Projects Austin Somerset Gasser Build (DragNasty)

GAS-ER

 

HERE IS MY FINAL LIST:
1. AA-GAS
2. AA GAS
3. AA-GASR

 

ITAGAS

 

I like it. Nice choice.

 

I'll check those out next week!

 

Well it has been a while since I had a moment to catch the thread up, my apologies guys. So the next few posts here are going to be the Reader's Digest version of the last month. To begin with I have really been going hard at the bodywork (something I really hate). I finished up all of the minor bodywork related welding that I have been procrastination upon (one of the big ones is all the bright work mounting holes top and bottom).


The biggest challenge is the rear of the roof where the extra body area was added to catch up with the chopped top. I want this to look like it came from the factory so I have been fairly meticulous (to say the least) in this area.




I think it has paid off. The lines look really good and even though I don't have a shot of it from the rear looking across the deck, it is all but perfect. It makes me smile every time I look at it.

 

So you remember a ways back when I showed how I was going to install a small trailer converter unit to run both the brake and signal light on a single filament without buying an expensive signal switch? Well I take it back. It certainly looked good on paper and I am sure I did something stupid somewhere (as this thread would attest to over and over) but I could not get the stupid thing to work. After about 4 hours of retracing and double checking wires and it still not working I just broke down and ordered an aftermarket switch. When it arrived, it took me all of 3 minutes to hook 5 wires to it and POOF! .....everything works.

 

So early Monday morning we loaded the Austin up and headed to the big parking lot where I work in Springfield. It is not as large as the High School lot but large enough to finish breaking in the clutch AND then I have free range to STEP on it here when we are done. Something the school board would have deeply frowned upon.

So right out of the box, as she is sitting there warming up, I notice a small drip from the fuel rail elbow. We shut it off and sure enough, there is factory installed plug in the elbow and it is leaking a bit. We decided it would be a quick fix with a bit teflon tape. But of course you know how things go for me (so much for an early start while it was cool).


I put the appropriate T-handled allen wrench in but it would not turn. The aluminum plug had somehow galled up in the fitting. Even with the up most finesse, all I managed to do was mangle the plug. So we took the fitting off, carefully drilled it out, re-tapped it and installed a new brass plug from the auto parts store across the street (another advantage to this location)!


Of course this time I installed a bit of teflon tape and soon we were back together. However while I was playing machinist with the fitting, Dad installed the double throttle spring set up. I mean if things go well this morning with the final clutch break-in session, we might want to get wacky with it. AND nothing ruins a fun day of wackiness like a throttle sticking open etc.


Actually there is a back up spring to the backup spring we just installed. Better safe than sorry!

 

Speaking of better safe than sorry, another issue I found that would have to be resolved before we went too hard was the power switch on the rear. First off we discovered something I hadn't thought about a couple of weeks earlier at a cruise-in with the Austin on a trailer (I know it is my pet peeve as well seeing a car on a trailer at a cruise in but I did it anyway). So we fire it up for the folks in attendance. After a few impressive revs it is just sitting there idling and I start walking to the back of the trailer. I reach up and hit the kill switch but nothing happens. I didn't let on like anything was wrong, just reached back in the car and flipped the power switch off.

After the crowd finally dispensed a bit I walked over to Dad and said did you see that...He shook his head in the affirmative but with a puzzled look on his face. Everything ran through that switch, nothing had any power when it was off but there she sat still running anyway.

After we got it home and thought about it a bit, it was the alternator. It is a single wire alternator and just like every other alternator on the planet runs down to the starter (which is of course is well after the shut off switch). When the car was running, it was of course spinning the alternator which was suppling the electricity. When we shut the switch off, the alternator was still suppling power (aft of the safety switch). After removing the alternator wire from the starter we tested the theory and sure enough it was dead when the main switch was off.

I then beefed up the wire size a bit and ran it from the alternator all the way back to the battery side of the safety switch. But that is not what I started to say here. What I noticed after installing the battery was one of the poles on the switch was extremely close to the battery. In fact so close that with battery not being tied down it had actually bumped it a bit and put a scare on the side of the battery case.

Not that I needed anymore bodywork on this crazy project but it was clear the switch had to be moved.


As you can see we simply moved it over to the flat area (that used to serve as the British License plate holder) near the parachute. You might also notice the chute cable coming out right there as well as this past weekend, I installed the cable systems from JEGS.

 

Yes we did finally get everything together and finished breaking in the clutch Monday and YES we did get a bit wacky with it.





Just so you know, the old parking lot was pretty much a disaster as far as surface. There was absolutely zero traction not to mention we had the slicks pumped up with 25 pounds to simply drive it and break in the clutch. But it still felt awesome. I did several of those 2500 rpm mini launches and did not rev it past 5,000 after dropping the clutch. It went straight as a string every single time.


I am very happy with its performance and can not wait to get it to the track to really start feeling it out. Which might even be this Friday night at the weekly Test-n-tune. Nothing too crazy, just a few burnouts to make sure the line lock is working and then a few 60 foot launches to see how she hooks etc. You have to take stuff like this crazy slow with any project, but especially with a supercharged 92" wheel base, straight axle missile!

 

Vids are WAY KOOL, AH BUT...... SWC, MAZ, George, were running auto in '64 with less HP AND smaller engines, mainly Olds. So get ready to do donuts on the starting line.

