Speed Merchant's Ozark Mountian Special

[Rand Man]

2006 H.A.M.B Drags Class Winner HA/GR

[ThingyM]

Gee :: Seams Ive seen this car before..)))))))grin

[Rand Man]

This trophy is the AMBR and Winston Cup all rolled into one. That's a bit "over the top", but it does mean a lot to me. This photo doesn't do it justice. The next one will be up fror grabs before you know it. Better get ready.

[Rand Man]

A few more photos.

[plan9]

excellant rig rand man, the sheetmetal up front and polished surface give the rail a finished look.

[Rand Man]

thanks, I made the body from one 4x10 sheet of bright Aluminumn. It comes pre-polished.

[Rand Man]

Been about six months since I've posted about the rail. The Ozark Mountain Special is stirring back to life. It's been all apart since last fall. We finally got the new trans "installed" today. I built a new trans crossmember the old fashioned way, with a torch and a big hammer. Brad worked on building a new shifter.

The new trans is a Ford V8 Top-Loader three speed manual. I went round and round with my rebuilder. Turns out the first two boxes I sent him were of the six-cylinder variety. I wanted the strongest three speed trans I could get and the low-end cogs wern't going to stand up any better than the '39 boxes that blew twice.

The V8 model is just as strong as the famed top loader four speed. I'm hoping for bullet-proof. I'm still not sure of all the ways to indentify one. Let's just say it's better to look under a Galexie than a Falcon.

I've got a new clutch disc and throwout bearing on it's way. It's not that my clutch was worn out. I don't think we even made a pass on it. The '39 boxes had an 1 3/8", 10-spline input shaft. The later model has the 1 1/8", ten-spline shaft. (BTW, The six-cyl model is smaller yet) I'll try to get some new photos up this week.

[Mr. Mac]

Good luck on the tranny Randy. Are you going to do any testing soon? Indy is going to be here before we know it.

[Rand Man]

Being about a hundred miles from the closest drag strip makes it tough to do any real testing. I think the lane in front of Brad's shop is long enough to practice the 1-2 shift.

There's a whole lot left to do. If the new clutch disc and hydrauic throwout bearing come in before the weekend, we might have a chance. Ever try to put in a hydro clutch in a Top-loader Ford? Until last week, there weren't such thing. Ram is sending me the first one.

[Mr. Mac]

Hydro clutch?:eek: So its now part automatic and part standard.
Your going hi tech on us now.:D

[Rand Man]

Yeah before you know it, I'll be putting on electric water pumps. Ha, ha. I'd be surpised if I was the only one running a master cylinder to actuate a stock-style clutch. It ain't that techy. The throwout bearing was the best choice for me. No room to mount a slave cylinder.

[Rand Man]

Well we torn down the old war horse this weekend, to end season three. Our best yet. Here are a few more photos showing the evolution. We were down on power the last couple times out. I thought my run of 14.0 flat was just a lack of skill, when we ran at the AHRA reunion this fall. We got rained out that day and didn't get any more runs. Brad was in the seat when we went to Tulsa a few weeks ago for their Old Time Drags.

We ran in the 13.30's that day. We tryed a few things. Took off the trick pipes. Nothing helped. Then we saw the water. Spewed out of the left header bank, just like last year.

Last year we would have been happy with 13's but we had gone almost a second faster this summer. Our best run was 12.41 at 109 mph. I think that is the speed record for a true HA/GR.

Brad pulled the top-end off Friday. A crack in the left rear cylinder. A sleave will fix it, but it is a bummer. I hauled the car back to my shop for the winter. The whole thing has been fun. Having several cars in our area has been great fun.

[2b-banjo]

Rand Man,
Thanks for the update, I have been thinking about you guys as to if you tore the engine down yet. Good luck with the fix!!!
We want to have some good close races with you next year!!!
2b-banjo

[Rand Man]

Update:
We got the motor put back together las Friday. Since it had cracked a cylinder, Brad had the bock sleeved. Since that makes more than one sleeve on that bank, we poured in some Hard-Block.

All the parts checked out OK, so we just put it all back in, after a little cleaning. No big changes this year.

Picture captions:

It's kinda hard to fit a 7/8" lift cam into a flathead.

3 1/2" bore pistons.

Our trick valve springs are from a Lycomming lawn mower engine.

Recycler torques the left head down to 90 ft/lbs.

Rand Man torques the right head down to 145 ft/lbs.

[348chevy]

Your Shop is way to clean. I mean you would have to really look for a place to get grease under your finger nails.:D Just kidding really looks great, I'm envious because I wish that I could be putting my engine together. Sure will be nice to see the Speed Merchant go even faster this year. :)Roy

[Mr. Mac]

My God! Look at the size of that stroker crank.
That engine got to be 340 inches.:D That done it were going Hudson.

[recycler]

Randy and I had a good day. It sure went a lot faster having Randy there to help.

Hey Ted, what did you guys find in your flattie when you finally dismantled it???


Brad

[Mr. Mac]

Randy and I had a good day. It sure went a lot faster having Randy there to help.

Hey Ted, what did you guys find in your flattie when you finally dismantled it???


Brad

We havn't even torn it apart yet.:(

[Rand Man]

Just bringing some of my old threads to the top, because guys have asked for photos.

[QQMOON]

Good luck with the new motor 12.4 thats cool when ya running it again or have i missed something ???

QQ

[Rand Man]

This is a really old thread. The car and the motor have been sold. I was just trying to show some pictures, because some new members had asked me about it. Click on this link, it has lots of photos:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=289359&highlight=ozark