Man, the death wobble would shake the foundations of he planet with that much caster (90* X 4 = 360* doesn't it?) Trailer looks like a neat idea, planed as a camper too? Wouldn't be a stalker V8 in there?
Finally got power back, and by 10:00 welding was done (enough). Frame was on a workbench, axles on the lawn, motor hanging on the A-frame. By 11:30, everything was bolted back together, trailer and racer had switched places in the shed, and eveything buttoned up. We were on the road by 8:05, at my son's house on time, but messing with the new greatgrandbabies put us 5 or 10 minutes behind meeting our daughter at the airport. Reunion, sans wedding, went as planned. Wheel studs Magnum were to have shipped Monday have still not arrived, but dolly with casters really worked out great for reassembly, and for switching trailer and racer, much better than wheels without tierod would have. All those hours watching "Thomas the Tank Engine" finally paid off! I've got three days to do mods and repairs to the tear, then we'll be enroute to the Hot Rod Reunion at Bowling Green, Wooden Boat Show at Mystic Seaport, Lighthouse cruise and challange in Maine, Family reunion back in CT, TXK again by July 4th, in time for wife to teach second summer. Seven clone is the locost version, the kit car without the kit. Just frame plans and cutsheets. The design was in progress when I downloaded and started, but McSorely never got around to finishing the suspension design. That and my problems welding 16 guage x 1" and 3/4" square tube without blowouts has delayed completion bigtime! Anyone representing HA/GR or SDRA at the HRR? Need crew?
I bought some Jeep-style hood latches to use on the Teardrop hatch: couldn't find those suckers today to save my life! Wheel studs and hubcap allen screws showed up from Magnum: Loose in a big box of styrofoam peanuts. I know where they are now, but when I return from vacation......
Back from vacation, but the garage has been a sauna, so not much time spent there. Postponed the box manifold with twin twos in favor of an e-bay Offenhouser DP and Holley 600. Will use FI head with FI split manifolds and drop pipes. Does anyone have any experience with Petronix distributer? Came up with a number for the beast. Blame it on the DJ spinning Beach Boy records on cruize night: Told a guy I would be running one of those Ford W motors. Thus, the 4.9!
Third DodgeBrothers --I just installed a Pertronix kit to my Delco distributer on my Chevy 194 L6 and it works out real nice. Easy installation and hook-up. I have seen the new complete units for sale on the Bay. The kits run $50-75, I found a new one on the HAMB for $35. New complete units come in at around $270.
Back at it, at least the parts gathering. Slowed by the heat, and the need to work around the smoking crater where the credit card used to be. Made the buy/build decision on the roll cage, and ordered a die for my tube bender. Curious why SDRA specs .125 wall when NHRA only wants .118? #11 – ROLLBARS NO CHROMEMOLY A 5 point cages can use 1-5/8” x .125 wall tubing; main hoop must be 2” over driver’s helmet, with the front hoop 3” min. in front of the driver’s helmet. A 6 point cages can use 1-1/2” x .125” tubing; main hoop must be 2” over driver’s helmet, with the front hoop 3” in front of the driver’s helmet. See NHRA rule book for cage construction details.
.125 wall D,O,M measures in at about .118.. Standard welded seamed tubing of .125 wall measures just a bit over .108.. Which won't pass NHRA chassis certs. But we don't have have to have our chassis certed because of the 10.00 sec rule. 9.99 and better you have to have a NHRA certed chassis, Which costs about $100.00 bucks. Ask me how I know.....
Thanks ThingyM for the education on tube thickness. Chassis cert in Southern CA for $100, You must know some one. Cost me $225 at Famoso on the NE-ll roadster two years ago. Big time NHRA money maker.
11 gauge mechanical tubing is spec'd at .120" wall thickness. Tolerance is + or - .006" for 1 1/2" diameter or smaller and + or - .008" for over 1 1/2" diameter. For my last (Non-HAMB) build I searched through a pile of 1 5/8" dia. stock and found enough material that measured .125 at both ends. That material should not "thin" to below .118 in the JD2 bender I use (borrowed). BTW, I remeasured both ends of every piece after I cut it to length. The fact that 11 gauge material can be in spec. and less than .118" is why many fabricators use 10 gauge which is .134". I've bought pre-bent roll cages from Chris Alston and they are 10 gauge, .134" wall. If you happen to use 11 gauge that comes in under .118" it is highly doubtful it would ever be discovered. As mentioned before, no certification is required (yet) and I doubt the tech people would feel the need to randomly sonic test a HAMB or SDRA dragster. I don't know enough to make any judgments regarding the safety of using minimum spec 11 gauge, which could be as thin as .114".
Thanks guys. I understand the confusion now. I'd been relying on my old ASTM references for mechanical grade tubing. ASTM specs call for a wall thickness of 0.125 minus 0.000 plus 0.007. I was worried about bending 0.132 stock on a die rated for 0.120. I'll hit up the near-local fabbers for a source of guage DOM material. How many sticks would you estimate for a street roadster type frame?
