Projects Plan II - 62 Chevy II Drag Car

Jim, went through your Airstream trailer rebuild. Nice job!

 

That sounds like; "I broke it on purpose, yeah, I had to get a new one anyway."

 

I guess that is one way to engineer yourself out of spending more money

 

I built the car to be as period correct for 1966 as I could. Race cars always want to go faster, so I had to do my best to make it difficult to make modern improvements. A strange way to build a car. But this is a unique car.

Please pardon the mistakes, I sent this from my phone.

 

Hey Jim I have the same problem with the small block in my dragster I refuse to put spacers under my corvette covers plus it has stock rockers just like yours and a crowed hydraulic roller cam too I put arp screw in studs in the head and used stock style nuts but they kept coming loose finally I bought a set of poly locks but they hit the covers so I cut them down a bit and also had to cut the studs off too it was a bunch of work but worth it in the end like you I tried to keep it period correct with very minimal updates so as much as I wouldn't recommend my solution to every one I do believe you are the one who could benefit from it


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Thanks...good to see I'm not the only crazy guy here!

 

Disregard the application and that these are shaft mounted. Look only at what isn't in the way. Oh yes, it can be done.

 

Hi Jim, have you had any luck sorting those rocker nuts?
It is amazing what you have done with this car in such a short time frame.
From saving it from the crusher to runing a 9.9
Been great to watch!
Cheers Aaron.

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Have followed this from the beginning
Turned out really cool
If anyone wants to escape the cold in late October, we are hosting this event.


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Every now and then, I have to read this thread again, just to remember what fun it was to build this car.

Completed Drag Week, ended up driving the car most of the way to Cordova IL to do so, then drove it all the way home....over 4000 miles. Now it has over 18,000 miles on the clock.

Heading to the new Tucson Dragway tonight to meet up with some of the folks from the old days of cruising Speedway and racing at the old Tucson Dragway.

I hope the car works ok. It's been through a lot. But it did get a bath and an oil change and some other minor work this week.

 

Looking good and hooking good.

 

Instant wallpaper! Your car looks SO cool!

How did it go for you this year, squirrel? Except making it both ways, in one piece! And that ain't no small
accomplishment!

 

Drag Week went well. My truck broke early in the trip, so we drove the car 1200 miles to get to the start. Got to hang out with Brian (racer-x) and his Street Fuel Coupe for a couple days. Plan II ran quick, averaged 10.14 seconds ET over 5 days of racing. Had to fix a few minor things, but the car did really well. I keep learning new things on every adventure I drive it on.

 

Jim, I just went through the whole thread on the build. What a great car. Super consistent. Super Cool.

 

So no price for not opening the hood this year?

You still did very good of you can drive a 10 second car to, from and in between all those races!

The fuel coupe is bad ass, what class did he run?
And did you rule Gasser class?

 

Just curious; have you been stopped/harassed by the police while driving your car? I mean, it's not your run-of-the-mill street car. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

So Jim, I see a small button on the left side of the steering column.
Is that an upgrade from the horn button on your Edsel trip?

 

The horn button is there for Drag Week, because it needs a working horn to pass tech inspection. There is a short in the upper column bearing. And the old add on horn switch fits the car pretty well. Definitely an upgrade from the Edsel!

I got Second place in A/Gas class. I did not do the sealed hood thing again. I already have that T shirt.

I've never been stopped by the police. My guess is that they have real problems they have to deal with now, so they leave us old guys driving toys, alone. And I mostly drive in a sane manner...I save the go fast stuff for the strip.

 

Howdy Jim,

Just starting to be more active on this site and wanted to say that I saw your car at the Roadkill Zip Tie Drags in Tucson in January and loved it.

 

This is one of the first if not the first thread I followed as a lurker when I rediscovered the HAMB a few years ago. Great thread then, great thread now. Glad to see it up again.

 

Love that pic with the front wheels in the air! Very cool to drive it to Drag Week and do so well!

 

I just love it when a PLAN comes together, and your car has been proving itself over and over again.

 

A favorite of mine too Mike.

Col. John 'Hannibal' Smith: There's a plan in everything, kid, and I love it when a plan comes together.

 

Took the car up to Tucson for a test and tune Friday night, then again Saturday night for the Speedway cruise. I even got on the throttle a couple times during the cruise. Lots of guys were having fun, it was almost like a tiny taste of what things were like 40 years ago.

Updated my racing spreadsheet, too. It's getting kind of long. 75 runs on the car already.

selectric.org/62nova/62racing.pdf

selectric.org/62nova/62racing.xls

 

It was fun looking at your times and comments on the spreadsheet. Is there a reason you haven't kept track of your reaction times.
Bob

 

Nice to see it on FB Live! Took a couple screen shots of you and the car in the staging lanes.

I think I told you that a Deuce was what got me into gassers when I was in Hi-School back in the '70s. Have a '55 but just picked up a '63 Chevy II 100 post that is my next one. Just put the axle under it last week.

You know that you are an inspiration on with your builds. Thanks so much for that. How is your truck?

Mike

 

I guess it's because reaction times don't really tell me anything about the car. I would have to keep track of a lot more info about the conditions of each run, for the RT to be useful.

I have cut some decent lights with it, also red lighted a few times. Mostly I don't try too hard to get off the line quick.

I'm pretty sure I have either the time slip, or a photo of it, for almost every line on the spreadsheet...so I could look up the RT later if it's important. I think there were between ten and twenty runs where I was running next to a car I wanted to beat, so I tried hard to get a decent RT. Example...the runs from Meltdowns 2 years ago. Here are the slips, with RT, I'm car number 32. I guess I did all right that weekend!

 

.....lightning!

 

Hauling the mail

 

Hey Squirrel, what's the average cruising speed and rpm's on those long trips ?