Projects Dodge This - 1939 Dodge Southeast Gasser Build

Worked all day yesterday pulling the elephant out and stripping it down to go in for a mag check. I cut the oil filter open and there is a little bearing material showing up. Might be the thrust bearing face. I'll get the rods pulled out tonight and look. I mainly want Johnny to mag the block to see why the freeze plugs are walking out of the holes. They aren't the nice cup style plugs like the belly button motors have.

I talked to Quain last night for about an hour - just a quick call to tell me something about the A/G weight. We talked so much I can't remember what he said about my weight now - LOL. Its getting painted though for sure. Its looking too rat rod to me now.

Danny Porter with the Flipper offered to sell me his glass front end. I need to go up and look at it. He lives near Boogie Man, might need to have a post season get together up that way. I'm bored already too.

 

Let me know when you head up this way, we will try to get together

 

This is interesting - the intake valves are leaking down about 70% on 6 cylinders. This was measured right before the finals, so damn the torpedoes its going to the races anyway!



It must be a big power killer right?



Still going 5.90 and the 60 foot time is still 1.30 engines are funny things. It does idle really rough though.

 

Amazing to me that Q&D is doing as well as it is. I mean, considering that leakdown test result, the too small headers, and the 200# overweight, you are racing really hanicapped.
Fix it all and next year should be a lot different than a 9th place final season result

 

yah, what DOM said!

 

So if you had intake valves not sealing well could be why you had to keep going richer with the mixture.

 

Isn't 100 going in and 70 at the cylinder 30% leak down. That is not as bad as 70%. And how about ring seal? Just wondering, been a few years for me.

 

They way that leak down gauge is set up, 0-10% is good and it goes down from there, 70 is on the far side of the gauge. Its leaking on the intakes. I think there was a little piston to valve contact in the water box at 8,000 RPM. The exhaust side has a small strike imprint on the piston, but the intakes didn't. The leak seems to be the intake valves. The UPS guy just picked up the heads, so Nick will get a chance to look for bent valves soon.

Here you can see the intake is leaking like a sieve. It doesn't seem to matter at 8 grand though .....

 

at 70 percent something is bad. if its 30 or less I rock the engine back and fourth. I have found that sometimes the rings need to reseat them selves in the ring grooves. this only works if nothing else is wrong. if you can add some shims under the spring to increase pressure it might help in the future. do you know what you set them up at? installed height and seat pressure? early hemis like .100 long valves and the missle rockers are made for it. you probable know that. I check my springs on a regular basis using a tool from lsm. if the valves aren't destroyed I straighten them in a lathe using a indicator and a magic marker. or a piece of tubing with the same inner diameter as the valve stem can be clamped into a vise. a aluminium bar with a notch cut out so it can be slid over the head of the valve is used to bend the valve into position. wizards warehouse has the tools to do the job. the tools have saved me a lot of cash over the years. it takes a few tries to get the feel on how to do it. shoot for .002 or less runout them grind them. in a pinch I have straightened them did a lap job and put them back in with great results. wizards also offers the tools to remove the spring without taking off the head. another cool item they sell is a metal tube that screws into the head that allows the leak down tool to connect to it. it works better that a hose getting down between the shafts. look into the moroso leak down gauge its easier to use with only one large gauge. im not a fan of leaking a engine with a wrench on the crank.

 

What a coincidence, the big brown truck just dropped off a little something here today.
Tony, OMG.
When you said you had something for me (I knew what), I was very exited, but now.............
I am absolutely STUNNED, Eight, count em, eight SEG posters, unreal.
I think the South East Gassers group now has a West Coast ambassador!
Guys, check this out.



Now I guess I gotta get some more thumbtacks!



Thanks Tony.
Let me know if you need anything.
Doug

 

Doug it was cool meeting you at Bakersfield ! You probably have the West most Southeast Gassers poster set now That one of the Quick N Dirty was out of print so I found that one in a pile of magazines and stuff - its a little rough We really need to make a West Coast tour sometime! Y'all have some killer race tracks!

 

Nick would have to fill in the specs on the installed height and all. The intakes are TI and the exhausts are Stainless. We were worried about the weight and all at high RPM - might need to go TI on the exhaust next year to remove some weight. (That side looks to be the only side that hit the pistons) The other thing I am curious about is the blown head gasket sucking water - the tops of some pistons have small dimples like water erosion so I wonder if the seats look that way too.

