Projects DRAG SNAKE "Vintage Terror!"

So after talking with the engineer at SW Racing Suspensions this is what we came up with. He said cut the bushing holder circle off the ladder bar I am not using. If there is room, between it and the driveshaft go ahead and bolt it on the outside of the inboard mount I built and run it right beside the other one. After it is bolted in and we are happy, tack and then weld the two bars together for added strength. Gusset the the end where we cut off the large bushing holder for added strength at that end.

Then run a couple of good quality lower control arm bars from the outside of the chassis (preferable outside the springs back to the rear end tubes. Get the housing all square and wheelbase set etc. Re-position the cross member where the front of the torque arm mounts to make sure the torque arm front bushing holder is close to center on it. Then take (with no bushing in it) the cut off holder, weld it in place solid to the cross member directly under the matching torque arm busing holder. Then fab a couple holders (shackles) from something strong at least 1/4" thick plate etc. Do not make them very long (just long enough that the two bushing housing do not touch....give them no more than .25" etc. between each other.

Install the bushings in the lower (just welded) piece and bolt through the shackles and the bushing. Then do the same with the bushing in the torque arm. Basically we just created a very heavy duty front shackle. Between the small movement provided by the shackle up front and fact that both sides of the shackled points are Neoprene bushed, there will be no lock up etc. He also suggested similar to their torque arm bracket, a simply pan hard style bar from the mount point of the top ladder bars across to the other side of the housing. Probably over kill but very simple and just some stability insurance.

Here is what I envision:

 

Make up your paper doll mock up. Full size and see how that works. Try for press fit pins in the holes to simulate low compliance bushings

 

Is that red bar attaching to the side of the frame or is it attaching to the housing? If it's just attaching to the housing I still don't see what is going to keep the rear end from shifting side to side.

 

The panhard (or watts link) is not shown.

I'm interested in this aspect though.

 

I think that bind is alleviated by the shackle on the front of the torque arm. So you only need to worry about the Arc of the shorter bars. If I understand it right..

Yes I would start to buy it if there is the use of a panhard rod or Watts Link in addition.

 

Won't the shackle at the front mount of the torque arm make up for that?

 

It Should
All the umph this thing can muster unto the shackles

 

Do not understand what long torque bar purpose with a shackle allowing it to move fore and aft. Sure limits movement but short bars by springs already do that. Short bar on top and 1/4 spring without shackle is all you need fore and aft. Then parhard or watts side to side. Almost 4 bar with coil overs me thinks.

 

This post sounds like a bunch of Injun Ears discussing the moon rover.......

 

So not a ton of progress this weekend as I spent the entire day Saturday trying to get the 327 for Dad's Coupe back together for an upcoming show. But finally by Sunday afternoon the Cobra got a bit of attention. I really do not want to order the lower bars as it will be difficult to get the exact size. Basically I would just have to orders what was offered and build around them. Which is nothing new here but I have a shelves full of previous build parts etc. So I decided to raid them a bit and see what I could come up with.

Right out of the box I found these little beauties...I don't even remember what they were off of, I am thinking a pair of bolt on ladder bars that I cut the mounts off of and made solid etc.


Never-the-less I decided to use them for my mount lower control arm mounts and quickly came up with a plate design to weld to them. My thought was after they are installed and we are happy, I can tac the front mount to the axle tube just for a bit of security and then bolt the back bracket half in place. This means if I ever need to remove them for some reason, just a couple of bolt and boom they are off again.


After we had the drop down plates welded onto the axle mounts we put both sides on to have a look. While we are sitting there Dad says you know I think we should tie those two brackets together across the back. It was a very good idea because we still have a few things to bolt on back there (shocks, watts link, etc.).


So we measured how far back from the axle bracket the cross member would have to be to miss the rear of the housing (two inches). Then the width front to back of drop down plate bracket from front to back (three inches). I took the 1x2 tubing that we have for the chassis outriggers and made two 5" pieces. I carefully marked them and split one end 3" top and bottom with the plasma cutter removing enough material for the pieces to slide right on the drop down plate bracket. Then we took a careful measurement left to right for placement and then welded the pieces (slits up) to the same material cross member.

After welding them up straight, plumb and solid, we took the piece back over and slid the cross bar in place over both drop down plate brackets. It took just a slight tap with a hammer to get them in place which is perfect. After adjusting both sides up, down and in etc. we finally got them in the correct place on each side and the cross bar was level. So at that point we tacked them it in place on both sides, removed the entire pieces (cross member and the back halves of the mounts) and welded them solid. We capped the ends of the cross member as well as the fronts of the split arms etc. Did a bit of quick finish grinding and took it back over. It went right back on absolutely perfect. We aligned the bold and gave both sides a little tap onto the axle tube and installed the bolts on both sides.


With our lower control arms set in place we are ready to work on the front mount. It is going to but right up to the rear body outrigger back there on both sides. We still have some finish work to on the new cross member like a couple of gussets on the inside corners etc. But it if going to be a very solid bar and will allow us to mount the shocks absolutely anywhere across there and then also serve as the base for the Watt's Link mount etc.

 

Are you using clevises on the back end of your links? I think clevises aren't supposed to have movement, only a solid joint like on the axle-end of a hairpin. The scraping of the axle steel against the inside of the clevis will wear parts too much.

