Projects Front Engine Dragster update

Personal preference here, But I would put a bend in your restraint brackets and shorten up the straps and try and get a more direct pull. Right now "IF" the blower were to lift, it would rize high enough to possably pull some fuel lines or fittings apart. The pic shows a customer car with them bent and measuring to get the straps shortened so that the blower will seperate, but will hold it posistion.

 

I thought of doing that, but with Pontiac heads, if I bend the brackets up I will not be able to get the spark plugs out for reading. I will put a loop in the feed and retuen line to allow slack should the blower get a lift from a backfire.

Thanks for watching my back.

 

Just snug the bolt down enough to be able to swing the bracket out of the way. Again this is just the way I do things, But for grins I put a new set of plugs in every year (NGK B9ES @ $1.85) and that is the last time I look at them till the next year. My time slip and water temp tells me more than trying to read an alc plug. If I have to read , I just count the threads and as long as the cad is burned no more than 4, I am still safe. Mine have never been more than 3.

 

This is my first blower, last year was first time with alky. I have been pulling the plugs after each pass and replacing before every outing and saving the sets, to compare outings. My problem has been getting enough heat to discolor the cad on the top thread. I keep going leaner and advancing the timing. Pontiac does not like timing currently ar 28, anything more and ETs fall off

 

Glenn...I assume that you will also be using aluminum studs for blower/manifold attachment. Keep the torque low (10-12 ft-lbs) to avoid damaging the studs. I've seen guys over-torque and damage the studs. Then the blower belt pulls down on the snout, lifts the back of the blower and all your boost goes away. Keep up the good work!

 

It is currently mocked up with steel, but I need to go to Fastenall and order some Aluminum thread rod.

 

Most guys set up their BV linkage like this.
Is that T fitting on the outlet in the way?
It *will* work the way you have it---------

 

I just put the linkage on the arms of the barrle valve and butterflie shafts so that they would work. I believe I can mout them either way (there is enough room).

 

Glenn,
You know its your car and for that you can do anything anyway you want to, But in my opinion you have taken something so simple that has been figured out for years to keep it simple and made a jumbled mess out of it. I am not saying that the way it is plumbed will not work, its just all the extra lines and fittings going everywere instead of using a more simple version of the barrel valve, proven on thousands of engines over the years, and get all the plumbing simple and tight and away from the blower belt.

Second (and this is where I put my ASSHAT on),

You spend all this money (and wasted money to boot) and you are going to cheapen out and buy aluminum threaded stock for blower studs instead of buying a real blower stud kit? Honestly I dont understand, must be a NY kind of thing.

 

Last thing first as it is the easiest. I had to use a five inch spacer under the blower and intake to solve a number of problems (Pontiac engine, burst panel facing forward away from the driver, room for the distrubutor, leave the BDS water jacket on the front of their intake manifold). Because of the spacer no one makes a blower break away stud kit that will work, I would have gladly gone that way!

Ok, barrle valve, for this engine I could have used the square barrle valve, but I already see in the near future that I will be building a much bigger blower engine (this one at best is a compromise) and on the bigger engine I will be running both hat and port injection. I have been told that the "K" valve is a much better valve for that purpose. In fact on this valve I am blocking of the port, port, as it is not needed. I am just setting my self up for the next engine.

 

I can see your delema as to the blower studs availability. I have a machinist down here that makes them for me and it would just be a matter of extra material in the center.

I never had a need for port nozzles unless I was running fuel, Just another area for ME to get lost at and can still run high 6's w/375ci running it all thru the hat. I really work at K.I.S.S.

ENJOY

 

If I get you a measurement on length can you get 16 made up for me?

 

FWIW...I agree with FuelRoadster on this one. Don't know why I did not see it earlier. Ideally you want the adjustable link connected between two parallel equal length arms. The spool will then index with the throttle blades properly. Also, it will gain you easier access to the main jet and always make sure that the little notch in the splined end of the spool is facing upward. Have Spud sort that stuff out for you.

 

Will do.

 

It does not feel like we made much progress this weekend. Tom was over and so were both of my sons. Number one son stayed behind the camera so I have no pictures of him, but I did get a picture of the number two son.
We started like this

and ended like this

In between those two the blower bag is back from DJ so we the blower bag back on with the modifications made by DJ it fits now.

