Projects Dragmaster Dragster Found Hanging On A Wall.

Our plans for a painter fell apart, we discussed our options and decided my son John would paint it. Although he or I had never painted a car John has a new paint gun he'd bought years early and never used. We talked to several old time painters that told us both lacquer and enamel were used back then and it wasn't uncommon for some racers to paint their own cars in their garage. We set the frame on saw horses at our warehouse opened the garage door for ventilation and extra lighting, followed the mixing instructions for enamel then John sprayed some test panels to get a feel for painting. The frame was painted first, let dry for 24 hours then visually inspected for any corrections. It had some light areas that John went over and when finished it looked good. Painting a tube frame from all those angles was a trip but it turned out real nice.

 

Too cool!!

 

been follow this build... looking great guys !

 

"Painting a tube frame from all those angles was a trip but it turned out real nice."

Yep.... All that paint missing it's intended target....

 

As I remember as late as 1960 or so some of the budget cars would have a brush paint job on the chassis and and a lot of grey and red primer and sometimes a brush job on the body. My how times have changed. You guys are doing a super job on the Dragmaster

 

Really good thread, it's nice you are doing this together. The history is worth as much as the car. I painted 2 dragster chassis in 1 day several years ago, a friends and mine. I thought my arm was going to fall off.

 

With our excitement over how well the frame turned out it was time to paint the panels and John did them the same way on saw horses with the bay door opened. The Dragmaster dragsters that Dode and Jim raced were gold colored with a red stripe that had a pin stripe on each edge down the center of the top panel. Since our car was going back the original black and the top panel was not with the chassis when we got it we decided to have a similar stripe down ours to give it the Dragmaster look. John painted the underside of the three panels first and let them sit for a day, they looked good so he taped and covered the underside along with the heads of the Dzus fasteners. He painted the area of the top panel the lighter color first then the next day taped the stripe area off and painted the panels black. I'm happy that John did the paint instead of a painter it added to the restoration and we're real pleased with how well it all turned out.

 

Nice job on the paint.... Excellent color combination.

 

With everything painted we assembled the car minus the body panels until we had the throttle, clutch pedal, battery and driveshaft housing cover installed, along with the on-off switch wired and checked.

 

I found this picture of a Hilborn pump with what looked liked the original fuel line. I called Hilborn and they told me this was the correct line and Redhorse Performance was the place to get the fuel line and fittings. I cleaned the new finish off the fittings to give them a natural finish and assembled the hoses.

 

Getting down to the short strokes. You'll be pushing off soon and making noise!!

 

We installed the driveshaft shield, battery, clutch and throttle linkage, checked for any final adjustments then mounted the coils and secured the firewall. We have the slicks off to ease installing the bottom body panels.

 

Nice, Real Nice!

 

Really really nice.

 

What are you going to use for Breathers? I don't see any but maybe I missed them..............

 

When Dode built our engine he left the breather in the valley under the intake manifold that vents out the back of the block that we use. We also have a set of vintage Eelco breathers that are the same size as the one in this early picture at the end of the valve cover except ours are about a 45 degree angle. We're either going to mount them on the end of the valve covers like the one pictured or centered on the bottom side of the valve cover. What do you think?

 

What did you use for a clutch?

 

I would think they would work better on the front as shown, they might leak on the side. Under full throttle the oil would be moving to the back end of the valve covers!!!!!!!!!

 

What did you use to clean the fittings, I'm guessing they were painted? And what size lines are you running?

 

And when you pull the chute to stop all of the oil goes to the front and out the breather!!!!!!
Highest point in the middle of the cover is the best place to install.
I really like the swept-back headers from the original Dode Pic.

 

We used an internally balanced steel flywheel 153 tooth 26lb. The pressure plate is 10.4" that is rated at just over 2500 lb's of clamping force, and a street/strip style clutch disc.

 

The fittings as the came from REDHORSE PEFORMANCE had an anodized finish that resembled chrome. I used a real soft fine glass media to blast the fittings to their natural look, then used a wore out fine wire wheel to buff the newly cleaned look and dull it down, they came out alright. The size of the hose and fittings from the bottom of the Moon tank to the Enderle fuel filter/shutoff and up to the Hilborn pump is 08. The lines and fittings from the pump to the injector and the one back to the tank are 06.

 

I had the header flanges as a starting point to build the exhaust before Jimmy gave these to us. I really like the swept-back look, they fit the build.

 

I do not know if you intend to run any or smoke the tires but a single disc clutch most likely not get the job done.

 

With everything in place and adjusted we installed the body panels. Check out how the top body panel fits around the steering shaft. John measured, marked and cut the hole before painting it, it came out perfect.

 

Fantastic build! Thanks for putting it on the H.A.M.B.

 

A Single disc clutch with be OK as long as your not trying to use it as a slipper clutch. We run a cheap single disc in a te440 with a blown small block. Works as long as you don't ride it. Car is looking fantastic, a really top notch restoration.

As soon as I got a race car, I never saw another hundred dollar bill.

 

Flathead Were you using direct drive?

 

Christmas tree you right. I just went back and realized the car in the thread is direct drive. Your correct a single disc is going to have a short life in this situation.

As soon as I got a race car, I never saw another hundred dollar bill.

 

In the day we used dual disc lock up instantly clutchs to get the wheels spinning if you had the horse power to run direct drive. Slippers had not been invented yet.