Drag tech/advice in Sacramento

I am building a semi-traditional model A. I would really like to be able to run some 9 sec passes when its all done. I have zero experience with drag cars so if someone in the Sacramento area would be willing to come by and check out where I am at and give some pointers I would really appreciate it

Appreciate meaning beer and pizza!!!

Here is where I am at so far. This thing is really a street car, but I want it run as well.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=153028

 

anybody?

 

I don't know what rules the track at Sacramento follows, might be NHRA, IHRA, their own rules, some nostalgia class rules. But, if you find out, you can probably pick up a rulebook that'll tell you all the stuff you need to pass tech inspection. The faster you go, the more safety stuff you need. I haven't drag raced sinced they shut down Fremont Drag Strip, but I remember when I raced in some simple bracket racing or grudge nights, the rules were pretty simple. You needed a helmet. The studs that hold your wheels on must go all the way through the lug nuts. Your battery has to be tied down securely. You have to put your top up if it's a convertible. You have to have seat belts. But once you get faster than a certain speed, you need more and more safety equipment. If you think you can actually go 9 seconds, there's a ton of stuff you'll need, a fire suit, a roll cage (not just a roll bar), a 5 point harness, an approved helmet, and blah blah blah. I'm going to throw out a guess that you're probably not going to go any better than 12 seconds on the first try.

On some grudge night, they might let you race the first time with the bare minimum of safety stuff, but once you go too fast, they won't let you race again unless you install all that safety stuff to pass tech. See if you can get a rulebook and at least prepare the car with the minimal stuff to pass tech the first time. Have fun -- it's a blast as long as you don't blow up your engine or get turned away by the tech inspector.

 

Just curious what kind of motor you will run to put that in the 9's and street drive it??

 

I was holding my tongue.

 

To get in the 9's you're going to need at least 500hp or 550hp, if your car weighs 1800 to 1900 lbs. Pray for tracktion. If you are planning to do that with a small block chevy it won't be much of a street driver. Good Luck!

 

its getting a 327 in for now, 871 blower going on it soon. Then I will be building a big block to get the 871. I am getting 600 hp out of my vette and it is VERY streetable. Never ran it at the track, but I have street raced cars and won easily against 11 sec cars.

Now that being said.... any of you have any thing constructive to add?

 

Well it looks as if you have all the answers, so why are you asking us?

 

http://www.sacramentoraceway.com/ look under the wednsday night drags link on the site

 

I'm running low 6's with a Briggs & Stratton 5 horse, the stock centrifugal clutch is holding me back though. Runs way better than the Black and Decker aquarium pump I used to have in there.

Seriously though, Sacramento is fun, just get that thing going and go! My club is going to make a day of it in the next couple months. I'll be in my Model A.

 

A little while back, we discussed Model A drag car roll cage design in this thread; it might help you out:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=141897

Hank

 

I don't think 9's and VERY streetable in a light car is very hard at all..?


Read the rulebook, make sure the car will pass tech (it will need an 8.50 tag) and you should be fine.
The numbers will come if your horsepower is there, if not it will still be fun IMO.

 

No, looks like you got it all figured out tough guy. Hell, your a street racer, 9's should be a piece of cake.

Oh and by the way, if you want to show up at NHRA track and run "NINES", you might want to ask the NHRA and not put a post on the HAMB asking what you need.

 

Your car will need a chassis cert to run in the nines, and you will need a competition license. If you run quicker than 10 flat or faster than 135 mph the rules change a bunch.

A partial list would include, firesuit, certified helmet, full cage, window net, sfi aproved crankshaft dampner...ect.

A chassis cert is given after you pay a fee to have a tech dept person inspect your chassis for correct tube placement, diameter, and wall thickness(sonic tested). There is a fee and test procedure for the license as well. This is all explained in the NHRA or IHRA rule book.

Its not very easy to get a street car in the nines, as suspension that will put all the power to the ground is not very streetable, it also takes some specialized set up to make it happen. A car with enough power but not enough traction will suffer greatly in the time slip. It also can be somewhat dangerous. BTW they will not issue a license if the car is loose and moving around on the track. So be careful,. and go to the track get a rule book and see whats up.

