View attachment 5255057 View attachment 5255058 View attachment 5255057 View attachment 5255058 Been meaning to do this for a long time. Finally got around to it. Had a few people ask me about my Hambster, so time to post. Used to race a Ford Cortina 6 cyl back when Willowbank Drag strip first started in 1985. Always loved the Ford 6 cyl, the unwanted child of the Australian 6 cylinders. Was at the Willowbank Nostalgia Drags in 2017 and saw Steve and Jeff Danglmaier,s Hambsters and thought them pretty cool. Hadn't raced for over 20 odd years and thought it would be cheap and fun. Stripped back to the bare essentials. How drag racing should be. Started Googling Hambsters and came across a cool picture of a Ford 6cyl powered one. Clicked on it and ended here. The thread was called Dragfest Or Bust, by the Toymaker. I considered it a step by step how to. Loved the thread, so away I went collecting parts. Much gratitude to the Toymaker for making my job easier.
Good to see you get a thread going Brian. Looking forward to hitting the track with you again soon. Having a sparring partner with a car as quick as yours is good for encouragement. It’s a great bunch of guys we have.
Here is link to Dragfest or Bust thread by @Toymaker : https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/dragfest-or-bust-toymakers-ha-gr-build-thread.246970/
Started collecting the parts needed, took 3 motors till I found the right 170 CID, First one bought from Melbourne 2000kms away, shipped it up here, only to find out it was the wrong size. 221 CID, later 70s motor. Second one, again bought payed for (Melbourne again) and shipped, only to find that a piston had munched a cylinder. Well at least I salvaged the rocker cover from it Finally after 6 months a mate of mine remembered he had one laying around and gave it to me. Could of saved $600.00 right there on the project if he remembered earlier. In the mean time, came across a later model 250 CID which had came out of a Cortina Speedway car, all hopped up. Big cam, Roller rockers, double row chain, pump comp head and other goodies. Picked it up for $400.00. Knew the bigger head would be low compression , so head machining was in order. Stripped the motor down and started modifying it for the big plan. one single barrel Stromberg carb wasn't going to be enough so two Chrysler two barrel Carters was the plan.
Well Ford and Holden has left the country so we got to keep the Ford V`s Holden Rivalry alive. All in good fun. Good to see you getting faster n faster.
In the mean time, late 2017, talked my boss into letting me build the dragster at work. We being a company that builds the radiator cores and supplies the mining and radiator industry, had all the toys needed to build it. After thoroughly studying Toymakers thread at least 50 times, off I went, Frame welded up, Dan a good mate of mine and the welder at work volunteered to weld the chassis up for me, for free, no charge. Well gave him a 6 pack of Wild Turkey and KFC every Saturday that he did some work.
Good to finally remember my password, I have been reading the HAMB for years as I could not sign in, lost password, but now found. I am now back home with HAMB, still have 1940 Ford coupe Chevy drivetrain and 1950 Ford coupe Ford 5.0 \ C4 drivetrain. Love them both. Happy to be back AND signed in. Merry Christmas and a Happy and safe New Year to you all. Sam
Always multi tasking. Started spending Saturday and Sunday at work 6am to 6pm, Luckily work is 3kms from home. Onto the carb adapters and a set of Zoomies and modifying a early Falcon steering box, had to reverse the box (cost me $5 for a seal)
Kept collecting bits when I came across them. Had some mates donate bits that they had laying around. Front end, genuine Barry Grant Wheel (New). Mate flew to SEMA in 2018, came back with a Moon knob he bought from their store, a Mario Andretti shifter,
Back to the chassis. Few more metres of Chrome Moly shipped up from Sydney, a lot of cutting and grinding to make the notches perfect, (too lazy to buy a pipe notcher., next time). More KFC and Wild Turkey and 2 Saturdays later, a chassis was born
Thankfully we have CNC machines and Neal another mate of mine here at work down loaded a program for a Bomber seat and ran a template, we modified it a bit then ran it again in Aluminium and Dan welded it up for me. In the mean time I had got to know Steve and Jeff Danglmaier,s, got heaps of info and help. Steve gave me a new brake cylinder for a trailer. I cut out and welded up a brake lever because I wanted to go Old Skool. NO brake pedal. Later to find out how much fun that is.
Had bought enough bits for the rear end. Swapped some bits for a Borg Warner diff, Picked up a new set of 4.11 gears for $250, Mini spool for $70 and new 28 spline 9 inch axles for $320. Cut n shut the diff to centralise the pumpkin. Fitted it all together with new bearings. Time to do some painting.
Radiator was a no brainer for me. Small 3 row radiator with small fan and electric driven water pump. Modified a motor from a radiator fan to run the pump via a large thick o`ring. Welded a aluminium step down to the water pump so I can run heater hoses. Stationary the cooling system will keep the motor cool for just over ten minutes. Long enough. Does get a bit sketchy at Carralbyn Air strip drags in February though, our summer (38 + degrees C ? 100 degrees F). Nathan my nephew volunteered to do the wiring (hate the stuff) as a apprentice he had to complete a assignment in electrical and was signed off using my car as the assignment.
Time to assemble and the sign writing, a part of the trade off (Sale pitch to the boss for allowing me to build the car here,) was to put the companies name on it. I wanted it done Old skool. Definately like how it came out.
