Projects rebuilding after the crash

I will have to show roger that. I did talk to him about this. He said he has used the cones but prefers the milling method. He said with the mill both ends of the guide are in control. His experience with the cones left runout of a few thousanths. Roger is a freak about accurace.

For the guys that like looking at drawings and tech stuff this is for you.
Heres some diagrams of the valves we ordered. These are not a shelf stock items. Also included is the cam card. You can see how the exhaust opens early for nitro use. With this kind of timing its important to have good rocker arms. The exhaust takes a beating trying to open against the still burning nitro. It will be degreed straight up at 112. On 70 percent we should see header flames. The cam will still allow us to street drive the car the way the lope seperation is set. Its all a big compromise.

 

So the S in S/FC compromise will be holding the engine back from 5000hp down to 2-3000hp range from cam specs and nitro percentage? Is the Nitro reduction the biggest factor in keeping it from a rebuild every pass motor? Or is it more cause it’s not on kill per-say like track only car?
Oh Incase I’ve never took my turn. Thank you so much Brian for your time and effort sharing all the details and secrets(not totally) of your baby. It is appreciated by the Fuel Coupe fans.
Wyatt


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the hp level is controlled by nitro percentage; boost and timing. they work together. the engine can make 5000hp if needed but would require much more maintenance with more parts being rotated out more often. i don't need that kind of power but its nice to know its available. making that kind of power would also require a bigger fuel pump. the parts that go into these engines can produce hp changes in the 1000s of hp ranges with ease. it may sound hard to believe but its very true. twisting the mag adding percentage and doing a pulley swap can really get a car moving. its crazy stuff.

 

Its a three ring circus around here. Switching gears from the chassis and engine to the lenco. With all of the extra power the new engine will produce the first gear ratio needed to be changed. We had a 1.89 first gear and we dropped it down to a 1.76 ratio. Second gear stayed at 1.25. This will prevent the tires from being blown away at the hit. It will also pull the engine down the way a nitro engine likes. While we were at it we checked out the whole trans. It was a good thing we did. The rear sprag was ready to role. If that would happen the engine would free wheel so fast the rods would come out. Regular maintainance is required were we are going.

 

OMG, it seems you are leading a charmed life, avoiding tragedy at every turn!

 

interesting stuff!

How about the valve spring specs? I'm really curious about that...

 

more like getting lucky at a few turns. frequent maintenance helps to.

 

jim the valve springs will have 300 lbs installed at 1.950 height thats with titanium retainers and locks. the cam is only .700 lift i have enough going on without having to change springs a few times a week. this should be good without beating the lifters to death out on the road. i think the pressures you were talking about were light for your engine. you can cause lifter damage having too little pressure just like too much. a blown engine always likes good spring pressure. they will rev up faster. a good sign that springs are shot is a lazy revving engine.

 

What RPM do you expect to see?

 

7500 max due to the 4.5 stroke crank.

 

That's a bit more than I plan to spin mine....I'll have quite a bit less duration.

 

Its more than rpm. Unlike the chevy to get the et you want you are going to need to crank up the boost. This extra boost is pushing on the back side of that big intake valve. You also have more mass to move with the heavy rocker arms. It takes more than 200lbs to control this. Even at lower rpms. I dont think 8s are going to happen without some more spring.

 

That could be. I haven't gone shopping for springs yet...

The level of boost I'm planning to run should add around 40 lbs to the spring load.

 

Now that the crank is in the mid plate can be trimmed for flywheel clearance. The pencil line drawn on the plate is about where it will be trimmed. Then the starter holes drilled. The bellhousing fit was checked out against the dowels and it fit perfect. Before it leaves the shop we will indicate the bell housing with offset dowels if they are needed. Its best practice to verify its correct.

 

cam is only .700 lift

 

Man, I love this thread!

 

Thanks for following along. Im glad you like it. As long as people like it i will keep it going.

 

Brian you don’t have to give the whole story. About how long have you been in the nitro game? What kind of experience is necessary to be successful? If you rather pm the info that’s cool.


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Well then he would have to PM everyone.