Installed the rear restraint strap bracket.

Made a bracket to hold the fill can for the coolant system

it came out pretty nice


There is a complete update on my web site at this link
http://www.leverfamilysite.com/2010_Front_Engine_Dragster_Week_2013_02_02.htm
On more piece of news is Spud Miller of Fuel Injection Enterprises and Keith Burgan (Roo Man) of Roo Man Motor Sports have collaborated to put up a new Forum with the purpose of providing a place for people who enjoy Front Engine Dragsters, Altereds, Gassers, Rear Engine Dragsters, Dragracing to communicate.
The forum has JUST gone live and can be viewed at this link http://www.frontenginedragsters.org/forum/index.php or by going to Spud’s site http://www.frontenginedragsters.org/ and using the navigation panel on the left side to go to the forum.

Take a look and if interested join, it’s free.
I am a administrator, so if you have any questions feel free to ask.

 

Yet another FED for me to drool over. Thanks man!

 

Curious on why you felt the need to bag the blower?
And another word of advice, If you dont have one already, install a starter dog on the top pulley. You already have the cage and bracket. Block starters do fail and fail at the worst times.I dont know of any racer that would not lend you his blower starter in a time of need, even the guy you are running against. Other than buying a real blower starter its the best $50 you will ever spend.

 

The bag was bought purely for my peace of mind.

Great suggestion on the starter dog, will do.

Any chance you could get those blower studs made up for me?

 

I let my guy know about it , just need to know how thick the blower spacer is and then we can figure out the rest.

Peace of mind is what its all about , However In the 20 years of Nos drag racing I have never seen a aftermarket case ever come apart running Alc. Just adding more peace.

I have WON 3 final rounds because the other guy couldnt start with a onboard, looked over and no starter mount otherwise they could have used mine.

 

The spacer is 5 inches thick, I would like 16 studs (building a back engine as well)

 

this is a great thread. thanks for your time to post.

 

Any progress on the studs or should I go ahead with the treaded rod?

 

PM sent

 

I installed the blower (not to be removed again until at lest after the first fire up) using custom aluminum studs made by Roo Man (replaced the steel tread rods used for mock up).

As I must make it look pretty as well as having if functional, each stud was measured once fully threaded (the reason each one had to be measured is the blind holes in the intake were all different lengths) into the BDS intake manifold, cut to get the stud to fully thread into the acorn nut, without the gasket.

Each stud was then numbered, they were all removed, the gaskets installed, and nuts torqued to 12 pounds

One more task completed. It looks like the fuel system will be on its way home from FIE the end of next week.

 

I updated my web site on progress on the dragster today, here is the link
http://www.leverfamilysite.com/2010_Front_Engine_Dragster_Week_2013_03_09.htm
The current pulley setup willnot work

What is the solution, see the web site.
Got a present from Spud today



Put together a bracket for the remote fuel pump

Now that I have the hat back and the new blower restrain installed a clearance problem showed up, and fixed it.

 

Here is the newest BLOWN Pontiac powered dragster as of yesterday.
I now have to pull it all apart again as the right head is dripping water (solid copper head gaskets will do that).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6zRsObuerw&feature=youtu.be

 

Went testing Friday, and ran the gasser series race on Saturday; This is after fixing the leaking head gasket on the right side (this time) and bolting the brand new Littlefield standard 8/71 blower on. I first ran a tank of fuel through it to take some of the tightness out of the blower, it still has a ways to go to be broken in, I still have not gotten the shift light working. The bulb is ok, the connections seem Ok, I think the MSD RPM switch is broke. Here is a summery

Get closer to the 8.500 index

First run, Friday night 6:10 PM
Air Density 1640
Top Pulley 58
Pill 75
Fuel Pressure 82.11
Top end Boost 10.13
Sift to second gear 6479
60 foot 1.316
¼ mile 8.698 155.68
Comments, This is the first run with the new blower. This is slower than with the old carb. setup, need to do some work here.

Second Run, Friday night 7:08 PM
Air Density 1512
Top Pulley 54
Pill 75
Fuel Pressure 79.62
Top end Boost 11.94
Sift to second gear 6407
60 foot 1.226
¼ mile 8.254 158.89
Comments, Pumped more air into the engine, leaned it out. This is really unusually good air. This was a very smooth run, when I got out at the top end I thought I had run a slower run than the last one. Engine really liked this set up, but it is too fast for the 8.5 we are looking for.

