"but I'm not 25 anymore".Quote of the year.Carry on.

The drive, and playing with the car set my mind at ease as far as the Belvedere goes for Drag Week 2013. The engine runs fine with the new heads, stays cool, and is good to go. I have a fresh tranny, a cooler and deep pan, a 3.54 Dana, a 3/8 fuel line, a 3/8 tank P/U, and global west subfame connectors...it's just a matter of getting all that installed. A daunting task, of course, but not something that I have to mull over and think about a great deal.

The Valiant however, keeps me awake at night, as I plot a course for its future, and I was thinking about that for a good part of the MATS weekend. I'm a Big Block guy... they are what I know, what I'm comfortable with, but the 62 Valiant has a very small engine bay, with a firewall that protrudes further into that bay than it's 63-66 brethren. Still, If I wanted it to be an all out, fast as I can go street/Ego machine, I'd do a low deck/EZ head BB for it that would easily runs 9's on the motor, and well into the 8's on spray... but I can't even decide on that! I mean, anything under 10.0 forces many changes that I feel really hamper streetability. If 10.0 is all I'm looking for a stroker smallblock should get the job done just fine, right? So I spent a good part of my weekend eyeballing some of the better running smallblock combos.

Hey Billy why stop at the big block/ small block choices, a new gen3 is small blockish in size.

Gen3? That would just confuse him. H eeds to consult Racheal to see what to do.

I immersed myself in everything Small Block on Moparts, trying to crack the code or wriggle my way into this seemingly secret society. I read DJVCuda's awesome 430 build thread, followed the Bryce Mulvey Air Wolf 408 thread, and revisited IMM Brian's Pump gas 620HP build in Car Craft. Ole buddy J-Body's trials with the W-5 stuff also weighed into my outlook, as well as some of the first hand conversations I'd had with users of Indy -2, and -1 heads, and some of their problem with leaking, and casting flaws. Building another set of headers was really a road I didn't want to go down right now, and I cannot abide dealing with leaky castings or valvetrain issues...that stuff drives me crazy, especially on a street car.

I've ran standard port, solid cam big blocks most of my life, because I just didn't want the added expense of a roller cam, and offset rocker systems. The 2 BB Indy-1 engines I have now are equipped with Jesel's on one, and T&D's on the other, so I understand how much it REALLY costs to step up to those heads with the valvetrain involved, I wasn't ready for that commitment to the smallblock! So, the rough draft of a 10.5 to 1 427-430 inch engine, with a standard style head, either max ported Eddie RPM's or AirWolfs, began to take shape in my thoughts.

Saturday, March 30th, The Wife, and Grandson decided they wanted to go out for breakfast, so we once again loaded up in the Belvedere for the trip. On the way back, we pulled up to a stoplight, and a huge black F250 Powerstroke 4x4, jacked to the moon with monster mudders, pulled along the passenger's side. The Grandson looked over, and is breath caught, "LOOK PAPA, that's a big truck!" his arm immediately shot out the window and he gave the thumbs up that he was already getting used to. The F-250 owner chuckled and leaned his head out the window, "That sure is a nice Hot Rod you have there, young man!" The Grandson shot back a quick "Thanks" as the people behind us honked as the light had apparently changed. I was a beaming grandpa as we drove away, knowing I had already infused a little car culture into the youngster with just 2 outings!

Late on Apr 2nd. I shot the following reply back to Dan at Performance Only, "Dan, deck height is 9.60, 66CC head, looking for about 11 to 1. Drive on pump gas, race on race gas, drag week deal".

On Apr 3rd, I listed the W-5 stuff on Moparts in the race parts for sale section for 1500 obo. With a very brief description, and 1 grainy picture. I've seen similar packages listed in the 2500-3500 range, but I just want to move on, and offset some of the cost of the build to stay under the wife's radar!

