Projects Front Engine Dragster update

Hi Lippy:

Hey working on the Dragster at all??
Anyway heres a link for your ref.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=587605&highlight=ndrl

see ya
Luke

 

Oops. Parts are still being gathered Luke, and a shop being constructed for the dragster. I need more hours in the day and a tad more money. It will be all coming together soon I hope. Thanks for asking! Lippy

 

After I got out of the dragster on Friday, Roo Man climd in and made two passes. I do not have his slips.

 

Ok, went the track today for only the second time in the dragster’s life today.

Bob, the owner of Empire Dragway, just isn’t having any luck with the weather. We got rained out, only got one pass in.

So if you are keeping score that is weather 14, Bob 2 (events for this year)

I went to the track with three goals
1) Get the steering wheel straight again as I had to play with the front suspension to get the body to fit and not interfere with the drag link for the front tires. We got this accomplished.
2) Work on figuring out what the roll out time is so I can plug that into the practice tree. I think I cut a good reaction time on the light (although the time slip stated .8, I believe that if I plug in .2 on the practice tree that will get me really close). I will sit in the dragster this week and practice on my R/T and my lights next time at the track will be getter.
3) Work on dialing in the dragster to a 9.00 index. We made no progress here because of driver error and only one run.
I ran with the full body this time and the engine heated up really quickly. At Indy I was able to take two passes before the temperature reached 190 on the return. With the body on and after only one pass, on the return road I was at 200 and was tempted to shut it down before getting back to the pits.

There is just not enough air flow around the radiator with the body on. I’m going to remove the front part of the body and hang it on the garage wall for now. This will easy the task of fueling, removing the safety pin on the fire bottles and keep the engine cool.

One trip down the track would seem like not much progress could be made, but I feel it was worth the time. I was not as anxious this time about getting everything right. It seemed to come easier. The one thing I keep forgetting is to arm the recorder. I think I will assign the task to a crew member to reach into the cockpit an arm the recorder before I stage.

The crew members consisted of, in first name alphabetical order

David Shaff Ford Motor Mechanic, and Pro-Formance engine builder.
Frank Serafine exemplary Nova builder and past perfectionist racer.
Matt Shaff extraordinaire engine builder and Front Engine Dragster Pilot.
Steven Walczak Nostalgic 32 Bantam 7.00 index pilot with aspirations of 6.5, and jack of all racing trades.

Without the help of these gentleman today’s outing would not have been possible

That is today’s note, I hope to get out again this Wednesday, but the weather does not look good. They are saying rain for the next ten days.

Sorry there are no pictures or videos yet, that is not as high on the priority list as getting seat time in the dragster

 

Video of the dragster (Tom has done it again!)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_urqGkJ-aE

 

Ok, here is an update.

I will recap some information so everyone is on the same page.

Last night we went club racing. I had some really nice runs.

Working on a 9.00 index, but running ET so we did adjust the dial-in when racing.

R/T Dial 1/4 time
.502 9.000 9.037 (first run of the evening)
.527 9.000 9.020
.469 9.000 8.960 (first tree in the dark)
.564 8.900 8.992

Now the bad news.

We think on the last run an exhaust valve stuck.

Today I pulled the valve covers and found no damage.

I cranked it over and everything that was supposed to go up and down did.

Put the covers back on and fired it up and it ran fine.

I flushed the fuel system of alcohol with gas (yes I know I should have pulled the plugs first).

I pulled all the plugs and did a compression test, highest was 160, and lowest was 140. (The 160 was on the number two cylinder which is the one that was not firing (that header tube was cold)).

Matt came over and generally checked everything over; including valve lash and all seems Ok.

When I pulled the plug wires the wire on #2 was loose, on but not clipped on tightly.

We are going to put it back together and take it out tomorrow night (if it does not rain) and try again.

Here is a link that everyone has been waiting for, also is attached the time slip for the run.

<EMBED height=355 type=application/x-shockwave-flash width=425 src=http://www.youtube.com/v/d_urqGkJ-aE wmode="transparent"></EMBED>

The video is deceiving as it was actually dark and I did not compensate well enough to a night time light (I have to make some excuse for the red light).

Oh, yes, one more note. I need taller tires again as I am still hitting the limiter on the top end.

 

Congrats. Great looking FED.

 

A couple more pictures, another outing.

 

#'s ?

 

Best run to date is R/T .502 ET 8.813 at 153 MPH

I'm now tuning in the oppiste direction for a 9.0 index.

 

Now that the vacuum leak is fixed we have been working on getting the car to run a 9.0 index for NDRL.

That might sound like a easy thing to do but it hasn’t been.

We tried short shifting; dropped the shift to second from 6300 to 5300 and the car ran the same time. Turns out that the Pontiac engine makes so much torque at the lower end that in order to make a difference in the ET I would have to shift in the first .35 seconds of the run (remember there are no timers in nostalgic racing.

