DRAGRACING: ENGINE BLOCK/OIL/WATER TEMPERATURE..

['Flyin' Dutchman']

I was reading through Grimlock's post about cooling his Flathead during the HAMB Drags... Very interesting post!

Now... I've been to quit a few dragraces. And don't know too much about dragsters myself. Grimlock was talking about the tempreature of his block. That got me thinking...

Everytime I go to a dragrace, I see drag cars being pushed up to the starting line with, seems to me, completely cold motors... They start it up, do a burnout, and go for it!
Ain't it bad to haul ass down a track with a cold motor... I've been always told: be sure that your engine is warmed up before you abuse it.

When we go to drags with street legal cars, you often see 'em running their engines in the staging lanes or in the pit area. But, how does it work with pro stockers, stockers, vintage dragsters, top fuelers, top fuel Harleys, etc. etc...

Please school me on that... I'm very curious... What kind of oil do they use. What kind of cooling systems. DO they run their motors before a run and haven't I seen it??? I've often thought about this and now it came up in my mind to post it here...

[SamIyam]

They run them in the pits to get the oil warmed up. It is absolutely harmful to run a motor balls out with cold oil... let alone cold engine parts.

FWIW, most sportsman racers who run alcohol do not run water in the block. They run them dry. I don't klnow about fuel racers and top alcohol... anyone know for sure?

Sam.

[Unkl Ian]

I think the Fuelers and blown Alky crowd run billet heads and solid blocks,for strength.
Heat isn't as much of a problem with Alky,the Nitro guys just don't care. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Pro Stock,etc warm the motor AND driveline in the pits before each round.
Some cars have air jacks built in the raise the back tires off the ground,
so they can run the car in gear to warm the trans and rear end.

Having the parts warmed up properly helps reduce wear,also helps make the car more consistant.

[JOECOOL]

You want the oil warm and the heads (coolant ) as cold as possible. Actually most of the time I run the car in the pits up to 190 or 200 and then shut it off and let the heat soak everything to warm and then just run it .My car will run 160 or 170 temp most of the time . Oil temp is usually about the same ,trans is usually 170 to 200 .
If everything is set up right you can run light oil 10w=30 and not really have any problems. In my opinion ,the people who run 40 and 50 weight race oil are fooling them selves. sometimes racers fall to the " I read it in a magazine "or believe what has been passed down over the years as gospel. I run pretty loose clearences on the bearing and usually have only 5 lbs. of pressure or so at warm idle,30 lbs going thru the traps . I don't restrict the oil anywhere and spend a lot of time smoothing and enlarging oil passages.
The large amount of oil that is thrown off the rods that have been thru the mains and rods usually ends up on cyl. walls and the rings have to deal with them.I run my oil pressure and volume lower and can use a smaller expander on the oil ring and have even run without a second ring .Less drag = more H.P. More oil to the top of the engine the more cooling the valve springs get and the longer they last.The more oil and pressure you pump the harder the distributor turns and the more H.P it uses. Anyway this is getting out of hand ,But for the record my race engines use STOCK oil pumps ,no fancy stuff ,Hell I don't even use a double roller timing chain.

[SimonSez]

A friend of mine runs a blown/injected alcohol doorslammer.

It used to run an iron block that was filled with block grout (for strength), but now it is running a Rodeck aluminium block which is run dry. The heads are Dart aluminium which are run dry, although I am pretty sure they do have water jackets.

Before each run it is run for a short time in the pits to get some heat into the oil and check for leaks. It is shutoff when the outside surface of the heads is warm to the touch.

['Flyin' Dutchman']

Thanks guys!! That was something I often thought about but never really figured out...

Sam, I hope to meet you at the HRR in October. I'm sure I can learn a lot more about drag racing then!!

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[SamIyam]

No problem!

We need to hook your video camera to the Digger and tape a run...
Sam.

[plan9]

[ QUOTE ]
No problem!

We need to hook your video camera to the Digger and tape a run...
Sam.

[/ QUOTE ]

while youre at it, strap me onto the front and ill hold the camera... nothing beats the real thing!! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

['Flyin' Dutchman']

[ QUOTE ]
No problem!

We need to hook your video camera to the Digger and tape a run...
Sam.

[/ QUOTE ]


I think we could give it a try... There's a lot possible with some ductape and foam!!

That'd be bitchin to put on the website!! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif