The Quest for 275 MPH

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It would be at ECTA Arkansas mile in Blytheville. They do 1/2, 1 and 1.24 ( 2 km ) runs. I believe the dates are May 1st for tech inspection and then run May 2nd, 3rd and 4th. If I can get everything together I will make an attempt at 275+ on the 4th. Come run or watch if you are able to, hoping there are some Vipers there.

 

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On a really great day for me, just like Christmas, Blucifer started up yesterday and idled. I'm heading to Gearhead tomorrow and will try to figure out how to post a video of it running. I will probably need a 10-year-old to help me with posting the video. At this point the dyno won't be much longer, definitely looking forward to driving it around central Florida and eventually on a runway to see what it can do.

 

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Here's a video of Blucifer start up after more than a few years of starting this build.

Twin-turbo Viper startup

youtu.be

 

[MoparMap]

Always good to hear them make noise again for the first time!

 

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It definitely is a noise I've been waiting almost 4 years to hear. Next, I need to be in the driver's seat and cruising around central Florida to get use to all the new quirks it will have now. At twice the WHP, sequential, quad carbon clutch and a lot more mods it will be a bit different car for sure.

 

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Here are pictures of the dash plate wrapped in flat black, we put sponsor decals in that area so they are visible in the videos and passenger seat is installed if anyone wants to volunteer to ride along . Also, tech inspection requires any throttle body that isn't drive by wire have (2) springs so Gearhead added a second one. Dyno should be done next week and then I will drive it some to work out any issues, then back to Gearhead for bulkhead and some additional mods.

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[GTS Dean]

Aside from your 'chutes and rear NACA ducts, the bodywork is incredibly unassuming. Other than being a Viper, you could drive it anywhere and scarcely raise an eybrow.

 

[Mehh]

Man bad ass build, any reason why this car isn't on methanol? Would need a lot less worries about ait wouldn't need as much intercooling. Easier on the engine too, and if your worried about the issues **** can bring you can just run it on 93 after maybe drive it a bit and your pretty much good.

I'm not a land speed guy so I don't want to step on your toes I don't have the expiriance in your world. For drag cars though I've been a part of programs where methanol was definitely king and if you intercool it a bit it only has even bigger tuning window.

 

[Mehh]

Forgot do you have any pics of where you exactly drilled the heads? I was planning on doing it mine when I go to freshen up the engine.

 

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Aside from your 'chutes and rear NACA ducts, the bodywork is incredibly unassuming. Other than being a Viper, you could drive it anywhere and scarcely raise an eybrow.

Thanks Dean, I definitely like that it's not over the top and just cruising down the road probably looks stock to 99%+ of the people in the world. I have always said that Vipers make a perfect car for anyone in witness protection because nobody looks at the driver, they only look at the car.

 

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Man bad ass build, any reason why this car isn't on methanol? Would need a lot less worries about ait wouldn't need as much intercooling. Easier on the engine too, and if your worried about the issues **** can bring you can just run it on 93 after maybe drive it a bit and your pretty much good.

I'm not a land speed guy so I don't want to step on your toes I don't have the expiriance in your world. For drag cars though I've been a part of programs where methanol was definitely king and if you intercool it a bit it only has even bigger tuning window.

We run E85 and will probably have both a street tune and a track tune that both will use E85. I run Ethanol One "R" and buy it in 55 gal drums. Keeps that blend consistent vs the local gas stations. Landspeed does have a few more issues with heat due to the amount of time you are WOT. The E85, the water to air intercoolers and the small shot of nitrous all help to keep those IATs in check. IAT temp was a major issue in the 252.588 MPH run, we way underestimated the ability of the intercooler to deal with the heat.

 

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Forgot do you have any pics of where you exactly drilled the heads? I was planning on doing it mine when I go to freshen up the engine.

Here is a picture of the work Greg Good did to the heads. What we do is pipe from the back of the heads back to the upper radiator hose to prevent those steam pockets. The housing is a little thin in that area so he built it up a bit and then tapped it for 1/2" lines

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Today Gearhead filled the iceboxes for the intercoolers, there are (2) of them located behind the rear wheels. Each icebox held 16 gals of water for a total of 32 gals. It's going to be a 1.25 to 1.5 mile run to break 275 and this should allow for enough ice/water to keep that boost charge cool for the entire run plus some.

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This afternoon Blucifer got a little closer to completion. It's on the dyno and was scheduled to be tuned today but some issues with a battery kill switch that was probably 8 years foiled that attempt. Gearhead is replacing it out and hopefully we get an opportunity to see what it does later this week.

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Just a short update on where we are at with Blucifer. Gearhead has had the car on the dyno a few times, ran it thru the gears including reverse. Runs great but tuning is not complete so there is more to be done in that regard. We are having small issue with turbos leaking oil into the inlet side so Gearhead reworked the drains, added a vented tank between turbos and scavenge pump. That appeared to help but didn't cure the issue so they added pressure regulators in the oil feed line and that greatly reduced the amount of oil leaking. We may just be seeing residual oil at this point but still checking on that. At this time I plan to have Blucifer at the Exotic Car Festival Concours in Celebration FL on March 29th if anyone wants to come by and check it out. As soon as I have some more information and pictures I will post them. Thanks

 

[GTS Dean]

The relief valve sounds like a good idea. What oil viscosity are you running? Are you being sure the oil temp is stabilized in your dry sump tank before making the pulls?

 

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It seems that the oil leaks at the turbos has been fixed, combination of the pressure regulators and drain tank did the trick. I'm not sure on the oil viscosity, but I will ask Gearhead about that. We do warm the oil up by letting the car idle before any pulls on dyno are done. It holds about 7 gallons of oil so takes some time to warm it all up. By Monday or Tuesday of next week the tuner should be putting the final tunes into it. Gearhead is starting to put all the body panels back on it. I will pick it up at some point on the week of March 24th. We have some fabrication work to do up in Orlando area on diffuser and vertical fins on quarter panels. I'm also going to decide soon if I want to put on a small rear spoiler to help with the wagging the rear likes to do above 240 or so. I will probably fabricate a few of them that allow me to remove or add taller or shorter version as needed. Once we get to Arkansas we have 3 days of track time so I will sneak up on my goal a little at a time. Do some 200 MPH passes and drop the chutes to get the timing worked out with them, then maybe 225, 250 and if it's all looking good on May 4th I will make an attempt at 275. It's Blucifer's first time back on a runway in about 4 years so there are opportunities for a lot of simple issues to keep us from the goal, but I'm bringing a lot of talent and spare parts with us to prepare for making it to that number. I will post some videos and pictures from the Celebration Exotic Car show on March 29th, and others as we fab some of the aero parts. Thanks, David