"Family Accounting"

With a Dad, and 4 boys all involved in the Mopar hobby, things have always been traded and bartered around, and after 30 years of this you learn that certain members of the group lean on the family aspect more than others! Take Dale, the youngest, for instance. He's a brilliant mechanical mind, great wrench and will help anybody at the drop of a hat. He's also the wheeler-dealer of the group, always looking to score that next great part, or car, that's just out of his reach. So, a couple of years ago, he found a 70 Roadrunner he just had to have, and it was at a great price. Problem was, he needed cash fast to close the deal, and he didn't have any. So he called big brother in a dealing mood. At the time, I didn't think Boone would let go of the Belvedere, and I wanted a nice No-bar street car, so I went on a personal shopping spree through his cars and parts! Red 69 Dart, roller...yeah, I'll take that. High mileage cast crank 416 with hyper pistons and eddie heads, and a flattened cam, yeah, I'll take that but you have to rebuild it first. That cool 340 6 pack setup you got on a recent deal, yeah throw that in too! Big hole disc front end from a 74 duster, and a big hole 8 3/4, sure.
Of course, once he got the money, setting a timetable for completion of the car became a bit problematic! But, Dale is always trying for the next big deal, so I knew he'd be back to the table wanting something again! The latest was atoetly's aluminum world blocked, S/R headed stroker! Dale had been suffering from engine envy ever since I ended up with the aluminum Indy maxx low deck from Darryl, it was just killing him!

I had told him, after I landed the Belvedere, that if he got the chance to move the Dart stuff and recoup my money, that would be fine with me. I also knew the chance of me seeing said money, other than a line on a piece of paper under the heading IOU, would be quite slim! In March he landed a buyer for the Dart roller, and closed the deal right at the first of April. We talk almost every day, bouncing ideas of each other and such, so he knew where I was headed with the smallblock stuff, and I knew he needed a large chunk of that Dart money to close the deal on the engine he wanted!

He asked me several times, "Do you want me to pull the Edelbrock RPM's off this engine, and ship them to Jeff at Modern, or Brian at IMM?" I had refused each time, not because I didn't think that was a viable option, but I figured if I busted up that engine, he wouldn't live up to the promised re-build!

On April 4th I sent a message to Bryce Mulvey, enquiring about the AirWolfs set up for my cam. I also sent Dale links to the 430 build and the Air wolf thread.

Billy I'm enjoying this SB tale. Anxious to see where it ends. Jim

I'm wondering why he doesn't just liquidate the big block stuff and roll that money into gen 3, or a little more "exotic" 48 degree project.

That first week of April, I drove the Belvedere on the 38 mile round trip to work twice, broken tranny and all. Just the rumble of the 440, the grip of that thin wheel in your hands, and the reactions of your fellow commuters...it's good for the soul!

I was also busy taking pics, and trying to answer questions on the W-5 stuff...man, selling stuff is work! This is why I usually just trade within the family.

"What CC are the chambers? How much have they been decked? What valve springs are on them? What valves? How long since they were repaired (They have epoxy in the floor of the intake ports, at the turn down)? What do they flow? What CC are the intake runners?

I came to the realization... that I really know very little about these heads!

At the end of the week, Dale and I were in one of our hour long phone conversations when he asked, "So, did you get the rotating assembly ordered?"
"No", I replied, "Never got a response from Dan... but after looking at the pics DJVCuda put up of his stuff, I did send a PM to that Bloomer Performance Engineering."
"What's his phone number? I'll just call up and order the kit for you, so you can get back some of this Dart money!"
I knew he was going to work an angle, I knew I would never see cash from him, but hey! This will definitely work!
"Well, you have to PM or E-mail him, I've never seen his number listed."
"I'll PM him my phone number, and hopefully he'll call me back".
I'm a PM, E-mail, Purchase on line, text kinda guy. Dale is exactly the opposite; he's a phone call, eyeballs on the prize, negotiate live and in person type of guy.
I laughed, "Great, lets do it!"

