Projects DRAG SNAKE "Vintage Terror!"

Take a good look at this pretty little thing because hopefully it is the last time we see it for a long time. LOL. Saturday morning we got a pretty early start. We swapped out the fittings and lines from the original throwout unit to the new thinner model. We made sure the line "in" was on the top fitting and the bleeder on the bottom one. We slid it back on the retainer and went about installing the trans back on the engine.


Looking through the old clutch fork hole you can see our cushion. As I said before our plan was to hook up an unused clutch pedal and cylinder and have a go benchtesting the entire thing. However after seeing the cushion etc. we decided to just go for the reinstall.


That is .200 if I have ever saw it. Well at least .196 LOL. I know it looks like the top and bottom fingers are touching etc. That is just the angle of the photo and fish eye effect from being in so close. It is uniform all the way around.

To be honest the first several times we mated this thing with the engine it just slid right in place pretty as you please. Yesterday it decided to even the score a bit. But after several attempts and a bit of "coaxing," we finally got it together.


It takes quite a wild angle to get this unit in place it felt like about 75 degrees but I am sure it was not bad. Either way after clearing the fiberglass (if you know what I mean) mostly lifting the back half by hand, we didn't have time to pull out the protractor to check the angle. LOL

The only difference this time we had a ton of wiring, plugs, fuel lines and break lines all to avoid which all seem to converge right there at the firewall where the trans enters the game etc. But we managed to shoe spoon the thing back in place. It is quite a contortionist convention in there. Plenty of lift it up, push it back, let it down, jack the trans, push it back, lower the trans, lift it up, push it back, drop it all the way, jack up the trans, higher, higher, push it back, lower the trans an inch, nope too much, lift the motor, push it back. Who the hell built this stupid thing? LMAO!


Finally we are all the way in but the trans mount will not drop in the holes. We jack up the rear and get the car high enough on stands that I can slide under to have a look in person or at least get my hands on it. I mean we are so close. Zoe jacks it up just barely off the mount and I can feel the bolts, they seem to be right on the holes in the plate. I wiggle it a bit and tell her to slowly let it down. Sure enough, slowly I see both bolts come right through and we are in like Flynn.

We did make one other decision just before we started the reinstall process. I looked down at the trans mount plate and was about the modify the holes to compensate for the .25" plate we added which would obviously affect the mount point by the same amount. It was then I had the idea that modifying the motor mounts would be much easier as they were much more accessible. Plus a 1/4" would certainly be welcome on header clearance etc. and I couldn't think of a single issue up front loosing .25 so that is what we did.

 

Uh, you always want a fluid bleeder to be at the highest point to allow air out and not be trapped inside.
Air compresses, fluid does not. You want all air out of your hydraulics!
The only time you want a bubble of air is...

 

You can reverse pressure bleed it from the bottom I would think.

 

Sorry installed it correctly, typed it wrong. I actually swapped the lines when we installed them because I am adding the pedal adjuster and the original line was way to long etc. But yes correct. The "in" line is on the bottom and the bleeder line on the top etc.

 

We slipped out to the shop this evening and knocked quite a few things off the list. We bolted the engine to the mounts, put lock nuts on the trans mount bolts and installed the drive shaft. Up front we installed the starter, the alternator, the coil, the Borla injection and plumbed it all up. We also connected all the wires and plugs etc. All we have left on the list at this point is Distributor, radiator hoses, headers, fill it with fluids and fire it.

 

We decided last night, we are not going to make the SPAM Drags this weekend. Just too much to do and we do not want to rush through any of it. Not to mention we are going to need some time to break the clutch in as well. There is slim chance that we might make the Funny Car Chaos September 3rd and 4th at MOKAN. We shall see how it goes as we may have some family obligations around the same time. At the very least we will try to hit some test and tunes in September and 100 percent be at the Hot Rod Reunion in October at MOKAN.

 

Been seeking the ever elusive exhaust manifold gaskets. Lol I was in my area parts store last weekend and on their performance isle I was surprised to find Cometic exhaust gaskets. Of course no SBF hanging there but they could order them from the warehouse, you know Rock Auto style...LOL So I ordered a set but when they arrived, I had one of the current gaskets with me. The Cometic holes were much smaller.



So I went home and looked up my AFR Heads and they called for the above. FEL PRO 1487. I went online, and at the time all major perf. parts sites said they would be shipped by the manufacturer. We all know what that means post Covid.

I called both parts stores in town, gave them the Fel-Pro number and both said they had them in a warehouse one would be here last Friday the other yesterday afternoon. I ordered them both.

Friday I popped in to the worthless one knowing it was slim to none they had it. Sure enough it never arrived and they said it was because they have never stock it anywhere. Lol

So Saturday we went to the swap meet instead if working on the car.

