UPDATE: Possibly the Culprit on Drag~N~Fly

[Roothawg]

Well, after beating ourselves up all week over the Fly saga. We think we may have found the culprit.

We had purchased 5 gallons of race fuel from a local race car guy here in Mustang. He buys it prepackaged from someone. I think that whoever his vendor is thought they could make a few extra bucks by cutting the fuel with Methanol(which is about 1/2 the cost). This would explain the car running erratically after loading it on the trailer. We had used up the fuel in the tank and left it sitting empty because we didn't want the fuel to go flat.

We drained the tank after, disassembling the pump and inspecting it. The pump looked like new inside. So, we tanked it up with 7-11 87 Octane and she busted right off and ran like a champ. We will do some dry runs up and down the neighborhood streets this weekend to see if that was the total problem. Wish me luck.

[plan9]

good luck, mind posting the compression and cam specs?

interesting to see the bugs being worked out...

for me, it would be just a little upsetting to know it may just be a fuel problem.

[BELLM]

Good luck! You gotta make Day of the Drags.

[asillymick]

Get a rope

[Roothawg]

The cam is a vintage Crower roller...call it the mystery cam. We don't know the specs but they are somewhere around .510" and approx. 290 degrees duration.

[AHotRod]

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gifWow http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

[Roothawg]

Oh and the compression is 13:1

[Unkl Ian]

Too much Methanol would lean it out in a hurry. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

[hotrodsnguns]

Good luck, hope it is the problem, but hate to think someone would do that for a few dollars.

One bitchen ride you have.

[FWilliams]

man that sucks!

sure would explain why it was lean on some cylinders and others were soaking wet and not firing.

i am sure you are going to have a little talk with him http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Yeah....what UnklIan said. Methanol would lean that thing out a bunch depending on how much was in there. I'm surprised you couldn't smell it.

Stick with good gas.

[Roothawg]

Now that I look back on it......Dad was showing me one of the pills and asking why it had corrosion on it. I shrugged it off. Then the cylinders were white hot on the plugs on the front and the rears were soaking. It ran like it was stumbling...never a clean rap. I thought the color was a little weak but I figured it was a different dye or someting.

It was supposed to be good gas. I paid 5 bux a gallon for 5 gallons.

The guy that sold it may have known, he may not have. It could have been some of the local groupies that hang out around there siphoning off a gallon here a gallon there....

All I know is I'll be calling him....

[McGrath]

[ QUOTE ]
The cam is a vintage Crower roller...call it the mystery cam. We don't know the specs but they are somewhere around .510" and approx. 290 degrees duration.




[/ QUOTE ]

'Oughta sound bad assed. I had a Comp Cams 292-.505 in my last 355. It didn't just lope, it slobbered.... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Roothawg]

It really thumps in a 265.....

[McGrath]

Mine didn't run too good in that 4,000lb Truck, but through the 3" exhaust it sure sounded badassed idling through town... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[flamedabone]

Looks like the Model A waxed your ass AGAIN this year. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

Just teasing you, bro. Your car rips.

By the way, when people see it on the Drags shirt, they will never belive it is a REAL car.

See you in a year, -Abone.

[Paul]

sorry it happened but caught in time that's gotta be the simplest fix possible!

somebody should get you burnin up the track on video and post it for us that can't be there to see it!

good luck!!

Paul

[Roothawg]

Maybe by this weekend........we'll have new video.

[Paul]

cool!

[jerry]

so, it looks like there were 2 bad gas problems this weekend! DAMN!!

we need to make the day of the drags!


jerry

[jerry]

so, it looks like there were 2 bad gas problems this weekend! DAMN!!

we need to make the day of the drags!


jerry

[Smokin Joe]

Great you found it BEFORE the pistons melted.
Tie him to the car and drag him!

[FWilliams]

[ QUOTE ]
Now that I look back on it......Dad was showing me one of the pills and asking why it had corrosion on it. I shrugged it off.

[/ QUOTE ]

i asked him once about the fuel, and he said it was fresh , just got it, i never gave it another thought http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

[Unkl Ian]

At $5 a gallon,you shouldn't have to give it another thought.

[crow]

So....um...Root, you ARE making it to Day of the Drags then, right?

[JimC]

Root, I certainly hope you have found the problem. That is an easy fix.
That is another reason my wife wont let me carry a loaded gun.

[SamIyam]

I wouldn't speculate... I'd have the fuel tested.

You may just end up chasing your own tail if it turns out it wasn't the fuel.

Did you save some?

Sam.

