Tom, I can understand skipping the ANRA race when you have bigger plans afoot. Now you know the car goes down the track. Time to add horsepower. Having Hambster Lady as a shoe sets up an interesting match race series. You know who you have to beat, heehee. Thanks for the info regarding the 300 Ford powered car from the NW. Only thing holding me back is $$$. Keep posting this fall & winter as the modifications take shape.
Ya Bob, I think a match race between (old6rodder) & (HAMBsterLady) will be on the schedule for next year. Someone has to hold bragging rights in the family. We think alike, always stirring the pot. Get that Plymouth pickup sold and maybe 1 other from your winter build hot rod fleet and you will be on your way. You are going real happy when the snow melts next spring and you do your driveway test. I have a chevy 230" marine long block that I am going to pull apart and use for the base block for the new motor. It is std bore so it should make a good starting point for the Big bore. Got a good 10/10 250" crank.
Well started to take motor apart, head is at machine shop, Will install bigger 1.84/1.60 sbc valves, new stem seals, Good 3 angle valve job and mill .060" off the face. No cash to lump port it this time around. Will start working on the new 257" build in a few days. While car was down thought I would see if I could remove existing dash and make some extra room for my leg & knee when getting out of the car. It is much better with about 4" more clearance up to the steering cross bar. May even cut hand holds so I can grab the bar to help get my big --- out of the seat. A few pictures of before & after. Should have switch panel and cover done tomorrow. Need to see if my existing cowl cover can be make to work with a notch cut out.
Finished work on the switch panel and started modifying the cowl cover. Measure 10 times and cut once.
Tom I do believe that is the best modifacation you have done yet!!!!!!! It give the car some character and is functional too. I like it looks great.
bobw -- That rattle can will take care of the mistakes. That cowl does not like being mounted a few inches lower as the metal has a set of its own, going do have to make a few modifications on how it attaches to the side panels. I think I will cut hand holes so I can grab the steering cross bar to help pull my old bones up out of the seat. injected27 -- Well the switch panel looks ok on top, but it was more about knee & leg room and I did gain some needed space. I don't know if NHRA Tech will pass it for a defector, but they never said a thing about not having one before. I sent a PM.
Rather than mounting the cowl lower, why not mount it at the height that it was before and that will leave room to get your hands in to grip the steering cross bar? Just a thought.
64 DODGE 440 -- Tom, I tried that and Cowl will still not fasten to the side cover like it was. I am going to try re-shaping the middle cowl section and see if I can make it fit like you said, if not I will roll another cowl. It's only time and I got lots of that and its finally cool so I can be in the garage (shop).
Tom, I hope you can reach the switches with the arm restraints on. I cut hand holds in the cowl but I find it better to grab the top of the steering wheel. The hand holds are too wide. The gauges and switches on top of the cowl in their own section looks very cool. Definitely adds a personal touch.
bobw -- Not a problem reaching the switches with arm restraints, that's the main problem with this chassis in that ever thing is to close to me. I have a quick connect wheel that I remove to get in and out (don't have to but it makes it a lot easier). Only need one hand hold on left side, it will help a lot. Got medical stuff first of the week so maybe a little more work on Wed.
Yes, that chassis was not necessarily built to fit you. When I built mine, I sized it for "normal" size people. I'm a bit on the short side. 14 degrees this morning when I walked the dogs. So no problem sweating in the shop. Glad it's cool enough to work in Bako.
Got the switch panel in place and rewired, notched the cowl section to fit around the new panel and cut a left side hand hole in it to help pull my BIG Old bones up out of the seat. A little rattle can paint and she looks OK. Just got my 194 small chamber head back from the machine shop. Put in some bigger valves (1.84/1.60 sbc) and milled .060 off the face. Because the 194" FT pistons are still .035" in the hole the CR is only 8.60 but the head should flow a little better. Hope to get the motor back togeather in a week or so then start working on a pair of 3 into one 28-32" headers for it. Real happy with the extra leg/knee room getting the switches and gauges out of the driver area. We will see how it street tests next month some time.
I've been using your and Bobw's build to build a car. Could you show a picture of the arm restraints? I don't know what these are. Thanks. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
bobw -- We will see if there is more room in a couple of weeks when we try a street test. Got a kit of Sanderson headers for the 194/230/250/292 motors that make a pair of 3 in 1 headers from a guy on the HAMB that is in the San Fan Bay area. Has flame cut exhaust flanges and all the bends. I just got to make it fit the dragster chassis. 4x4machinist -- The arm restraints are part of your safety gear that you have to have on. They slide up on your arm and connect to the 5 point latch, they keep your arms inside the chassis in a roll over. They have nothing to do with the chassis construction. All drivers of open cars (dragsters / altered ) must wear them. Bobw comment to me was that you can not reach very far with them on. Drop me a PM and I will tell you the good & bad on my chassis and what I will do if In build another.
