[chevy406]

2 weeks ago I snapped the left side output shaft in my '99 Corvette's rear differential. Something about trying to launch at the track at 6,000 rpm didn't work too well. So there goes my primary driver, down for repairs. I had to get the Nova rearend back together with new mounts so that I could move it out of the way to get working on the Corvette. Then to complicate things even more, my old faithful '94 Silverado pickup transmission finally gave up drive and OD after a mere 321,000 miles. There was no way my wife was giving up her car since it was "my fault the Corvette broke when I was out playing." And so I was left commuting my 100 mile round trip in the Nova this week. A quick MPG estimate of 600 miles / 55 gallons = 10.9 mpg. I know I can do better than that. It is still quite rich at cruise. One day I will have some time to buy some high speed air jets blanks and drill them until I get that partial throttle AFR up from 11:1 to maybe 14:1. The only real problem I had all week was on hot afternoons in traffic, the fuel would vaporize and overpressure the needle/seat causing it to flood. I could switch off the electric fuel pump and run off the fuel bowls, cycling the pump on every 30 seconds or so. I think some header wrap will take care of that problem. A couple of the rainy mornings made the commute tough - those 40 year old defrosters without A/C don't work real well:

Spending time back in it got me thinking about maybe trying to make it more streetable again - without slowing it down of course. The thought of boosted LSx power just keeps pestering my mind. But the Dart block on my engine stand is just begging for some 18° heads and a huge solid roller cam.... What to do, what to do.

By the way, once I get off the computer tonight, I'll get back to finishing up the Corvette. I put the differential back together last night with a new hardened output shaft, new posi clutches, and new seals. But it is staying away from the dragstrip... at least for a while. I did manage a 7.70 @ 94 mph on the first pass, with a killer bog off the line.

disassembled carrier with broken left side output shaft

back together and ready for action:

 

[chevyIIheavy]

let me guess you dont have winsheild wipers on your nova do you :no:........................ been there manyy times :yes:

 

[chevy406]

Actually, the blur in the middle of the windshield is the wiper. It was just raining that hard. Fortunately I had my BFG radial T/As on the back instead of drag radials. A little RainX will help.

I got my Corvette back on the road this morning. Life is slowly returning back to normal.

 

[chevyIIheavy]

oh there it is i had to look harder ................. i dont have them on my car and no rainx either :no:

 

[Tommy]

Looks like I-565 to me.... Scary place to be with in the rain .


Tommy

 

[ZNova]

I just saw this thread, man can I relate. :yes: I drive my 67 everywhere, including to and from the track 230 miles RT. For one race when I left home it was dry and as I got close to the track it started coming down pretty hard. It finally quite raining but they called the race anyway. My WEGO 3 A/F meter has been the key to getting optimum performance on the road and at the track. A couple of months ago I drove to the track, made 6 runs including an 11.69 and drove home. Checked mileage on the way home, got 20 mpg. . It was not a fluke because I did the same recently and got the same 20 mpg. I have OD which helps, and tune for 14-14.5 AFR at cruise. Keep us posted on what you decide to do.:yes:

 

[sbc1320]

I used to drive my 71 Nova to and from the track, but it was only like 40-50 miles round trip. My 71 was my only car for 5 out of the 6 years that I had it. It had a 950 HP carb and did suck some gas down. I couldn't tell how many miles to the gallon I ever got on any of my cars and I have had around 25 cars.

 

[Ryan V64SS]

A bypass type regulator will stop that over pressurization issue, been there. For me it was not heat but it was a lack of fuel flow at idle combined with regulator creep. I had it rebuilt at aeromotive and still same issue. I tried wrapping the reg and fuel lines with wet rags and no change so that ruled out heat...

Keep an eye on you oil consumption when daily driving you hot rod too:yes:

 

[chevy406]

Wow this thread brought back some memories... was that only 2 years ago? I'll catch you readers up with what all has changed since 2009. In the fall of 2009 I picked up a 2002 LQ4 6.0 liter pickup engine. I built it to 408 CI with Callies crank and rods and Wiseco dished pistons for 9:1 CR. Added some AFR 225 heads and a Victor Jr injected intake with Accufab 4150 carb. In March 2010 I sold the solid roller 406 SBC and started the conversion to LSx. And here it is over a year later and the Nova is still sitting. But it is very close to the first fire - naturally aspirated for now. I do have a couple Turbonetics GTK-650 turbos on the shelf waiting to be installed this fall. Also in this conversion process I have upgraded the front clip to a Martz subframe with rack & pinion, QA1 coilovers, & Wilwood brakes. So hopefully it will have even better street characteristics along with crazy power once I add the turbos.
Here's a little preview of the progress:

By the way, the Corvette has been holding up well and just rolled over 227,000 miles. I recently made some 7.5 second passes at 96 mph, and didn't even break anything.