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There appears to be another bolt hole below the bolt that’s holding the alternator bracket. Does it have or need a short bolt similar to the two bolts on the opposite side of engine? Also, if you are sure the timing cover seal was leaking, I read that on older bbc engines , guys were drilling dowl holes in cover out slightly. Then install timing cover with bolts loose, install balancer, then tighten timing cover bolts. Helps make certain seal is evenly centered on balancer. Also , in conjunction with that, some were installing a ready or speedy sleeve on balancer to slightly increase tension on lip of seal. One last thing, are you certain of the capacity of your oil pan? That it’s not being over filled. Some of those 396 pans were only 4 qt capacity. Good luck with it, you’ll find the solution eventually.

Thanks for the suggestion... much appreciated. Those holes are accessory mount points and dead end.


Thanks for the suggestions...they are appreciated.
Driver side bolt is a dead end hole. Dampener is new and has no groves worn into it, shouldn't need a sleeve. Oil pan is aftermarket and I will be underfilling after the gaskets replaced.

It was running great end of last year and the beginning of this year. One trip up to 6k rpm and it started being a pain. Unfortunately it doesn't want to comply.

So… went out and cleaned the oil off the truck. Took it for a spin and it still leaks… crawled under it and found a light drip between the pan and balancer.

New oil pan gasket arrives Monday… so with nothing to lose, figured I’d check the pan bolts again. Front 2 took a few turns each and I saw the pan suck up.

Tomorrow I’ll clean it up and test it again. Potentially light at the end of the tunnel

It appears that my oil leak issue has been resolved... for now

Perseverance is a great tool to have in your toolbox! Good Job!

Packed and ready for the 2025 BC dragit challenge. First stops, coffee shop, second fuel, last one is the ferry before hitting the mainland.

Picked up new front tires, went down to a 70 series sidewall. Handling seams a little less twitchy but that could also be going to a different brand. So far so good with a 205/70R15

This could be interesting

Just got back from roughly 3000km of drag and drive. Truck did well, lost one alternator bolt and sheared the rear driver side shock mount. Thankfully the shock left the building after the racing was done and somewhat close to home.

As far as times… truck ran pretty consistently in the 8.4-8.7. Only exception was a track at 4400 feet of elevation, ran a 9.36.

Most of the mph was in the low 80’s. Being so far from home I was hesitant to load the converter more than 1k rpm and the 60 foot times were mostly in the 1.9’s.

Had a blast and would do it again without hesitation. Still have some things I’d like to improve on the truck but it’s getting there.

1st Run

2nd Run

3rd Run

4th Run

5th Run

Last Run

That's freaking cool!

Drag radials were mounted on a set of lightweight aluminum wheels for track use only. Switched back to torq thrusts once we were ready to hit the road.

That was a great reaction time on the first Time Slip, you had a better ET and speed on your second run. Very COOL...

Did your shock mount break off?

I noticed your wipers. Is that where the 1940 wipers park when off?

Yup, shock mount broke off on the way home. The wipers don't have a park mode, they basically park wherever I shut them off. Depending on which photos you look at they will appear parked in different positions

Shock that dragged down the road

The videos and still pictures are outstanding! Even with the shock mount break, clearly a great time was had. Am sure you'll have that fixed in no time at all!

Final results of the truck class

I’m #71 on the chart. Outside of the one track that the truck didn’t like, it would make a pretty consistent bracket racer.

Back at it next year…

Lost one shock mount on the drivers side and it looks like the passenger side was ready to go. Drivers side looked like the metal plate sheared, passenger side bent the metal shock bracket downward. Guessing the driver side also bent prior to breaking.

Passenger side shock is still tough to compress while the drivers side seams nearly shot. Not sure why that’s happening.

Do you think during launch it's squating the tail end, driving the shocks to full compression, and beyond ?

Chuck

I added these snubbers to limit the travel. My springs are softer and added adjustable overriders for heavy loads.

Dennis

Could be… I rewatched some of the videos and the slapper bars are moving upwards in a hurry. Truck is launching harder than I expected.


Thanks for the tip… if I keep running it at the strip I’m going to need to do something.

There is also the possibility that my original math on shock size was off.

Anyway, oil change and new plugs were this weekends chores. Plugs mostly look ok… somehow it’s tough to get good plug pics 😄
I’ve been avoiding changing plugs since they’re a complete pain to get at… my hands and arms look like I lost a fight with a rabid raccoon.

My buddy from the drag and drive left me some shop wipes.. can highly recommend this brand. Work really well

The plugs all look pretty good. Number 8 is a little darker, that could just be the picture though. If your traction bars are moving a lot, you may want to add a taller snub to the end or space them up closer to the spring pack.

Couple of minor updates... I've put a thousand km's on the truck since the drag and drive.
Little carb tweaking and the hot idle afr is now in the 14.2-14.6 range. Cruising afr is a little lower than I'd like but it's a work in progress
After unsuccessfully trying a few different one piece oil pans that all had minor leaks if one sort or another.... I ended up with Mr. Gasket Oil Pan Gasket 6663G. So far so good

The not so good is that the constant 6k shifts at the drag and drive has killed my water pump bearing.

