Projects rebuilding after the crash

Hope to see you running again soon

 

The block and heads will be o-ringed around the water jackets. That's the only safe way to run water in a nitro application. We will cut the threads for the second spark plug at that time. Drag week 2019 started today for me.
The groove stayed as is. It accepts a .041 wire. After the groove is cut a small ball peen hammer is used on the edge in a light gentle tapping motion. This rolls the edge to trap the wire. Before the wire goes in a sanding block is used to remove any sharp edges. It's the little things and extra effort learned from expeeience that makes this repair a success.
I had .043 gaskets in it all year. We thought to gain a touch more compression we would try the .032s I had. After a close exam of the blown gasket it's possible it was not strong enough. It will go back together with the .043 set. Nitro engines are a different kind of animal.

 

Part of what you are seeing on his hands are skin grafts. Roger was horribly burned in a industrial accident some years ago. It took over 200 procedures to put him back together. I work in the medical field and can't believe he survived based on the severity of his injuries. You won't find a tougher more humble guy anywhere he is a true fighter.

 

Jim your lucky. I get to scrape white dots off the entire car. That includes the bottom side. Sorry for the spray.

 

@racer-x you have many talented friends in the field your involved in...is that The Tudor Sedan Orange Crate...Racer/Showcar/Model Kit your friend Roger works on?

I look forward to up and coming good times for you at the track again soon.

 

As an old machinist myself, I spotted a couple of things other than his fingers that indicate your friend Scott has been at his trade a long time, and is accustomed to moving a lot of metal. Having a shovel propped up against the mill shows he deals with a lot of shavings, LOL.
Glad it's fixed for now Brian, and that you have plans for this winter to make it even better.

 

The season is not over yet. We will get a few more cracks at the 7 sec barrier.

 

Scott is doing the welding, Roger is doing the machine work and clean up. The Orange Crate is a nostalgia top fuel dragster. Scott was on the crew and Roger was the driver. Roger now drives the Nitro Madness fuel altered.

 

I guess .005 off 1 head doesn't affect things much? How much before it messes with intake manifold, compression and such?

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https://goo.gl/images/z1bNpw
I see 6.90s in your future.



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The intake is o- ringed so there is a little room. If it was .010 off the deck I would put a .050 head gasket on that side compared to a .040 gasket. That's a normal nitro thing. It's done all the time.
35 cab that's the cars. I spent a lot of time on Dale's dragster with those guys. Roger has been doing great in the fuel altered the last few years. I still run into kurt; forrest and brew. Forrest recently purchased a dragster roger drove for a race in Kentucky. The car is at Roger's shop right now. It's been completely gone though. Listen closely Sunday you might hear it fire up. Cedar falls to cedar Rapids on 99 percent you just might.

 

And the 360 degree rotating work bench/barstool. Just like mine. Tech tip: put a kitchen trash bag over the seat for a clean surface.

 

I see that if you machined .010 off the head you would put a thicker head gasket in it, but at .005 you wont. I was just reading in Nitro Madness that .005 can change the compression ratio, and that it will be harder to tune, and higher compression. How much of a change in compression do you think you will have? What is your ratio in this motor?
Tony

 

I'm only running 6.5 compression. The .005 off the deck is so small it won't be noticed. Im not running 99 percent with 50 pounds of boost and 50 degrees of timing.
In situations were engines are on the very edge in their tune up as in a pro team that has to win the next round I could see it. They are on the edge of burning pistons on every pass already.

 

Brian.... we met a few times but you probably don't remember me. I am the tall guy that is Matt Sullivan friend and I usually ride with him in his 32 to the car shows. I also help out at all of the John Wells ran car shows and I am the guy that squeezed your coupe (back when it was orange) into a building at Iron Invasion when it started to rain.

 

I remember. I might go to the iron invasion this fall. Hope to see you and Matt there.

 

did you see this article? I might have missed if someone posted the link already, I've been, you know, busy.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/nitro-street-car-brian-kohlmanns-serious-drag-week-31-chrysler/

 

That's cool thanks.
The car is all back together ready to race. It's been a long 10 days.

 

That's a cool article, congrats!

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Amazing

 

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0X5nhQSTcyjmp
Some of the fun at drag week is meeting new people. I drove 16 hours to Atlanta and ran into a guy that lives only a hour away from me. His name is Calvin Seith. He was hanging around our pit area taking pictures. When we were on the road he was following us. We struck up a friendship and by day two he was turning wrenches on the car. When I needed a ride back to Atlanta to get the trailer he stepped up and offered a ride. I received a pile of pics from him yesterday. I posted a few here. As you can see Calvin has a good camera and knows how to use it. I have lots of track photos of my car over the years. The pit shots and road shots not so much. That makes them very special to me. There are a few lower quality pics that were found on another site included in the group Calvin did not take.

 

Man that head gasket is ugly.

 

but it's an excellent picture of it. my picture is not as nice.

 

The gasket has been added to my wall containing my offerings to the gods of speed. Every part has a story.

 

We have one too. Its known as The Wall of Pain.

 

Yea. I have the wall of shame and pain.

 

Great pics of the car in the article . Love the shots of it in action on the street, toooooo coooool.

 

Cool sounding in race trim, how much different does it sound in street mode?

 

On the track we use nitro and unmuffled zoomies. It sounds like a loud nitro car. On the street we use gas and the zoomies have inserts in them. They resemble glass packs. No nitro and mufflers changes the tone. It no longer sounds like cannons going off. It's still loud so we wear ear protection at all times.

 

There's a idea for a thread. Pics of people's busted up parts would be cool.