Well I reckon the new converter works!!...

Ya, if it were an A body I'd be going quicker by now cause I know (probably better than many of y'all) how to get a dart/duster down the track.

Look I knew this thing was gonna be a handful to sort, but I can promise you I'm having a lot more fun sorting it than I did running high 10's an any A/B/E I ever had.

It's got the power, Chip can tell you that, and now it's got the Hook, just zero in on the 60' and there we are.

Reminds me of the Yamaha V-max I used to own almost 20 yrs ago took quite a few passes to get it in the 10's and it was all technique. And if I jumped on it now I'll bet you I could still run a 10...because I learned the bike. I doubt theres many who could jump on it and do the same even if they were 50 pounds lighter than my 230 pound butt. Good Bike racers know exactly what I'm saying and this ain't far from the same experience. In theory...Anybody should be able to ride a bull or do 10's on a 1000+ cc sportbike, the reality is sometimes a bit trickier. And with the Rocky, the fun for me is getting the 'on paper' to reality, what's wrong with that?

@ sixpackgut,



Actually, I HAVE!!!

That light of a car, you can literally take off in second gear once just for the heck of it....likely to slow it down about 3 tenths( based on my track record of stupidity of having done it by mistake several times)...lol... but the mph wont actually be off by that much.
at least you could see what kind of mph/horsepower its making without blowing off the tires....wouldn't do it more than once or twice, but at least you will get a tame lap and can mph it out the back door....

I likey!

I actually did (there's clips on YouTube under Wizerulz) do a few 2nd gear launches and it went 1.71 60', 11.44 @ 116.69. Had a screwed up ratchet shifter in the car (was welded in when I got it) and the 2md gear starts were unintentional I assure you!!

A 1.7 60' to a 1.5 60' is somewhere about 3 mph if I remember right (simple to calculate) . A typical 10.90 car will run somewhere between a 1.49 and 1.55 at ~2950 pounds and right around/just over 120mph.

Now, I got a fresh trans, fresh shifter and the attempted somersault was the FIRST pass in first gear for this new converter. I lifted at 25-30' it came down, bounced an I got back on it and it did 1.79....give me the benefit of the doubt that IF it hiked them about 10-12" that 60' would have been a good bit quicker.

My 0-30 foot time was a best ever but they forgot to put a cone there



It's there, just gotta find it...since I got less free time than most of y'all it's taking me longer to get to sorting it...that's my story and I'm stick in' to it.

And the people in the stands don't seem to mind a bit!

@ fullmetaljacket,

It's a 9 1/2 Lupo/Dynamic freshened up by Lenny at U.C.C, bought it about 2 months ago off the Moparts swap meet. Works really nice (obviously), lol!

That is one of those vehicles that no matter what the clocks says, its always a fun time. I need something like it.

I think it's cool...

Bobby's rocky has plenty of power, it's just a matter of getting it to 60' and doing a little more tuning. Why some of you don't realize that is beyond me. Not to mention how hot/humid it was.
He's having an absolute ball w/ the thing and that's all that really matters. If it aint fun, leave it at the house.

sixpackgut...he wants to keep the front end down, not unload the rear tires!

Congrats Bob, glad to see you are having fun with it. After all , enjoying it is what it's all about . Best of luck.

Pretty obvious that wheeliebars are definitely needed IF you want the best 60 ft But I bet there is a way to get close without them. This car ought to be a stop light terror, instant weight transfer on the street!
Glad to hear you are having a ball with it!

Thanks Lenny, the converter works Awesomely
BTW...My buddy Nat I think just called you recently about his 401 AMC jeep/Turbo 400 combination

As Chip said it's just a little vexing trying to find the balance of hook and launch technique. Might get them Daurity boys to tweak on it some if they will. I work about 72 hrs/week so my tuning time is at a premium right now. I hope I don't give people give the impression that playing with this thing is all I have to do all week! Heck I'm lucky if I get 2 hours a MONTH to dabble with it.

As for the power, the cam is great but it's a little small lift-wise (Cam motion 261/267@.050 but only .585/570 lift on 107 in at 105, more of an endurance grind but it makes broad torque and it's the one I had . I'll move up to a much more agressive .670" ish lift Bullet with similar @.050s but bigger @.200's once I figure out how to get a bigger header tube on it. Right now the motor has little 1 5/8" A body headers with a 3 1/2" collector spliced in, certainly not ideal but they FIT in the Rocky CHASSIS perfectly. I have a set of TTI 1 7/8 B body's that I can make fit with a little tube rerouting, just can't get around to it any thime soon. The headers probably cost it at least 30hp up top (and even more if I go to bigger cam)but likely add (unneeded) torque below around 3500. But....they FIT. The Rocky also runs a full (quiet) dual 3" exhaust with an H pipe. Tucked away very stealthy-like.

Some guys remember this was originally gonna just be a little high winding 341" (318 based) motor, the 414 "deal" just kinda fell into my lap.

But although it's not ideal, it sure is fun and it will get quicker and faster as soon as I get the combo a bit balanced out.

Best so far of 7.31 @ 96.09 ....and that was with a second gear start there's a video of it at Rockingham on the 11.44 pass.