 

You asked so here goes in a readers digest version. I started out with a hilborn stack injector i bought for my 64 plymouth. It came in a parts deal and i knew nothing about it. I was determined to get it running. The a/fx era is my all time favorite era in drag racing so i figured i had to try to make it work so i could be like my heros. A friend suggested i call the local sprint car racer because they all run injection. I was very fortunate that Al Winker took me under his wing. He taught me so much right up to the time he passed away much too soon. From there i moved up the ladder to a 65 dodge awb car. We first ran it blown on alcohol. The lessons Al taught me really paid off. The injector principals were the same just different parts. The blower part was new for me and once again i was refered to the guy that knew what to do. Larry Baacke in madison wi was his name. He ran performance head service. Again i was the student learning at the masters knee. Larry was very patient with me teaching me about maintainence and how to get the last out of every part. Larry ran A/FC so when i made the switch to nitro he wasnt all that thrilled. He said i would regret it because everything would blow up. It was also during this time i was running into Roger lechtenberg aka radar and Dale Suhr out of iowa on a frequent basis as we criss crossed the miwest running our cars. We struck up a friendship and i started helping out on a limited basis with their nitro dragster. Charlie proite is from my town. He is best known for his pabst blue ribbon nitro funny car. another guy lost way too early. As my car was going together both charlie and dale got me to a basic starting tune up. No one was running a awb blown nitro car around 2000. We were pretty much on our own. There were some hard lessons learned at times but we ended up very successful with the 65. I was running a nitro awb car with the help of a few local friends. The nitro world is rather small and tight knit. Everyone knows everyone so if a team needed help its easy to help out on a car if you have the time. I was doing just that learning all i could. Right when the 65 was at its peak Larry suddenly died and my sponsoring Dodge dealership changed hands. I sold the 65 and took a much needed break. I was at bg with my son spectating just relaxing and enjoying myself when i ran into roger. They were short guys and needed a hand. Rehab was going so good up to that point. The syringe of nitro went in and once again i was a nitro junkie. I was crewing on the orange crate dragster and driving my coupe on the street and track. The coupe ran a early hemi from day one. Once again a important figure stepped in teaching me about gen one hemis. Bob walker from hot heads is that guy. He knows his hemis. between bob and roger i had a good handle on early hemis. One day roger and i were talking all things nitro and i said something like how cool would it be to have a nitro car that could be driven on the street. We joked around about how cool that would be. We were going over potential problems and solutions over the next two years. The subject was always brought up when we were together. This was nothing serious just racers talking. As time went on we both realized that maybe it could work. We had most of it figured out. Roger was very familiar with hot heads engines and did alot of r and d on them when he raced them. I was set to run nitro the next season then the car crashed. It was then we decided to go all out trying something no one had tried before. This car was coming back on nitro from day one. Thats were this thread starts. So getting back to gammz questions i started my injection education around 1992. I started running blown alchohol in 1995. My nitro education started two years later and continues to this day. I have been extremely fortunate to have run into the right guys at the right time. I will forever be indebted to them for all they have taught me. If anyone wants to learn about injection and nitro find a team at your local track and introduce yourself. Not all but most teams can use a extra guy. As you earn their trust they will teach you what you need to know. When you feel like you can run your own car go for it. I have had several other great teachers over the years. Unfortunately most are up in years and several have been lost. These guys are very proud of their hard earned knowledge. When they find the right guy that appreciates what they know and have the oppritunity to pass it down its a very cool and priceless thing. Roger is doing just that with me. With my tread im passing on some of the things i was taught. Sometimes i find myself wondering what would Larry or Al say about all of this? Those guys are very much missed. Larry is on the drivers side with the white t shirt and glasses
keeping a close eye on his student.

 

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Thank you sir! Very kool stuff. It’s great that you were able to have those men teach you the ropes. Thank you again for the short essay!


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WOW! Thanks for all that, good read. I enjoy following along and am so amazed at the process, AND the results you have accomplished with the hemi's.

 

that was kind of a rough post for me. thinking back about all of the great friends i lost made me raise a glass of some shine tony made in their honor. those guys were hard core racers. true tuff guys.

 

Keep it comming, we can’t get enough!

 

I had no idea you sold the 65 I thought you still had it I'm glad I got to see it run when I did and thanks to you I got hooked on afx cars and Brian trust me those guys are still watching you every time you hit the loud pedal and they would be proud I'll raise my glass as well Cheers


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With your coupe, nitro on the street, sounds like a hardcore tuff guy to me! I'll bet they're looking down and saying "damn"!!

 

Hey, Brian;
Tuff post maybe, but by posting, you not only brought their memories alive for yourself, you also brought them alive for others. Some never knew - & now do, others forgot - & now remember, again. So, it's all good. It's been said that one never truly dies, until they're forgotten. As always, Danke, for the posting/info. & glad your buddy found a good block.
Marcus...

 

Brian,
Do you have any other pictures of the Front axle on the '65? The one in the fire burnout looks like something from a
Tinker Toy set.

 

That first pic has a better view of it. (Or what's left of it)