 

I had water leaks for a long time until I started using a light coat of silicone on both the head and deck. don't put on so much that is covers up the oil and water holes when the head is torqued. I also reduced the height of the wire o-ring from .015 down to .008

 

Been sorta intermitent for me, sometimes I get the subscription alerts and sometimes they drop out. I think it's supposed to be automatic unless you opt out.
There'a a section on the home page of HAMB called "Letters to the Editor" or somthing similar where you can ask questions about stuff, but I've never asked.
More fun to bitch about it That's the USMC way!

 

Cylinder 6 and 5 were leaking less - about 30%

Here's the finals video - a lot of work goes into these. Its cool to have these for the long winter ahead

 

93 pages. Yes I read them all. Took me a week of "free" time, hurt my back. Obviously, from my post count, I am a stalker on here. But I love to see what folks are up to and don't have much to say. After reading this thread I have to say a few things. This thread is inspirational to those building SEG cars or any car for that matter. Your dedication is refreshing to see. You guys keep it light and have fun. The cast of characters in this thread and your life are hilarious. Looking forward to your continued progress on the Dodge! Makes me consider a few small changes to the Ranchero for a trip south.

 

Thanks for the positive vibes I appreciate the look back - at times sitting in the present with blown head gaskets can make you want to poke your eye out or something - man you are right - this trip has been a blessing of friends old and new who are just trekking through this thing called life. Its not all that serious . Consider myself blessed everyday to have wandered onto this crazy train.

Never posted anything about this, but 1 year ago me, the wife, and all 5 dogs were driving to my mom's for Thanksgiving and planned a stop to visit Quain - about 3 miles from his shop we almost got one of those roadside crosses planted anyway we were about 8 inches from getting center punched head on. Gabriel loaned us a car to get home, Donovan helped catch all the dogs . You never know when its all gonna end so don't waste any of it!
Do what you need to on the Ranchero and don't wait!
(and the other driver was unhurt - both cars were scraps). Life happens - try and get out of the way if needed though Forgive, fix your shit and get back on the train. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Woa, give thanks for that!!

 

Wow crazy wreck Tony glad everything turned out ok looks like it could have been real bad. Did you guys get rear ended or did the hummer just roll that much?

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It was going to be a dead center head-on both cars going about 50MPH - I decided to exit stage right at the last millisecond so we were pretty much shooting hard right for the ditch and the other car punched right behind my door and spun us straight again . That ditch is deep otherwise I would have exited sooner.
I learned that side curtain air bags have to be cut with a knife to get out. Now I have a knife on the sun-visor of all my cars.

 

Can't believe that was a year ago! Definitely glad y'all made it out relatively unscathed. Hopefully this year your travels will go a little smoother. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Just found some sweet reading material in my old man's tool box!! This is going straight in the 'library'!!

 

Man that's cool! Did he have the 1967 rules? Asking for a friend

 

When I grab it, that's exactly what I was thinking!!!!!!!

 

The old rule books are awesome. I picked up a NHRA 1966 book a few years ago it's pretty cool to look at. I would like to get a 67 also so I can see how much changed in a year


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Can't recall the pushrod diameter but its much bigger than stock. Nick is opening up the heads for next year to run the next size bigger pushrod. I measured the deflection and we are losing some on the lift. The contact on the pistons was only on the exhaust side.

 

I'll be breaking the heads down tomorrow to take a look. We need to beef up the entire valvetrain to a new level. There is no valve clipping going on, tons of room. I will check to see if any valves got tweeked. My feeling is we need more pressure and spring rate to control it better especially with the new cam. I think it probably beat up the seats and that is what is causing some leakage. Will know whats going on soon enough....

 

And another thing to consider is .500 lift was getting after it back then so 9k RPM was attainable with less. Open that valve .800+ at the same RPM with the aggressive cam lobes of today you get a whole new animal to tame. Pretty amazing to see how things have progressed with technology.

 

im running the hollow manley intakes in mine with good success. they are much cheaper than titanium. they are installed at 2 inch with 320 on the seat. anything under that pressure and I would hit pistons. to keep the lifters from trashing axles I had a conversation with bob walker and the owner of Johnson lifters. they came up with a experimental set of lifters for me that pressurizes the axle. there have been no problems running that much pressure after that upgrade. even with all of the street driving we do. one other thing the manley valves will require a lash cap. I use manton push rods with the tool steel adjusters in the rockers. to keep it all running smooth a titan 1100 oil pump is used with number 12 oil returns in each valve cover. this combo took a few years to come up with. tricky steve had all same problems I did. we both run the same setup now with no problems in either engine.

 

the pushrod has the cup