Rafel, Where are you ?

[hsutton]

I havent heard from Houston racer and gearhead Rafel, aka - 67RS502 in quite some time so just thought i'd ask if your O.K.? The shootout racers here in Tulsa have been picking on my son recently as one of them went a 8.59 @ 160.77 MPH, last Friday. The weather was real good and i got to watch them go into the eight second zone. Another one that has won a couple of events last year has been riding my son about being stuck in the low nines while he ran a 9.52 on the motor. Well Saturday the Nova that ran the 9.65, turned on the nitrous and went 8.74 @ 156. Two or three cars back my son waited patiently and clicked off a 8.90 @ 155. Boy, does that new converter work good. My son's car weighes about 80 pounds more than his adversary in the Nova and has a smaller shot 300 vs. 375. Next our Chevelle turned up the first stage by 50 more and clicked off a 8.80 @ 155.5 MPH. They have stopped doggin him as they realize that they are about tapped out and the Chevelle isn't. Here is the kicker, the Nova and our Chevelle are now running 3.50 rear end gears and we now have a stronger Turbo 400 transmission. Hope this message finds you well, Rafel. Give us a shout back. P.S.... The only change we made was the torque converter and the car picked up 4 tenths and 12 MPH.

[67RS502]

Racer? that I'm not, but do try to make it to the track a couple times a yr, so I
guess I'd qualify for a gearhead - dipstick they call me.
I'm still around... and read this forum. Sound great that you guys are in the 8s now,
and just with a converter/trans swap? I need one of them magic converter Harold,
what did you have before and what is it now? 12 mph is amazing. Whats the 60ft?
Them 3.50 gears sound good for a street car... Is the TH400 roller and low friction
trick parts?
I got out to the track twice this winter, in good weather, but only managed a 10.10 @ 132.6,
only changes was a set of Strange 10-way adj. rear shocks which helped some, but the
car is still inconsistent in the 60ft. I know track prep has alot to do with it, as the track
starts to go away later in the day... I did get a "freak" new best 60ft of 1.428, but had to get
out of it as it was all over the place in 2nd gear... Most of the time it 60fts 1.44-146, when
it hooks, which is a pain to do in stock suspension and slapper bars. If it would have been
hookin and gone 10.teens I was gonna uncap it (remove 55lbs) and see if it would squeak
in to the single digits, but it wasnt hookin too well, and the weather wasnt as good as I
would have liked - oh well theres always next winter...
This year I plan on makin some longer traction bars, and do a few minor tweaks to the car/engine, and see if I can get a bit more out of it... I know I can, but it takes time to
do all the small things, that add up to 3hp here and there. Right now I'm building a new
exhaust system for the camaro. I also got the lockup switch workin on the 200-4R in my
Luv, so I need to take it back out to the track and see I can get that lousy 116mph up,
thats just too slow for a work truck right?

[hsutton]

Hi Rafel, It good to see you back up on this board again. Anyone who has gotten what you have out of your combination is a "real racer". We knew the Chevelle was blowing through the converter so my son just told ATI not to send another loose one. This one is great, he said the engine wasn't even tight down at the finish line now. He also said he is going to turn it up some more for the upcoming Shootout race at Mo-Kan which is about 15 miles north of Joplin, Mo., next weekend, April 16. He's at home right now trying to find another 50 or so pounds as the car is about 3640 with the 400 Turbo in it. He also said he almost has all the parts to finish the 598" Bad Boy motor. I can't hardly wait for this first race to see what everybody has now. I think the Chevelle is going to set new best times at Mo-Kan and with a little luck, maybe we can win another one before they realize what hit them. This nitrous game has a real steep learning curve but we're getting there. My son sent his whole system off to a guy in Florida and he got it all flowed, adjusted and sent a fuel and nitrous chart back along with the parts and all the necessary modifications made. Big step forward for sure. Good luck this season.... H.S. P.S.... It sounds like you could go 9.90s with real slicks but then they want a whole new basket of safety stuff. There is still more in your 60' times!