Third Run, Friday night 8:04 PM
Air Density 1529
Top pulley 56
Pill 75
Fuel Pressure 80.27
Top end Boost 10.65
Sift to second gear 6481
60 foot 1.253
¼ mile 8.469 157.42
Comment, Good comparison run (air quality). Took a little air away (fattened up a little to make it go slower. Still too fast. Engine struggled a little to get to the shift point. Really pulled hard after the shift. Accelerometer went from .57 to 1.14


Fourth Run, Friday night 9:04 PM
Air Density 1119
Top pulley 57
Pill 80
Fuel Pressure 77.42
Top end Boost 10.65
Sift to second gear 6494
60 foot 1.248
¼ mile 8.483 157.42
Comment, Air quality jumped up. Took a little air away (fattened up a little to make it go slower), took some fuel away to try and keep the air fuel ratio close. Still just a touch to fast, but close. Engine did not like this, felt rough.

Ok, now Saturday, Gasser series racing, You have to remember I have only been running the dragster three years now and each year I have made significant changes to the engine so data from one year is not good for data for the next year (don’t laugh).
Gasser series is 1/8 mile ET racing, so I have no ¼ mile times (so for comparison a ¼ mile 8.483 is an 1/8 mile 5.427)

First round of qualifying, Saturday 1:44 PM
Air Density 1896
Top pulley 57
Pill 80
Fuel Pressure 74.19
Top end Boost 10.84
Sift to second gear 6568
60 foot 1.270
1/8 mile 5.301 134.87
Comment, Air quality is closer to normal for around here. Decided to make no changes between last run last night and this run. Track prep may not have been as good and I had some wheel spin of the line. There was a sharp peak in engine RPM right before the shift to second, in .05 seconds the engine RPM jumped 156 RPM. The air would have had the effect of fattening it up. Ran to fast for a ¼ mile 8.5

Second round of qualifying, Saturday 2:49 PM
Air Density 2007
Top pulley 59
Pill 85
Fuel Pressure 66.36
Top end Boost 9.02
Sift to second gear 6487
60 foot 1.277
1/8 mile 5.364 132.27
Comment, Air quality still falling. Took some more fuel and air away. Still too fast, but going in the right direction. Felt pretty good.

Third round of qualifying, Saturday 4:15 PM
Air Density 2262
Top pulley 60
Pill 90
Fuel Pressure 57.83
Top end Boost 8.43
Sift to second gear 6434
60 foot 1.283
1/8 mile 5.368 134.42
Comment, Air quality still falling. Took some more fuel and air away. Fuel pressure as well as boost is falling off pretty good now. Still too fast, but going in the right direction. Felt pretty good.

Ok, now we are into the first round of elimination so we decided not to play with it and see if we could predict an ET.
First round of eliminations, Saturday 6:10 PM
Air Density 2270
Top pulley 60
Pill 90
Fuel Pressure 59.59
Top end Boost 9.09
Sift to second gear 6200
60 foot 1.276
1/8 mile 5.378 131.88
Comment, I short shifted by 200 RPM so my ET was down. I treed the guy though so won the race by .1144 seconds.

Second round of eliminations, Saturday 7:34 PM
Air Density 1842
Top pulley 60
Pill 90
Fuel Pressure 64.85
Top end Boost 8.76
Sift to second gear 6343
60 foot 1.274
1/8 mile 5.391 132.15
Comment, Air got better. We were concussed by this run, it was almost identical in shift points, launch, etc as the last run but lost .020 on the run. It finally dawned on us that the blower was still new and still losing up. Over laid the two run graphs and low and behold boost at the shift on run 4 was 8.05 and on the last run 7.91. In almost all other respects the graphs from the two runs over laid themselves. I treed the guy again but it was not enough to overcome his dial in of 6.22 when he ran a 6.221. I lost by .0197 seconds.
Not a bad outing for my first race with a blower and mechanical fuel injection, I’m happy, cannot wait till the next outing. I can’t go this weekend as my better half, crew chief will be out of town.

 

Nice but the videos aren't loading

I kid, I kid

 

Great job! Enjoyed the video!

 

Ok, Ok, When I have a extra crew member I will get videos