Just-a-Dart, J-Body,
Part of the resistance to a wholesale change to BB, or Gen 3, or 48 degree platform is the urgency of trying to do Drag Week in back to back years. You only have to look at examples such as Mr. P-body, Dj Duster, Boone with the Truck, or Dale with his Gremlin to see how tough it is to build something from scratch in 1 year and make the show. Many guys have done very well even winning their classes, then go home and plan big changes for the next year, only to miss making it, or breaking early with an un-proven combo. I've got 2 cars pre-entered, and I want them both ready to go in Bowling Green come September.

The second week of April saw progress on the rotating assembly, Dale had received a phone call from Rod at BPE, and they had agreed on a price, and the parameters of the kit. "He says the pistons are built to order, about 3 weeks" Dale reported to me.

I had an initial E-mail response to my inquiry to Bryce about the Air Wolfs, and I simply replied to that E-mail what I was looking for, as far as CC's and Valve springs.
Then, just like with Dan at Performance Only..nothing back! I was beginning to wonder if my E-mail replies were even getting through!

April 13th was the spring version of the bi-annual "Cruise on Central", So Darryl jumped in his 70 Challenger convertible, and I took the Belvedere, instead of riding shotgun with him as I typically do at this event. We cruised up and down once, parked in the bank parking lot, walked over to Mickey D's to look at the cars, and grab a bite to eat, then pulled out the lawn chairs to sit on the curb and watch everyone drive by. Shortly the curb, was filling up with on-lookers, and a couple walked up with their lawn chairs. I could tell by where the lady put hers, that if her husband sat beside her, he was practically going to be in my lap! Sure enough, that was the plan, I nudged Darryl over for a little more room, and we made it work, it was a perfect night, and we were surrounded by cool cars, and people who really appreciated them, so it certainly was no big deal. 30 minutes later a 4 door 61 Valiant cruised by, and everyone starts with the usual comments about how ugly those cars are. I boom out from my chair, "EASY FELLAS, I've got one of those that runs 11's, and you are hurting my feelings!" Amid the laughter, the guy who had sat right beside me spun in his chair to look at me, "You must be MoparBilly! I've read your stories on Moparts, I'm 6pak2go on there!
Darryl just rolled his eyes at me and interjected, "I can't take you anywhere!" We had a great conversation, that eventually led to machinists in the valley, and I explained that I took anything serious to Brian at IMM, even though it was in Indio. That made me feel a little less guilty about the fact that I was trying to avoid those trips to Indio for this little project. I love Brian, but he's way too good at talking me into spending money on quality parts and procedures! Like I said, my decisions may be flawed!

The third week of April, I had what appeared to be a serious offer on the W-5 stuff, the buyer offered 1300 shipped to him, pay by paypal. I figured by the time I lose the 3%, and ship them...geez, I might end up with 1150! But oh well, I was ready to move on. In his last correspondence however, he had questioned the pic I had sent him of the chambers. "Those look like open chambers, I thought all W-5's had heart shaped, closed chambers?".
I pulled them out of the box, for a thorough investigation. No doubt about the open chambers...odd. I also found a small logo cut into the front of the head that said "Batten Heads"?? WTH?
A google search yielded "Batten Aluminum W-2s". Ok, my SB ignorance is really beginning to show! Ryan J's site has pics, with the caption, "All batten W2s were open chamber heads." Ok..so I don't have a W-5 top end to sale, apparently! I had no more energy to put into this, so I boxed them up and put them back on the shelf...someday I'll figure out if they are worth selling or using. Then again, someday my "spare parts" and I will probably be the subject of a Hoarders episode!

On April 16th, I fired off another E-mail to Bryce at Dr. J's Performance, about the AirWolfs, as well as an attempted phone call, to no avail.

Dale had overnighted the money to Rod at Bloomer Performance on Monday, but didn't receive a call until Friday, when Rod stated, he had the money, and he wanted to double check on what our kit was supposed to be, so he could order the pistons. So, apparently the "3 Weeks" started on the 19th, not the 8th, when we thought we had this all set up. I chalked this up to my ignorance about how things work in the Small block Mopar world as well!

