Update: New Slicks
Just prior to the NHRDA World Finals in Texas the first week of October, I prepped a new set of steel 15" x 12" 8-lug wheels for the new slicks. In the past, I've had trouble with the slicks turning on the wheels and with the new larger slicks, I decided to drill the rims and add screws.
I picked up a rim drilling jig and screws from Jegs since they had the best price almost a year ago when I picked up the parts.
The screw kit came with a drill bit, it's pretty straight forward, you drill holes where the corner of the tire bead resides so the screw hits in the middle of the bead, otherwise they will cause leaks.
The new 33"x14.50 Good Year Slicks were picked up new but heavily discounted from a local Top Alcohol Dragster Team, I had no idea if they'd hook well on my truck, but the price was right... $150 for the pair.
On the truck, they definitely don't tuck, but on a Junker Truck, looks are the last consideration when new upgrades are added. Besides, all the cool kids now have "stance" and purposely stick their wheels/tires out from the fender well area.
One downside of the taller slicks is the suspension geometry is now totally wrong so the rearend will have to be lowered more. There wasn't time to get the rear lowered prior to the Texas race so for now it's still too high in the rear.
Update: Full manual Valvebody
With the upcoming turbo changes, I needed a simpler way to change the shift points, so I ditched the automatic valvebody/mechanical governor setup and went to a full manual valvebody with a B&M Megashifter.
In Texas, I was eligible to run the 11.90 Super Diesel Index Class. This meant I had to dial back the fueling to make the truck slower and more consistent for the class. Instead of going the traditional fuel plate rack stop route, I dialed in my AFC LIVE Tuner to 20 psi, which according to the bench test sheet put the pump right at 400 cc's of fuel. I purposely deep staged during qualifying to try to dial-in the power to run 11.90 with a poor 60' from the deep stage but faster reaction time.
The first qualifying run was unimpressive as I forgot that I had to shift and hung 1st gear against the governor for a second or so. Despite the shifting error and terrible launch due to the taller slicks truck still ran a
12.1 @ 121mph. The trap speed shows the power potential of the new Hamilton Head and Hot Rod Farrell Diesel 887 (215) Pump.
The very next pass was qualifying for the 10.90 index class, so I flipped the full power mode switch on the AFC LIVE tuner just prior to staging. This allows full boost to the AFC/Injection pump and enables 650 cc's of fueling. My previous best 10.90 @ 126mph was with the old 500 cc 160 pump so I was expecting to run well under the index just to see what the new setup was capable of.
The 15 psi launch was too much for the not-yet-tuned suspension/big slick setup and the truck bounced, on the second or third bounce about 10' off the line,
the stock output shaft broke and I was done racing..... big drive/tow from Utah to Texas to attempt 2 passes.
A billet output shaft has been sourced and is ready to install, the new shaft does not have provisions for the mechanical governor or speedo gear so it's a good thing I upgraded to the full manual valvebody.
In order to safely tow my truck the 20+ hours back from Texas to Utah without park or an e-brake, I had to rig up some 2x4 blocks as screwed down wheel chocks keep the truck locked down on the long tow. Necessity is the mother of invention.