Not trying to discouage you! Just thought you might need to know what your looking at. I drag raced for twenty years, worked for a drag race team. I hope you can have fun no matter what the ET slip says.
Good luck, and 9.90s to ya
Craig

 

Thanks to those of you who had helpful things to say.

Too those who don't f&*( off!

I am building a hamb type car so thats why I am asking here. If I was building a full drag car I would be on a different forum. To me the hamb is all about guys helping each other learn and sharing in a common interest. For those of you who have attitude as if you know it all and yet then contribute nothing ..... what is it jealousy? small penis? what?

My post about my vette was simply to point out that a 500 plus hp streetable car is no big deal. Probably a large portion of the members of this board have had this. This post is not about just the rules, I can look those up, but a humble request for some advice from those with more knowledge than myself who have been there before.

More and more "attitude" on this board is really a shame. Go and look and see how many posts are actually directly related to the focus of this board. There are more bullshit OT threads about drama than I have time to read. I am just a rook, but I am sharing what I can. By the amount of PM's I get it appears than some appreciate it. IF you can not be helpful on a topic then just move along,

The NHRA rulebook will not tell me how to make a model A run 9's.........

 

Ask this guy if streetable 9's are easy.It's a long way from low 11's to 9's(even High ones) and that's a fact.
This car ran 10.0's with a quasi streetable(read race gas/no squeeze) 383 that came out of a 70 model Nova that ran low 12's to high 11's and got plugged in this coupe,that's before the roller,tunnel ram and 2X4's and a 5 speed.This car can be and is driven on the street but not far and not often.
Running those 9's with a 327" motor will be difficult at best,even with a fairly heavyweight mouse.Hell with that little motor even doin' it on $5 dollar a gallon race gas and a blower wouldn't be a cake walk.
The coupe with a mild cage is gonna weigh in at 2200+lbs wet with driver.
Oh and a HELPFUL hint,seeing as how you're doin' the cage thing and all,If it has a cloth top you'll have to have a funny car style cage to go faster than 10 flat without gettin' your chops busted,not to mention the 5 point harness,snell95 helmet,sfi bell housing,driveshaft loop,diagonals in the doors,down to center diagonals in the main hoop,crossbar between the a posts and b posts(read main hoop),at least 2 down tubes to the rear frame rails intersecting the main hoop within 5" of the top,2 more tubes out front to make your 10 point cage,a fan shroud,a puke can,an external master switch on the rear,2 throttle return springs,a toe loop on the throttle if it's mech. linkage,oh yeah,a real transmission,not a munchie(the rules won't require that I just thought I'd help ya out before it breaks).
Oh and another thing ,just cause your gettin' props for your build (it is a neat truck) doesn't mean you get to get all sarcastic an that without catchin' at least a little flak,because someone thinks you're gonna have a hard time puttin' up those #'s with a 327,MR."0 EXPERIENCE WITH DRAG CARS".
Hope ya found this post more HELPFUL.LOL

 

You get to 9.90 with a lot of experience. Not everyone can drive that well. It takes many passes at 11.9, then 10.9, then 10.5, to get that quick. Build the most solid chassis you can. Always integrate the rules from the class you are planning to wind up in and start slow. When you have a 10 second car going down the track, dead straight, with consistency, you will know what you need to get it into the nines.

 

Take your vette to the strip, run the dog shit out of it.....then you will see what an actual time is, not running against so called 11sec street cars. This way you can re-evaluate your project as you will understand there is a big difference in track time and bull shit time. I am no expert, just finnished building my first drag car last year, but I can tell you now that I have ran it a couple times, all my street cars now feel slow. Also, for your saftey and probably the rules too, you need to tig weld your chassis and cage for 9.90 and dont grind the welds.

