Projects DRAG SNAKE "Vintage Terror!"

I got a good “handle” (lol) on that my friend hence the broken shifter handle that I broke off on my last pass


Chrome don’t get ya home

 

I said the computer acted like the car was 180 degrees out. Apparently it was right. Lol.

Sent from my SM-G970U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Must of been why I ask where it gets it's crank trigger from.

 

Just thinking where all of the rest of those teeth went...can't be good. Did some body forget to heat treat that gear?

 

Cast gear with a roller cam?

 

Nope, correct gear, not sure what happened to it. High volume oil pump may have caused it. Looking at a composit gear for it now. Mixed reviews for COMPS offering, going to do some research.

Sent from my SM-G970U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Cam gear doesn't have a mark on it. But it was seated correctly because it took every cog out top to bottom.

Sent from my SM-G970U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

That's tough. Good news is that you definitely found a problem. I know that y'all can fix it.

I live about an hour or so south in Tontitown Arkansas. I can't wait to see that wicked car in person! Y'all have done an outstanding job. Don't let this set back get you down.

Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Sent from my SM-G970U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

That's would certainly impact timing!

 

Man, how the hell does that even happen?!

Sent from my SM-G960U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

High oil pressure will eat gears really quick. Buddy of my had a Buick 455 quit running right in the middle of the road, it sheered the gear clean off. He said at start up when cold, the gauge would show 95 or more psi.

 

Well I have an answer. I am not very happy about it, but I know exactly what and how it happened. I have been busy with my daughter's Riviera since we got back from MOKAN, trying to get it ready for the Hot Rod 100 Reliability Cruise coming up. However, Friday at about 3 p.m. my tuner called from California and said he could take a look at the log in an hour and half. So I took off early from work, shot home, got the car, the computer, and the internet all ready to go. An absolute furious clusterf@%#! Unfortunately, after nearly killing myself to get ready, it only took about 5 seconds to find out he originally forgot a setting that would actually log the car's performance etc. It was a total bust.

He confirmed however there was nothing wrong with the computer, no errors etc. So I hung up and started looking into things I actually know about. I had pulled the distributor cap at MOKAN and it looked perfect no issue with the rotor or miss fires in the cap etc. so we just put it back on. Friday afternoon, I pulled it again, it still looked perfect except for one small thing. The adjustable portion of the phasable rotor had moved. It was obvious because I could see the where the washer on the lock down screw had been etc. I tried to rotate it back, thinking it had come loose, which would certainly explain the timing change.

The adjustable portion did not move, but the entire rotor, shaft and all would rotate left or right a good inch. I knew right then I would not be happy with the business end of the distributor. I removed it and of course you saw it etc. I started doing research and found high volume oil pumps like mine can cause it. @RmK57 suggested a cast gear on my roller cam. I was positive that was not the case because I remember changing it. Around 9 p.m. last night I was running it around in my head and decided to prove to myself I changed it. Every step we have made on this car is right here in the thread, so I decided to find it.

It took a few hours but just before midnight I gave up. I had ran through the entire thread (some of it twice) and found nothing about the distributor. Early this morning I started going through my receipts looking for the stupid gear that I would had to have purchased. I could not find it. There was of course one way to be sure so I got up and headed to the shop drove the pin out and tested what was left of the gear with a grinder.



So ding ding ding @RmK57 you guessed it. I would have bet big money against it but that is exactly what I did. I changed the gear out on my Model A, I change it out on Dad's Coupe, I locked down the distributor and changed it out on the Austin and then I locked this unit down, installed a phasable rotor and dropped the stupid thing in just as it came out of the box, cast gear and all! You know there have probably been 2500 steps or more in this build. I suppose missing one out of 2500 is pretty good. But it is certainly a pain in the back side. LOL

 

What a bummer. I know it was a letdown to have that experience at the track, but --- as you always do --- you will persevere and succeed!

 

Thanks Randall! I am getting getting ready to fire up a 351 Windsor , with aluminum heads ,roller cam and a brand new distributer laying on the bench because I was priming the motor . Never gave the bottom gear a thought. I will double check it tomorrow night. You may have just saved me an awe F----K moment ! What a guy! Hope this is the only gremlin you find! Larry

 

Randall I hope you pull the pan and the oil pump and check it for scars and clean out the pan hopefully nothing horrid happened but it’s worth the effort to investigate the bottom end things cost too much these days not too


Chrome don’t get ya home

 

Probably be a good idea to cut open the oil filter and check for pieces of metal. Better than finding pieces in the pan with part numbers on them.

 

I am very glad you found the reason for the failure! It really sucks when it happens but you will triumph! Gary

 

Well I ran all the numbers and receipts and my custom cam grind is a billet solid/roller (as if I didn't already know). It came from Howards so I called them to see what they recommended to make it happy. LOL They said either composite or bronze. I told them how hard we would be spinning it and they said no question...composite. So I have one on the way. Carbon Ultra-Poly...

Now I know I should rip this thing completely apart and replace all the bearings etc. But I just don't have the fortitude at this point. I can't even tell you what it would take to just pull the motor let alone tearing it down again. SO with that being said, I told Dad last night, I am going to pull the pan, pull the oil pump, the filter and oil lines to and from it and clean the living daylight out of all of it. I am already using the best racing oil money can buy and an over sized Wix Racing filter. We will just do the best we can from the bottom end to make sure she is clean. Then put it all back together and just roll with it.

