Sorry about the delay posting last weekend's Gunnedah Drags. Depending on your interpretation of weekends away, for me it started shithouse. Firstly, my lovely wife/crew chief/biggest fan, wasn't able to go as she was battling borderline pneumonia all week and wasn't up to the trip. Yes ,she insisted I go without her, and yes, I did protest for approximately 15 seconds. She won the discussion so off I went. Instead of taking her Nissan Navara shopping trolley, I hooked up the FJ Holden ute . This way I figured I could blend in and not be noticed. Didn't work for some reason! Test 'n' tunes are run on Saturday with qualifying on Sunday morning and eliminations Sunday arvo. I'd changed to a different set of headers/extractors before going so was interested to see if there was any difference. It was sharper off the line but lacked top-end. I suppose that doesn't mean a lot over 1/8th mile, but yes, it did. Sixty foots were good but elapsed times were slower.
Why did I class the weekend as shithouse you asked? You did ask didn't you? As I was reversing my Ute out of the motel parking spot on the Sunday morning, I managed to bump a stanchion/post/ upright immovable awning support device which rearranged the rear corner of said Ute. One or 2 expletives were expressed regarding the quality of the driver's ability to do something so simple. Bugger!!!!!! Oh well, off to the drags to do some real damage. A couple of mediocre runs in the morning with problems getting the HAMBster to run consistently. I ended up putting it down to the distributor bushes being so flogged out that it was impossible to set the points properly. I lined up for the first of the elimination runs after fiddling with points settings and fuel pressure settings. The car was sounding the best it had all weekend so I was confident of at least getting into the next round. I'm up against a late model Holden ute with a 11.2 dial-in against my 9.25. His lights ran all the way down before I could launch. He's away, I wait. My lights count down , I'm off with a good clean start and I'm chasing him down. The tension mounts....................................................................... Ah, dang it. Back on the trailer and head home. Sydney round 6 next weekend.
By the way. Jeff D who races at Sydney is a Dad for the first time. Mum and girl bub doing fine. Jeff probably not sleeping.
Sorry about the damage to your Ute. Some days just go like that. I think we've all had a few and about all you can do is file them away in the story book for future reference when you are sitting around with the mates tossing back a pint. As the statement goes, "there's always next time".
Ahhh, one of 'those' weekends, from bad, to worse, to kicking you in the tacklebox. Can you explain the main difference in between the previous and latest headers, especially diameter and length? Did you have any further issue with the carbs and fuel siphoning from the trumpets? Cheers, Drewfus
Thanks Tom. You're right, there is usually another day so I don't dwell on the crap days. G'day Drewfus. The headers I put on are the same size primary pipes but a smaller diameter, longer secondary pipe. Both sets are 2 into 1. I'll get a photo and dimensions tomorrow if you like.
Don't recall "rev limiters" as being around in the late '40's/early '50's. Sorry, Kiddies, just couldn't pass that one up.
Well I just had to get in on this. In my early years there was no such thing as lift. It was peddle to the metal and if it came apart you made another trip to the bone yard for another bullet. Time have changed when we pour the same dollars into a stock 6 cylinder that we can build a SBC, not that I want to run a SBC in a HAMBster rail. We all ran the same way back in the days, all out or nothing. Our right foot only got smarter as we got older.
Period correct is something that is a good thing but taking the chance of ruining a 4000 dollar motor by not spending 150 dollars doesn`t make sense to me. Parts and even cores are hard to find and expensive.
I'd have to agree with you 100%, if I'd put that kind of coin in it, and were building for SDRA or NWVD. And that's exactly what the HA/GR spin-off classes are for to begin with. To wit, folks who're willing to sink money into it, and have goals other than the simple experience of an era. I have no quibble with that at all. There's certainly room enough at the strips for all of us, and with it a level of camaraderie available that other classes just don't offer. The distinction I make lies in one of the prime tenets of the actual HA/GR effort. For HA/GR, $4,000.00 (and up, some're well past that) engines miss the original back yard build concept and intent of the class. This is exactly why later engines at or near the same early technology level were included in the first place, to have cheap, available material with which to work (as was extant in the era). I still have no problem finding first gen slants for free, and now have a stash of free gearboxes under the house. I'd be willing to bet that acceptable Ford parts'd be nearly as easy, and off brand donor engines is more an issue of finding'em than cost. Spanners, that Ute's gorgeous, nice work. As to the attempt to "blend in" ...... Sir, you've GOT to be kidding!
