Here's a picture of my 66 that I raced @ the NMCA races back in the day. It ran H Top Stock and it held the class record for ET & MPH. This picture was taken @ Atlanta Dragway in 1994. It ran mid 12's through stock manifolds and exhaust. It weighed 3920 #'s gross weight.

 

Wow that is great
great looking ride as well

 

Is that the only pic you have of that car?

 

Very nice! Great pic

 

Nice!

 

Check out that weight transfer..nice photo!

 

No Sir,I have many pictures of the car.

 

thats pretty quick for all that weight

 

It was a frame off total restoration but was a hot rod. I had guys tell me it was one of the nicest restorations they had seen. It had the correct 400 engine but it had a Borg Warner Super T-10 with nickle gears & a 12 bolt Chevy rear. I put good stuff in it because I knew I would be pounding the snot out of it. When I had it @ Atlanta I had some of the Dixie Olds Club guys tell me they couldn't believe I was racing such a nice car. I told them to go stand by the fence and watch. They asked me what if I broke it,I said I built it once and I could build it again.

 

Lol, exactly
These cars in general were made for speed especially yours .
Some of these guys crack me up at the end of the day it still remains ........ A car

 

If Mike Richards said it.So it is Written..

 

Nice!

Lighter then that 69 H/O in your sig there pogo

 

Very nice & thanks for sharing. Do you still own this car?

 

No Dave,I do not own it anymore.

 

People that ask that question just don't understand. Anything can be fixed. If your not enjoying it why have it. Play with it, break it, fix it. Part of life no matter what the toy.

 

Very nice '66!!!


Here is a video of a similar '66 that I am sure somebody around here knows.

 

Yes,that's Ron Rowlands car and I sold him the tri carb setup that was on the car. Last time I talked to Ron he still owned the car and he said he didn't think he would ever sell it.

 

I knew Ron when he was a member in our club here in So Cal when I was a kid and I just got my '66 442, he used to tow it to the local tracks with an equally as nice '70 SS El Camino. He also had a shop called Supercar Specialty. That vid was taken in Sacramento and me and a bunch of club members were there, 2 I recognize just by voice.

 

Mike weighed a little less back then.

 

SWEET no VERY SWEET




That is quick for stock exhaust manifolds with exhaust in a heavy car.
Would you mind sharing what it ran back in the day and what was done to it to be able to run mid 12's ?
It sure transfers the weight nicely. Shift rpm?

 

It actually ran 12.70's. It was a 66 400 engine with minor port matching & the EGR bump removed,Dave Smith hydraulic camshaft,stainless valves,Harland Sharo roller rockers,molly rings,great valve job and it was bored and finished honed on a Sunnen CK 10 sizing machine using torque plates. It was basically a stocker type motor. The Borg Warner trans had a 2.88 low gear with a Chevy 12 bolt with 4.56 gears & 28" Hoosier slicks. The last time I raced the car was @ the NMCA World Finals and it ran a 12.84 with a towel stuffed in one of the OAI scoops that wound up inside the air cleaner. It ran on the class index of 13.20 with a breakout,so I was trying to slow it down so I could run flat out without breaking out.I shifted it @ 6K RPM but it ran just as fast @ 5K RPM,go figure. The 3920 #'s included the driver.

 

Thanks for sharing that is one very cool car and history. What kind of clutch were you running?

 

I just watched the video nice driving, any manual transmission shifting tips you want to share?
How to launch a manual shift car tips as well?

 

2.88 X 4.56 helps tremendously.

 

It had a RAM Phord long style clutch & pressure plate. The car actually hooked so hard that it bent the Dave Smith engine mount on the passenger side. I called Dave about it and he said no way that could happen and said to send it back for inspection. You would have to see how they were made to understand but I had to cut the mount to even get it off the car. I sent it back and he said,"damn,never seen that happen before". He didn't warranty it either.

 

It's more than just a tall gear and low first gear, car launches very well. Leaves hard and just keeps pulling all the way down the track.

 

I wish I could take credit for the driving job in the video but that was not my car. That was Ron Rowlands car which is a hard top and my car was a F-85. I will say I can drive the snot out of a 4 speed car. I cut my teeth drag racing Chevy's in stock eliminator,some had 5.57 gears and I was looking for 2nd gear going by the X-Mas tree. I've had guys ride with me and ask how can I possibly put it on the mat and go through the gears without lifting off the pedal. It's like riding a bike,once you learn how,you never forget how. As far as launching a manual car,it just takes practice but a manual car is a lot harder than an automatic car. You have to keep the RPM's up while staging and you have to keep one foot one the clutch and the other on the brake and gas pedal while setting the line lock. One trick that I have used is to idle the car up so I only had to keep my feet on the clutch/brake pedal and not the gas. Practice practice practice,that's all it takes and respect the car,don't fear it.

 

GM A-Body cars are easy to make hook up. They are really like a 4 link setup and all my car had was airbags,good shocks and the control arms boxed and a sway bar. I highly recommend using the lower to upper control arm reinforcing bar that helps keep the upper control arm brace from moving. Pontiacs used them in 66/67 but I have never seen them on an Olds from the factory. You also have to have some negative pinion angle,the more you have the harder it hooks. When you launch the car,the rear axle tries to come up very hard because the ring gear is trying to climb the pinion gear. If it comes up over center bad things happen like u joint/drive shaft failure. When the pinion comes up it pushes the drive shaft forward and trans/drive shaft yoke clearance becomes very critical. If the yoke bottoms out on the trans output shaft,very bad things happen.

 

When you raced did you use the clutch pedal between gears?
If so did you use a clutch block under the clutch pedal?


I just found my Old Dave Smith catalog do you remember what cam you were running?


Thanks for the reply's

Bernhard

 

Good info
Were you running a stock length drive shaft?
After market drive shaft?
Aftermarket axles?
How much negative pinion angle were you running?

 

Yes I used the clutch on the gear change because the trans was not a crash box and was fully synchronized. I drove this car on the street also and no block under the pedal.

I do not know or remember which cam it was but I know he custom ground it for me. It wasn't real radical because it had to maintain a certain amount of vacuum per NMCA rules.

 

I believe it was a stock length drive shaft and it was an OEM unit but it had good Spicer u-joints. The car had Moser axles that were made from OEM Phord 9" axles. The Phord axles were a larger diameter and were re splined for the Chevy posi unit and axle bearings. The pinion angle was whatever factory was on the 442 because the 442 frames had another set of holes for the upper A-arms that put more negative pinion angle in it. I don't ever remember checking the actual angle. The car also had the convertible heavy duty frame under it. That's why the car left level instead of left side up. You sure are taxing my memory,I did a lot of that work over 20 years ago.

 

Great thread guys.
Man, some great info, thanks.
Also thanks for posting the W-30 vid,Vapor.

 

Thanks for the reply's.
Factory convertible frame very cool they sure went all out on the early W30 track pack cars.