 

Any thought to changing course and making it a funny ? LOL

found by Bangkok Dean

 

It looks fun but I will leave the funny car stuff to Squirrel! LOL

 

Personally I am not satisfied with my off "MY" parts shelf answer for the lower control arms. I really want them with bushings etc. So today I broke down and ordered all the pieces I need to do it right. Chromoly 20" Swedge Tubes and Forged polished stainless 4 bar style ends. Since I procrastinated most of the week, they will not be here until Monday. But I have my hands full will Dad's rod etc. Plus I hope to finally get the wheel wells cut and the body placed so we can lock all this stuff down for sure etc.

I am thinking finally seeing the stance is going to really motivate us! If we have some time we may start assembling the little small block motor....LOL!

 

Well we are catching some sun today. Sat the chassis and body side by side just to get an idea. Wheel base looks perfect...

Off to get bbq burger for lunch and pick up some blades to trim the wheels wells.

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Dan Cyr's Cobra. The chassis was built by Bruce Cassidy, Vancouver,Wa. for Cobra drag racer Chet McFallo, using a Gurney Westlake Small block Ford. Chet never finished it, years later Dan bought it and had Jerry Hill mount the BBC and change the roll cage. After a season of running it with a solid mounted rear axle, his best ET was a 9.21. He brought the car to me, and I built the ladder bars and hung the rear with coil/overs, and an engine change, he set the NHRA record in A/EA to 8.97 @152!

 

Marty, that launch photo at SIR is very cool.
I vaguely remember going with old pal in the early 70's to look at this car, don't recall if it was St. Johns or Sauvie Island though, also recall some engine prep being done at Forbes for Dan a couple years later.

 

It's funny, Dan lived on Sauvie Island and Chet Lived near Radke's in St.Johns. Larry Kalsch built the first engine at Forbes, and Then Dan bought the second one (a 393") for McBetts.

 

So as you saw earlier we pulled the chassis and the body out of the shop today but for more than a bit of sun. Today is the day we cut the fender wells etc. and it will make a much less mess of the shop if it is not inside it...LOL It has been a day that I have looked forward to with some apprehension. I mean I know it is just fiberglass, not like anything I might do is irreversible, but I would like to still get it right the first time.


The front wheel arch will remain in tact, just taking off the over mold area. But that means creating a new line. I was not sure how to find that line. After looking at a lot of photos I finally decided the best way to find it was use the current line, the top of the slap side molded flare. I took a piece of cardboard and made a compass.


The top is trimmed along the shape of the upper flare lip.


I poked a Sharpie through on the other end the same width I planned for flare side. I then carefully took the top and followed the top of the flare, dragging the Sharpie below making a duplicate line. This is the line from above on the flare and the line I cut with jig saw and a carbide encrusted ceramic tile blade. I cut a bit shy of the line so we can sneak up on it a bit etc.


But it cut extremely clean. I cleaned it up a bit by hand with an old sponge style sanding block wrapped with 60 grit sand paper. I am very pleased with the result. On the rear, as in all the original Dragon Snake cars, we cut nearly all the slab on flare away. I used the same marking device and put a line on the rear flare about 1/2" down. Below is photo of it before I cleaned up further by hand etc.




After the cutting we dropped the body on the chassis to get a sneak peak of the stance and a confirmation of our measurements and work thus far. I have to say, and with as much humility as I can muster, we have one bad ass machine underway! LMAO!


I can't tell you how good it felt seeing sit there. We must have walked around it for an hour or more just smiling and muttering to ourselves. Check out those one off front runners sitting perfectly right where we planned. Actually I can't really say that because even though I dreamed of them, I never imagined how amazing they could be in person.


Nice fit. Very nice fit. Wouldn't you say? LOL

 

WOW looking Great!

 

That looks awesome !

 

Looks good man I was gonna stop by on my way home last night but it was late lol


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Randal (is it one L or two L's)?
The rear wheel openings look great, or as we usta say "that looks puss".
You and your pop got a winner there, gonna be fun.
Now, can you do something about those front slabs, not feeling them, sorry.

 

Go ahead and admit it.... You sat in it making vrooom vrooom sounds.

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Two "L"s....lol. And we still have some cutting to do on the front fenders. I wasn't sure how well or clean it was going to cut so we started a bit south. There is another .75" or so to come off of them. But it is a very unique line to find. And you know how you cut a unique line don't you? .........Unique up on it! LMAO!

Besides after those first cuts we simply couldn't wait to slap it on the chassis for a look!

 

It's the only flat surface on the body.
It's an area that calls for finishing

 

Good job, this thing will be awesome!

 

Boys I hate to tell you this but while they will get a bit more trimmed off, it still has to have the slabs. That is the epitome of the original 289 cars from which the Dragon Snakes came. It is what sets them apart from the crazy bulbous fat fender 427 units (of which exaggerated replicas of such you can toss a rock in any direction and hit)! It is the only reason I went the extra mile to find this body. It may sound crazy, but those little flat spots on the front fender flares are actually the most prized pieces of the entire build.

 

Where do I need to go for a bbq burger next time I'm in town? Was just down in Springfield on Saturday!

 

Well we are in Republic about 20 minutes southwest of Springfield and we go to Heady's BBQ. About the best in the Country (and so close to us we walk down there most Saturdays). But while everyone else is there sucking down their ribs and other BBQ delights, Dad and I are having a burger. Something about their burgers! AND now (I sound like advertisement) they have smoked Ribeye Steaks...Holy Mackerel they are amazing! The next time you are in the neighborhood give me shout...