Event Coverage The Official 2014 Meltdown Drags #5 thread, vintage drag meet, July 18,19&20 Byron IL

Not to mention, you can get a full boogie Dana 60 from Strange with all the bells & whistles for the price of a trick 9" third member!

 

and the only thing ford about those 9" rears is the pinion nut. the stock danas are strong enough for the majority of race applications. the strange units are over kill exept in all out race cars. i have twisted a few sets of strange axles in the splined area. i changed to moser axles and have never had a twisted axle again. the mosers are not as shiny and smooth as a strange but who cares if it is going to last longer.

 

That interesting, I would have figured the other way around, you learn something every day.

 

Less than 3 months, just gotta dial in my tuneup.

 

Tech question here for Ric and Quain and all the other frequent fliers at the track:

Since I'm running slicks I'll need a driveshaft loop,correct?
My question is,on my old Ford will the stock Shelby piece be acceptable to get me through tech?Its 3/16" steel flat stock that bolts to the seatbelt mounting anchors in the driveshaft tunnel,but it's open at the top,it only covers the bottom
2/3 of the driveshaft.

The reason I ask,is because it is SUPER tight in there,and I'm having a hell of a time getting my aftermarket gorilla-proof unit to fit.

Scott


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Officially I believe the safety loop us supposed to be 360 degrees. However, I've seen a piece of chain pass tech too. The main purpose of the safety loop is to keep the drive shaft from coming out of the trans and pogo sticking, or swinging around and breaking fuel/break lines etc., it really depends on the tech guys

I gotta go out in the garage now, and naw on a drive shaft loop, and froth at the mouth some more looking crazy maniacle and write Mustang backwards in red ink on my shifting arm, and clutch foot!, so I can get Ganstum on you!!!

 

Lmao!

Like I said before Ric:

All it's gonna take is a dozen car lengths and the move,and I will saw that Ol Chevy of yours off real good....haha

What,you've never spotted somebody a train-length before...?

Scott


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There really wasn't a tech check in the few years i've been there where they go over your car, but I would do whatever it took to make the car safe as possible for your own and others sake.

 

my friend in a 64 dodge broke a driveshaft at the track. the shaft tore a hole in the floor and broke in three pieces. one piece entered the car and was bouncing off the cage. it just clipped his shoulder. you may fool the tech guy if he looks at your car and does not see a full loop. who is going to be the fool if there is a on track incident that could have been prevented. if you roll the dice it aint always sevens some times its snake eyes.

 

For those who havn't heard about the Nesbitt accident , it gives you something to think about driveshaft safety

http://www.competitionplus.com/drag...to-nesbitt-car-i-had-no-idea-what-htranspired

 

I was lucky enough to have Mike Veazey letter my Falcon over the weekend with my grandfathers old carb shop graphics, it was a from his old business card and off his sign. He did a great job and it really changed the car up a lot. Big thanks to Steve Timoszyk for letting me bring it down to his garage for Mike to do his magic.

One more thing done before the Meltdown Drags

Jon

 

Looks perfect Jon, looking forward to seeing it and meeting you guys at the Meltdown.

Ray

 

Falcon Gasser, the lettering looks great. Very 60's. I'm looking forward to checking out your car at the Meltdown.

 

Hey Ray, you coming across the big pond to check out the Meltdown? If so you bringing that Truck, be cool to see it lined up along side Saxxon's Farm Truck. Ps i figure at this point you have most miles traveled to see the Meltdown award pretty well wrapped up.

 

Jon:
The Falcon looks GREAT lettered up like that!Thats a really nice finishing touch for an already killer car.

About the driveshaft loop question I posted earlier:
The car WILL have a driveshaft loop.There's no question about that.
My only question was exactly WHAT is required.

There was never any implication that I was trying to get away with something,or get around the rule book.
Also,it's a car with 300ish hp that will run about a 14 flat if it's lucky,so I think everyone needs to just stop and take a deep breath here;it's not a 1700hp car (which,if you read that article from beginning to end,had front AND rear driveshaft loops,and still didn't catch the driveshaft cause it got bent up so bad.From 1700hp.)

Just wanted to clarify that what I wanted was a clarification of the safety requirements,not a loophole in the rule book.

Scott


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Some more progress:

Subframe connectors in:


Going to drop the pipes for the Meltdown.Thats actually half the problem with fitting the driveshaft loop:The tunnel is small to begin with on this car,then add exhaust,emergency brake cables,etc,and there is very little room for the loop in there.
I'm looking at maybe running it off the subframe connectors...maybe that will buy an inch or so more space.

