Creating the Silver Bullet / shoebox

[rx2mazda]

Sweet project!

[BadAssPerformance]

Some shakedown runs from last night

[BadAssPerformance]

[jayspartanburg]

Awesome vid! The last run was scripted right out of Hollywood! Lol

[Dave]

What's the news with this bad boy? What happened the rest of the season?

[Joe_Van_Duno]

Typical of racing, I had nothing but issues. Took me till the end of the season to get things squared up. I ended up beating Terry's MPH record, but not but enough to go bragging about it. I made multiple passes in the low 11.8's at 115 and made a one at 11.8x @116. Like I said, nothing to brag about, so I just left it. Everytime out I had traction issues, nitrous issues, trans issues, etc....

It was an annoying season. Once things were finally all working, I took the van for a ride around the neighborhood and heard a loud squealing from the trans. Looks like I broke a gear off the diff, pinon gear, or spider gears and the noise was the chunk of metal being wedged between the diff gear a the diff metal cover. Got back to the house to find a huge puddle of trans fluid under the car. I took the cover off and welded it back together but something was toast inside. Took the van for a ride and the trans was clunking. So my season was done.

I have the trans at the trans shop now getting looked at so we'll see what happens. I have a little one on the way, so it's kind of hard to justify thousands into a race car, when I have to start paying for diapers....

Hopefully the van will see a racing season in 2015 and not the scrap yard.

[Dave]

Sucks about the Trans issue. Sorry to read that.

What was your exact setup like when you ran the 11.8 at 116?

[moparman76_69]

With that time and the extra weight and barn door aero of a van you probably aren't far off JT in HP so it's not a shock you're having transmission issues. Hopefully the shop comes through for you and you can get a few runs in before your life changes lol. Oh and congrats.

[Joe_Van_Duno]

Sucks about the Trans issue. Sorry to read that.

What was your exact setup like when you ran the 11.8 at 116?

It's pretty much the same as I've been running. +1mm head, ported 2pc, custom badass performance header, t3/t4 turbo and a little bit of go juice. Of course all the supporting mods too. Van isn't full weight, but it isn't light weight either. The interior behind the seats has been removed, it was junk from the previous owner. Besides that it's pretty much stock weight.

Whats going on with yours? It looks like some nice work under the hood. Have you been to the track at all? I see you are in Ohio, I've always thought it would be fun to meet up with another fast turbo van owner and have some fun at a test n tune event beating up on some V8's.

With that time and the extra weight and barn door aero of a van you probably aren't far off JT in HP so it's not a shock you're having transmission issues. Hopefully the shop comes through for you and you can get a few runs in before your life changes lol. Oh and congrats.

Shhhh, don't tell JT that, some of the "good" go fast parts are his...LOL And thank you, it's an exciting time right now in our household.

[Dave]

It's pretty much the same as I've been running. +1mm head, ported 2pc, custom badass performance header, t3/t4 turbo and a little bit of go juice. Of course all the supporting mods too. Van isn't full weight, but it isn't light weight either. The interior behind the seats has been removed, it was junk from the previous owner. Besides that it's pretty much stock weight.

Whats going on with yours? It looks like some nice work under the hood. Have you been to the track at all? I see you are in Ohio, I've always thought it would be fun to meet up with another fast turbo van owner and have some fun at a test n tune event beating up on some V8's.





Shhhh, don't tell JT that, some of the "good" go fast parts are his...LOL And thank you, it's an exciting time right now in our household.

Getting ready.



Build should start late February.

Excited to see you run so fast and get the MPH record with what seems like a simple setup. How much boost and nitrous were you running to get 116mph? Do you have a pic of your time slip? Love to see your 60' and other info. I thought I saw you were running a custom intake manifold? 26x8.5" slicks, right? Did you ever weigh the van in race trim? What kind of work did you have done to the trans when you ran your personal best?

Thanks!

[Joe_Van_Duno]

Getting ready.

Excited to see you run so fast and get the MPH record with what seems like a simple setup. How much boost and nitrous were you running to get 116mph? Do you have a pic of your time slip? Love to see your 60' and other info. I thought I saw you were running a custom intake manifold? 26x8.5" slicks, right? Did you ever weigh the van in race trim? What kind of work did you have done to the trans when you ran your personal best?

Thanks!

I normally keep my slips but not sure where I went with it. My guess is it's still in the van, which is 200 miles from home getting the trans done, when I pick it up I'll take a look. I have video, but of course not clear on the time clocks, but it's fun to ride along. I'll include a link. I want to say my 60's were in the 1.9x's. When I had my best time of 11.82@115 I think that was a 1.8x 60'.

As for the question, "How much boost you running" My favorite answer is "ALL THE BOOST!!!" lol

Reality I'm not sure. My boost gauge is pegged at 30, and my map sensor only reads to 29.7 (or something around there, it's a 3 bar) so when I data log it shows 29 and change. I can run around without nitrous "tickling" the 30 mark, so on the bottle I'm guessing 34ish. And right now I'm using a single fogger with a 100 shot, but that could be changing if I can manage a fuel system upgrade. The 125 shot was running lean so I'm pretty much at my limit for fuel.

Slicks were 24.5x8.5 I may be looking to move up to a 26" tire next year, if I keep blowing these up.

And no I've never weighed the van on a known good scale. Track scale said 3800lbs with me in it, but I dont' think it's that heavy.

The trans was / is being fixed at Tranz Tech 380 East 30th Street, Dubuque, IA 52001 Phone:(563) 582-3809. They are a very friendly turbo dodge shop, owner has his 86 GLHS in the shop being built, and there is always at least one turbo dodge parked outside. Give them a call and ask for Kurt. He's the owner and can give you a better idea what they did, and how it held up. It looks like the only part I didn't upgrade, is the part that failed but I'll know for sure in a few days, maybe a week.

[Joe_Van_Duno]

Link to the racing where I eventually went 116. The outside shots were filmed with a camera phone, so quality kind of sucks. I guess my photo / video girl was busy that day so camera phone is the best we could do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNqOAXkmhn4

[OmniLuvr]

so on the bottle I'm guessing 34ish. And right now I'm using a single fogger with a 100 shot, but that could be changing if I can manage a fuel system upgrade. The 125 shot was running lean so I'm pretty much at my limit for fuel.

Im wondering if the increased "boost" level with the nitrous shot was also causing the lean condition if the computer couldn't read that boost level?

[shackwrrr]

What fuel are you running?

[Joe_Van_Duno]

Im wondering if the increased "boost" level with the nitrous shot was also causing the lean condition if the computer couldn't read that boost level?

I was running a richer nitrous jet to try and compensate for the "extra" boost, but I think a good 4 bar map sensor will be on the shopping list.

What fuel are you running?

I run 110 from gas station up the street. Sometimes I top off with 110 or 112 at the track, but only if I was to lazy to top it off before hand.