Technical The Thread of OLD SCHOOL DRAG TRICKS AND TIPS

Not so much a speed tip but a precaution for newbies.

You find the best air pressure for your slicks after a few runs say 15 lbs before your burnout. Now you make your run and return to the pits and it's intermission time. So the car sits the tires cool for 1/2 hour or more before your class gets called.

Just because, you decide to check your slick air pressure and OH NO it's down to 10-12 lbs. DO NOT PANIC and air them up to the wanted 15lbs. As the tires cool the air pressure GOES DOWN but when you heat them up on your burnout they WILL GO BACK TO 15LBS IF YOU DON'T ADD MORE AIR.

If you added more air back to 15 lbs and then do your burn out THEY WILL BE OVERINFLATED to maybe 18-20 lbs.

Ask me how I know.

 

You mean "I can't win unless I cheat" ones?

 

Before fuel cells were so common we painted the bottom side of the gas tank white so it would reflect heat from the track, keeping fuel cooler.
Always put a adjustable stop on the clutch pedal so it had no wasted travel.
On rear leaf springs we made a solid front bushing with a sleeve and always kept it greased.
Made a slider to replace the rear shackle, used a mono leaf spring when possible, this has less friction than a multi leaf spring. the quicker a spring can work the better.
On the front a-arm bushings, grind the teeth off that are on each side of the bushing , hone the steel sleeve so it rotates freely, assemble with grease, space the bolts that go in each end of the cross shaft so the washer does not compress the bushing , the cross shaft should move freely in the bushings.
It was mentioned eariler about oiling the front wheel bearings, we never used oil but did use vasealine

 

This thread is full of devious ideas...................and that's why I like it.

 

Before slicks were ran tubeless we used baby powder to keep the tubes from sticking to the tires
For added rear weight we used a 80 lb caterpillar battery mounted in the trunk on the right side.
Be sure to mount the battery side ways so the fluid will go between the plates when the car leaves .
this prevent the battery from shorting out from the plates being pushed together.
Always had a piece of white tape on the steering wheel in the stright ahead position , that way there were no surprises when the front wheels came back down.

 

Always check that you put it back in first gear if you had to back up while staging. Very embarrassing if you didn't. And no it never happened to me.

Lee

 

X2 above--saw it before at Madera and Raisin City-not good!!

 

Take some white paint or shoe polish and draw a straight line maybe an inch or two wide from the rim across the slick wall. Then if the slick spins on the rim the line won't be straight anymore and you can take steps to stop it from moving on the rim.

 

We had a 67 Firebird that ran F/Gas and would not run the number. Cut out the top of the gas tank and built a 3 inch tray. Poured it full of lead and instant G/Gas car that ran under the index. Passed tech at Sportsnationals in Bowling Green in 1975. Nobody ever saw the hidden ballast in the car.
Car won several 1/8 th mile 600 to win races. When they ran modified eliminator and super stock races as well as stupid bracket cars in the south.

 

How fast was your idle speed?

 

I got tired of wheel hop and getting sideways at launch with my early C/S Chevelle because of sloppy factory rear bushings........I dropped the arms down and screwed a bunch of screws into the rubber. Took up all the slack. I've heard of some guys pounding nails in them, but screws are easier.

 

It ran like crap at idle and the over rich smell was terrible BUT at WOT it flew Then NHRA got pissed and a rule was promulgated that Carburetors MUST be mounted securely with no vacuum leaks.

 

Air bags in the rear coil springs have been mentioned. But along those same lines, I used air shocks with a dedicated schrader valve on each side mounted in the trunk. This made it quick and easy to split the pressures and stiffen the right side as needed....... or "soften" it again as much as I wanted for the street. The valves could be located the same way for bags, I would think.

I stacked a second 3x14 air filter element and flipped the top lid to help clear the hood. This also made room for a velocity cone on top of the 4-barrel tucked out of sight inside the filter(s).