Throttle stop was the same thin, we had ¼ inch gap at the carb stops and it still ran the same number.

Last night we removed 2 degrees of timing, lowered the launch RPM to 2300 (from 2500) lowered the shift point, and lowered the max RPM with an altitude density of 3120……it lifted the front wheels on the launch and ran faster ET and MPH.

We took another two degrees of timing out and it dropped .018 on the ET and ran 1 MPH faster.

Left everything the same and changed the rear tires from 31.5 X 13 to 33.5 X15 and ran a 9.04 ET

I’m going back to my tires and the 28 degrees of timing for the ET racing here and borrow Matt’s tires for the NDRL Index racing.

We have been getting inconsistent RT and I had been thinking it was me, I put another driver in the car and he had the same problem. We took the front tire off and rolled it through the beams and found the same problem. The track owner is saying the beam is going over the top of the tire. Looks like I will be making a call to Hayden for a Light Shield, wish there was someone closer so I could have it for this weekend’s gasser race. I will try interlacing some duct tape in the spokes for this weekend’s race.

The picture below shows the light beam events on the front tire, pre stage, staged, deep, and ET timer start.

 

Glen you need one of those disk's that go in the front wheel . Try Neil and Park's or Mark Williams.

 

Placed my order this morning with John of Hayden Enterprises Specialty Dragster Wheels. I should have it next week. I need to create a Red Green fix for this weekend. Any ideas?

 

Glen not pretty but duct tape will do in a pinch

 

That is what I am thinking, one piece inside the spokes and a second stuck to the glue side from outside the spokes should stay in place I would think, for the weekend.

 

Drag Racing Update.

We have come to the painful decision that I am just not good enough to warrant traveling to Bowling Green.

It makes no sense to drive 11 hours, put the crew up in a hotel, pay for pit passes and go (maybe) three rounds of eliminations only to go out the first round in competition because of reaction time.

The dragster is deadly consistent; the driver is all over the place in Reaction Time.

The plan now is to run the Gasser series here, which is about once ever other week, Club racing which is once a month, and test and tune so that we are out at least once a week for the rest of the season.

If I should get better we might travel later in the season.

 

Glen,
Congrats on your success. Very impressive. I fought rain here accross the lake all year too and only managed one dry race day so far. We get one race per month here so I was beginning to get anxious. We have an arm drop deal as well at the old Picton airport (Where movie Bomber Boys was made)next month Aug 27 so I am excitied to run there. Probabkly if I had a step ladder up there on "the hill" I could almost see your place!. Your times are excellant.
Don

 

Glen how far are you guy's from Lebanon Valley ? Aug 20 and 21st Dover Drag strip third annual nostalgia drags . Your car will fit right into Dover Comp class .If you or any of your friends are interested .

 

Lebanon Valley is right down the Expres way (250 miles, 3 hrs 44 min)

Picton Airport, ON is much closer as the crow flies but there is a big lake in the way. I would have to go around the eastern end, and cross the boarder. 265 miles 4 hrs 16 min.

Mileage and time are the same.

The big thing is the driver. I need seat time, and the local track is an hour away.

If I get better, travel will be considered, but at this time the goal is seat time.

 

I have not posted in awhile. The blower engine is coming along. Been at the drags having fun. This weekend will most likely be the last for the season.

 

Aloha,
Wow, pure art man. I hope people appreciate these true craftmen in our current Gameboy world.
Big Al

 

Empire Dragway
Sunday October 9 Frigid Nationals Grand Champion Run-Off Final Points Race
Gasser class Glenn Lever Runner up

The Gasser Racing Series end of season banquet was held Saturday October 8th at the Batavia Downs Paddock Room.
Nick DiFeo was presented a beautiful trophy for winning the Nostalgia Gas Championship, a GRS racing jacket with his name on it and the top prize money ( $$ ) yes he is a professional racer !
Glenn Lever was in the prize money in the Mod Gas class finishing 10th in his first year with the dragster, after missing five weeks due to a back problem.

 

Well The Pontiac engine has been refreshed and now makes 652 HP

http://youtu.be/1m2jRDBoIcw

Video is produced and posted by Thomas Deyle

 

Beautiful! And congrats on the 10th place finish. Guess it figures that your engine guru would have motor parts stuck in his ears, eh?

 

So what was the cost of the chassis from Rooman????????????

 

Stepping it up with the new engine, looks like a lot of new cars will be in the mod gas class this year for you to run too.

 

It sounds great
Same time i have a question how mutch horse power de you need to drive in the 9 sec on the quarter mile

 

In what kind of vehicle. With the 524 Hp I had I was running 8.88 in t he 1/4 mile. With this engine I should be better than 8.5

 

It`s a 200 inch FED
The 524 hp was is on the flywheel or the axle?

 

Flywheel