Projects The Drag Rod... MoKan or BUST!!!

The recent post by travj31 “Fast Street/Strip Hot Rods" was really timely for me.

If you click on his thread below, and scroll down… you’ll see an excerpt from a post I did back in 2004… “Building a 10 second Street Screamer for the HAMB Drags”.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=802091

A few years after Tim, Terry and I built the BFD altered for the very first HAMB Drags… I got to thinking. Why did we build something that could only be raced on the strip?
Sure it was a blast to drive, but man… “what if?”

What if it was street legal?
What if you could drive it anywhere?
What if it would run on cheap gas?
What if… what if I could give rides?

Then about two years ago the parts started coming together. My son Nate wanted to learn how to weld… so I started out by teaching him how to cut and fit steel tube together. He and the neighbor kid built a frame… and then it sat.

About that time I posted this:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=681434

The boy was excited about the project, and even pulled the “Papa Smurf 454” out of Project ’57… And then a tragic skateboarding accident took his life.

I took the first pic below just two days before he had the accident.

He was a great kid… always willing to help and learn.

The last year has been unimaginably rough… but with the help of friends and family, co-workers and the new monthly column I am writing for the Goodguys Gazette… I’ve seen some joy in the dark days following Nate’s death.

After getting my other Model A on the road… I finally felt the energy and drive to start building what I have dubbed “The Drag Rod”…

With that decided, I started collecting more parts specifically for The Drag Rod and began selling parts for other projects (“some day” project cars) to fund it.

The idea behind this project is to see how fast I can make a bunch of used shit go. I am avoiding purchasing new parts… and with the exception of the new steel and most of the nuts and bolts need to build this thing, it will be built entirely from used parts found at swap meets.

The body was purchased from my friend Rich Wright… the 454 that came from “Project ’57” will be backed by a TH400 with a trans brake I bought from my barber, I traded some traditional hot rod front end underpinnings to my friend Frank for a Super Bell axle and disc brakes. And the headers… man, what a find… Drag Boat headers with 2 ¼” primaries… $80 at the Hayward Swap Meet a year ago. Like my neighbor Mark said “Those are something ya’ just want to build a car around!” He’s right. They are that bitchen.

The rear wheels are some 15x8.5” American Mags I picked up for $200 off of craigslist… fronts are 15x6” Crestlines that I bought at the P-Town swap meet for $100. Rough pieces, but with a little spit and polish, they’ll look just right.

I also bought slicks from Gruzen racing… and our very own loveable Shag Wentworth picked them up for me and other friends road tripped them to my house from down around Bakersfield. $100 and they’ll hook like a Johnny Carson intro.
A $40 Torker Intake and an 850 double pumper that I traded for a 600 Holley will provide the fuel…
I found some Kirkey racing buckets at the P-Town swap for $200… a pricey sum, but after I cut them down to look more like a bomber seat, they’ll save me some serious coin. $30 wish bones with bungs from Turlock ($20), $40 Art Morrison ladder bars, rear coil overs robbed from our Bonneville car… $30 Hurst shifter… It’s all coming together!

If you see a lot of things that cost $40 or less… that’s because I don’t buy things that cost more than $40! Hahaha! I wait until I find things that are priced right…

Also… you’ll notice I ain’t trippin’ on making this thing uber-traditional. A lot of the parts are cast off 1970’s and 80’s street machine stuff. A guy can save a TON of money buying things that nobody wants! For instance, how many of you would run a plastic Sun Super Tach in your ’31 Model A? Not many… but for $10 I picked one up at a swap meet… and for $5 I bought another one at a garage sale!

When I first sketched this thing out… I was going for a crazy bitchen look… but even that has changed. I’m just going to put the parts together and let it build itself.

And the parts list goes on and on. Later on when I have time, I will post up a parts list with prices and keep it updated. My goal is to have a 10 second street screamer for around $5000-$7500. It seems doable. And most importantly, I’m gonna show you guys and gals how to do it in hopes that you’ll get off your ass and get out in your garage and build something very similar to race.
I will say that good buddy Chopper Bob Smith ended up with the frame that Nate built… and I bought a brand new frame from Street Rod Manufacturing. My rationale was that the new frame is something anyone can buy… the Model A body bolts to it… the front cross member is set up for my front end… and things like steering arms, steering box mounts, shock mounts, radiator support holes are already doped out. This will save me an easy hundred hours in planning and fabrication. I ordered the frame without a rear cross member because I am going to make the rear frame section out of round tube. It was only $600…

NHRA Division 7 tech guru Ken Gentry stopped by a few weeks ago and we doped out a cage for this thing. Basically it’s an altered style cage that is wide enough for two people.

