Well there you go Bob, sounds like an OK dollar mild Hi Pro head. Pretty much like I have now, nice that the 300 has clean intakes. As it looks like your winter is never going to end you will have time to P&P the head yourself in that nice worm shop. One of the Pacific NW group runs a 300 and has went 11.66@112 with a single 4bl on Pie Crust 8" slicks. I think you would be real happy to run in the mid to low 11's, start saving for the hides. The first time you make a pass in the 11's you will have a grin from ear to ear.
Assumptions..they'll get ya in a pickle now and then. I picked up this shifter for a very good price. It's for a forward pattern 350 Turbo. I figured I could buy a plate to convert it to Powerglide reverse pattern. No can do. Hurst Quarter Sticks aren't made that way. Luckily I have a Cheetah shifter in my Anglia. It currently shifts a 350 Turbo but it was previously used with the Powerglide going in the dragster. So a swap of the two shifters will solve the problem. Tom, thanks for the encouragement regarding the 300 Ford engine. I'm very reluctant to do any bowl work myself however. 12's would be nice this summer.
I used one of the cheetah in my NE-1 (7.50) dragster and it was the best unit for the driver area, mounted on the inside frame with a 1-2 electric shift solenoid and button on the butterfly wheel so I could keep both hands on it. I really don't think you will see much gain on your (mild) 300 motor from a P&P job. Gasket match intakes & Exhaust ports and build a proper size & length header system and run mid to low 12's all day without engine strain. Just my feeling Stay worm.
Joe, Wow! That sure is quick. I see you guys have raised the breakout e.t. Was that for safety or to keep more of the cars in the game? Care to give up any speed secrets on that 11.28 car? I understand if you don't want to.
Hi Bob W, The index was raised to make for closer racing. We only had 4 cars that have Broke out at 11.35. The secrets are mostly a well prepped track. And most of our really good times were at big races, running among the Pro-Mod cars. Those cars run 200 in the 1/8 mile. When they are running it helps the track. At the Throw down in T Town 2012 in a practice run for the 1/8 mile a ran a 7.21, and I think thats pretty good for a slant 6. I won that race, Ryan broke out and I ran a 7.41 @ 94.80 You can watch it at 5 min into that film. And you see the car before us and the one after us both run 200, in the 1/8 mile. we were running an index of 7.35. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCePslXqBMc
Yes Joe, I watched you guys on Bangshift. Very impressive. The engine shop completed my block; clean, magnaflux, bore and hone. Rods are reconditioned, balanced and fitted with ARP bolts. Pistons are balanced and fitted to the rods. Brought the whole works home so I can preassemble and measure deck height. Then the block goes back to be milled, cam bearings, core plugs and final cleaning. Somehow, I misplaced the original bearings so preassembling is delayed til I buy new ones.
Sounds like a sweet, smooth running mid 11 sec ride. Your going to love this season with your new setup. Now if it would just stop snowing.
I can't wait for the big match race at the Meltdown! Next week it is supposed to get above freezing for the first time since mid-January. I hope the ice melts enough for me to be able to get the shop door open again. I am taking delivery on a freshly machined .60 over 261 block. I picked up a new bump stick for it and a Clifford 3X2 setup & long tube headers. I was originally hoping to make a threesome of it at Byron this summer but a time out for prostate cancer surgery put me behind schedule.
Racer Roy, Sorry to hear about the prostate cancer. Sounds like you beat it however. I've had a couple bouts with minor cancers a while back. Nice collection of 261 goodies. I sure wish you could make the Meltdown with it. Maybe bring it unfinished and put it in the show? There's talk a couple HA/GR's from the Left Coast might be there. Tom, It remains quite frigid here. Also a little snow every other day. 5"-7" due on Monday. I need my tax refund to finish the dragster. A screw up by my bank has held up filing. Got that straightened out Friday.
Glad to you got the cash stuff straightened out and can get back to the project. Going to be interested in how much you can mill off the block and what CR you will have. We had no winter this year, it is 75-80 in the valley this week, no rain at all. The good part is I can be working on car stuff every day, the bad part is that this hot 60-80 weather has started a month earlier than last year and it looks like we could have 5 months of 90+ this summer. It's going to be Hot/Hot/Hot.
Received 1.94 intake and 1.60 exhaust valves today. Along with rocker arm studs and rod and main bearings. Tomorrow I will put #1 and #6 pistons and rods in and check deck height. Then the block will go back to the shop to mill the head surface for a good quench in the combustion chamber. I haven't tried porting since 1964 but I thought, what the heck. There's good information on the 'net and You Tube. Good info from the Frenchtown Flyer too. As the pic shows I did a little work around the guides and the bottom of the bowls. Some smoothing of the combustion chambers too. Any advice regarding what I am doing here would be appreciated. My attitude is that doing too little is better than going too far and ruining the head or killing performance rather than enhancing it.
