My '68 is done.. and on the streets!
04-29-2007, 11:58 AM
#1
My '68 is done.. and on the streets! and CRASHED! 
Today was the day, the first drive.
The dyno tuner in Claremont, CA, called me up to say she was all tuned and ready to go home. They are located about 40 miles away and there’s no easy way from there to here. Usually when I start “breaking in” a newly done car I take a spiral approach. This is where I drive around the block, then around two blocks, then a little farther until I feel the car is officially “road worthy”.
However it was Friday night and I couldn’t arrange a flatbed tow. Screw it, I decided to drive her home. At first it was strange, but as I drove I got more confident with the way she shifted and felt.
She’s fast, with silky smooth speed…
On the mustang-style dyno she put down 440rwhp and 390 rwtq. That’s right around where a new Z06 comes in on his dyno.
My max torque is at 4500 and at 6500 I’m still at 90% of that. Gotta love a flat torque curve. At 6500 rpm the car still accelerates to the tune of 7.4 feet per second. A bit above a new Z06. She would pull to 7000 but we decided to set the rev limiter to 6700 to save the rods.
She idles very nice. During the drive home she never went over 190 degrees. The brakes worked great. The car road like a new car. It was firm but didn’t fell like an old car. I still need an alignment, but the car tracked well and was rock solid stable.
I got a ton of thumbs ups from people. Several shouts and three times I caught people taking pictures. On the 91 fwy the people in one car were video taping me, so I dropped a gear and hit it.
Oh, and several people tried to race, I declined.
When I got home my wife loved the car. It’s the first time she’s seen it in over a year and she very much liked how it turned out. That was nice and I’m a lucky guy.
Ok, the bad..
On the way home I guess I went too fast. In my driveway there was a small nick in my door, no dent just a scratch like a knife hit the door. I couldn’t figure it out until my noticed the passengers side (vertical) stainless window trim was gone.. poof. I guess it came off and nicked the door on the way to the great unknown. Lol. Maybe I need to safety wire my trim.
Anyways, I will fix that and BOS will fix the nick. Just part of the sorting out process. Saturday we shoot the car in an old machine shop, should be cool and I’m almost done writing the story for Super Chevy.
After driving her I’m hooked, it was such a blast. The suspension felt great, it felt stable and it felt reliable. All this without tuning or even an alignment.
It’s going to be a fun fun summer…
Here’s the missing trim and nick..could have been worse.
Here’s her new license plate
Thanks to all those who have helped make this happen. Best of Show, Lateral-Dynamics, Marquez design, Rick’s hot rods, DSE, American Autowire, Classic Chevy 5-speed, Optima, Stewart Warner, ATS, Modo Innovations, 21st Century Street Machine, AFCO, COMP, Varishock, Inland Empire Driveline and everyone that helped give me opinions, ideas and encouragement.
I have a dyno vid in some new quicktime format. Once I figure out how to size it down and convert it to MP3 or something common I will post it.
Today we're going to the mountains to shoot some action shots for Super Chevy magazine. Should be in the August issue.
Last edited by Steve1969LS1; 05-11-2007 at 01:03 PM.