Whoever can guess how fast this crap will run gets a free ride…

Stay tuned.
Sam



$100 body…


$600 frame…


Mocked together…

 

I'm going to have to subscribe to this one. Looks like you're heading down a path I've outlined in my head. Something light and big block powered.

That's a hell of a deal on the body. Guys around here selling tin, won't even answer the door for $100.

 

You have a barber?

 

cool beans...subscribed!

 

Little more info on the heads, cam specs, converter ?

 

I like where you are going with this. That was the first plan for my Model A, maybe not a 10 sec car but 12 in a nice lookin' sedan is what I would like. Good luck with it and I hope you can do it all with used parts.

 

This is going to rule!

 

Very cool project. Most importantly I'm glad you're on the mend and carrying on with good memories to look back on. This will rule!!!!!!!!!!!

 

oh this looks scary....scary fast... might make the bomb seem slow....

 

Yea... I told him "I should get a discount because of my receding hair line and bald spot..."

He said "I should get a finders fee!"

It works out to be a wash...

Sam

 

good thread....keep it up

 

This is going to be fun.

 

Damn, that thing is going to be light. Any guess on the weight when you're done?

 

Bitchin build! Can't wait to see the match race between it and Dave Cecaci's white roadster. Rich gave you a great buy on that body, one he had plans to build until he found the one he is driving.

That is a fun way to build. Buys, help and gifts from friends and swap finds. Takes a little longer but worth it. My roadster took ten years to build but I was more particular with the parts than you.

I'll give you the same unsolicited advice I gave Rich. Lean the windshield posts back some. Although I think he has a much better artistic eye than I.

 

Subscribed

 

Whoa!

 

It's a 10:1 454, 427 closed chamber heads... and a hydraulic cam, 850 Holley...

I'm thinking it might weigh about 2000-2200 pounds.

Sam

 

First things first... get the front axle in place.

A little pie cut on the bones to get some caster in this baby...



This should do the trick...



Open her up and bevel the edges for a good weld.



Mock it up, tack weld the bones... about 9 degrees should keep it straight at 135mph.



I used the frame and some box tube as a jig.



Fine tuned the caster with the brackets... taking into consideration about a 1.527835 degree rake of the chassis.

 

Then I decided to make some adjustable perches...

Actually, I didn't decide. I was a tight-ass, and bought a mono-leaf spring... then got the spring home, and it was for a narrower axle.

These perches will let me use the narrower spring, and compensate for the increased caster above what the frame was designed for.





Thanks to my buddy Ivan The Machinist for making the threads and tapers on the pins. I made the rest on my little lathe... welded them up. They will let the axle sit at 9 degrees while the spring and cross member are like at 7 degrees.

 

I'm thinking something like this for a windshield post... or nothing.



Sam

 

ya got skills .... keep postin the progress

 

Looking good. More here than just a few hours ago.

 

You're off to a good start.

 

I like it, except when you said you took parts off of the Bonneville car....

 

Looking good !

 

your earlier 10 second screemer thread has been pinned to my shed wall of bucket list things to do ever since you wrote it, and whilst life's endevours have distracted my focus, I have a steady collection of 'stuff' that is destined for the challenge you set.

Having said that, great to again see your enthusiasm through your thread, inspiring, and looking forward to seeing this adventure through your eyes and thoughts.

Cheers,

Drewfus

 

Nice to see progress being made on the drag rod.

 

You know....a real cool guy would thrash that heap together and DRIVE it to the HAMB Drags this year. You have more than a month and a half...shouldn't be too hard....

See ya, -Abone.

 

Sounds like you're taking the best features of the Roach Rod and the BFD and consolidating them into one car- fast, fun, cheap, and street-driven.

What could be better?

 

Go man, go!

Very sorry to hear about your son, hopefully this means you've broke over the hump and can start healing (as much as that's possible in this situation anyway).

The car's gonna be bitchin'. Can't wait to see it finished.