Projects K-88 Dragster / 6 Cylinder

Beautiful build and well executed, Countn'Carbs! Am following with interest!

Happy Motoring,

Harry

 

It was a 1958 chassis. I found it new, never built in 1987 sitting in a garage in Torrington, CT.

I got a front end and banjo rear axle installed but since I also had a TE440 car that was pretty complete I sold the K-88.

I’ll look around for some pictures, I had one with the chassis and a truck load of Hemi motors in the back of my old ‘64 Dodge 1 ton.

Cliff Ramsdell

 

Thanks Harry and glad you're following along!

How cool is that!! Basically an NOS Chassis Research K-88 - Very Cool Cliff!! Man thank you for sharing that and I would love to see some shots of it if you get a chance.

 

Carburettors are like beautiful women...... One's good...... Two are better...... And three ain't near enough!

Best regards,

Harry

 

With all the summer roadster festivities along with life progress has been a bit slow. I was able to get an adapter made for the steering wheel that Marty @Marty Strode donated to the cause. Thank you again Marty!!
I started with a simple drawing and sent it off to Dick Surratt in Denver. Dick is also the guy that did my header flange.
Here is the drawing...

Hell by that afternoon I get a text with a couple of pictures telling me it's done and to come pick it up - he says to bring the steering wheel too..."I wanna see it" he says.



I get down to Dick's and he already has the mill ready and says we might as well drill and tap the holes as well. I told him I didn't want to take up anymore of his time and he barks "god damn it if I didn't want to do I wouldn't say it." I smile and say "well Thank You and we better get busy then."
Dick is 81 years young and is a still very much involved in motorsports. Dick is extremely well known in the dirt track world and in his mid-70's he started having dizziness problems and in some cases just passing out. The doctor's determined it was from all his years of going around in circles with who knows how many G Forces applied to his head. So in true hot rodder fashion Dick says - "well hell.....can I go in a straight line then?" And with that he built and runs a front engine dragster.
Here's Dick with his machinist handbook figuring out the X and Y for the 3 hole locations.

Marty's Chassis Research Steering wheel dialed in and about ready to be drilled....

It is truly an honor to work side by side with Dick even if it was just keeping his 100' of oxygen cord from being tangled and running the vacuum after each hole to clean up the chips - in other words stay the hell out of his way and let the master work.

 

It an honor to Work with folks like that.

 

Here's Dick - late 60's (he thinks) at Manzanita Arizona.

Like I say Dick went on to build a front engine dragster. Well what he did was build it with a blown Tempest 4 cylinder engine with the goal of breaking Mickey Thompson's record set back in 1961.

Here's Mickey's Engine:

Here's Dick's engine...


The rest of the car...


In recent years Dick has been feeling Father Time creep in (we can all relate) so he handed over the reins to a younger driver but he still called all the shots in the shop and the pits. Recently the car ran a 9.56 @142mph breaking the long time record held by Mickey.

 

Here is the steering wheel in the car - It's Perfect and Thank You Again Marty!! I'll finalized the for/aft position at a later time in the build and then it will be cross-drilled and bolted.

 

Rolled it outside to get the vibe - I'm digging it. Time to start kicking this project in high gear!!

 

Looking good, Dave

 

That steering wheel setup looks AWESOME. Good on @Marty Strode for making that donation.

 

Dave, I thought I would never see a K-88 as detailed as my friend Ken Crawford's back in '62, but the way you are going about it, maybe I will. Great work by all involved, I would like to meet Dick Surratt, he has definitely been around the block, quite a craftsman.

 

Holy Cow Marty - Such a work of art!!!

 

Little Stuff - but little stuff that needs to be done.
I need a Coupler Cover and decided to go with the proven clam shell design. I made a bracket to catch the top 3 bolts on the back of the transmission then took some 1/8" wall tubing and split it in half with 4 tabs for holding it all together.
I ran out of Argon but we'll finish getting this welded up and chances are it will go in the "to chrome" pile.

 

Speaking of chrome....anybody know of a chrome shop that could chrome the drag link on this thing? It's about 7' long and the tanks at the couple of shops I've contacted aren't big enough.

