Projects K-88 Dragster / 6 Cylinder

I went back and forth on this a bit but in the end decided to make it a pull brake. I have 2 return springs on it to hopefully prevent the brakes coming on at launch with that long of a handle.

 

The Hilborn BL pump that he is running has a carbon volute pressed into the steel casing. To rotate pump direction, you have to press the volute out, flip it, and press it back in. I spoke to Hilborn about 8 years ago (awesome people to talk to, even by long distance call). They put me on hold while they hunted down "the only person left with us who remembers how to". Their advice was that the volutes are fragile... pretty fair chance of cracking it. No problem a few decades ago when parts were available, but fatal to the pump in the modern world.

Cheers,
Harv

 

Great insight and good to know about running that V belt. With the fuel pump needing to run at half the crank rpm, I guess I could reduce the pump diameter pulley to maybe 4" and the crank pulley to 2"??? A 3" crank pulley is all I could find in a V belt hence the 6" pulley on the pump.

I've always liked your little roadster and all it's history. So many great shots of it but this one I've always loved.

 

How Cool Would That Be Marty!!! Talk about an inspiration to get this thing done and what an honor it would be to line up against Pat in the legendary Iacono dragster!! I'm On It!!

 

Thank you Nick - I appreciate that!

 

I was able to drop a few pieces off with Curt the painter and within a few weeks we had color!! Curt is a member here (can't remember his handle or whatever) and does incredible work - I was so glad to have him paint this thing. I'm not the most creative guy (especially when it comes to color) but I decided on '59 Corvette Frost Blue. I've always loved that color so figured why not.
We're thinking we might add a couple of scallops or something to break it up a bit but figured we'd get the car back together before taking out next steps with paint.
Prepped.....


Prima!!

 

Love the color choice my friend!

 

From there we loaded it up and headed for home...


With it home started bolting it back together with the Olds rearend housing, steering, etc...




Mark Williams ended up making the axles.

 

That’s a Great color! Silver or dark blue scallops would set it off quite nicely.

 

Steering is installed....Ross box.

Steering wheel adaptor...


And one of my most cherished pieces on the car is the steering wheel gifted to me from Marty Strode.

 

Bolting on some more stuff...hope to have it to a roller status here pretty quick.

 

Love this thing. Gives me inspiration for my FED build, but I am a little further behind (still welding up the last of the chassis, diff cut to width but needs finalising etc).

Noted the hand brake (I did the same). Question on the shifter though. Is it a one-hand operation to override the reverse lockout? One hand on the brake leaves only one hand to operate the shifter. I ended up using a Precision Shifter as it is a one-hand operation.

Edit: looks to be a Frameworks shifter (?)... tried to find one of them, but rarer than rocking horse poo.

Cheers,
Harv

 

Man, that looks Great.

 

Hate to have this stabby thing pointed at my nuts LOL

 

Very cool and sounds like you're moving right along. That is a Frameworks shifter and it took me a couple of years to find one.

 

Lol...that's actually the back of the shifter so it's "out of harms way".

 

Thank you Marty - it's a lot of blue right now but hope some of the chrome and maybe some simple scallops (or something ???) will break it up a bit.

 

I realize this is off topic a smidge, but if you admire 6 cylinder powered rails, you'll like this one also. My friend built this critter in his back yard in 1955. Correct, 1955. The attention to detail was rather cool, for the era. The main frame rails were aluminum wing spars from a PBY. The original mill was a much modified 216 Chevy, but he went on to run an iron Wayne 216 (261). It ran 2 Winfield side drafts. He still owns the engine today.... The chassis went on to be a Bonneville racer...

 

OH HELL YES!!! Check that out and Thank You for sharing that. Looks like an incredible build and extremely cool that he still has the engine out of it. Thanks again for sharing and if you have any other pictures of it we would love to see them

 

A few more "going back together" pictures. This axle is a CAE that my brother found for me and ironically enough the batwing locations were perfect for the K88 chassis. With it rechromed it's now all in place and doing its job up front.

 

Dave, Ken Crawford would be proud of you ! You make me want to build a Dragster.

 

I think this thing make EVERYONE want to build a dragster!

 

Thank you Marty - that means a lot. Trying to build a nice car for a change but I keep telling myself in the end it's still just a dragster to have fun with. Also - I would love to see you build a dragster....with your talent and vision no doubt it would be a treat!!!!

 

So from pretty much the beginning of this build I had wanted Mikey Brown out of Indiana to do the upholstery in this thing. I sent Mikey the seat panels along with a paint swatch and he went for it. Needless to say I was blown away with what came back and couldn't wait to get it in the car.

 

From there it was time to get it back on the ground and had to roll it outside for the mandatory Roller Phase shots.







Looked at it for about 10 minutes or so and then it was time to roll it back inside and see about getting the GMC back in it.

 

Dave,
It was great to see you and your brother at the DTA chili dinner Saturday.
Also, your car is looking awesome a real gem...high quality all the way!

 

I'm taking the liberty of adding to your post here

 

Beautiful!.....I'd love to hear it roar!

 

With this car running a powerglide and a trans brake, pull the knob with your left hand and the right to push the lever forward to get from neutral into reverse, Reverse will not engage until trans brake button is depressed

 

Ahhh... got it. Many thanks.

The more that is bolted onto this thing, the more elegant it becomes. Very nice work sir.

Cheers,
Harv