Well got my rebuilt head back (complete valve job & bigger In/Ex Valves & .060" off the face). Got everything torqued down and started on the valve train, should be done in the PM. Got out the header kit I picked up on the HAMB 6 months ago to see what it is going to take to make it work on a dragster, Got no idea what car or truck model it was for, but it sure was not a dragster, going to be lots of cutting and welding. Everyone Have a Good/Safe Thanksgiving.
The valves don't look any bigger. Nice to see you moving right along,Tom. Header building should keep you busy for a few hours.
Evenin folks, Thought I would check in haven't been here in awhile. Tom the updates on the car look good. Anyone know if the dates for Eagle Field have been set?
bobw -- With my fab skills I'm thinking 2 months for the headers. Probably get them done quicker & faster if I send you my head and the parts. No can't do that, you need to get a couple of hot rods done and sold. 300racr -- No not yet, Rocky usually post them the first of the year. Sure hope all three of you can make it to the May Eagle Field. I will let you know as soon as I find out. You all have a great Holiday with family and friends.
Old28, just checked on FB and unfortunately Rocky's date is the same weekend as the Tucson Dragway reunion.We just got confirmation for us to have a race at the reunion. Hope everyone has a safe Holiday.
Hi. I'm sorry I have taken so long to visit this post and answer your questions. Anyway, I do not run chokes. They really are not needed for me by the time I drive out of my subdivision (1/2 mile) there is enough heat under the hood that there are no cold driveability issues. I do not think these carbs are any harder to jet than, say, a Holley 2V. Maybe selecting jetting for an inline six is in general a little problematic since fuel biasing toward the center cylinders is prevalent and staggered jetting is not as viable a solution as it might be on a V8. I do like the fact that with two carbs the fuel distribution is more even than using one four barrel. Case in point: my roadster p/u. I have upgraded to a nice roller cam and consistency suffered because a low end stumble reared its ugly head. I have tried 390, 480, 650 DP, 600 VS carbs and not completely eliminated the problem. I don't want to change back to the less aggressive hydraulic cam so for next season I will be installing another one of these 2 x 4 intakes with smallish 1.02 Autolite 2Vs. I hope it works as well as it does on the Willys (mid 13s on street tires). Good luck with your project.
Thanks for the reply (FRENCHTOWN FLYER), All good information. I have a few different intake combination that I may try this year. I will say that getting this little "Chevy 194" to perform has been a little more of a challenge than running my BBC motors in the past.
You know what Tom.?? I hve my gauges the same place as yours. Have been there since day one..Oly place where my knees didn't smack them..Love that little car of yours....
Dick, getting that panel out of the knee area was a good thing, it will still be tight but every little bit helps. The switches are much easer to see along with the "Temp/Oil" gauges, more in my line of sight. Also that left side hand hold will help the in & out situation. Working on a pair of 3 in one headers for the motor. Mike Kirby from Sissell (now in Newberry Park) said that on this 198" motor it will ad 15 HP over the zoomies. Every little bit helps. Looking forward to staging the two cars side by side, should look real nice. Get back to work on it, time flyes, April will be here before we know it.
Well got started on the headers this week. Had to grind out the flanges so they would take a short 1.5" nipple that is inside the 1 5/8" short 90 elbow. Trying to make the parts I have work and not go for some new 1.5" 90's. The flanges & 3 in 1 collector are for 1.5 tube and all the other stuff is 1 5/8". May not be the cleanest setup, but it will do the job. Never built a set of regular headers in my life and this may push my lack of build & design expertise to it's limits.
Looks like the primaries will be about 22" with a 10" collector on the end. I would have liked to have primaries a little longer but clearance and space is tight. Even with this setup I know they will work better than the old 1 1/4" zoomies. I'm averaging one primary each work day so I should be done in 6 days, fat chance that will happen, I'm thinking more like 3 weeks.
With 194 cubic inches to work don't worry about using 1 1/2" primary pipes. I have done considerable dyno testing on small block shortie headers and on a stock Mustang 5.0 GT V8 the 1 1/2 headers worked best, even better than 1 5/8 or 1 3/4 aftermarket headers. Longer primaries would be better, as you say, but tyou are only going to give up around 5 hp running the "shortie" headers vs optimal length.
The Jalopy Journal
