Projects rebuilding after the crash

You might want to talk to Dave Benjamin about a set of his rods. Just throwing this out there. PM if you want his cell #. Lippy

 

I have been very happy with grp rods. This is the first rod failure i have had. I dont know for sure what caused the failure yet and may never know. The rod is going back to grp for examination. I dont want to place blame on them if i dont know. Grp has great customer service. I talk to Woodie when i call. Thanks for the info on Ben.

 

Is the “Instagram” pic above from the new low 60’ and is that without the wheelie bars still?

 

The pic is from the fall out drags a few years ago.
At that time the four link anti squat was 44 percent. The body was rolling over to the right. The tires were getting smashed into the track. The shocks couldnt control the power.
Last labor day i changed the anti squat to 99 percent. Bingo lower consistant 60 foot times.
Scaling the car is well worth the effort.
I dont use wheelie bars. The front wheels hardly come off the ground at the hit.

 

If you need a set of rods, I have the exact same set as you, setting at the shop by your house. Let me now if ya need them.

Tony

 

Thanks for the offed. I have rods from last year i can use. Tbey have very little run time on them. The only parts i need are two pairs of lifters and a cam.

 

HOLY SHIT BATMAN! You're a BEAST Brian ! Man I wish I had 10% of your drive. Good luck on the repairs, really, really hope to see you on drag week this year.. I know it's a stretch,and a TON of work..

 

While im waiting for the block to be fixed i started on the 66. I reconfigured the mounting plates for the bolt in Lakewood roll bar. This three point bar was quickly made illegal for racing. Its a rare find today. The bars were all the same they just took different mounting plates. Mine were for a Firebird unibody. The bar goes to the powder coated monday. The bottom of the plates have the original paint on them. It should make for a easy color match. The icing on the cake is that i have a original nos sticker for it.
The 427 was stuck do to stitting 35 years. I was able to remove the pistons without damage. Two pistons had stuck rings. The dimple rods are 3/8 bolts. Im going to put in some 454 7/16 bolt rods because i know what im going to do with the car. The engine goes to the machine shop monday for inspection and acid tanking.
The ansen safety bellhousing and four speed frame braces are at the powdercoaters now. There is no end to all the work. It is fun to see progress

 

Too bad you didn’t have any tear down pics of the 427,,,,that would have been interesting .

Tommy

 

For a little bump. Back and in 95 or 6 me and my best friend were wrapped up in vintage drag boat tomfoolery the equivalent of street racing. One time at the shop whilst mid big jump up grade of the big block Chrysler we had Herb McCandless on the other end of the line giving us a free of charge lecture. He was quite disapproving of are lesser choice in rods given wallet constraints. It still resonates with me and my rule stretching friend till this day. He basically expressed if we refused to heed his vast wisdom or rather experience and hard earned expertise and not pause to get a superior rod set in the bottom end that we could however. Take a large marker and put a big hash mark on the wall every time we ran the engine. If we were to make it to a dozen or so we could have a foolish sense of proving him wrong and pridefully call him back to purchase a new stronger set of rods and all the other parts we broke and needed now. It didn’t matter to him how we arrived at learning what he already knew.

 

I had a similar conversation with Herb. It was over a stroker crank. He said no one has the money to do it right the first time. But they always find it the second time. I have never forgotten that.
When your building one engine thats all the experience you have. When your customer base is in thousands the feed back on what is and isnt working is tremendous. Not only did he have a ton of experience when he raced he had continuous r and d going on with indy cylinder head. I had the very first raw casting prototype stack injector. I built it into what is now offered by indy cylinder head. The biggest wedge injector was a hilborn with a 2.090 bore. I built the indy to run a 2 7/8 bore. It had removable castings that held the butterflies and shafts. Different castings had different bores. It was like changing cfms on carbs. I experimented with a lot of wedge stuff. I got to the point were i split three wedge block in one summer. The wedge block in its most powerful offering was 425 hp. It was never designed for todays power advancements. Indy heads can make a thousand. After that summer i went with aluminum kbs and never looked back. I still talk to Herb when issues come up. I just listen and do what he says. I just dont talk nitro. He had a very bad experience with it and doesnt like it.

