One more thing I want to touch on, lower engine containment device. There are a couple of reasons for using a diaper or bag or tray arrangement to catch engine oil if you puncture the oil pan with a rod or other motor part. 1. It takes a lot of time and effort to clean up an oil spill, while the spectators and the other racers who are ready to make their pass stand around twiddling their thumbs. If it's in the middle of the summer and the driver is suited up in a 15 or 20 suit, you can imagine how hot they get and how unpopular you could become in a hurry. 2. If the driver is lucky, the stream of oil dumps in the middle of the car and misses the rear tires. On the other hand, if the oil gets under the rear tire(s), things are likely to get ugly in a hurry. Ted Harbit has been racing a little Studebaker coupe for probably 40-50 years now, the Chicken Hawk. Just last week, a rod let go and punctured the pan, oiling the tires. The car went into a gymnastics routine and totally destroyed itself. Ted received some broken bones, but the doctors say he will recover nicely. Now, the fact is that for less than $150, Ted could have installed a Sportsman bag on the motor with some Pig Mat in it to absorb oil and maybe not have suffered the total loss of the car as well as personal injury. I've seen these Sportsman bags on ebay for around $130. For motors where no commercial bag is available, the rules allow a metal tray under the motor with minimum 2 inch high sides to it and Pig Mat in the bottom of it. Make the tray as wide as possible and long enough to cover from the harmonic damper to the bellhousing. I would lay the Pig Mat in, then form a piece of expanded aluminum into a wide and short "U" shape to lay against the Pig Mat to keep wind from blowing it out of the tray. I'd secure the expanded at the top rim of the tray with sheet metal screws/washers or maybe through-bolts and locknuts and call it good.
http://www.newpig.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Landing6_10651_10151_106085_-1_106085_Absorbents Here is the oil-only mat, 100 sheets per box, 22 gallons absorbancy per box. If a few guys got together and ordered one box for $71.00, you could divvy it up as 10 sheets for each guy at a cost of $7.10 and his 10 sheets would absorb 2.2 gallons of oil. http://www.newpig.com/webapp/wcs/st...tv_id=23860&mpe_id=37837&ddkey=http:ClickInfo
My niece broke a rod in her 406sbc powered '66 Nova. She slid through the traps at 120mph backwards. Fortunately, no injuries or serious damage to the car. I'm going to do this.
Do I take this to mean that on a rear engine dragster there has to be an appendage from the chassis to locate the switch further aft than the tires? I don't recall ever noticing such an appendage, but it would have to be that way, cuz typically the tires are the furthest thing back otherwise. EDIT::: I went and looked for pictures, found this one. Is this car legal?
Nope, not legal. Picture the car upside down in the mud at the end of the track, on fire, driver unconscious. How are ya gonna turn off the power? That shutoff rod needs to extend further to the rear so that it is accessible with the car upside down. The law of averages dictate that the car will not always be shiny side up.
Now, for a brief O/T interlude: My grandson, Zach is a high school senior. In some of the pics of my digger, you can see his GMC project in the background. He and 4 other students built this high mileage car for competition against about 60 other high schools. They came in second averaging over 400 miles per gallon. If my HA/GR proves to be a dog, maybe I'll pull 3 plug wires and see what I can do in the high mileage competition.
A brief update: It runs! and runs quite well. The plywood carb spacers were apparently choking the vacuum signal to the main metering system. Once I removed the spacers the engine ran well. Original jetting seems ok and the idle mixture screws are 1 1/2 turns. I got a pair of 130/90-16 bike tires free frome a motorcycle store. They are takeoffs but have good remaining tread. Also got a pair of 1935 Ford 16" spoke wheels. Since I have '34 Ford front hubs, the spokes are the wheels that fit. They are being sandblasted now. In a few days the front wheels will be on the car and I can try a few "passes" in the driveway. I'll be meeting with my art director tomorrow to finalize lettering, etc. With all the rules talk going on, I don't know which level of firesuit to buy. I took 2 engines apart last week for candidates for a winter hop up project. One had 2 spun rod bearings. In the other engine the # 6 rod bearing was completely missing! I "panned" for copper in the sludge in the pan and found bearing chips. I've never encountered a totally missing bearing before. And, the rod and crank journal are not nicked or hammered. I haven't mic's the crank so I don't know how much is missing.
A QUESTION??? I drained the A833OD 4 speed in the digger and it contained Automatic Transmission Fluid. I know that some late model stick transmissions are spec'd to use it. I'm interested in what you slant six guys are using in your stick transmissions. Thanks. Bob
It's up on all four wheels. I got the '35 Ford spokes from a Wed. lunch buddy. The bike tires were free "take offs" from a cycle shop. I mounted them the old fashioned way, with tire irons.
I sanded the aluminum body panels with a DA and 120 paper. It gives a matte finish that hides the scratches and gouges that were too deep to polish out.
