Technical Building a Nitro Engine?

It IS rocket science. Get on a crew, if you can. You have much to learn. Nitro is the drink of choice for the Bitch Goddess of Velocity and she will hurt you if she can.

 

There was a top fuel front engine dragster manned by a group called the Berkey Bunch. They used a big block Chevy. I talked to them at one of the California Hot Rod Reunions. I asked if the used a special block. Guy working on the motor said no. It was just a Chevy block he had stored under is work bench for years.
It can be done but there are many "if's".

 

I remember a guy who used to come to a lot of the car shows up in New England in the summer with a trailer load of engines he built. Every now and then he would light off a blown big block chevy inside the trailer! Holy hell that thing made a racket! I think he was out of New York. Big Al's toy box or something like that? Can't say if he built em well or not but they were impressive running inside that trailer!

 

Back in the 70's Lidke and Zeller, Stan Shiroma drove, ran a BBC Top Fuel Car, it was the loudest of the bunch back then !

 

You aren't going to learn how to run and build a nitro car on a chatboard. Not even the HAMB.

 

From my experience a naturally aspirated nitro engine is no more expensive to build than any other one if your buying the best parts. I've never built supercharged one and have no comment for the original writer of this thread who wants that.

As for LSR and being an owner/driver and a spectator, especially there, I have stood at the the 3 mile in the pits and watched many 400 mph passes end to end. If you haven't done it, seen it, and heard it you've missed something you will never forget. A blown fuel roadster at 250 at the 3 mile will do the same thing pushing a 32 Ford grille shell.

 

Zeller lived by me ,later had a service center , but my big memory was in the pits in Bakersfield he was tuning an injected car after running it, I guess the cranked it without pulling the plugs and cleaning it out first ,piece off the top went at least 100 feet inthe air and landed by our pit a few rows over.

 

I guess that that is a common part of the Nitro learning curve. After years of being around his family's nitro cars my old buddy jumped in with both feet and built a N/FC. He blew up stuff and replaced it and blew up more, all with the help of some former Pros. Spent a lot of money. So he pulled the plug after some minor success. It didn't take long for "Nitro Fever" to return and he did it all over again with a new car. He said he was just gonna build a motor to fire up in his driveway..... uh huh.
I noticed that, with true hot rod blood in your veins it's easy to get addicted to the sound and fury of a nitro motor - you don't even have to drive it. Me, when I hear that nitro cackle, I'm runnin towards it!

 

If you just want to put on a show, make a big deal of pouring fuel in before cackling.
In your 50% nitro fuel, (all that is needed for cackling) add 3% KMNo4. (Potassium permanganate)
It will turn the fuel mixture deep purple. This always used to impress people in the "olden dayz".
It actually will make you go faster if you are racing. It is an oxygen bearing compound. Not as dangerous as hydrazine, which makes your fuel look like piss.

 

Do yourself a favor, read RacerX's thread from beginning to end before even considering trying to build a nitro motor! https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/rebuilding-after-the-crash.991650/

 

Don't forget the small bit of information of rebuilding between rounds. If you are serious about nitro you need to pack it after every pass.

Nitro is not a hobby it is work.

 

The car I was with has since run the quarter at 5.28/275, it is a 2600 lb. tank and primarily a match racer. It is a ‘48 Anglia but OT here because it is a “transformer” car, the body is mounted on a Victory Race Cars funny car chassis.
I don’t know about now but when I was there we would leak it, run the valves, drop the pan and check the bearings, set the air gap on the clutch and send it. It rarely hurt a piston, once in a while it might squeeze a ring land but other than that it was trouble free.
It was work and much if it was preparation, I did Tuesday and Thursday evenings and most Sundays we were at the shop for 3-4 hours all year long unless we were on the road.
Of course it wasn’t always work, there were carry outs for dinner and bench racing sometimes if there were visitors. We also took in side jobs for other fuel racers at times.
I burned vacation time, my wife ate dinner without me two nights a week, and I alienated friends by being gone so much, whether it was at the shop or on the road with the car. We ran out of the Midwest and traveled as far as the East Coast and Boise, ID to the west. Somebody said nitro is a demanding bitch and I would agree, there have been other opportunities but I am over it now.
My wife is one in a million for putting up with that and believe me, I appreciate that immensely. She knew how much it meant to me and let me play fuel racer.
Anybody that wants to play with nitro really needs to understand the commitment, even if you don’t spend money on the car there are other more subtle costs that are not seen from the sidelines.

 

Then there is the phrase: Parts Attrition.

 

This song comes to mind. Mine waited 25 years (sometimes impatiently) for time to spend with me.