Projects 9 sec. 38 Dodge truck build

Power is not going to be a problem. Getting it out of the hole with that much power and a manual transmission is always a bit tricky.

September will be here before you know it. Warm up the credit cards and lets get this project rollin.

-Abone.

 

You need to run 8's like this Chevy....No huge engine sticking out the hood or frame twisting out of the hole..Just a Chevy 6 cylinder...

 

Yep they are Magnesium Halibrands, with a 5 x 5 bolt pattern, and I am looking for a front set for this one, just not sure what ones yet. If anyone has a set lying around that you are not using send me a pm. I am also looking for a set of Romeo Palimades for my other truck.

Mat, love your truck. I also understand what Gene is saying, I know my small block truck will see a lot more street driving than hemi truck. It will be able to be driven on the street, but it wont be a daily driver. I agree with everyone that it can be done but in reality how many miles do you put on your 9 sec vehicle. If I put 3000 miles a year on it it would be a lot, compared to 10 to 15000 miles on my small block. In the end it will be driven as often as I want to.
Tony

 

Who said anything about a hood, and why wouldn't you want a huge fire breathing, air gulping, fuel drinking, noise making, kid loving, grandma scaring engine sticking out. My wife doesn't understand why I am building this but then again she drives a Subaru. She asked why I don't just focus on my 37, and I said it would turn into this eventually. That truck started out as a 15.8 at the H.A.M.B drags in 2017, and this year it will hit 11's. I already know that if I didn't build this 38 I would be putting a cage in my 37 and be looking for 10's with my small block. This way I have the best of both worlds.
Tony

 

If you ever think you are going to want to go quicker, I would build it for that E.T.
Building more power will be easier that rebuilding the chassis.

 

Height of the rails is great for simple beam strength, but does almost nothing for torsional rigidity. Try clamping the front of the frame, put a jack stand under the left rear, and stand on the right rear. I'll bet it will deflect at least 1". Box the frame and try again; deflection probably not measurable. There is no reason for boxing plates to be thicker than frame, thinner could even be OK. Tubular cross members also enhance frame torsional rigidity. Should also have some diagonals ("X" or "K" member) to stiffen against lozenging. The floor or a belly pan can help here, if rigidly attached. Obviously, an engineered tube frame will save a few pounds, if considered important. A 1% decrease in car weight is as good as a 1% increase in power. I have no idea what the rules say about allowable chassis design. Are tube frames ruled out? Is a simple ladder type frame made of rectangular tubes considered to be a tube frame?

 

What's happening in this picture is not chassis twist. It is the torque reaction in the drive shaft, which rotates the chassis/body, compressing the right spring and unloading the left spring.

 

Pardon me. twist , rotate whatever

 

Sorry, I misinterpreted your comment, since you specifically mentioned X-frame cars. Such frames are not very rigid torsionally, when not attached to their body. But cars with perimeter frames or unit construction will react the same way, if having similarly soft springs and no traction bars or anti-roll bars. And lifting the front wheels aggravates the problem, since the stiffness of the front springs becomes irrelevant.

 

Oh boy this is going to be good!!!

 

Nothing wrong with stock rails, properly boxed and braced. This one was built around 1965, and doesn't have the forward cage tubes reaching the front crossmember. The old thumb rule was 1oo lbs equals a tenth of a second in ET. BTW it has run 8.04 @ around 170.

 

It also drives on a nice smooth track without having to deal with the loads associated with pulling a trailer on pot hole ridden roads. The truck is very fast. I have seen it run many times. Let's not forget its boxed frame has not been tested in a crash.

 

Maybe it's the collision work I've done but those rails didn't look all that virgin. I'd think better of them if they were more of a straight line, look's like built in flex.

 

Mopar in a Mopar, I`m watching, good luck.

 

"CHASSIS •Engine setback is allowed, but the center of the intake manifold (as measured fore and aft) may not be aft of the base of the windshield. •The frame may not have round-tube main rails. •May not have a lowered stance. A raised stance is encouraged."

It looks like a rectangle tube frame is legal in A/gas. If it were me, I would probably build a rectangle frame from not only for the safety aspect, but also so you aren't confined by the parameters of the original frame design. It is much easier to put shit where you want it when you are the one building the foundation.

Remember to post lots of pics.

-Abone.

 

Was thinking the same thing, a lot less compromising.

 

If you guys were going to build a frame, and you couldn't use round tubing, what size of thickness and grade of steel would you use for the main rails?

 

This confirms my suspicion that drag racing rules are sometimes "arbitrary and capricious". What in the word is wrong with a round tube? Rectangular has some ease-of-fabrication advantages, but that should be the builder's decision. Many old dragsters, competition coupes and altereds had round main frame tubes. (I'm not really knowledgable on the rules that govern nostalgia race cars, seems to be a mixture of historical rules, current rules, sanctioning organization, all possibly modified by the particular strip. Are there published rules that are universally accepted?)

 

With a cage you can use 1/8, 2x3 box, I always used 2x4 1/8 box just because I like safer better than lighter. My step son hit the wall in my 68 Camaro at 135 mph and never got a scratch.

 

At Drag Week, they have several classes. The "lower" classes have more restrictions. As you go "up the ladder", each class allows more modifications. If you want to run round tube frame rails, just pick a higher class that allows them.

 

What does HRP know with his beating his driver all the time......

 

I'm in for the outcome and how you get there, kinda similar to my 41 Chevy p/u, which by the way is original boxed frame from cab forward and 2x4 tubing out back, 2920 lbs with a full 15 gallon cell. I could've got it lighter but I built it to still haul a few things other than ass, hopefully this year I can get the traction problem under control.
The Bizio truck is a friend and about 2 miles away and I can attest it's a hard charger with that stock frame, another friend still has the stock frame under his green ScottRods anglia that runs low 5's in the 1/8. Another local guy is the Dirty30 Plymouth sedan that's been 175 mph on stock leaf springs and stock frame that has a round tube inside I believe, he does the no prep thing and the rules call for stock frame.
So anyway I'll be watching

 

I haven't thought of going square tube. I also know that a lot of fast cars are using the stock frame, with some reinforcements in it. I might start by mocking everything up on the stock frame and go from there. If I don't like it change it to a built frame. I also don't understand why rectangle aftermarket steel is ok but not round tube.

As far as going up a class for drag week, I am trying to avoid the unlimited class, as I would like to be competitive. I know it wont be a 6 sec. truck, and it also wont be a bracket truck. I was going to print out a NHRA rule book but then I saw it was 324 pages long. My main goal is to have fun and get it in a class at dragweek that I have a chance of winning.
Tony

 

Preach it!

Also, can you A/Gas or any gas class with no fenders?

 

Both A/gas and B/gas are required to run fenders.

 

Dont steal your Daughters thunder by bringing that thing to the Wedding....
Who could concentrate on what was going on with that sitting out there?

 

It's all about the look rectangular tube vs round. The round tube doesn't look factory or old. They want to keep modern pro chassis out of that class.

 

Sounds like he'll be buying them back....

 

My grandson's dads truck.36 dodge

 

I already have another set of fenders, I just didn't want to waste time putting them on, ya know, weight savings.

Its a outside wedding and I will be driving up to the wedding and Her and I will be getting out of the truck and walking down the isle, Her idea. She doesn't want a old car, but likes to look at them.

exterminator, I have seen that truck before, doesn't he make and sell panel's for these trucks?

Tony