On the 'mildly' Cheap SS Monte Carlo chasing a 9.0____(oil pan woes)

[64nailhead]

I’ve been battling with a PQY $25 fuel pressure regulator. Sloppy has made it work and I didn’t want to spend $150-200 on an Areomotive so I tried one. Well it needs some modification. The spring backed all the way off developed 74 psi of fuel pressure at idle. So I cut out a coil and a half on the spring (recommended by someone else) and that wasn’t enough. Got it down to 50 at idle. Tore it back apart again and cut out another full coil. Now I have to adjust it up to get 43psi - which is what I was after.

I’ve been playing with the extra ins and outs and all of the ones that I can check in the garage. I’m really happy with the Holley I/O box so far.

Some pics of some fabricated pieces on the cheap (as always ) and with 15x10’s .

 

[Northernregal]

I’ve been battling with a PQY $25 fuel pressure regulator. Sloppy has made it work and I didn’t want to spend $150-200 on an Areomotive so I tried one. Well it needs some modification. The spring backed all the way off developed 74 psi of fuel pressure at idle. So I cut out a coil and a half on the spring (recommended by someone else) and that wasn’t enough. Got it down to 50 at idle. Tore it back apart again and cut out another full coil. Now I have to adjust it up to get 43psi - which is what I was after.

I’ve been playing with the extra ins and outs and all of the ones that I can check in the garage. I’m really happy with the Holley I/O box so far.

Some pics of some fabricated pieces on the cheap (as always ) and with 15x10’s . View attachment 194823

I saw your question on the Sloppy Facebook. That's a win for getting it to work!

 

[81cutlass]

Much excite!!!

Looking forward to seeing it pull BOTH front tires at the track in a month or so

 

[64nailhead]

I saw your question on the Sloppy Facebook. That's a win for getting it to work!

It makes me a little nervous because of the cheap China sh*t on top of the motor ready to disperse fuel in the event of a leak. But I know it doesn’t leak at 125 psi presently (by accident lol.)

I’m sure most of you know why I’m chasing lower fuel pressure - 2 AEM 380 pumps. But in case you don’t, then I’ll explain. Lower pressure makes my pumps bigger because most every electric fuel pump loses volume as the pressure goes up. My old setup would get in the area of 85-88 at 25 psi with a 60 base pressure. Now I should be able to stay well below 70 or 75.

I am fully prepared to add another pump if needed or swap one of the 380’s for an Aeromotive A1000 for that I have on the shelf (from injectedcutty - thanks Scott). But I think I’ll be ok, each of these good for 500hp on E85.

Next mission was trying to make the seat belts both legal and safer. The issue is the submarine belt and a factory seat. But not anymore.

I cut a hole in my almost perfect factory original seat - definitely a smh moment. I almost bought a race seat about 3 times last fall until sat in one of the sub $200 ones. No way can I drive the car with an aluminum or cheap plastic one for a couple of hundred miles a day let alone 1000-1300 in a week. 565bbchevy has the seats I want, but I’m too dang cheap. His are very comfortable.

This tested my sewing skills and forced me to get a new tool - hog ring pliers. It is difficult to adjust the submarine belt, but after I got it adjusted it’s way easier to use. And I feel squeezed in the seat now, even more than before.

I put the ‘full’ exhaust on that exits behind the passenger side door. But I’m going to pull it back off to put on a couple of Cherry Bombs because of ….. NYS. New laws are making loud cars extremely expensive to drive if I get ticketed. It’s not excessively loud now until the loud pedal gets pushed, but whatever I can do to stay out of the Gman’s cross hair is probably a good thing.

 

[motorheadmike]

It makes me a little nervous because of the cheap China sh*t on top of the motor ready to disperse fuel in the event of a leak. But I know it doesn’t leak at 125 psi presently (by accident lol.)

I’m sure most of you know why I’m chasing lower fuel pressure - 2 AEM 380 pumps. But in case you don’t, then I’ll explain. Lower pressure makes my pumps bigger because most every electric fuel pump loses volume as the pressure goes up. My old setup would get in the area of 85-88 at 25 psi with a 60 base pressure. Now I should be able to stay well below 70 or 75.

I am fully prepared to add another pump if needed or swap one of the 380’s for an Aeromotive A1000 for that I have on the shelf (from injectedcutty - thanks Scott). But I think I’ll be ok, each of these good for 500hp on E85.

Next mission was trying to make the seat belts both legal and safer. The issue is the submarine belt and a factory seat. But not anymore.