Scott


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On one of my cars with tight clearance, I custom made the driveshaft loop out of 1/4" x 2" steel flat stock. The oval shape ended being kind of like an egg to fit snug against the tunnel / floorpan, and then welded on two legs to pick up existing seat bolt holes. The end result is the best fit possible, only taking up 1/4" of space on each side and clears the driveshaft beautifully.

The universal fit contraption commercially available would never fit like that...

 

Falcon Gasser:

The lettering looks GREAT!

 

That's a great plan,and something my Dad and I had discussed going with.I think I will use the original Shelby piece for anchoring,and add an upper piece to it.
Thanks Man!

Scott


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The lettering on the Falcon looks great... really changes the look of the car. I've been thinking of throwing an old school logo and lettering on the Scout. This has me thinking about it again. (Old gas station logo...)

If 9sectruck jumps across the pond and his ride lives up to the name, then he may have to put a tow bar on the back of it and haul me a cross the line just to keep it close. The again, I'm, hoping for a bit of improvement on the performance this year. I just need to find the time to actually put the little beast back together and sort it out. The Prefect is taking up a ton of time.

On that note... the Prefect is dangerously close to first fire but somewhere along the way we forgot to order a Mag hold down bracket... (and a cam gear...oops) not much stopping us after that. The "Ugly Beast" has been thrown together for a car show this weekend... I'll have pics. We are hoping to dominate the work in progress category... (lol)

Safety questions... I do not want to start a fight here but I stand by my earlier comment that tech and safety questions should not be directed at the MDA. The track provides tech inspectors, they are not influenced by the MDA one way or the other. The MDA established the minimum safety expectations on the site. If in doubt... reference the rule book. Better to have too much rather than not enough.

Having said that... the first year I was at Meltdown was when attendance jumped from 100+ to 300+... The MDA did more to police their standards than the one tech guy who was obviously overwhelmed and worked his butt off for 2 days. Last year the track stepped it up with as many as 3 guys doing tech and they did more than just count the lug nuts. They actually checked my tech card and safety gear. I believe this level of diligence will continue due to the size of the event, the number of serious banzai runs being made and the "incident" from last year.

 

Sounds great, keep banging away at it!

Right on! You aren't starting anything. We are not the Tech Inspectors. We organize the event. We do try to help answer questions, but as you said the RULEBOOK has all the answers. Purchasing a rulebook is cheap insurance no matter how you look at it.

Exactly. Nobody wants to see anyone get hurt, vintage iron get damaged, or even racing temporarily delayed due to breakage/oildown.

It has been asked before and I will repeat it, please do not come to sort out bugs or make that first test pass on a new build. That is what weeknights at your local track is for. With hundreds of racecars attending, most from long distances away, it just isn't fair to those who are prepared and ready to run. Several of us are in the middle of major rework or entirely new builds, and I guarantee we will be testing and tuning before we are all together at the big party in July!

 

A very good point.

That's why most of us are thrashing on the cars so hard;to get them together with enough time left to work the bugs out at local test n tune nights.

I don't know about the rest of you guys,but there is probably nothing I can think of that would suck worse,than being the guy who breaks and holds up the racing while the track crew cleans up your mess.....and 399 guys give you the Stare of Death...lol

Scott


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I've been that guy...TH400 spit all over the starting line.

Meltdown Drags
July 18-20 2014

 

I don't know about the rest of you guys,but there is probably nothing I can think of that would suck worse,than being the guy who breaks and holds up the racing while the track crew cleans up your mess.....and 399 guys give you the Stare of Death...lol


I know this feeling all to well. many years ago when I went racing at my local track and broke a trans line and oiled the track from top to bottom. lesson learned never use short rubber hose for trans line.

 

Scott this is how I made the drive shaft loop for my boat.
This is the fixture I made just for bending the 1/4 inch strap.

 

Now that is slick.Fits in there and keeps everyone safe,and wastes zero space.

You might just see a very similar setup on my car at the Meltdown.

Scott


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My whole chassis is a driveshaft hoop, lol.

 

II Funny:
Damn!You busted up that case like you meant that shit!

I only wish I was making that kind of power!

Scott


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I dont think any one is trying to start any thing or imply anything. Its your hamb brothers covering your back. I have been wittness to some crazy accidents with 13sec cars. I sheared a dana 60 pinion last spring. Think about a driveshaft with the yoke and part of the pinion still attatched flying around. That will get your attention. My loop is part of my cross member. Its a alston item. Check it out on their site.