 

Fortunately, my real parts store came through. I picked them up this morning. After we got home we set about finishing up the reassembly effort. We got the headers back in place, the transmission wiring plugged back in and the lower radiator hose back on. Followed by our front tower mount and the transverse spring back in place. Then the upper Radiator mount, pressure tank and upper radiator hose went back on. Then we sat the engine on top dead center, dropped the distributor in place, squared up the reluctor wheel on the pick up, bolted the base down, rolled the engine back 30 degrees or so before top dead and phased the rotor. Feeling confident we tried to fire it. No go.

After several attempts and a few diagnostic checks, we had fuel but no fire. Everything was plugged in correctly and double checked. I finally started to second guess the distributor set up so I started to removed it all again. However when I unplugged it I just happened to look in the plug and there was a pin missing. It didn't take but a few seconds to see one of the wires with the pin still on it had pulled out of the plug. I pushed it back in and repluged it etc and...



She lives again. It has been quite the thrash but good to hear her run again.

 

Lost count how many times you had problems but I got all my fingers and toes crossed that you won't be screaming "Aw F--- Not Again!!!" for a long long time. Good luck Randall. Now go see if you can out run Jackson before your safety belts expire again. Larry

 

Well its been a pretty long weekend end but spoiler alert, the Cobra is moving on it own once again. We had a cruise in Saturday so we got an early start that day to make sure the Snake made it. We reinstalled the exhaust, which was one of the last pieces. Then we bled the clutch. Zoe was in there pumping it up and we got all the air out of the system and it had a pretty firm pedal.

Still on the jackstands, I had Zoe put it in gear. I gave the slicks a hand turn attempt and of course they were locked up. I had her push the pedal in and it made no difference. I got under with a flashlight and mirror and I could still see a bit of cushion but when Zoe pushed the pedal, the throw out made contact with the fingers but only moved about a quarter inch. Obviously not enough.

We bled it again with exact same out come. I wanted to make sure there wasn't an issue with the new
pedal adjustement mechanism we added. I mean it was turned all the way down and should have no effect on the system at this point. But it was the only addition so we plumbed around it. No go. Same result. We tried to vaccume pump the system from the bottom but again, the exact same result. We tried adjusting the throw of the arm at the pedal...nothing changed.

We removed the Tilton MC and bench tested it. I mean you push the rod in and it shot the fluid out. We decided to give it one more try as the cruise-in drew closer. I reinstalled it again and after bleeding it, same deal. After thinking about it and bouncing it off James and Jackson, we decided it had to be the master cylinder. At a certain preassure it had to be failing internally.

I had a brand new Wilwood cylinder sitting on the unused parts shelf so we decided to just pop it on real quick...however, none of the fitting exchanged...of course! We went to the cruise and the Cobra stayed in the barn. LOL

Early this morning we got back after it. All I needed to simply swap in the Wilwood was a fitting. It was needed to be a 1/4" flared style male on one side and an 1/8" pipe style female on the other.
I was at the parts store when they opened. Nothing. The Farm store, nada. Lowes...no go. Secoond farm store where I get all my fittings and bolts...nope. And two more parts stores strike ten and eleven. LOL. None of them even had multiple fittings to make something.

Finally we ended up at Menards and came up with this monstrocity:


I mean isn't that the most ridiculous thing you have ever seen. Of course the elbow wasn't really needed to make the connection, but the line there was a bit short and an elbow would really relieve the situation. Not to mention I figured if we were going for the Willy Wonka Fitting look anyway, we might as well go all the way! We installed and plumbed it exactly like the Tilton and set about bleeding it.

It was crazy. Zoe was wearing her self out pumping and I was getting nothing at the bleeder. Laying on the floor, I had Dad look at the reservoir to check the level. He says it is empty. I am thinking what in the wide world, where could it have all gone, nothing dripping anywhere. I grabbed the light and mirror worried I might find all of it in the bottom of the bellhousing. But nothing there nor any evidence of it even dripping.

I got up to have a look at the reservoir myself. I took the cap off and it was nearly overflowing. Being that full, the semi-opaque reservoir looked empty. I opened up the bleeder and gravity started lowering the level etc. So I am thinking If I have fluid here now, lets pump it up and bleed it. Dad was watching the reservoir and when the level got back down where it should be, I closed the bleeder and Zoe pumped it a few times. I opened the bleeder and nothing.

We tried a couple of more times with the same result. Finally I just left the bleeder open. It was draining again. I asked her to push the pedal down and the flow stopped. I said let off and it started again. I was thinking what in the hell is going on here. Then it hit me. I asked Dad to have a look at the reservoir. I told Zoe to push the pedal down again and asked what he saw. Sure enough, he said it is bubbling up in there. LMAO...we have it plumbed backwards!

There were no markings at all on the stupid cylinder and it was the exact same shape and layout as the Tilton etc. I simply just plumbed it the same way with out thinking. So we flipped flopped everything and bod-a-boom-boda-bing we had a clutch again.



So now to start breaking it in a bit.

 

Bout time you got that pile back together I’ve almost wore my car out racing all year while this thing has been all coiled up in a box lmao glad you got it goin man

 

Check it out, the old Ivy is running pretty strong

Jackson reports that was a 1.3 60 foot time.