Just a thought here. If you plan to continue Drag Racing the truck, you might look into an electric waterpump. It would help with cool downs after the runs as well.

Not sure what I'm doing with the truck, other than expecting way to much from it. It's currently a long hauler, local cruiser and a drag truck.... none of which it excels at

When I put the truck together it was more a mindset about being sort of "cool" rather than functional. It feels like I'd be losing the mid 60's hot rod feel once I start targeting a specific use.

At some point my C3 will be finished and that should spell the end of the trucks long distance days.

Bed got beat up during the drag and drive. Sanded it with some 320 and reapplied a coat of stain. Came back pretty well.

Turns out it was the alternator bearing that went out not the water pump. With the mechanical fan it's nearly impossible to hear anything inside the engine compartment. Took the fan off, spun the water pump and it sounded good, tried the alternator and heard a "squeal". Replaced the alternator with my spare and it appears to be all good again.

While putting it all back together I thought I'd experiment without running the mechanical fan. Truck idles around 650rpm so how much air could the 15inch mech be pushing? Last night I went to a local cruise/rod run with roughly 150 other cars for a 1-1.5hr drive, some highway but mostly back roads and subdivision driving. Weather was around 21C.

Turns out the 10 inch electrical fan set up as a pusher struggles on it's own without the mechanical fan running in tandem. Truck mostly ran 190-200, hitting 210 on a slow uphill crawl.

The truck is so much quieter without the mechanical fan that I'm going to try running a 14inch electrical puller fan and see what happens. I'll be keeping the 10inch installed and throw the mechanical in the truck box for just incase moments. I know the small electric and the mechanical work well in tandem so if it's necessary I can always go back.

Didn’t take long to scratch and dent the bed wood… again. Put some blankets down but the corvette door dug in.

Have been playing with the steering box and ended up with a combination of 75-90weight gear oil and some multi purpose grease. Steering is smooth but there’s a vagueness in the feel.

Some Girls do look good in Black...

It's a truck. Don't sweat it.

My favorite color. Is it your Corvette?

Thanks Tuts

Yup...it's a 71 base car

Finally got around to installing the new electric fan.

Removed both the mechanical and the small unit I was running as a pusher.

Truck is definitely quieter without the mechanical but the electrical one hits the volt gauge pretty hard.

Volts drop from 14 to 12.5-12.7 when it turns on.

Was adjusting the rear brakes today and had a thought.

I suffered a broken rear shock mount after the drag and drive and wasn’t sure why.

It dawned on me today that part way through the drag and drive, I started jacking the truck up by the shock mount tab. Now wondering if that’s what could have been causing the metal fatigue.

Also went through the steering and tightened up all the nuts/bolts. A few had worked themselves loose.

Chasing a ticking sound from inside the cab that gets louder when you accelerate.

Figured I’d check the driver side exhaust gasket. Looks like number 5 had a slight leak.

Had a second set of Felpro 1411’s kicking around.
Used copper spray on the gasket and some anti seize on the header bolts.

Got the truck up to temp and retightened the header bolts… hopefully that will resolve the ticking….it’s driving me nuts

Adjusted the secondary air flap on the carb counterclockwise a1/4 turn. Attempting to slow down it’s opening.

Not a lot of updates for the build....I noticed some white milky fluid on the air cleaner and the drivers side valve cover a couple of times late in the year. It looks like my radiator is on the way out. Upper left corner where the tank joins the core is weeping.

I picked up another champion since it cooled the truck extremely well and in all fairness I did beat the radiator up pretty good...awhile ago I bled on the horn button and it left a stain of sorts. No gray paint on the shelf but I did have some metallic hi-temp silver available...turned out pretty decent

Some changes coming for the truck this year. According to the calculators a .68 5th gear will drop my highway rpm from 3000 to 1700 at 60mph so it's time to start collecting parts for a planned TKX swap.

Picked up a speedometer from a 40 chevy car on eBay to replace the one I destroyed by dismantling my original one. According to some online research the car and truck units are the same.

Funny, my pencil and paper says that 3000 x 0.68 = 2040 rpm.

Replacement speedometer showed up this evening…it spins the needle, so far so good.

Speedometer is in and sort of functional. Testing last night revealed that the Speedo or the speedhut gps box is sensitive to bends in the cable.

I have a short ish 38inch speed cable but that’s a bit long with the gps box mounted to the back of the glove box. Also dug out my 90° adapter to help straighten the path between the two.

As always it’s a work in progress

Got the speedo mounted and tested… greased the 90dg fitting and the cable with white grease. It spins the speedo up nicely.

Working on the rad replacement and figured out why it was spewing liquid. The front side looks like it was used for target practice, with multiple through holes in it.

The aluminum might be a bit soft and I’ll probably need to look at putting some type of mesh screen in front of the new one.

Started reassembly… got a good chunk of it done.
Decided not to bother painting this one.

It’s entirely possible… I’m not sure exactly when or where it got pelted.

Truck never ran hot and I only noticed when it had a milky white residue on the valve cover and firewall.