I took the rear rims off a '67 T-Bird in my favorite local junkyard. My neighbor bought a '64 Chevy pick up and didn't want the G78 bias tires, which are practically unused, so he gave them to me. Love the free stuff!
I picked a name for the car and my "racing team". The wife of a friend, Kathy Weeks, is an excellent sign painter. She has developed the design and will be hand painting the lettering.
The driver's view. You can see the wind deflector, butterfly steering wheel, the hand brake lever to the right and the "mini Moon" gas pedal. It needs trans fluid and coolant, then it is ready for some "driveway drags". Now, all I need is $700 worth of safety items. Now for some editorial comment: I've been reading with great interest all the discussion regarding rules, confusion, car count etc. Since I am just finishing a car all this is fresh in my mind. First, I don't have a shop, I have a garage with a minimum of tools and equipment. If I could not have borrowed a tubing bender, I would have ordered a prefab cage from Chris Alston Chassisworks for under $400. I borrowed a tubing notcher and used it in my drill press. Everything else was simple metalwork, cleaning, assembly and welding which almost everyone on this site can do. In the planning stages, I looked at every picture of every HA/GR on this site. I read the rules and pored over a NHRA rulebook deciding what would be required to run at local strict dragstrips. A number of PM's were sent to guys with completed cars and I recieved lots of valuable information from them (A BIG thankyou to all of you). I used to be of average intelligence, but I'm old and losing brain cells rapidly. Even so, I had no difficulty figuring out or understanding the requirements and restrictions imposed by the HA/GR rules. It was a little more difficult to decipher the NHRA rulebook. Once I decided to treat my car as a 10:00 second or slower Altered chassis, then the NHRA rules became clear. Regarding car count and the racing experience: I doubt there will ever be a flock of HA/GR's in my area. I never expected there would be. If I would have built a flathead powered Fiat Altered, I would not expect to run in a field of 8 of them each week either. I intend to go to local nostalgia drag meets and run in the class/bracket they put me in. Win or lose; I don't much care as long as I get the best performance out of my car. If so inclined, I'll make the trip to the Mecca of HA/GR racing, the HAMB Drags at MoKan. Regardless, I had a terrific time building the car and will have a ball running it. What more do you fence sitters want out of the deal?
To make a pass in your car, you selfish bastage... I'm with ya on the safety gear. Mine got here today. Was just at $1000 with shoes, gloves, 2 pair of underwear, 2 shirts, 3 pair of socks, arm restraints, 2 bellaclova's, and suit. sfi 3.2a/5 stuff on the suit. I've been a little "slack" in running proper fire gear in my other cars... so it was the right thing to do, and wife approved. I think wives tolerate the expense of safety gear pretty well.
RoCk On.... Great to see, refreshing. That driveway's going to be fun.... Cheers, and congrats, looks great, Drewfus
Beautiful job Bob. You have a fine looking car and your last post says what these builds are about. Your statement, "no difficulty figuring out or understanding the requirements and restrictions imposed by the HA/GR rules. It was a little more difficult to decipher the NHRA rulebook. Once I decided to treat my car as a 10:00 second or slower Altered chassis, then the NHRA rules became clear", really sums up the concept pretty well. Nice build, you should be proud of it.
I drove it 3 feet, in the garage. So, it moves under its own power. If it quits raining I'll try a few spurts in the driveway. Have selected a racing team name and a car name. Kathy Weeks, an excellent sign painter did all the artwork and is now lettering and illustrating the body panels. This thing is almost done! Unfortunately, this winter I'll probably triple the money I have in it with engine mods, a good flywheel & clutch and a different transmission. In anticipation of that, I'm working out the bugs in one of my hot rods to prepare it for sale.
Bob, I had a 58 Belair 2dr Hardtop with 348 tripower that I sold to finance my race car. I have not regretted it for one minute. Going down the drag strip is a lot better than sitting on your butt in a lawn chair at a cruise in. Roy
I got the body panels back and I sure like the hand lettering. I selected "Lone Ranger Racing Team" because I do almost all my car building alone. In fact, I jealously guard my projects because I enjoy the work so much. Only operations I can't do get farmed out.
The Lone Ranger fired Silver Bullets, so...that's the name of this thing. The aluminum body panels are silver and, with 145 rompin' stompin' horespower, it should be fast as a bullet. The skeletal Lone Ranger image should tell viewers the name has nothing to do with Coors Beer. By making the Lone Ranger a skeleton I thought it created a bit of a sinister or mysterious image for the rig. If ya can't be fast at least be mysterious.
Another objective was to have the lettering large enough so the three curious spectators along the fence could indentify the car. In a few more years the neighborhood will be teeming with HA/GR's and I don't want to sink into anonimity. I tried a few runs in the driveway and have some carb issues to sort out. Other than that, the car is done, except for new seat belts. I'm gonna apply for a government stimulous grant to buy all the safety apparel. Thanks to everyone who followed this build and offered encouragement and/or technical advice. It was greatly appreciated and certainly made the build go faster, with a better end result.
The Jalopy Journal