I dont recall reading about slant 6 Mopar being built in the 40's & 50's .... I am a youngster at 61 yr old. The "period correct" parts & attempts at period correct is something that interests me.
Thank you Dick. That ute has been on the road for 15 years now, towing boats, box trailers full of rubbish to the tip, car trailers (once with a '62 Chev Belair on board, but don't tell the authorities) and the race car to Queensland a couple of times. The motor is only 179cu.in. but does it well. You must remember we don't have roads, or revenue collectors, that allow us to do the speeds possible elsewhere so towing at 60mph is achievable. It's starting to get a few road trophy chips and scratches and needs a freshen up but I'd rather put the time into my '39 Chev pick-up. As for the debate on rev limiters, I came late to drag racing. Yes as a young petrolhead I'd have the occasional street race but marriage and work got priority. As a result I didn't come up through the ranks of drag racing, scattering engine parts along the way. The whole HAMBster cost me about $3,000 including ANDRA fees and licence 4 years ago. I'm 58 years old, so I suppose I'm making up for lost time. If I did detonate an engine, yes I'd be disappointed but in reality I'd go home and bolt another one in and probably thrash it the same way. If I ran out of engines, I'd look at something else to thrash. I'd be shithouse at circuit racing, shifting gears at a certain rev each time, same every corner. I like to hear and feel what the car is doing and that is one of the reasons I love manual gearboxes. Yes, I appear to thrash the poor bugger, but as I put the race car away in the shed at home I give it a pat and tell it did well. I've seen the Herbie movies.
Crosley, Period correct engines are indeed the way we'd all like to go, however cost and availability would keep too many out of that game. Thus, the formers of the class elected to value the fact of it second to the intent of it. The inclusion of later engines (those that hadn't changed much in engineering) was to facilitate that intended cost level of HA/GR. It allows more readily available engines to be used, and is in the spirit of the availability of those original engines back then. The cut-off date of '62 reflects the "throwback" long stroke layout, four main design common to L6's then, little different than those of the early '50's. This includes Chrysler's slants, their unique 30* tilt, and block metallurgy being of no noticeable performance advantage. As this mill was made (unchanged) through '67, and with only minor changes through '90, it's availability is great, and well within the intended spirit of the class. That said though, you are right, they do look out of place for 1950, and (as has been observed) only feel correct as an early '60's re-motor of a '50's or earlier car.
Ah, but who's to say one of the Dodge brothers wasn't lying in bed one night in the '40s and thought to himself "self, that engine might look better and work better lying on it's side". Makes it period correct to me.
Speaking of problems at Gunnedah. This a picture of a Holden Grey Motor distributor. Mine is flogged out and I'm wondering if an inline Chev distributor is the same specs. They are more readily available new. Cost to rebuild mine is $300-400 Aust. Any help?
Don`t know costs etc. but give me some sort of an address and I`ll send you one of my third gen chevy dist. I`ve got 3 of them and the`re just sitting around anyway. It may not be cost effective with shipping but the part is free.
Thanks Old Sparks for the offer. Do those specifications look about right to you? It doesn't matter about the hold down clamp piece as I can modify something. I can get a new Chev dissy in Australia easier than I can get a Holden dissy. Even new from the States is easier. Sorry about the metric measurements as my Verniers only read metric.
sorry for being so slow responding had some things going on. The picture you show looks like what we call 2nd generation which is 216 to 261 cubic inch chevy six which was made,please don`t quote me, from the 40`s to 1962. The third gen like I have looks quite a bit different but with a bit of adaptation, anything with the correct firing order, cam gear and oil pump tang can be made to work. Chevy is one of those mfg`s than didn`t make major changes thru the years. If it ain`t broke don`t fix it was their motto. You might want to look on e bay for a picture that will show you what I mean.
As I'm off work and bored senseless, I was looking through some videos I took at Gunnedah a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't noticed the smoke from the previous bloke's burnout. It gives a good indication of how little wind was blowing at the time, the smoke just sat there.
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