 

Somebody has got to teach him how to powershift.

 

loudbang I can do that but I’m currently trying my best not to break it this winter I have a plan for bigger and better stuff so for the rest of the year it’s drive it easy so it doesn’t break any more parts

 

Speaking of soft shifting. LOL ...this is how I spent the better part of my day today.


Dad and Zoe at under a tree and I made laps down and back 1st through 3rd, sometimes grab fourth. Run for 10 or 15 minutes let it cool for 30 minutes or so and then do it again. Can you hear that stupid alternator belt screaming. Sometimes it is louder than the car, which is not an easy task. It is a brand new belt. I have tried dressing, I have loosened it, tightened it. It doesn't matter, it just screams constantly. It is a 7/16" with notched V area. This afternoon I ordered a solid belt and dropped down to 3/8." Hopefully that will take care of it. I am also looking for larger alternator pulley like I had on the Austin to slow it down a bit.

 

Usually if they squeal that much and are tight it is out of alignment or the pitch of the pulleys doesn't match the belt pitch.

 

Or not enough rap around the pulley.

 

Randall you better get that pile tuned up real good if you want to come even close to keeping up with the big bad dodge lol

 

I know, that thing almost did a 100 mph!

 

Wow, that is one healthy sounding dune buggy

 

I have plenty wrap around as the alternator is the only thing we are running. I think Greybeard there has the answer, that is why I ordered a smaller width belt AND while I was at it I made sure it didn't have the notches etc. I have good "eyeball" alignment, it seems to run very true etc. But I am telling you it is about to drive me nuts. I am ashamed to drive it. Now I know how Jackson must feel. LMAO.

Sorry buddy, it just popped in there and I couldn't resist it! I am sure I am going to pay for it though.

 

yeah In the 1/8 after a huge wheelstand you’ll be lucky to get to 88 so you can go back to the future and see the ending when I outrun your car lmao

 

in post 3520 of it running, it shows billet pulleys. Something else you can try (depending on feedback to this post) is to blast the grooves. Seems that a lathe turned surface might be too slick to grip.

I personally didn't care for the Ford style of low right alternators pivoting up and out to tighten, making it tough to provide a nice easy way to tension the belt, hold the tension and tighten the bolt unless you have access to stick a pry bar in there, which can lead to other issues. See if you can find/borrow a laser level to throw a beam across the pulleys and if you have helpers, try throwing the laser across the top of the belt as you tension it. Too many times I've seen a decent tension twist the alt in it's mount and the big thru bolt.


That 95 in an 1/8 translates to 117 in a 1/4.

 

Yeah I’ve had the same issue on billet pulleys before and also if you use a calculator 95 will calculate to 117 but in the real world this car will run 131 in the qtr it pulls hard in the back half of the qtr mile I’ve since got the tune way better since then and haven’t run it in the qtr since everything has been 1/8 mile since and the next few races I am goin to is as well I really hate 1/8 mile racing but that seems to be the way it is now guess I need to change the gears and the tune up but I just don’t want to lol

 

Randall be carefull working on those pulleys ! If you screw up that radiator with a pry bar or wrench Jackson will laugh so hard he will crap himself! And nobody wants that! Your getting so close ,fingers and toe's still crossed. Larry

 

No pry bars needed, I have a turnbuckle style hiems end unit that does the adjustment. Lol

 

So I did some studying on this belt situation. It seems to be a pretty common problem and for the most part like many internet searches, way more questions than answers. Its always fun trying to weed through the arm chair yahoo responses but after quite a bit of reading I came across one that seemed to make more sense than most.

"The squealing noise is the belt grabbing then slipping over and over again. It is a misconception that you want the belt to be "sticky" to grab the pulleys better. This actually makes the issue worse. As the belt wraps around the pulley it will always stretch and move on the contact surfaces. The "stickier" they are the worse the squeak. Think of wet sneakers on a tile floor. At the dealership we would hit the belt with brake clean, hit it both sides with a wire brush and then put a small dab of the silicone high temp brake grease on both sides. Just a small dab on the tip of your finger. The belt will still slip a bit because that is simply what a belt does, however it will now do it with no squeal. And it is a lasting fix. Side note though, make sure your pulleys are clean and lined up correctly. If one is out of line it will squeal all the time."

We were headed for a cruise night last night so I took the belt off and we gave it a try with the current belt. I reinstalled it and no noise for a bit but just as I was loading the car, it came back. No where near the original sound level (which was horrible) but still a squeal. I did pick up a smaller belt, 3/8 width versus 7/16. I decided to give it a quick try and slapped it on. I fired it up and the belt ran with no noise at all but upon reving it a bit, immediately twisted itself over in the pulleys. LOL

I decided since we had a measurable change the first round maybe we would give it a second try. So we took the original belt again repeated the process. I spent a bit more time with the wire brush this time and we reinstalled it. Not a peep. No sound what so ever even at high revs. We ran the car quite a bit last night including a quick cruise or two still no squealing!