Had made the fuel tank out of a old Helium balloon disposable Cylinder, never really like it. Had the fuel cap for over 20 years, waiting to do something with it. Always like to make stuff, that's were I get my fun from, bought two Aluminium salad bowls and a Moon spinner cap and threaded bung. Prefer this instead, yeah could of bought a genuine Moon tank, no fun for me in that. In the old days you had to make nearly everything yourself. That's what I enjoy
A mate donated his old boat trailer to the cause. Bit of modifying , a few runners, mounts, new lights and away we went to Willowbank in 2020 for the Nostalgia drags. Going to make a big entrance.
Well That didn't go as planned. Hadn't raced since the early 90`s. Willowbank strip then did not prep the track, so big right foot and away you went, spinning for traction. Now days the track is prepped with traction compound. First time out big revs and pop the clutch, nearly stalled the thing, Such a bad time that I did not even pick up the slip. Second time BOOM, jammed in first gear, got to the end of the track finally, got out and looked underneath. 3 holes in the bell housing, Came home with my tail between my legs. Next day Nathan and I had the motor and box out and stripped within a hour. Didn`t even take the car of off the trailer. (was easier anyway.) Carralbyn Air strip drags was the following weekend. Had to get it fixed. Dan welded up the holes in the housing and I fitted the old Econoline pressure plate, desperate times ahead. Car was back together by Thursday, quick road test at work, back on the trailer, ready for Carralbyn.
Everything went great, NO breakages, had a awesome time, did get sunburnt though, learnt the lesson for next time. Old skool with girls, flag dropping. The closest I think that I will ever get to the likes of Eaglefield Drags. Since 2020, it has become bigger and the numbers fill in only a matter of a couple of weeks. Always getting bigger and better. Caught up with Brendon there, sadly The Grey Ghost was not ready in time. Next year though!!. 2021 was to be even better. By now, Nathan had become my pit crew, or as he calls himself, Chief Grease monkey. Inside joke between us is every time he crews for me, I pay him in Oreo`s and Gummy Bears.
I realise that I have forgotten to mention the running gear in the Hambster. Motor is a Ford 170 CID out of a 62 Falcon. It was already bored 40 thou over, with standard flat top pistons, fitted the solid lift cam from the 250 CID motor from the speedway car along with the double row timing chain as well, reco`ed the oil pump, welded a baffle in the sump, fitted new COMP Cams solid lifters and solid push rods, Ebay electronic distributer, Bosch GT40 coil, mate gave me a new set of MSD leads that he had laying around, and that is about it with the bottom end, old bolts, no balancing. It was planned to be just a engine to get it going, but it has such potential that I will tear it down and build it properly. Balance it and ARP bolts. Head is a 250CID head that has big valves and runners. BUT low compression So I had it shaved 85 thou to bump the compression up. Blocked off the single carby hole, hole sawed and welded adapters and fitted two, two barrel carbs from a Chrysler 318 V8. Welded a spacer between the centre exhaust port for improved flow and messed with the rockers. Gearbox is a 3 speed top loader from a 61 Ford Econoline, (short extension housing). Shifter is s Sparkomatic, Mario Andretti Quick shift. Had to reverse and modify the throw as 2nd gear was in my groin Diff is just a Borg Warner with 4.11 gears and Mini spool with 28 spline 9 inch axles.
Nice write up Brian. You must've given that clutch plate a pizzl'n to break it like that. I've broken 2 clutches in over 600 passes and haven't shattered one.
Cheers for that guys Yeah, had to change my driving style, Not as many revs on the line and ride the clutch a bit to get it moving. Leaving at 4500 rpm and only shifting at 7000 rpm now. It was a learning curve, think I got it down now, well almost. Always room for improvement.
I use 3-4000 revs and if the track is sticky I put a bit more air in the tyres. This allows a bit of wheelspin to get the Grey motor on song. I've got a single legger diff so it doesn't always go to plan.
Still getting used to the launching. I was using more air pressure so it would spin but dropped it down to 12 psi and letting the clutch slip to get moving. Happy with the pressure in the tyres, just practice, practice.
Well a year went by quickly with COVID for me, despite no racing. Went to two test n tunes with no real improvement, The first one I lost the neck brace, (forgot to tighten it up, so couldn't run) and the other one was so packed that I only got two passes and they were far from great. mid 14.4 sec at 96 mph. Well at least I didn't break anything that time.. The down time was spent replacing and remaking things that I was never really happy with. Things like the fuel tank, pedals, fitted a throttle cable instead of a rod and a couple of other things. BUT then this came around,
Carralbyn #3 Again, an awesome time. Caught up with Brendon and The Grey Ghost for some fun. Brendon had a mad thrash to get up and running but the fun was there as was the smiles on our faces. Unfortunately no pictures of us running together. Really hot weekend, again. Lots of great cars and people. Will always look forward to this weekend. Hopefully never miss one. Even walked away with a shiny dust collector.
Back to Willowbank mid year for a Test N Tune, still getting the launch down. Some good times but was down on MPH. Was a couple of little problems to sort out still, but again didn`t break anything. Making a habit of that.
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