 

Gauges....gotta keep an eye on the vitals and this should do the trick. I think it will look right at home nestled next to the oil pressure gauge and finish out the Chassis Research gauge panel just fine.

 

Maybe split the drag link in half? Make the split a slip together deal and cross bolt it together. Might even be stiffer than the longer single tube run if it is closely fit, which is obvious you can accomplish seeing what you've shown us of your fabrication ability. It only has to go together once.

vic

 

Consider an idler arm situation for the drag link, that dia (by the pics posted)and length, engineering wise is below standard. Installing an idler (at the hair-pin pivot) would increase the stability of the drag-link without the need for additional support. Pivot point can either be up or down, it was up on this build because it was a restoration

 

I decided early on that some things are better left to the pros. So the tin work was farmed out to a fella in Denver. Dropped the car off a while back and with it stripped down and dropped off on the curb, it reminded me of a wet pissed off cat that didn't want to be left behind. A tough love kinda moment.

Plan is just some simple side panels wrapped around to the back bars and a cowl - similar to the Albertson-Olds car.

Checked in on it last weekend and it's on the table with some panels starting to be roughed in.

 

With the car gone I've been focusing on getting the engine ready and doing whatever else I can on the car. I've been going back and forth on colors but got the engine painted and started bolting on some shiny parts that I've been collecting for the build over the years.

 

Looks like the tin is in good hands, can't wait to see it finished and on the track.

 

Along the way I noticed the alignment bar for the roller lifters was keeping a couple lifters from moving. A little massaging of the bar and it's back in the block and ready.

 

I could use some HAMB Expertise on the next part. So with these Fisher heads the valve sequence is different than a stock GMC head (intake valve on each end) so the cam is unique to these heads and I would really like to figure out what this cam is.

It's a long shot I know but the only marking on it is what appears to be a "6" or a "9" depending on how you look at it.
I know Howard made cams for these engines....I wonder if it's an H6??

I was told that the alignment bar setup is a McGurk design and that these are McGurk lifters but would like to find out more about the cam. Short of measuring it, I was wondering if anyone might have any insight on what it might be from just the simple "6".

 

Thanks Marty and I'm really looking forward to it too.

 

Dave, I thought I would never see a K-88 as detailed as my friend Ken Crawford's back in '62, but the way you are going about it, maybe I will. Great work by all involved, I would like to meet Dick Surratt, he has definitely been around the block, quite a craftsman.

@Marty Strode - Marty, I ran across this picture and I assume it was taken by you, is this your buddy Ken?

 

That's him, I would guess he is in his front yard in Oxnard, Ca. Not my picture, I have only known him about 5 years. He is also a master photographer.

 

Any updates? I sure hope so!

 

There have been a few Rusty but not much. The body is still being worked on and here are a few shots of it. The cowl will get trimmed upwards (about where the black line is) and still needs to be final fitted. Rear sections still need attention as well...dzus fasteners, final trim, round corners, etc...
After that the belly pan needs done and hopefully I can get it back home before too long. Missing working on it for sure.
Here's a few shots of it...



A little fun fact....so I guess the aluminum sheets that he is using came out of Furniture Rows Racing Operations (Martin Truex #78) in Denver when Barney shut down operations. Not that that means anything but I thought it was kinda interesting.
Hope that doesn't cause any Bad JuJu.

 

Then in an effort to keep things moving...my son and I recently loaded up all the front end pieces (save for the wheels) in the daily and hauled ass to Salt Lake City Chrome. I wasn't really ready for plating yet but in trying to keep things moving we said screw it and went for it.

We had the parts shipped back to us and within 3 weeks it was all back at my door. These guys were great and I highly recommend them. I haven't taken any shots of the "shiny-shiny" yet but I will.

 

We were in and out of Salt Lake Chrome within a half hour and we decided to head south to visit a fellow Inliner (hopefully more to come with the visit) and swung by Zion since we were in the neighborhood.
I have never been (my son has) and it was amazing to say the least. But in true National Lampoon's Vacation style...checked it out for about 30 seconds, nodded our heads, snapped a couple of shots and back in the car to head home.