Like the shifter, and the tank. Like you said , I hope 4 gal. is enough!!! The tank is very cool looking.
I measured the tank today and it holds 18 litres / 4.75 gallons, according to the racer fuel injection books and from talking to other racers I will need between 5 and 10 gallons - looks like its time to build another tank. I may build a tank similar to the one in the Mr Boston topolino (love the car - very cool), unsure yet but that type of shape will be easier to get the required volume needed with limited space available. Anyway here are a few pics of the throttle linkage I fabricared using offcuts of alloy, happy with the finished result
Are you running Alc or Nitro??? A mid 7 blown alc engine should be around 2 gallons for everything a pass, Blown Nitro is 8-10 gal per.. 2 other things to consider unless you are running Nitro, the down nozzles in the manifold are a waste and just add to the confusion, and 2-- if you are running blown Nitro and PG behind the engine, know that the trans and converter do not like the effects of Nitro and will have a short lifespan
Will be running alcohol, all info I can find on fuel usage takes into account being shut down at stating line after initial startup / burnout for whatever reason (not being alowed to re fuel / top up in staging lane). Will be putting all fuel thru the hat initially - when I gain more experience / Data (RPM date logger on car logging exhaust temp) I will use port nozzels for more precise tuning. Thats the plan at this stage. Glen
Ran 7.0Pro for years and never had to put more than 2 gal (5 gal tank) after a pass. I have seen racers slow down just after installing port nozzles.Too much fuel at that port possistion blocks the amount of air the port into the head recieves and you will go dead fat. Takes nothing trick or special to run mid 7's, Never had the funds for any type of data logger, Just tuned with a weather station and main jet changes.
Glen, Great workmanship and quite a car ! Bruce is correct, your fuel tank will have plenty of capacity. I ran an old Chrysler on alcohol 27 years ago, with 8- #55 nozzles in the hat, Hilborn 175 pump, with a 150 jet (Gene Adams set it up). My 5th pass was 7.61 @ 193.54, it was direct-drive, so with your trans, mid - 7's will be easy. Good luck !
All tips and advice greatly appreciated guys. Here are a few pics of window frame and firewall fabrication. Glen
Is there a specific reason (apart from having somewhere to hang the firewall) that you framed the window opening? I usually just screw the window to the fiberglass. In your case I would have put it on the outside due to the rebate but the last couple of Fiats that I have done did not have a rebate so I just put the polycarb in from the inside with countersunk screws and tinnerman washers on the outer surface. To mount the tin I lay up a fiberglass flange in the appropriate location. Here are some pix of the last one that I did. It is a chopped long nose Scotts/Rod n Race body but the same principles apply. Roo
Main reason was Ive been told that fibreglass can bow in centre at top at high speed. I wanted to have support in this area, also as you said a place to mount firewall. Thanks for advice and pics, I would love to see more pics of topolinos you have built - mainly tinwork as Im up to this part of build. Again thanks to all replies and advice as Im a novice / self taught in most fabrication areas of car building. Also Graham and Tim I love your threads, I first started out with a angle grinder and drill and ark welder - its amazing what you can achieve with these tools and will / imagination. Now I have a lathe, mill / drill, tig welder ( self taught in the use of these items with help fron internet and guys on forums like this ). Glen
Glen, send me your e mail address and I will send you what I have on topo tin. As for the bowing at speed the Fiat body usually has enough radius adjacent to the opening that it will not bow unless it is excessively thin in that area. I did notice that your body does not have a return around the top opening like the the ones that I have been using so your aluminum will help there. Roo
I've been away from here for a bit. Boy am I glad to have seen this build, this is why I love JJ. Hope you bring your altered to Adelaide when you start running, it is a great looking nostalgic altered. Great to see its not chopped as Kenneth S says, I also like that you returned it to 105" from I am guessing 125". Keep up the great work.... Glenn...
Brought a Chassis works gauge facia of ebay a while back, decided to make a steering coloum support and mount gauge facia to it ( I did not like the idea of an unsuported steering shaft anyway ). Pics tell the story. Glen
Decided to make a new tank - just in case. I have shots of it in the car but they are to blurry- will take better ones soon. Happy with the fininshed result - should look good polished. My welding is also improving. Glen
These are the second set of wheelie bars Ive built, as first ones were to short (period correct though). Been told these will be safer, and i also think they look aswsome, also notice the chute launcher. Glen
On your next set of bars, try and get the "X" brace ends closer to the ends of the lower strut as this helps when dealing with the shrinkage from welding and right now the wheel mount has leverage against where the brace ends and would be the starting point for either it bending or breaking if it hit hard enough, and if you bend the ends of the "X" brace first so that the tube has a direct intersection into the lower tube the heat affected zone by welding is also reduced At minimum, one should run a crossmember across the base of the rear part of the "X"(weld to the X tube and not the lower tube) and construct a "K" from the point of the wheel attachment mount to the center of the cross tube.
Glen: Your engineering and work is in a class all my itself. Picture after picture just shows a master craftsman work. Thanks for posting all of the photo's so the rest of us can learn the correct way to build a drag racing car the right way!! Jimbo
Thanks for this compliment, I am a mental health nurse by day and I am self taught in all my engineering and fabrication skills ( after many years playing with cars ). I think master craftsman is way to generous as I have read many posts on this site and many of these guys deserve the master craftsman tag - I feel I am just an amateur. I am fussy at what I do and make items several times before Im happy with them / suitable to post a picture - I have made many items that I am ashamed of, but I learn from them. It is websites like this that I learn from and remain positive from comments like yours. Thanks again Glen
Chassis colour is as purchased, chassis will be semi gloss black. Not sure on body yet possible some sort of dark red with lots of gold flek, early hot rod style. But lately lve been leaning towards leaving body just the way it is. Glen
Despite being a nice color, wasn't there a rule back in the day, that you could race it ones or twice in primer and then it had to go to paint. And you had to wear clean coveralls, no dirty T-shirts or jeans, right?
The Jalopy Journal
