I found a good way to spend the afternoon. The stage five rockers are all assembled. The stands are keith black. They are no longer available. The gold ones were the best ones they made due to the material used and the steel inserts placed were the studs come through. This keeps the stands from pinching the studs when the nuts are torqued making for a easier disassemble. Not too many years ago this was top fuels best set up.
The work never ends. Today i got the bear claws i purchased at the pri show glass beaded. Now i can have matching rims for the street tires and slicks. The other thing i did was getting the sleeves removed. The block is first put in a cage. The cage is then lowered into the furnace. Its slowly brought up to 225 degrees as the block is rotated. The block grows enough to allow the sleeves to be pulled out with the sleeve puller. The piece that grabs the sleeve is bore specific. To put in new sleeves the block is heated again and the sleeves go on ice. They will drop right in. At the track a quick tear down is important while the engine is still hot. If it cools too much it makes the job very difficult. Notice the area were the sleeves go in is solid. Not all blocks are solid. This block is designed to hold water.
If the area where the sleeves are are solid, and the block is designed to hold water, where does the water go? Are there water passages in the cylinder area outside the sleeve area?
Track tear down includes pulling the cylinder sleeves? Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
After a pass we leak down the cylinders. If there is a indication that something is wrong we pull the head. If the cyinder is scored we change the sleeve. If its a bent or burned valve we change those. I dont normally need to change sleeves but we are always ready. My block looks like a normal block when the sleeve is pulled. The sleeve is not in direct contact with any water. It goes in a bored and honed out hole. The water makes contact with the aluminum only. The block has water passages. The sleeves dont need o-rings or sealant. The wet blocks do have sleeves that have water in direct contact with them. There is a sleeve register top and bottom. The middle is hollow. This style block is hard to seal. I dont have a pic of this style block. Another positive coming from sleeving the block with a smaller bore is the cylinder walls become thicker. This promotes better ring seal.
496 it is according to the chart. the chart is cool. I drove the jakes sped shop altered wheelbase 65 Plymouth several times.
Interesting, I wasn't aware that they went that small. That's smaller than a stock Hemi, which is 4-1/4".
In the past a 5/8” stroker was typically used and when 3/4” cranks became the norm then the bores had to be reduced to stay in the 500 c.i. limit. The 3/4 crank loads the engine more resulting in more nitro burnt. More nitro= more power.
So there’s enough residual heat in the block to take the sleeves out and get the new ones in? Assume you keep the spares cold, just in case. But if you’re not fast enough, either they won’t come out, or the new ones won’t go in, and the weekend is over unless you can find or rig up a way to heat the block? Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I can’t picture a spare block stuffed in to this coupe on Drag Week, though. Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
if you have a experienced crew a sleeve swap can be done before the block cools. the first thing that is done to my car after a pass is a leak down and plug inspection. this will give you a good idea of the health of the engine. to get a idea how much a aluminum block grows due to heat i set the cold lash at .016 because hot it becomes .026 a iron block won't do that. the sleeve bores also expand when hot. thats why the sleeves can get pulled out. the sleeve bores are honed to size. trying to remove them cold is not only hard on the crew but also hard on the block. the bores could be damaged. if a sleeve needs to be replaced its all hands on deck for a crazy well choreographed thrash.
there is a big difference when it comes to late model racing hemis compared to a regular engine. the hemis are made to come apart and go back together fast. the intakes are 6 or10 bolt. this allows the intake to come off with the blower attached as one unit. the manifold is also o-ringed. no gasket scraping needed. same with the oil pan. the heads come off using a impact wrench with the zoomies still attached. if one guy works on getting the pan off and a guy is on each side of the engine on top it goes real fast. a fourth person can be helpful to clean parts as they come off. the guy on the bottom has the crap job. not only does he have hot oil dripping on his face its not uncommon to be stepped on or kicked a few times. it takes real team work to pull it off. after the new sleeve is in everyone can relax a little. this may sound like a lot but its normal nitro racing stuff. luckily it doesn't happen too often.
I always am watching this go down if I can. It's amazing to watch the crew get after it and get it done.
Brian I can attest to the hot oil bath and getting kicked or stepped on as I am the chassis guy on our bonneville team and that means you are either changing gears in the quick change, adjusting the chassis and removing the bellypan to get to anything underneath but you get used to it after a bit lol though we usually have more time to work on stuff than drag racers do the crappy part is when you have only 4 hrs to completely disassemble the car and go through the engine so you can make a backup run the difference is the engine is not out in the open like on your car lol Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
I have been a "diver" for around 30 years. Started out full time on the NHRA/IHRA tours in the late 80's and as recently as a couple of years ago I ended up under Tony Pedregon's car at Route 66 for the weekend. (The young smart arses on the crew told me that I was the oldest guy that they had ever seen do bottom end on a pro car). With a good crew you can turn a fuel car around in about 40 minutes--blower off and serviced, heads serviced, any dubious sleeves replaced, new rack and clutch. In a thrash it can be done a little quicker but 40 is about the norm. Roo
a big show team also has a dedicated tire guy that mounts new tires every pass. a dedicated blower guy that completely disassembles the blower and restrips it. a dedicated clutch guy that puts on a set of asbestos gloves and services the hot clutch. usually replacing it with a fresh one. a crew chief thats inside the trailer down loading the run and making adjustments. everyone has a very specific job to do. seasoned crews don't really even need to talk to each other during a thrash. they just do their job and get the car turned around. its just how its done. its a cool thing to be part of. i don't think i will ever get to this point with my car. drag week only allows for the driver and two crew guys. when i ran my awb car i usually did it with one other guy. but that guy knew what to do. it was better to have that one guy than four that didn't know what was going on. its hard to find guys that are good. i have been lucky to have guys that are eager to learn. as long as they take instruction well they can be trained. after that its just repetition.
The Jalopy Journal