 

And just to make myself feel better about the whole mess, I ordered a new set of slicks. I decided the Radir Pie Crusts were simply not going to do the trick. I know we can "make" them work with tire prep but that is a lot of work. I have always had great luck with Hoosiers, so I looked a bit and came up with a set of 9". They are going to fit the car perfect. The M&H tires look good but I was giving up way too much contact patch with them. I am pretty excited because the "Nine" will fit on my 8" painted black track rims.

Dad claims it will be much easier to get the white letters off of these before they are not only mounted on the rims but the car...LOL. He had a whale of a time getting them off of the Austin before we headed to the meltdown drags a few years back!

 

I have that same tire on my afx and it was kinda pain to get rid of those ugly white letters but they work well


Chrome don’t get ya home

 

I don't blame you. Hopefully all will be relatively clean. Please post pictures of everything. I'd like to see the oil filter cut open if possible. Thank you and....


Good luck!


Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I just put a set of Hoosiers on my vintage dragster, brake clean on a shop rag took the white off very easily.

 

What are you going to do with the M&Hs?

 

SOLD...Well they are basically two year old Brand New slicks. They have been mounted and stored inside a temperature controlled shop since I got them. They have one decent burnout on them which you may have seen earlier in this thread. They have two blistering 16 plus second quarter mile passes, also (unfortunately) documented here and they went to the HAMB Drags on my Dad's 32 Three Window Coupe and made a total of two 600' rain impaired passes at that event. LOL

They are M&H 15/9 Vintage look Cheater Slicks (7.0'' Tread Width)
HB-11 Compound: Drag Racing Slick, Tube type. Not D.O.T. Certified. Extreme traction material. Soft-Medium Compound. Race cars of 3500-pounds or less will find this compound very effective. Light or moderate burnout recommended (so says JEGS).

I paid $250 per tire. I would sell them for $100 each if someone had a good home for them.

 

Well I worked on the Cobra this afternoon. I was not planng on it at all, but as luck would have it I found myself with extra time on my hands so we just knocked it out. To explain why I had time for it I will have to tell on myself a bit. As I have mentioned, I having been thrashing on my daughter's Riviera to get it ready for a 100 mile cruise this weekend. We have been working our way through the brake system and recently thought we ended it with a new mastercylinder. We took it for a drive Sunday and the brakes worked great. However when we got back I noticed the passenger side rear tire was wet. Our wheel cylinder rebuild efforts seemed to have come up short.

Monday I snagged a new one and that night we installed it. We did not go for a drive but we got it all back together and bled. Tuesday we worked on installing a small gauge set since I don't trust the original equipment. Before it got dark I decided to take it for a spin. However the rear wheel we had worked on the night before was locked up tighter then a drum. When I put it in reverse the car would not move when I tried to push the issue a bit, it broke the driver's side tire loose on the rack and spun it. I tried forward, it moved a bit but then the same thing, broke the driver's side loose again.

I kept thinking I could break the thing loose but after a few forward and rear pulls, I gave up.
I hate drum brakes. It was obvouis we would have to pull it down again and it would be a fight! I didn't want this to drag out all week and miss the cruise so I took the day off today to just get it done.
This morning I had to go to work early for an hour or two before I took off. So at 6 a.m. Zoe and I are on the way to Springfield and she asks a really good question. How could the driver's side wheel spin like that when the passenger side was locked up? This car is supposed to be positract. Right?

I was so aggrevated last night that it didn't even occur to me. I decided that it must not be a positract, even though the numbers on the rearend say it is etc. Anyway we get back to the shop about 8 and I am ready to tear into it. It is on the rack so that makes it complicated to jack up. Same as before I slid a 4x4 and a 2x5 under the front wheels of the jack with its rear wheels on the rack etc. I start jacking it up and Zoe says wait, let me get a jack stand. I said they are too short with the car on the rack so don't worry. She said it worked yesterday just fine. I said what do you mean. She said I just put it under the rear end it was nearly touching it etc.

I looked under the car, and it was still there! LMAO!

I had no idea. I let the jack down Monday night and sat the pumpkin right on a jack stand. It was a perfect storm. It looked like it was setting on the rack. However when I sat in the driver's seat, it tipped the car on the axis, barely sat the driver's side tire on the rack and lifted the passenger side completely off. So when I tried to drive it Tuesday night, it wouldn't go anywhere. When I pushed it a bit and finally broke the driver's side wheel loose on the lift's treadplate, I just assumed the passenger side was locked up. Dad was standing behind the car but was only watching the spinning wheel, thinking the same thing. If he had just stepped to the passenger side he would have seen that wheel in the air just free spinning! Zoe was in front of the car and couldn't see the passenger side either.

Talk about a total brain fart. Anyway it only took about 2 minutes to fix the brakes on the Riviera so I basically had the rest of the day free! Keep this under your hat, alright?!!! LOL!

 

So with this ongoing "Brain Fart" issue is Zoe looking into assisted living options for you or does she plan to care for you herself? lol Wait till you get to be my age! Larry

 

Hah!! That’s a great story, glad I’m not the only one that does stuff like that!


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

Man this thread sure is "entertaining"

 

Damn, forget to check the HAMB in the afternoon and miss a good deal. Let me know if it falls through. I have a OT Nova I am building that those would be perfect on.