I was wondering what type of cooling system you use. I was going alcohol with no water circulation but since I might be driving my dragster to the line it probably would need a pump anyway. Draining the fuel tank, corrosion etc. also led me to running on gas. I would like to keep it period if possible, did they run radiators, after market pumps in the mid 60's. 144" 12:1-327, iron heads, hilborn stack, power glide. I am not looking to set any records obviously, I just want to have fun and run it alot at events. Thinking about stock pump and layed flat small radiator but way open to ideas. Thanks
We ran something similar in the "Snap Too" corvette. Enderle's on gas , 331 , 12:5 CR , Crower Roller and a clutchflite. We plumbed a "Water Puppy" bilge pump into a small radiator ( Anglia I think) but most are using VW Rabbits now. Worked great and didn't take any HP to run. Good luck !
Looks good, small, pretty inexpensive. Did you run a small Alt. with that, the draw isn't much or did you just charge up the battery between runs.
Radiators on FE dragsters are a pain and expensive to do, I did one for a customer and we had to have one cu$tom made to fit between the rails and the inlet/outlet on the same end, electric fans, electric waterpump, lines & fittings, switches wire relays,overflow tanks and radiator cap and tower(if motor is on an angle) AND then you start trying to tune for gas. Run alcohol because it is easier to tune, matenence is not not as bad as you described, run a dial-a-jet and run it "fat" to get to staging and switch back to your race jet before you run, and the money you saved by not going to a radiator you can buy a used quad or 3 wheeler and have you buddy tow you up to the line
The tank will need to be or should be drained between events anyway, if aluminum it can be coated to make it alcohol resistant. Draining the tank isn't that big a deal unless you have a huge tank.
still running original 1967 tank too. no worries, also, we run water in the block, to make heating more even, it takes a long time to warm up. drive it to the lanes, no sweat.. radiator + pump +etc. = just a bunch of crap you don;t need. plus alky makes waaaaaay more torque. and is easier to tune than gas.
I am new to this so I appreciate all the advice. Getting to the starting line was my biggest concern, I do not have room on the trailer for an atv. The dial a jet could be the answer. When I started out I planned on mech. stack injection on alky but after some horror stories i heard about corrosion, draining the system and blowing out the injectors etc. I was having second thoughts. Do you use a alky oiler aditive? or maybe run some gas after the event? I also heard about a small battery (forgot the name) that can be used to start the motor so you can use a mag. a buddy says it can start his motor 10 or more times between charges.
Drain the tank dry , blow the lines , Marvel Mystery oil in the pump, shut off, and barrel, should take you all of about 15 minutes. Put a gas jet in the dial and run it on gas for a minute, It will run fat and smoke because of the nozzle size--so what Never have I used any upper lube. 16 volt battery and a good mini starter- get the engine spinning first then hit the mag switch if your mag is locked out
We do pretty much the same maintenance Bruce suggested on our alcohol injected supermodified engines. I never bothered to fire mine on gas, though. One thing that helps a bunch with corrosion is "drying it out" by pulling the (pressure side) fuel shutoff to kill the engine instead of shutting the mag off. Yes, it spikes the pump, but no one I know has ever had a problem with it. I also agree with Bruce that you will be much happier trying to tune it on Methanol than you will on gas...
Thanks for all the advice. It sounds like the good out weighs the bad, I will try Alky. Either way I was going to order a complete system from Alkydigger in Nashville. I had to sell my car to get this thing going but its been a dream for a long time. I picked up a 61 ranch wagon to pull it on an open trailer trying to get that 60's frame of mind. The power glide has to stay at least for now, shifting and me like to break parts. Hope to see some of you on the East Coast.
A radiator and fans in a dragster... make as much sence as a radio and heater.....put a push bar on that wagon and youll always have freinds that want to come help!! And for a novice..alky is the way to go... Tony
Alky, I agree and I'm no expert there. Just from an economic viewpoint, race gas is crowding up to $10.00/gal. I think alky is much less and would still be friendlier to your pocketbook, even though you use more of it. I don't 100% recall, but alcohol is like .6 to .8 more lbs per HP hour. Experts can chime in on that as well as current price per gallon.
All of the shutoffs we use (drag racers) are 2-ways so when we shut it the valve bypasses the high side and returns to the inlet of the pump and just recirculates---no spike, When I ran my sprinter I had a single also but now I know better.
I hear ya...... so I guess the cup holder, GPS and blue tooth are out too? I would love to have a period car and thats what I hope to achieve. I am probably older than some of you but its all new to me. I am deffinately into the keep it simple deal. I thought the radiator was just that but apparently not. Phil
I just called this week on the price of Alky and here in Colorado it is$3.41 a gallon, when you buy it 55 gallons at a time............
If you are only going to make a few runs a day you won't need a radiator . If you are going to make 8 runs in a day then you might need a radiator . Generally with injected alcohol just building enough heat is the problem . I normally drive mine into the lanes to build a little heat try to stage at 160 degree's and cross the finish line about 175 to 180 .
I seem to recall something I thought was pretty slick at the time. Someone had plumbed coolant through some frame rails. There was a very small pump involved and 3 or 4 crossover tubes. I honestly don't remember if the tubes were part of the chassis or a separate entity, but it wasn't a radiator in the normal sense. Also, Oddy did something similar in his Austin gasser, made a "frame" radiator just to make tech for the class. Just sayin...
They did this with my rail at one time, originally set up with a Hemi and they used the frame to catch oil blow-by with 2 hose fittings on the back I guess to clean it out. By the time I got it they had the radiator over flow going into the frame. I don't see rust so it probably wasn't like this for too long. Had to clean it all out and go over everything.
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