 

Track prep and tires are lots better now,but he's really gonna have to be on his game driving this thing.That short wheelbase with all that weight up front will want to switch ends in a hurry if it gets the least little bit crossed up.
Your cam seems fairly mild though,and I think that's going to go a long way toward being able to drive the car down the track every pass,rather than point it toward the shutdown area and pray,which is what you might end up doing with a big cam that would have a much more "explosive" style of power delivery,and would probably net you one clean,safe pass out of every three....or five...lol

I'm really looking forward to seeing you bang the gears and get this thing down the track

Scott

 

Plus,you and your Dad built it together,so I can totally relate to that.
I'd be completely lost without my Dad.

Scott

 

You know, I think folks are going to be surprised how well this little monster handles. It is true it is way over powered but starting at the engine rebuild after the blower audible we made some really serious engineering choices from the cam to blower drive percentage etc. Plus the suspension is really pretty trick. It has 5 foot long ladder bars which should help spread the weight transfer from being immediate (and simply blowing the tires off) to likely carrying it past the 600 foot mark. It has quarter eliptic rear leafs that are installed inline with but against the suspension rotation and a set of coiled over load shocks out back. It as 9 to 1 front shocks to allow the front to lift and rotate with very little resistance. It has a Yukon 350 gear out back and while the Doug Nash first gear math gives a ton of low end, it very quickly changes to the miles per hour side of things running up the gears. The original wheel base of the car from the factory was almost 93 inches but we did modify that just a bit (so if things don't work out in the Gasser class we can always go ALTERED right?!!!) ....but as it stand now we are basically 97" which is still short but that is the same as a Vega, and I have seen some crazy fast and very straight running Vegas in my day. We are about to go out and prove all this talk when we start testing at the track. But from the beginning our goal was to build a very street friendly old school looking one off gasser that if it did made a pass at the strip would make the old guys smile. Personally I am not interested in all the ludicrase ETs and speeds the race calculators say it will run. We just want to represent the class and era well. It will easily cruise into the 10s and that is plenty fast enough for me.

 

If your even half as nutty as I am "BULL". Your gonna stand in it hard and heavy. I know I would "just to see what happens

 

Saturday morning I got out the poster board and mocked up the windshield. It took a few edits but after a bit I was happy with the fit.


Afterwards we laid the pattern on a piece of .25" Scratch resistance Lexan, traced the pattern and then cut it out. Even though the protective covering said not to cut it with a jig saw, that is all I had. We did however pick up a very thin fine tooth blade meant for cutting thin metal. It worked like a charm. We carefully fine tuned it with a hand grinder with a sanding disk on it until it fit like a glove.


We did same on the rear window.


We also started the interior tin work (or aluminum work if you will). I am so sore today I can barely move. You nearly have to be a contortionist to work on these areas inside this little car, especially with the cage in place, ....AND I AM NO CONTORTIONIST! I spent the entire afternoon bumping, bruising and cursing about every 10 seconds, I can hardly imagine what the neighbors thought was going on in the shop!


Fellow H.A.M.B. Member WRENCHBENDER dropped by Sunday with his killer Willy's Truck and we had a little impromptu Gasser show in the driveway. Nice to visit with you Jackson!


Check out the exaggerated stance on the Willys....LOVE IT! If you remember way back, when we first sat the Austin body back on the chassis it had that same crazy nose up gasser from hell look. But because I sat so far back in the car, I couldn't see anything. Jackson however sitting much closer to the dash etc. can probably still see better than I can in the Austin even after we made the adjustments.


Holy cow that was a LONG TIME ago (above photo from page 1 of this build thread)....

 

Hey man it was quite a show wasn't it lol yes I can see real good outta my truck but it really does need to have the blocks taken out but it drives and looks so good better yet it's a real crowd pleaser anywhere I go with it but. Mine doesn't hold a candle next to your Austin that thing is so Bitchin thanks for letting us hang out at your place for awhile hope I didn't piss the neighbors off too much when I left lol oh and yes I drive my truck 350 miles this weekend with no issues in a couple weeks maybe we can hit the test and tune at the track

 

Yes sir...I got to get to the track soon and make some test hits. ....and I definitely want to come to MOKAN to do it since the H.A.M.B. Drags is coming up too.

 

Yep have you pre registered for the hamb drags yet

 

Yes sir...we are in!

 

Sweet

 

I have not seen the registration for the HAMB Drags
Hope I don't miss out.

 

James look in the events section of the hamb there is a link to it

 

Actually this link will take you right to the HAMB Drags registration page if you not already done it.
http://hambdrags.com/

 

I have been there and I click on the click here and nothing happens.

 

Can't wait to see it painted! What color?

 

Hope not red!

 

Hanging in the shop tonight and decided to tackle the big dent in the deck lid (or boot to be British Correct...LOL)


Anyway the big issue for even getting to the dent from the inside is the full inner skin.


We decided to cut a few holes in the inner skin (basically make it look like we are lightening up the body)...


I took the plasma cutter and made a sheet metal pattern to follow and cut out the inner skin area in sections that match.


After cutting the patterns out we were able to get to the dent and work it out. Not to mention we did lighten the trunk lid by two pounds. Which, if I have done the math right should shave at least .0002 of a second off my ET!