I've seen some of these HA/GR cars with radiators, and some with just the block and head filled with water, and perhaps someone is using a water tank in one as well? My question is this. If a guy has no radiator, is it possible to get one of these cars started, staged, down the track, and back to the pits without cooking the engine? I want to make a car as light as possible, but our local track only allows tow vehicles in the Super Pro class. Would the contents of the engine, plus a maybe two gallon tank be enough to get the job done? I'm very interested in hearing your personal experiences with cooling these cars, and any ideas you might have, including the "If I had it all to do over again" thoughts.
Well Four Banger, I had my experiances with an engine with no radiator, just a tank of water..The hose blew. scalding hot water everyplace..I have a small aluminum radiator that I got someplace.?????? The guys with no cooling except the water in the block, Don't drive their back to the pits..I know Old6 says he does by starting the engine, Pick up some speed, Shut it off and coast. Start all over again.. Be smart, Look for a small radiator off some of these small foreign cars..Someone said that one of the small Hondas has a nice small radiator....
Yeah, we roll'er and bump'er to and from the race. Works out OK for the stock bore & stroke slant once you get the hang of it. We don't use a tank though, as we don't use a water pump, just what the engine holds and a gallon piss-can. No problems except at Dragfests. There Randy likes us to roll back past the stands on the old fire-up road and if it gets backed-up any we have to rely on the starter to re-light'er. Still, it's no problem as long as we keep the battery charged.
I'm in the process of rebuilding my rail and it will now have a hidden radiator. I have a radiator on my new FED, and the difference is night and day. Just start up, drive over to the line, drag, and motor right on back to the pit. I'll be doing most of my future racing without a crew, so I gotta stay cool.
Just remember, water weighs 8 lb per gallon, a small radiator probably holds a lot less than 2 gallons.
I run a radiator on mine and it is nice to motor back to the pits after running, stop and pick up your time slip and head to the trailer. I'm running a radiator out of a 56 Nash Metro with a small fan on it and it never gets above 180 degrees, even in August at the HAMB drags.
Tom.. If you are worried about 16 lbs,, Build your car lighter..I want the 16lbs up front..Helps hold the front end down..
Thank, guys. I got the answer I expected, even if it was the one I didn't want to hear...lol! I just needed to get it from someone who's been there and done it, versus pure speculation by the "experts" I'm finishing up my present project this spring, and gathering up parts for a HAMB /GR at the same time. I haven't been this excited in a long time......!
Pounds per horsepower is and has always been the name of the game. It doesn't matter what you are running, the results will be the same. If you are going to run a car with mild horsepower output, add sixteen pounds and see the result on your time slip, or to make it even more obvious, removing 16 lbs from a 1600 lb car is a 1% reduction of weight. Why add ballast? Simple physics says it will not accelerate as quickly.
Simple physics is one thing, but it's 'simplicity' overlooks some practical elements...the pure fact that the process is marginal and destructive on these old motors, and a right-royal PITA to 'live with'. I tried my slant with just a header tank, and whislt I eventually made it the 1/4 mile without boiling it, the process of relying on everyone else to help push/drag me around dosesn't justify the weight saving in my opinion...unless you're running in the 11's. I'm in the process of adding a small radiator & thermofan, as I'm sure I can recoupe the weight gain elsewhere, and the 'independance' element will be worth it's weight in gold. Cheers, Drewfus
Drewfus, I have no problem with a cooling system, I was just trying to point out the fact that a small radiator will actually add less weight than a two gallon tank, and weight is our enemy. Besides, a small radiator will cool better than a small tank and that is the purpose for the system in the first place. There are always many ways to solve a problem, it's just that sometimes the way people go at it creates more problems. Many lakes tanks run a simple tank of water for cooling, but weight isn't as much of a problem for running flat out as it is for drag racing and they generally make the run, shut off and wait for the truck, rather than drive back to the pits. Innovation doesn't need to be complicated, it's just a process of finding the best overall solution towards the end goal and if by doing something one way you can achieve multiple benefits, it tends to bring higher rewards. Don't claim to be an engineering whiz, I just have more time than money and tend to spend a lot of it looking for the most efficient way to achieve my goals. I realize that there will be many other cars out there with more horsepower than our little 218" flathead six, so I'm trying to find all of the benefits I can in our build and from the beginnings of my hotrodding experience back in the late '50s before I could drive, learned that unnecessary weight was not a beneficial thing.
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