I had a more experienced race buddy to hang with and learned the race day prep details from him. Wipers and antenna removed, every loose once taken out such as floor mats, glove box contents, jack and lug wrench, trunk mat, even the cig lighter.

 

When I ran stock eliminator the jack poured full of lead. and lug wrench and spare tire full of water were needed to make weight.

 

Used to replace the right side torsion bar (Mopar) with one from a six cylinder car. It allowed the right side to move more evenly with the left on launch. It was kind of a bitch to drive on the street though.

 

Street and strip prep at the track:
Fill it with 260 on the way to track. Needed the weight out back anyway.
Hubcaps removed.
Slicks in the trunk were mounted on car.
Vacuum advance plugged, and timing bumped up a bit.
Out came the AC spark plugs and in went the Champion race plugs.
Choke coil was wound backwards until it held the plate solidly open.
Manifold heat was already blocked at the intake gaskets.
Front sway bar links loosened and upper control arm washers backed off.
That's just some of the legal stuff...

 

Great info keep it up

Sent from my SM-G930V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Used to change flywheels depending on the track conditions. We carried 3 to the track and could change one in about a half hour. We had the floor dzus fastenered in and could remove the trans from the top . Good traction heavy flywheel , hot and greasy got the light flywheel. So much easier now with the adjustable pressure plates.
Of course most guys today run automatics with a trans brake and can just change the launch chip.

 

No one ever put a little propylene oxide in with the gasoline??? as Brylcream says,"Just a dab will do ya"......No,it didn't show up in fuel check

 

You see most gasser style builds now days with short (25" diameter), narrow tires on the front. Many cars did run like that back in the day.

I learned from some old racers to do it a little differently and run taller (27.5" diameter), narrow tires on the front. On my '57 Chevy and my Henry J, I run 7.75 x 15 BFG bias plys on 3.5" wide Fenton Gyro wheels. The tires are nice and narrow (especially on the narrow wheels) which reduces rolling resistance, and the larger diameter allows you to stage deeper and break the lights a fraction of a second quicker.

 

That better be one hell-of-a-quick release pin! Gary

 

Not if it is only mounting the chute pack (and not the shroud lines). On most of my cars a single 1/4" bolt and a pair of hairpin clips are all that hold the pack mount in place while the shroud line is attached with a 1/2" bolt through 3/16" thick tabs.

Roo

 

10-4 there, Rooman. Gary

 

10-4 on that one! 7.75 15 Firestones up front on mine. The tall tires look right to me when the front end is up.

 

The original reason for tall front tires was that guys figured that the taller the tire, the more running start on the timers = faster ET. This was back when people actually cared about going fast and setting records.
Then reaction timers came out, and everything changed. Shorter front tires cost ET, but gave you quicker reaction times for bracket racing. This idea gave way to deep staging. However, it is not allowed in all venues.

 

Mark Yac - thank you for the explanation, ''rollout'' is what I've heard it called. If I'm using the term correctly.

 

Correct . That being the distance , in inches, from when the front of the tire breaks the starting line beam, to when the beam "makes" the beam behind the tire, thereby starting the ET clocks. Obviously, the taller the tire, the more rollout.
The reaction timer starts when the green light comes on, and shuts off when the tire leaves the stage beam..Either up , or out the back ;-)

 

Yeah, the main reason I run the taller tires on the front is that I prefer the look. My cars are not super serious race cars, they're street / strip machines that I run at nostalgia races for fun.

 

In an article on the Golden Commandos one of the guys said they ran the hoses from the windshield washer tank to in front of the slicks and filled the washer with bleach then sprayed the tires at the burnout. Said it made the tires then being used very sticky.

 

Well if you're racing a street car and have A/C and power steering take off those belts or run a shorter belt to bypass the PS pump and AC compressor.

If you have a manual trans, just push in the clutch pedal far enough to disengage the clutch before the launch, during shifting kick the clutch and hold the gas pedal to the floor while shifting otherwise called power shifting