 

Updates on the car. I finally got the new cam this week. I also got the crank back i sent out in January. What i dont have is time. Im on call for the hospital next week for a full week. There is no time to get it back together for Drag Week. With it being so late in the year now i dont think i will run the car anymore this year. My focus is now on the 57 barn find Vette and my frame off day two 66 Chevelle. The both have seperate threads going.

Barn find 57 vette

Look what followed me home.
Check them out.

 

While you are waiting, a bump with a photo found on the net.

 

Im getting ahead of the parts delays. I just ordered rods. They went up 200.00 and will take twelve weeks to ship. Im glad im starting early for next year. I will see what kind of shock is in store when i order a set of pistons and rings.

 

Not only the price, but getting them made. Takes forever to get custom pistons and rings these days - just a fact of life I guess. Best of luck, say 'Hi!' to Randy for me when you see him - he's a heck of a solid dude.

 

I use off the shelf je pistons for just that reason. I have about 12 spares on hand and want to start the season with a fresh set. bearings are ordered by the tray they are available for now. I will get a few on hand.

 

I stopped by my buddy out in Lannon and he and Jerry Newman were shooting the breeze. Fun to listen to Nitro stories for a good hour.

 

And you didnt call me. I have stories.

 

Wasn't expecting him there, kind of a surprise. Yes, I'm sure you have plenty of stories, but Lannon is a little closer for me than Franksville. I was putting miles on a completely fresh 470 CI 66 Bel Air wagon and didn't want to wander too far from home just yet.

 

Sounds like fun.

 

Need to change the thread title.
Rebuilding After The Crash And Beyond...WAY BEYOND!

 

A nitro car is always in a state of rebuilding; crashing; blowing up; changing and rebuilding again.

 

Bryan
I bailed early on from even being just a bracket racer, on this machinists' hourly income I could see it was not happening.
I'm what they call "risk averse" in the financial world.
Should have stayed with crewing on my pals' SS hemi Belvedere I and F gas Pinto!

 

Nix on the crashing!

 

I try hard to not do that. It is inherent to this style of car. If you role the dice enough times they will turn up snake eyes now and then. How many times has pure hell or force lit one up or hit the wall? It happens and if a guy cant exept that he shouldnt be in the car. Its a tough sport.

 

Brian, you are a BEAST!! You never let this stuff beat you. you're truly a badass. I went through my "HEMI" learning curve($$$$) It defeated me several times, sometimes wishing I had a 327 Chevy or something. But I pushed through about two year$ of learning. Now I feel confident in the thing. And have PLENTY of spare parts, like you ,I have 12 spare pistons, rings, and drawers full of bearings. stacks of gaskets, and cases of oil stacked to the roof. My engine makes nowhere near what yours does, and it's a hand full. You have a plan if you stab the gas pedal. I started out running 44 P.S.I.(!) of boost, .800" lift camshaft, 9.5:1 pistons.. wow, there is a learning experience .I have since then tamed it way down, and just drive it. Hang in there Brian, you'll get her sorted out. If there is anyone on the planet who can pull it off (NITRO on the street ) you're the one.! Also, dragweek wasn't the same this year without you. We look forward to seeing you next year.

 

Found this pic I took at Beech Bend circa 2013.

 

That was during Drag Week. To run the hot rod class with a chopped top i had to remove the blower. It still ran 11.5 which was a class record at that time. They have gotten much faster in that class since then. Thanks for posting the pic.

 

Thanks steve. I wont be doing drag week next year. My daughter is getting married on that weekend of all weekends. I had asked her not to pick that one weekend out of the year. On second thought maybe it can be live streamed.

 

I bet your daughter would love that.