NHRA does not require DOM, which is quite a bit more expensive than ERW. Here's a comparison from Discount Steel's website: 1 5/8" 11 gauge DOM $131.00/17 foot stick. ERW $67.52/20 foot stick. They have a warehouse in Fort Worth, a 200 mile trip for you. I buy all my steel from their home office in Minneapolis. I don't have a good guess on the amount you will need. Nor do I know the strength difference between DOM & ERW. If ERW is good enough for NHRA it's good enough for me. http://www.discountsteel.com/index.cfm
I got my 1-3/4 120 wall Dom, at Webco in Sand Springs (just west of Tulsa) for .60 per ft, but that was in 2006.
For what ever it's worth, Wallys latest and greatest '12 rule book specifies .118" wall tube when using mild steel in all sizes from 3/4" to 1 5/8" P-Dog......
ERW tubing .134" wall. (ERW is made from 1010 carbon steel) DOM tubing .120" wall. (DOM is made from 1020 carbon steel, it is electric resistance welded just like ERW, but it is run thru an extra process of being pulled over a mandrel while cold which eliminates the weld seem, and produces a more precise uniform thickness), and due to it being cold worked with the mandrel it at least 20% stronger than standard ERW 1010 carbon steel tubing. Since it will be doubtful that a HA/GR will ever run quicker than 9.99 in the 1/4 mile .134" wall ERW tubing should be strong enough, and will pass a sonic test if nessesary (.120" wall ERW tubing will not pass a sonic test as it can be as thin as .108" in places).
HREW 1 5/8 .134 wall is what I just bought. It is the same tubing used on most cage kits. As far as I know it is legal for any elapsed time. They change they frame specs at 8.50 now. I had to buy DOM .120 wall for my 1 inch diameter tubing. I hope this helps.
injected27, I am a little confused. What do you mean "they changed the frame spec's to 8.50" Is this for Altereds & Dragsters or for Street Roadster only? I was sure that all 7.50-9.99 Altereds & Dragsters still had the same spec's, correct me if I am incorrect.
Sorry you are correct. I was thinking about the door car specs. They have to have the double frame rail faster than 8.50 on a door car. You know all this stuff runs together at times. I hear it gets older with age.
Smokin' Mokan! We enjoyed the weekend as spectators, but it's really a participants' event. Next year for sure....
Found a rebuilt 300 and c4 (finally) on Little Rock Craigslist. Visited my son while there, borrowed some duct tape to seal openings against rain. Watching the rearview for 140 miles, the color combination started to grow on me. May have to rethink 8N gray/black vs Ford blue/dayglo pink, Period correct? Any reccomendations for stall speed and converter mfg?
Nice find Third D B, A 300 ford & C4 is a great combination. I see 11's in your future. Keep the pictures coming.
Tulsa Nitro Nationals. Great show. Four SDRA cars, or, is it VGR now? All cars made every session, every round. Even when they had to fight line crew to stage. Trip was 9 hours/31 gallons: Don't think I'll be chasing points anytime soon. Will come north to run though. After all they all have intake/exhaust on the wrong side of the motor!
I thought that you are supposed to put the intake/exhaust on one side and the steering on the other. Did you talk to any of us? I see that you were there Sat. That early 55 chevy pickup in front of my car has a 283 six cylinder with a four barrel. It's a 261 stroker. And it is fast. Now the important part, did you see any of our runs? http://www.crablogic.com/nitronats12.htm pictures from this weekend 9-22-12
Yeah Joe, the hot, noisy bits go on one side, the steering on the other! I don't remember introducing myself to anybody, but I spoke to one or two people per car. Got a bunch of detail pictures. Asked the 76 guys a whole bunch of questions, and was a human choke for #1. I don't think I missed any run all day. Really got into the gassers, and that little Crosley that ended up winning. Back in Junior High, a bunch of us got together, worked out deals on an engineless Crosley wagon, a Chevy II four banger and four-speed, and borrowed a ramp truck. Unfortunately we couldn't persuade any of the dads to drive the truck!
The Gasser guys were complaining about being out after the first run. You saw that we don't do that. With more cars, if there were 6 we all would have ran one more round. With 8 even again one more round. I talked Tod Martin (the track operator) and owner of the gold car, into announcing "Vintage Dragsters", they usually just say "SDRA" to the staging lanes. well nobody knows what that is.
Texas Thaw weekend: Hibernation is officially over. Miss Serendipity didn't make the show, but have three more chances at North Star. No VGR or SDRA representation, but this guy came close. Header and intake from Clifford. Ford 300/c4. Asked how much power he thought he was making. Good Ole Boy told me he'd done a bunch of work on the motor, reckoned he had to be making close to 100hp, while marking dial-in at 8.39 for the 1/8th! Left without asking my questions on stall speed and gear ratio. With inspiration, refenerence photos, and new die, plan to bend cage this week. PS Found jury summons in Saturday mail. Remind me why I named this thing Serendipity. PS2 Me and my idea stealer made it into the background of the Texas Hill Rat video. If my cage ends up that tall, I'll rename my POS "Jungle Gym!"
Swap meet gold? Every swap meet part has a story, and this one's story alone was worth the $5. Never mounted, never run?
The Jalopy Journal