I stuck a piston and rod in the 1 hole and found the piston to be .013" down. Put the same piston and rod in the 6 hole and it was .024" down. The deck will Have to be milled at an angle. I want a zero deck. With a .030" cut on the head it calculates to 11 to 1 compression ratio. Dropped the block and head off at the engine shop. He said It will be done in a week. Too bad the car is still buried under 3 feet of snow.
Well Bob, l take back my first prediction of 11.75 for the car, l am thinking 11.50 is your new goal. With 11.0+ CR you are digging a cash flow hole that call's for more cam and bigger carbs. Can't what for the first driveway test. That motor will take a little tread off those street tires. You guys can't catch a weather brake, motor will be done and you will sill have snow on the car. We have some typical spring weather and have only had a 1/2" of rain in the valley sence first of the year. Forcast is for 2-3" later this week, we are hoping.
Wow Bob, I would say that you haven't lost your touch with hogging out a head. From what I have heard it is not unusual to have a considerable amount of "slope" on both heads and blocks. Sounds like you have it all under control. The 261" block and other speed goodies came in along with another week of snow and sub-zero wind chills. This is really the winter that won't quit. I am certainly planning on making it to the Melt Down but I probably won't have anything with me besides pictures. As soon as I figure out how to post pictures I am going to start a build thread. At least I can show all of the parts I have gathered up for my HA/GR even if I can't show any progress on the chassis.
I appreciate your optimism, Tom. Would be super excited to go 11.50. Roy, looking forward to meeting you at the Meltdown Drags. Picked up the block, crank and head yesterday. Screw in studs, oversize valves new guides, new exhaust seats (some small cracks found), .030" mill and some smoothing in the pockets. No full port and polish for this season. Got around two grand in the engine and bell housing so far. Probably another grand by the time it is ready to race.
Still no computer so I'm doing the best I can on an iPad. No pics however. Now for my complaint: Old6, you started it, then 64Dodge followed suit. Now Toymaker has joined the movement. What is it, you say? Bodies! Bodies on dragsters turning them into Altereds or Comps. I've got a small pile of old tin. Being a good follower, I think a good project after the race season would be to body-up on the dragster. Don't want to slow it down too much though. I have thought from the beginning that my dragster looked like an Altered without a body. There's a local guy making low priced fiberglass T Bucket bodies so that is a possibility too.
Well guys, the way I see it putting a body on a HA/GR or SDRA just takes it back BEFORE the Bug. After all, the cut down coupes, sedans, and roadsters came first!
Well, while Tom's is permanent, mine was lift-oof (pun intentional, steel body ) for two seasons. I ran'er both ways, body on for fun, and body off when I felt the need for a bit less weight and wind resistance. Though I did finally decide that I like the body-on well enough to make'er permanent, she was just fine as a "convertible" from a functional point of view. And if I'm not mistaken, Rocky's'll be lift-off as well, having the tin body in place beneath, as I did. Whether his juice bottle set-up lifts off with it'll be a seperate question.
One thing I really like on my "Last Logghe" car is the funny car style body mount. It makes working on the car easier and also is useful for showing off the technical detail underneath. I highly recommend mounting it the way Logghe Bros. did mine. I actually raced the car sans body in the early 70s as a D/ED, quite successfully in IHRA with a 240 Ford six. The next year they stipulated in Econo Dragster rules "cars must have a wheelbase in excess of 125inches", effectively outlawing my car.
As a frame of reference my RPU has run a best of 11.68 with a 'glide, 4K converter, and brake... ON 2.47 REAR GEARS!
My dragster won't be matching your 11.68 with that RPU, Frenchtown Flyer. I'm sure you have a lot more horsepower in that engine than I have in mine. I packed my Rover project away today to make room for the dragster. If the snow ever melts I'll get it back in the garage. The tilt body on the orange car is an excellent idea. Do you get in with the body raised? Dick, how much weight did the body add to yours?
Rules require you to be able to be removed (by crew) from the car with the body in racing position, so you may as well get in that way too. Window nets & bars, steering wheels, ect, that have to be moved first are allowed, but I personally would rather have nothing in the way. My tub's original steel, fully gutted, shortened, welded at the seams, re-inforced with a bit of conduit, and with an .032" aluminum deck added. Comes in at 85 lbs presently. Adds a bit of wind resistance as well, but I haven't quantified that.
My 28 Altered (Avatar picture) was setup so the full body could be layed up funny car style witch made it a lot easyer for one man (me) to work on the trans, wiring, ect. I always stepped up on the tire to get in/out with the body down, I could not do that if I had too today.
Funny you should mention that. I added a step point for my (short legged ) wife this year, and found that it's much nicer for me as well.
Speaking of short legs, if mine were any shorter, I'd have no inseam at all. Thanks for the body information, guys. Quite sure it will happen in the fall. As I watch more snow falling, further burying the dragster I had to take some positive action. So I called Oregon Cams and had a great tech talk with an employee. Later, the owner called me back and we discussed my needs some more. I ordered a reground cam and a set of mechanical lifters from them.
The Jalopy Journal