I'm gonna try upping the tire pressure to take out some bite and put a set of stiffer front shocks on it.

A bodies are sooo easy to hook, specially a duster with an aluminum headed small block and a 904. No front overhang and about 4' from the axle centerline in the back. The easiest cars to hook I've found are old mid 60's Chevy Ii wagons but a duster is a close second

Looks like fun Wise! I can tell you (since I have been trying to go slow lately) that my car looses about 0.4 in the 1/8 starting in second gear, and about 0.5 in the 1/4. I have done second gear launches a lot lately trying to get my car all the way up to the 12's (along with a long list of other things).

Have fun tuning that little beast.

Thanks to everybody for the comments.

I just talked to Stephen Daurity and gonna take the Rocky up to his shop to do whatever re routing it will take to get the 1 7/8 TTI's installed (90% certain the drivers will actually fit with a little firewall massaging and the #8 on the pass should be the only real issue). Stephen is also going to advise on the chassis teaks and I'll probably think of a couple other things we can do while it's in their capable hands.

It's funny I went back and look at my rear shocks and I had a
The Ranchos set at 3 Drivers and 5 on the Passenger side, If I had remembered I would have cranked them to ~6D and 8P to stiffen the launch. That might have helped too, but to be honest I did my best guess on the shocks/Tbars to get it to leave/track STRAIGHT, at least in that respect I think I 'done purdy good'

Gonna get a set of adjustable front shocks and try cranking the expansion(unload on acceleration) to it's tightest setting.

The vert feels perfect stall/flash power wise for flat foot launching out of the hole, just gotta calm that front end lift (wayyyy) down.

Looking at the tape again (on Apple HDTV on a 60" screen) I'm thinking...I floored it, it rose way up QUICK, I then got ALL the way out of it and then floored it and reflashed again all before the 60' mark....The 1.79 don't seem so bad to me now! Toughest I ever had to work for that slow a time that I can remember. It stayed straight so yeah I'm glad I had the chassis tweaked/preloaded right "enough".

That thing is pretty darn cool

Thanks, yeah it is. It's something all the ladies and kids flock to

Kinda got that underdog thing going, whatever I beat could be potentially embarrassing to them (ex:Z06 Vette) but if I lose, "hey, it's just a Diahatsu!"



Actually it's really a 340 stroker B body (rear came out of a RoadRunner) masquerading as a tiny Japanese Jeep.

Hoping new front shocks and stiffening the rear Rancho's may help, don't want to add ballast but I will if it wil keep it from going into orbit again!!

Bobby; I LIKEY!!! Dave

Screenshot my buddy calls "Bobby under Glass"

Just put some wheelie bars on that bad boy and you can be the first wheel standing Rocky on the circuit!

That is going to be fun to watch. Let me know the next time you are going out locally. It would be fun to watch it go down the track in person.

Talk about a sleeper............way cool man!

A front drive axle & transfer case would help the weight issue some Looks like good fun

Has anybody had luck by shiffening the front shocks, seems logical that it would reduce the rate of "free" body rise and the hit would see at least some of the unsprung weight.

I don't believe I've ever had a car where I actually had "too much" weight transfer

Thanks!

UPDATE

Cranked the Ranchos up and replaced the completely dead front shocks with a set of KYB gas-a-justs and made a couple quick test hits and it's definitely going in the right direction.

Rocky is heading up to the Daurity Boys shop up the road about 2 hrs in the AM, Stephen's gonna look it over plus make the mods to the 1 7/8" TTI headers to get them to fit. I figure the little 1 5/8" are costing me ~30-40hp up top plus if they kill just a little bottom end that should hopefully help with the launch too. If you saw the way the 1 5/8's fit you'd be hard pressed to want to change them too but I reckon it's time to make the change.

Stephen mentioned maybe adding 20 lbs to the nose, I got to thinking I have a very large oil cooler that is OEM for a freightliner truck, figure Stephen can fab me up some cool brackets to make it fit, figure if I'm gonna add some weight it might as well do me some good in the process

Thanks for all the support guys, the 1.5-ish 60' are coming and the 6 second 1/8ths and 10 second quarters will come right along with them.

So did Chips buddy in the Camaro know what the Rocky had in it or did he look over and see the wheelie and wonder WTH was up with that thing?
Glad you're having fun with it, Bobby. That's all that matters.

Tim

Well the Rocky is over at the Daurity's shop, and I got to spend a couple hours with Stephen an Mike and I had a great time, the Daurity's are awesome, wonderful people, and I thank them so much for their gracious hospitality.

Looking forward to letting Stephen get some bigger headers on the 414 and help with tweaking the launch. The KYBs do seem to be helping, the initial hit still feels instantaneous, but I can already tell the nose can't get quite as much of a 'running start' on lifting the unsprung weight as before.

Oh yeah, I got the tour of both the 'North 90' and the 'South 40'.....I got no more use for Disney Land after that!

I told Mike I felt like a "blind Dog in a Meat Locker!!"

Stephen and me are toying with getting the launch dialed in and set on a 2 step.... And the bigger headers are gonna help a bunch (kill some bottom and add some top). Stephen will figure out where to reroute that #8 TTI 1 7/8 tube to get around the T-bar and I'm good to go.