units.
As noted in the last installment I didn't like the feel of the steering with the dual joint shaft, so I modified the front motor plates (and moved the entire engine forward 1 1/4" to get better firewall clearance) and fabricated a one piece steering shaft.
The new heads and intake were installed on the mock-up motor so I can fabricate the exhaust headers and check the clearances and layout for the new induction system. The manifold is a splayed stack Hilborn that was converted to EFI by Rance EFI. It was plumbed with a central fuel rail and individual injector ports (instead of the more common dual fuel rails right on the injectors) to maintain a look more reminiscent of the original configuration. Hilborn fabricated the special short stacks for me to fit the available hood scoop clearance.
You will notice that there is no thermostat provision on the manifold, as Sprint cars (the original application) didn't need them. I have a Weiand remote thermostat housing block which will be mounted to the left head and plumbed to the existing water ports on the manifold.
The AFR aluminum heads finally arrived and were bolted in place to locate the exhaust ports for header fabrication. The heads are 220cc intake Race Ready units with CNC ported intakes and chambers, and 70% CNC ported exhaust. I went with spread port heads to allow easier fitting of the 1 7/8" primary tubes which will be used for the headers. In this photo you can also see that I still need to refinish the Hilborn intake to blend in the EFI injector bungs and decide on the finish for the ram tubes, either chrome or possibly power coat are among the candidate finishes. You can also see the plenum for the vacuum lines, with an 8-stack manifold it is necessary to plumb the vacuum pickups into all of the individual intake tracts.
While the mockup motor is wearing the new heads and intake, the real motor is waiting modification. As it sits it was dyno'd at 600HP, but the compression is too high for street use, and I plan to tone the cam down just a touch also. The motor is 408 cu in (4.165x3.75) built on a 509 2-bolt block fitted with splayed billet main caps. It has a forged internal balance crank, 6" H-beam rods, and forged JE pistons. The cam I've selected is a Crane solid roller with 250/260 duration and .630/.630 lift. The roller lifters are Isky heavy duty units. I'll swap the aluminum roller rockers and stud girdles from the iron Pro Action heads currently fitted to the new AFR heads when I do the swap.
Santa's sleigh brought a set of Kirkey Pro-Street seats, they were the only ones I could find what were available in a narrow enough outside width to fit in the limited cockpit confines. They are actually quite comfortable with very good thigh supports and will also provide an additional touch of safety for No Flights occasional drag strip runs. You can see the forward drive shaft safety loop between the seats, the rear loop is behind the cockpit back panel. The wood shown will be the core for the final Carbon Fiber pieces.
