Help needed Fremont high school auto tech

Hi my name is Jacob helms and i am a student at Fremont high schools automotive technology class in Sunnyvale ca. We are building a nostalgia rail dragster powered by a 1967 small block Chevy 283. We are in need of sponsor's and donations to complete are build. Anything will help engine parts, hime joints wheels and tires specifically 5 on 5 1/2 bolt pattern skinny front wheels, and any safety related items. Also we need 2 prices of roll cage tubing bent if anyone in the area has a tube bender that can do it. We plan on racing at multiple different nostalgia racing events all over California during the summer. If anyone can help us out or need any information please contact me . Thank you




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btt

 

get rid of that 4 speed powerglide cheaper to build and more forgiving find an old glide and ill build it for you im 2 hrs away stop by the funny car pits if you go to the march meet California trucker

 

Good on you Sir! It's guys like you that keep this hobby alive.

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Bump

 

We could not find a power glide for cheap in our area. And the photo's are of are mock up motor and trans we actually have th350 we built up to handle the 500 HP we are planning on running.

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btt

 

Our schools hold fund raisers for their programs that need money.

 

You'll learn everything you need to know in computer class......

 

I have thought of that and i did try to set one up but what i found out is that if we have a fundraiser for the auto tech that the district takes all the money and can spend it as they wish. They don't exactly like are class because they think it is useless so we have been doing it on the side not involving the school itself.

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Since you are just a bit west of San Jose there should be someone on here that can bend the roll cage tubing in that general area or someone who has a buddy who can.
I'd say that before you go much further you need to have someone who pretty well knows the requirements needed for the chassis to pass tech so it will pass tech when it's done. The last thing you want to have happen is to finish it and haul it to the drags and not be able to pass tech for some reason or another.
Your instructor is braver than I was when I taught auto mechanics. They wouldn't even let us run in the high school drags as a club from the school when I was teaching even if the kids ran their own cars.

 

I tried to contact anyone near by that has a bender but i could not find anyone. And i also tried to find someone who works a tech at a drag strip but had no luck with that. And yes my auto tech teacher is a little more relaxed than most and he wanted the do this because the last auto tech teacher said we where incapable of building any car. So my auto tech teacher wanted to piss off him and everyone else who said we could not do it.

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You need to take your former Auto Tech teacher's name out of your post and never use it again.

 

And you should take it out of your quote.

 

I apologize for that

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Btt

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500 hp in front of a 3 speed is gonna put you in the low 10`s at least. you need to be very careful if you`ve never been in the seat. I hope your mentor has some experience with a short wheelbase car. if you go to an event , take some pictures with you and approach one of the tech guys like paul at sacramento for advice. test and tune only costs 10 bucks to spectate and everyone is pretty laid back. when I get my altered back together ( bracket car) I`m taking to test to find out how bad I`ve screwed up the new combination. I`f you want some opinions pm me. be patient, a lot of cars get started but about 10 percent get finished it`s a lot of work so you have to be dedicated

 

So cool for a HS to actually be doing this in a class. I went to high school in the early 80's and there wasn't anything this cool going on back then either. Good luck on your build

 

Yea i am happy my auto tech teacher liked this idea. The class has never done anything like this, the last "race car" they built was a striped down stock Mercedes that they used for road course. I thought we should test are abilities a little. Turned out the budget was the hardest part.

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I was hoping to get a tech guy to stop by the shop some time so we can make adjustments to the design as we build it. But i may just take it to a track to have i checked. I have a little experience with short wheelbase cars i have built nothing with this little weight but i think we shouldn't have to much of a problem. I might install a rev limiter without telling anyone so i can keep the first timers from killing themselves. Despite that it still might be pretty scary with 5.00 rear end gears.

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changing the ring and pinion is a good class topic. it`s not hard on a 9 inch and will help dispel the mystery and trepidation of tackling such exotic units ( in your mind) 5 to 1 rear gear will kill your motor. one of the biggest enemies of a motor is sustained hi rpm. we turn a hemi running 92 to 95 percent pop 75 to 78 hundred for 5 plus seconds and tear it down every pass. suggest 3.50 to 3.90 rear gear If you run 10`s you will get into a lot more expense such as sfi balancer, trans shields , etc where as keep it in the 11`s and you still go fast enough to put pinch marks in your jockey shorts but a lot cheaper

 

When i did my math it worked out fine because it will keep are top speed below the 140mph barrier. Cause above that speed it will not pass tech. The excelaration will be a little nuts and qe are running mostly 1/8 mi and in combination with the 29 inch tall tires i think it will work perfect. We also have a back up engine we are building just a short block and i have a set of 3.88 gears just in case i am wrong.

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Santa Maria High School, Santa Maria, CA. has an auto shop class and they have a drag car. I will not name the instructor here but he is very knowledgeable when it comes to the 1/4 mile and would probably love to talk to you. Call the school and get in touch with him.

 

ok here`s a suggestion. rathole your parts for now until you can go fund me about 4 grand. talk to your local patrolman of the local not so nice neighborhoods or animal control and ask if they have seen any likely donor cars abandoned like a fox mustang or 4th gen camaro etc. these people go everywhere and love to help young folks with a dream. it`s been done before and you could get something for nothing. you could throw something together to get your feet wet for a very small investment. 140 mph will require a parachute. warned you about the rules. you do that and I`ll bend you up a cage

 

The only problem with that idea is that i set up a go fund me account and have had hundreds of views but not one donation over the past 6 months. Second we can't stop working on it now because we might not have a auto tech class in 60 days. The district wants to close are class down permanently. I'm fighting my hardest to keep it open. I am a senior so i will not be around next year but i am fighting to keep the doors open for the rest of the guys. We will work on it into the summer if necessary but we can't stop for anything now.

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Im gonna sound like a dick here....

First, totally stoked there are still people out there who believe in shop class, I spent at least one (sometimes up to 3) periods a day in shop (welding, auto, wood, electric etc) and it really has helped me out even though I have a desk job, I can fix any of my stuff, or know if someone is yanking my chain.

BUT, don't skip English class either. Some of the posts about the car are super hard to follow. When you go to solicit sponsors they want you to be on your Ps and Qs. A little grammar goes a long ways into making people think you're smart, or otherwise.

 

Great to see someone still interested in building a drag car in "the shadow of the Apple campus". Of course the school district wants to discourage anything not high tech related. Good luck with the project. I spent 2 periods a
day in auto shop in my junior and senior years. Loved it. We never had a "shop project" but everyone got together to help each other out with different individual project cars.

 

it`s unfortunate (maybe) for you that you live in a metro area that is mostly techy oriented. the people in charge of the high schools` destiny seem to refuse to believe that some folks aren`t equally oriented. if you are a gearhead and don`t know what to do after high school you might try one of the apprenticeship programs offered by the trade unions( electrical, pipe fitters, sheet metal etc.). I was an electrician for 45 years and it worked for me. I didn`t know I was dyslexic until I was 40+ years old. money`s good. you are already better than me , you can post pictures on this site

 

I understand what you mean. I have a learning disability and i have a hard time writing and math. And i probably do spend a little too much time in auto, since im there all day Wednesday's and weekends/brakes

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