Projects rebuilding after the crash

Thats a fantastic pic of your car Brian.

 

Perseverance is soooo underrated. Great effort and a good thread.

 

The shot is from the hot rod magazine photo shoot. Who would have predicted the right front wheel and entire front suspension would be destroyed the next day. Then fixed and back on the track to win the Yahoo cup three weeks later. I see alot in that pic.

 

I hope you had a great Christmas and a wonderful new year. I will be looking forward to seeing the Green Machine somewhere this year

 

thanks im sure we will hook up some where. maybe at Byron or bowling green. say hello to the family for me.

 

Looking at all the polished parts, made my arms tired.

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With it so cold out I move some work in doors. I hate gapping plugs at the track. Its distracting when I'm trying to get the car ready to run. I pulled what ever plugs I had left in the trailer to get ready. The washers need to be removed so the plug is at the proper depth in the combustion chamber. They are then gapped to .018. Then they get reboxed. It's a good way to start getting ready for the upcoming season.

 

I don't think you have enough plugs.

 

I actually need to get some more. I want to start the season with 200 plugs. They are changed every pass. They are inspected with a specially lit magnifying glass after each pass. Reading the plugs helps us with the tune up. Gapping plugs is one job I dont like to do. As I watch TV which is rare I do a box or two. By the time spring comes I will be ready. I polish my wheels the same way. I make use of every minute of the day during the off season so I can hit the track as soon as the weather breaks. The reality shows some how miss all this exciting fun.

 

Greetings Racer X, do you index your plugs as well?
I would guess not since your running 16 plugs at one time and would have to inventory them by spark plug hole. Thanks for posting and letting us tag along!

 

No I dont. Hemi guys dont index because the plug is in the middle of the combustion chamber. Thanks for following along.

 

Hey Brian
I hear it's cold enough there to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.
My wife is from your neck of the woods and has been crying about being cold out here in the bannana belt, that's when I show her those recent news photos of Lake Michigan.
I don't know how you do it year in, year out, thoughts of warmer days coming your way.

 

If I didn't have 28 years invested in the hospital I work at I would be in Virginia or North Carolina. I spent the first three hours today on my day off snow blowing the 10 inches we got over night. Tuesday and Wednesday its forecast to be 25 below zero air temp. We just tough it out. It will be warmer soon.

 

That single statement is the difference between someone who gets shit done and everyone else. It’s all about pecking away and “taking small bites out of the elephant.”
Eventually it all adds up!
Great stuff and keep at it.



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I have said before maintainence is key. The lenco recently received a servicing. It's was working perfectly at the end of the season. Still I wanted to look inside. It's a good thing I did. One of the planetary gears had a big chip out of a tooth. If the rest of the tooth broke off it could have locked up the trans right now. That has the potential to lock the rear tires or have shrapnel coming through the floor. Either case is a disaster. A new gear set is 2 grand so I just ordered a new planet. This trans was in Andy bohls winnin US Nationals alchohol funny car. The gears were lightened along with many other modifications. I need to machine the new gear to match the broken ones weight. Roger will take care of it. He says it will need a ceramic cutter to do it. I also found the front drum bearing completely worn out. The drum gets tapped into the bearing. Mine just fell out. The race and balls were junk. The air pod plungers were worn out so new ones went in. When those wear out the pods cant be adjusted any more. The rest looked great. It's much cheaper to take a look at things when you have time.

 

The flex plate I was using was a ATI brand. Its basically a stock Chevy unit drilled for the eight bolt hemi crank. They only last a year or so. The holes get beat out and they sometimes crack. They just are not made for big power but it was the only thing available. I broke several on the 65 Dodge so I always inspect this part closely any time its out of the car. I have heard of a severe duty piece being made I just didn't know who they were or how to find them. At pri this year I ran into the right guys. Bonnafontti out of Michigan makes the part. They also are in involved with nitro cars. They make them for pro mod racers. The pro mod parts are finding their way into fast street cars.This piece is a work of art. I sent them my mid plate to put on their fixture to check for proper starter placement. Do to the larger size flywheel the mid plate needed to have the starter hole welded and re machined. I checked the flywheel to starter fit and it showed I needed to space the flywheel back some. It was engaged into the starter teeth at rest. I sent my ATI spacer and specs back to Bonnafontti and they took care of the rest. Now the Bruno and converter are back in the car. As soon as I can get the lenco back in I can start the car up. It wont be long before it's making noise again. Its stronger and better than it was. It was worth the extra effort.

 

That's an impressive looking part Brian!
You should be able to put any flexplate worries behind you.

 

I agree it's cnc machined
out of 4140 steel and its gas nitrided. Its sfi rated higher than the old one.

 

Just curiosity here. Did you find anything left of that gear chip in the case? Or did it get ground up?

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It most likely fell into the drain pan when I removed the fluid. All the other teeth look good including the mating gear.

 

At pri this year I ran into the right guys. Bonnafontti out of Michigan makes the part. "

Brian,
Boninfante Fricton is actually in Lansdown, PA, a Philadelphia suburb. Nicky B is a long time mate of mine from my days on the road with fuel cars in the 80's. Nicky is currently the crew chief on the Team Global funny car driven by Shawn Langdon while his brother Rob runs the family business on a day to day basis

Roo

 

These guys must work with them and sell the products under their name.

 

How are you removing the washers? It's always been a struggle for me so I started leaving them on - but never thought about the depth thing ....

 

I use a screw driver to get between the washer and plug. I give it a twist to raise and distort the washer. I then use a side cutter to finish it off. Chrysler designed the hemi to not use the washer. the spark plug tube is considered a service item.

 

I think that Bohr handle the non actual clutch stuff for Rob and Nicky. I have a Boninfante Ti can here at my shop that came from Bohr. Nick Sr got into the clutch disc business when his funny car was sponsored by Raybestos and things have grown from there.

Roo

 

Looks like you are getting closer. When i get home I plan on dropping my 340 off and i will stop by.

Was your tranny made to handle the hp you are throwing at it or is this a common thing?
Tony

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the trans is good for 3500 hp. I think im good. like anything if you are hard on it things will wear out. call first to make sure im home. dont show up empty handed I could use a restocking of some of the good stuff hint hint.

 

Is it possible to have a magnetic drain plug or something to hold a chip so it couldn't find a gear to get into?

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I have thought of that. I would have to modify a pipe plug. I can drill the plug and epoxy a magnet into it.

 

One way to make a below zero day feel warmer is getting new parts in the mail. The final piece to my unique ignition idea showed up. I was looking for someone, anyone to build a pro mag that would function as a efi distributor. That's not a usual request. I found that person at pri this year. System one oil filters also has a magneto division. They service and build mags. I explained to Bob what I wanted to do and he said it was possible with some custom parts. He said the magnets would be removed to save alot of weight and reduce the power needed to turn it. A special spacer was also needed. The rotor spins freely without the normal drag and clicking. With the weight savings I wont have to add handcuffs or added supports. Attaching it to the dual drives outside position removes some stress from the drive. We ordered it in black so it's easy to differentiate between the mag and efi systems. The pro teams do that also but they use two mags. Most guys that see this will be clueless to know the black distributor is a fake mag. Starting the car with the efi then switching over to the mag with 50 degrees of lead will add 500-700 horsepower. Now I think I have maxed out things for this car. I dont think I can do anything else and still keep it streetable.