[Reggie]

That's what I like about you man....you keep pluggin at it. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Can't wait to see the car at the "day of the drags".http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Kerry]

While it's pretty rotten news from the standpoint of the Hamb drags, overall things are looking up. You didn't hurt your engine and you don't have to buy another pump! Can't wait to see the Fly come into her own.

[hotrodladycrusr]

I'm with Kerry, this is really good news when you look at the whole picture.

[Roothawg]

I have about 1/2 gallon left. I thought about testing it with a Hydrometer to find out what the specific gravity is on the fuel we have, test some straight gas and see what it is.

I KNOW the fuel is a major player in my problems cause we busted it off and it cleaned up like it was supposed to. I am nt hauling the car to Austin unless I get in it and physically test the system. I plan on doing that over the weekend, weather permitting. I hate to say that it is 100% so soon.
Dad was tweaking on it a little earlier....he called and had mom holding the phone to let me hear the motor.....he's ate up. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
I do know that it all makes sense now looking back.....

[carkiller]

I hope your right on the fuel problem. That car is just COOOL! I had a simular problem a coupla years ago with a new/fresh engine I did for my modified. The car sat all winter with almost a full cell of cam2, I changed the engine out fired adjusted valves ect sounded bad ass. Drove on to the trailer smokin the tires, Unloaded at the track after a hunred and fifty mile drive and gas slosh around. (enough ta mix the gas and humidity) Wouldnt turn over four grand, Sounded like a multitude of shot gun blasts under load. Took about a week ta figure my mistake. Cal

[Roothawg]

This one was popping it was so lean......

[fab32]

Root, Why don't you get a degree wheel and a dial indicator and find out what the specs are on that cam? Did you degree it in when you installed it? I know you can degree a cam without the specs by just splitting the overlap and using that as a base but if you had some hard specs maybe you could match it with an old catalog or call the manufacturer and zero in on the grind.
BTW we used to split the overlap then advance it 2 degrees on small block Chevys. This where most grinds will come into their own on this engine.

Frank

[Skate Fink]

[ QUOTE ]
Great you found it BEFORE the pistons melted.
Tie him to the car and drag him!


[/ QUOTE ]

Really sucks about the bad fuel!

.....in high school, I had an 8' hydroplane with a 10hp Merc Hurricane. I would run Sunoco high test with a little methanol thrown in and hot plugs. In a tear down over the winter, I noticed little pits burning into the center of the pistons. Time to sell.......... (ran great though!)
http://www.weirdtrip.com/shots/hydro.jpg

[Doug Evans]

Roothawg somethings to check, make sure your butterflies are all even, I set mine at .004 but I don't know if that would be the same for blackie carbon.Also if there was corosion on the pill then there is bound to be some in the nozzles, I would remove them and clean them out. I had the same problem with mine once and did the same thing, I thought it was the pump going away but it turned out that I had some bent butterflies.I have also had clogged nozzles cause a lean on some cylinders bug. It causes it to lean on the clogged cylinders and be real fat on the others cause the fuel pressure goes way up on the ones that are not clogged.Also I have had foreign objects get into the by-pass and cause a simalar problem.A clogged distrobution line from the metering valve would cause it too.Sounds more like water in the gas than methanol.Good luck I hope to see you at Temple.

[Doug Evans]

Oh and check your vent on the fuel tank, mine stopped up once and really screwed me up for a day or two!

[Roothawg]

We pulled the nozzles at the track...they were OK. We also pulled the cap while it was running to verify that it wasn't a vent problem.

I am going to pour some of it into a glass container to check for the water content.

The butterflies are ok, we use a piece of paper to set them all the same....just a little drag on em. Just right.

Crazy stuff.

[Rocky]

I hope you're right, Root. That would be a really EZ fix, provided there aren't any burnt pistons. Crossed fingers..

[Doug Evans]

Sounds like you got it under control, I hope to see you at Temple if you can make it. I am gonna try to get some more FED's to show up. My pump went away a couple months back and I just got my car going again. I am going to my local track to make some passes tomorrow night in preperation for temple.

[Roothawg]

Went by tonight and talked to the guy that sold me the fuel. He showed me the containers he had bought recently. They look a lot different. They are sealed and look more like a factory type deal. The 5 gallon pail he had sold us weren't sealed and the buckets looked old. He said that he had about 4 of the old styled buckets that were different.
I think that his vendor may be trying to pull a fast one on him.

He has offered to take take the little bit of fuel we have left and have it tested by someone other than his salesman....and give me one of the sealed 5 gallon buckets.
It may have just been a fluke deal.....I just hope this was the worst of it.