 

I was just trying to say that a car that makes some where around 500hp and weighs arround 2000lbs is a hand full to drive, I didn't say you can't drive it on the street. My model A roadster pickup weighs 1829lbs it has a 512cid caddy engine in it that makes about 480hp and close to 600ft/lbs of torque and it is a hand full to drive under the best circumstances. I have a friend in Texas who has a model T coupe wich also has a 512cid caddy in it, his made 556hp and 631ft/lbs of torque on the dyno, with a custom built chassis, a roll cage and big 12 inch wide slicks a total weight of about 2200lbs he ran a best time of 9.96sec at 134 mph after almost a year of tuning and experimenting, his first try only got him a 10.82 sec run.
This is a guy who has been drad racing for 8 years so he does have some experiance and he won't drive it on the street because it to much to handle he says.
Oh, and after he made the 9.96sec run they banned him from running on the track because the car wasn't NHRA aproved even though he has a racing license.
I wasn't trying to talk shit, I was just saying running 9's isn't as easy a every body thinks. Hell my model A has out run several guys that have so called 11sec cars, I've even out ran a harley that ran a 10.82sec on the track, but I figure I just had good luck.

 

Making that kind of grunt with a 550+" Caddy is also a damn site easier than doing it with a 327 Chev.
Just curious,is this Cad a pump gas motor or no?
I'm leaning towards putting one in my 32.

 

Absolutly a pumpgas engine, it's got 10:1 static compression and 9.5:1 dynamic compression, I run 9* initial ignition advance and 20* mechanical advance plus 10* of vacuum advance for a total of 39* advance and an adjustable vacuum canister that is adjusted to pull it's advance out early wich let's me run pump gas with no problems.
Caddy's are great engines, torque monsters!

 

What about your buddies motor?Is it a pump gas bullet too?

 

Damn, My Model A sedan i'm just finishing will maybe,......MAYBE weigh 2400 lbs, with a 600 horse big block, prepped trans, 4.56 posi, ajustable four link and slicks, and i'm realistically only expecting low 11's to high 10's. Traction is gonna be the big...big issue.
Whats your plans for suspension to put the power to the ground....?

 

Yeah he runs on pump gas also, 11:1 compression, big cam and he uses a MSD ignition, don't ask me wich one though.

 

I am curious what kinda times your car will actually run. Please post your times after you get it together. This interests me.

 

Sounds like a fun dream to chase even if you never make it.. Seems like there were a couple guys a while back that were going ot build a coupe to drive out to bonneville and go 200 mph

 

If you intend to run nines in the quarter mile (you didn't mean eighth mile, did you?) you are going to need some serious drag race science in your chassis. Traditional hot rod suspension won't get you there. Look at Car Craft magazine's web site and scope out cars that run nines or call Chris Alston Chassisworks and tell the tech guy you want to run nines with your Model A and see what they recommend for chassis components.

 

i though all sbc were 500 HP and ran in the nines i've badly beatten 550 HP 8 sec cars [bullshiters]with my 10 sec altered many folks have no real idea how fast a 9 sec pass really is a short wheel base 9 sec car is usually a handfull you'l need sfi firesuit [hot in the summer]flywheel, trans shield and maybe front balancer certifed frame funny car style roll cage rear safety axles with long studs a comp license that will require a FAA type physical every 3? yrs + the competion at the track is very sharp super gas super pro computer cars keep it streetable so you can enjoy it with out hasling entering and exiting with full cage and having to drive around with 4.88 or lower gears shoot for 11.00 and race with the guys who just wanna have fun and enjoy their rides the only real streetable 9 sec ride i've seen was a turbo-charged stretched modified rice rocket 2 wheeler john

 

It tales a lot to run 9's the best I have done is 10.20 on 10.5 inch slicks. The car was fair at best on the steet. But I did drive it to some local shows.Untill I got pulled over in Folsom. I almost lost my car. After a long list or tickets and court. I had to promse in court that I would not drive it on the street.
We are build ing a car in the shop that will run 9.90s on pump gas. But it is just a race car with some head light and a cood cooling system. The engine is getting Dino on friday we hope to get 700 + hp. It's a 427 ci small block. The cage is all tig welded and will have to pass a NHRA inspection to get certifed to run in the 9s. The biggest problem is traction. Scott

 

thanks for holdin back there yo baby,,,,,,,,,,,, thats the car im match racin this coming year .....