View attachment 195060

I cut a hole in my almost perfect factory original seat - definitely a smh moment. I almost bought a race seat about 3 times last fall until sat in one of the sub $200 ones. No way can I drive the car with an aluminum or cheap plastic one for a couple of hundred miles a day let alone 1000-1300 in a week. 565bbchevy has the seats I want, but I’m too dang cheap. His are very comfortable.

This tested my sewing skills and forced me to get a new tool - hog ring pliers. It is difficult to adjust the submarine belt, but after I got it adjusted it’s way easier to use. And I feel squeezed in the seat now, even more than before.

I put the ‘full’ exhaust on that exits behind the passenger side door. But I’m going to pull it back off to put on a couple of Cherry Bombs because of ….. NYS. New laws are making loud cars extremely expensive to drive if I get ticketed. It’s not excessively loud now until the loud pedal gets pushed, but whatever I can do to stay out of the Gman’s cross hair is probably a good thing.

Oof... that poor seat. Also, Montana has room for people like you.

 

[565bbchevy]

565bbchevy has the seats I want, but I’m too dang cheap. His are very comfortable.

I do love my Cerullo buckets in both my cars, too bad my Regal seats costs me 2-1/2 times the amount I paid decades ago for the Monte seats but still no regrets.

 

[64nailhead]

6 steps ahead and one step back.

I nicked a tube drilling the holes for one of the nutserts smh. *|>{#?!{!**!!

 

[64nailhead]

The leaker has been turned into a non leaker by the local radiator shop - $100 lighter smh.

It took me 3 days but I decided to order another radiator to have on hand. Probably will put in the new one and save the repaired previous leaker as a spare. It doesn’t hurt that my kid uses the same radiator. Spare parts that aren’t local are good to have .

Positive note, weather aiding, next weekend there’s a no prep race ‘local’ and the following weekend is opening t-n-t where I’m hoping to get the chassis certified in May. So that means that several local on ramps will be getting resealed by MT so that I can get the tune ‘close’ on WG spring.

 

[64nailhead]

I made it to the no-prep race. The bad was the race organizer has zero organizational skills, so you can understand how I made two runs only. The good, 80 degrees and a full day of race cars.

I made two hits (that's it), but that was enough to make me smile and know what I have. 1st hit was on WG spring only and it made 12psi. I believe I've turned the world's worst hotside into something mediocre. I have a 5lb spring in the gate, so it's still not great, but it's good enough for me to dial it in FOREVER. Remember my old hotside system with a 4-5lb spring made 18 and that led to a somewhat out of control launch ramp. Previously I had a 44mm china gate and I've stepped up to 60mm china gate - both VS Racing stuff. On the 2nd hit I made 25 psi and holy sheetz I broke the tire free at the top of 1st and 2nd gear. And actually had to dump the 2nd run due to being somewhat sideways at about 100mph. But I'll get that tamed.

Regarding the 25 psi, with the old turbo and hotside I was putting 35lbs of CO2 on top of the WG to get to 27psi, so I assumed that 18lbs of CO2 would yield something in the range of 18-20 AND I WAS WRONG lol. A more efficient turbo (larger) and more efficient hotside appears to have made my CO2/dome pressure system more efficient as well - at least I believe.

When I got the car to run it's fastest with previous setup I was using about 710lbs of fuel/hr - that was at 24psi of boost. Yesterday when it hit 25 psi I was 970lbs of fuel/hr. Without getting into the math, I'm pretty sure that should equate into approximately another 200-250hp. I can only wager guesses at what it's making, but based on the assumption that my previous turbo was supposed to tap out at 900hp I'll guess that I'm at 1000+ crank hp. Without a time slip or trap speed though, I really have no good idea other than guesses.

Another extreme positive was that it appears that my towering inferno of intake temps is now under control. I turned the meth down to virtually nothing and they stayed below 170 which is more than manageable imo. Also, the giant trans cooler kept the transmission temp well below 170 as well - they used to be another 15-30 higher.


Now for something that didn't work out too well. The new converter missed the mark by a crap ton. I cannot get it to stall beyond 3150, which made for some insanely slow motion launches. I was letting go at 1-2 psi and the rpm's were waaaaay too low. I was expecting it stall to 4000 and it missed that mark by 30%. I've already spoken to the converter guy via messenger and am awaiting a call back. I'm hoping he can re-work this one as I don't want to drop the big dollar on a another.

All in all, it was great day afaic. The thing stuck together at 25 psi, nothing leaked or broke.


I'll attach a couple of poor quality videos later tonight.

 

[64nailhead]

1st hit. The tire squeal gives an idea of what is happening and when lol.