Hey Billy, that small block stuff confuses me also..

Like we were talking at The MATS, you have to have your plan..


Chris..

April 20th found Dad, Dale, and Dale's stepson Cody at Mopars invade Mokan. Dad, apparently had a good day in his Duster, laying down 10.30's at 130, and going a few rounds before a -.001 red light ended his day. Cody had mounted up Darryl's wore out Goodyear SST Drag Radials, and was finding out why Darryl pulled them off. Running several traction limited 11.50's in his Aspen. Dale's day didn't go that well either, he had loaded up a bunch of spare parts to sell, including some of my Dart leftovers. The last 2 years he had really moved a bunch of stuff at this race, but this year, he couldn't give stuff away.

One of the items that made the trip was my 340 sixpack setup, this thing is complete, air breather to manifold, with linkage. Dale had one guy who seemed very interested and examined everything in detail.
"You know these are 71 service carbs, right?" He told Dale.
"Ok", Dale shrugged his shoulders.
"And this breather isn't correct for a fresh air car".
"OK, fine, your point?" Dale added.
"I'd give you 800 even with those issues."
"No". Dale ended the conversation and moved away.
He came back a few hours later and offered 1000, and got the same response, Dale said he seemed quite agitated as he stomped away.
Back home on Monday, Dale traced the numbers down on the carbs and found that they were indeed the correct 70 TA/AAR carbs for a 4 speed application. "If I ever see that guy again, I'm gonna punch him in the throat!" Dale told me over the phone.
"I did have one guy who wanted to trade a 69 D-100 with a 440 for it? Dale questioned.
"Naw, I'm not interested" I told him, "I've got too many Mopars already!"

Dale called me again late and said Darren had looked at the guy's CL add for the 69 D-100, and was interested.
"Fine", I retorted, "But he has to buy the sixpack from me first, then try to go make a deal, I don't want him shopping my parts, and making deals before I'm paid!"
I love Darren like a brother, because, well he IS my brother, but he takes the whole "Family Math" thing even further than Dale. Dale will owe you forever, but Darren thinks there should be a statute of limitations on such dealings! There is a sliding scale, of course. He thinks you should probably forget about a 20 dollar loan in a couple of weeks, and 500 or so should be forgiven in a year or year and a half! Heaven forbid if you whip out a notebook with all these debts recorded, that puts him into an absolute rage!

"Why does he want a truck, and how is he going to pay me for the sixpack?" I asked Dale, My curiosity was piqued.
"He sold his Dakota RT to one of Cody's friends for 3200", Dale relayed, "and he wants a beater to haul stuff around".
I was shocked, he had owned that Solar Yellow extended cab R/T for 12 years, longer than he had stuck with any single vehicle in his entire life!

On April 24th, I finally reached Bryce Mulvey by phone. He was pleasant, easy to talk to, and we came to an agreement on a set of the AirWolf heads. "I'm about three weeks out" he commented.
"Great, so is my rotating assembly!"
Seems this is the small block mopar time warp. These small block guys are hardcore I thought to myself, BB guys are spoiled and soft, I've never went though this to get anything before.
He took my info and credit card number, and told me he would get an invoice out to me via e-mail in a few days.

2 hours later, I get a brief call from Darren, "I'm sending you a check for 1300 for that smallblock sixpack setup, give me your mailing address".
I gave him my info and added, "The checks good, right?
"Yes", he laughed "but don't waste any time getting it to the bank!"
Probably could have beat him up on the price, but while he's strictly C.O.D., he is still my brother...

hmmm.... he chooses the Airwolf. Actually I kept a pretty good eye on that post and was really close to going that direction, I still had a good set of rockers, and a super victor intake we could make work (spacers), but things change. Look forward to seeing the results.

I want to see the new D100 and I still want updated/progress pics of last years truck!