Technical Model A Hot Rod for the strip... and street!

Cool deal, Sam. My avatar "T" went 9.50's at 139......8.50 is another world! Loving it.

 

I’ve always loved that hot rod, really cool that the wheels have a Mcphail tie as well.

 

Glad for you that you got the old family cars back! Sub'd & looking forward to the updates, should be a proper HOT Rod!

 

These cars are like yo-yos for you, they go out then come back, quite the back story on all of them.
I see you said street/strip for the green one, what fuel are you planning to run ?

 

The engine is relatively low compression at 11.5:1… so it will run on the street with 91 octane. Brule said it should be fine, just listen to it. For the strip, it will need 110. I run Sunoco, and that’s what we dyno’d it with. I’ll do a proper post on the engine real soon. I have pics and video of the dyno session I can share.

 

I appreciate the kudos… but the blue one… I almost didn’t post a pic… but it connects the dots. Haha

 

WOW, WOW!! Such a great story on all of the Family "A"'s. Looking forward to watching this next one come together.

 

"A" true family tale, what's not to like?! (Maybe the blue one?)

 

Here for the ride......

 

How'd you find time for all the Tri Five Projects?

I had auto shop at Downey with I think your brother John?

Nice Mustang sport roof ,Blue 65 or6.

 

Sam...was amazed at how hard Frieburgers A hooked and how straight it went. You put alot of thought into that chassis and it shows. Good luck on your new build..ill be following along.

 

Hi Ron! What year did you graduate? My brother John drove a ‘66 GT Fastback his Senior year from February on… Oh, and he still has it!

 

Graduated '84.
Yeah that was a nice car for a High School Senior!

 

I think there are multiple ways to get started on a project car. Some people buy someone else's unfinished project, some people buy a running car and improve it, or maybe even tear it completely apart. Some folks buy body panels and make chicken soup out of chicken shit. I think I've done all of these things. But once you have the idea, you have to start somewhere. No two projects begin the same way, for me at least. This hot rod is no exception. Because I have a few things going on at all times, I was able to start collecting parts as soon as I set out to build my version of the F-Rod. It really started with the body, then some wheels, a frame, some gauges.
Originally I just wanted to drag race the coupe. But then the thought of having my cake and eating it too... I mean, a real street-strip car... started to occupy my thoughts. And then things got interesting. I've always thought that you can't have a street strip car that does both really well. You have to compromise its streetability, or compromise it's drag strip times. Most of my street-strip cars have been a compromise in one way or another. When I built the yellow '55 with a 383 and a four speed, the engine had a compression ratio that did not like gas from the pump. But then, I didn't put enough compression in it to make great power. The blue roadster pickup that we built was a really good street strip car when I built it with a mild 427, it would run 10's, and could drive anywhere. But then I built a 468, that there again, ran mid 9's, but I had to run race fuel in it all the time... no longer a good street car. Nowadays you see guys running ridiculously fast cars at the track, and then they drive the wheels off of them on the street. How do you have a 6 or 7 second car that can drive 1000's of miles? Turbochargers. While I can respect the ET's and admire the people who run these things, they're just not me. I like simple, normally aspirated unadulterated horsepower. So about two or three years ago, I started buying parts for my engine. Of course I consulted David Freiburger and Steve Brule. I've built quite a few engines, have done a little bit of engine machine work, and know the mechanics of putting together something that will last... but as far as what combination of parts to buy, I consulted the two guys that I know that do this all of the time.

 

So why start with the engine? Well, I had gathered all of my parts, and then got a message from David saying "Brule is retiring in May. You need to get your 582 together so he can dyno it." Now normally I wouldn't spend a bunch of money and time to put an engine together so I could have it dyno'd. Heck, I've actually never had an engine dyno'd before! But there were two things on my mind. One, Steve Brule is a LEGEND, and if anybody can get the most out of a combination, it's Steve. And TWO, if anyone else dyno'd my engine, David would say "yeah, but it wouldn't make that kind of power on Brule's dyno." Which is true. Dyno numbers can be manipulated, and the guys at Westech aren't there to make you feel good, they are there to get the most out of what you put together. At the end of the day, the quarter mile times are what matter, not numbers on a piece of paper.

 

I had no idea Steve is going to retire, sure going to miss him on engine masters. Steve is the best.

 

Cool T! I'd like to see more pics of it! Drag racing pre-1934 hot rods is something I really love. No matter the shape, size, color or speed, I just like 'em. They bring me back to the days of Baylands drag strip and the Nostalgia Drags.

 

Following with interest, Sam.

 

I have a Question , the ones that where around Drag strips in late 70s - early 90s
Where any of You or knew
Serious Street Racer with 55-70 cars & Hot Rod ( Older cars ) have Fast car on Street, ?? Here In Northern Va ,
South East Md & Panhandle W Va ,
Most 1/8 mile , they only Ran @ track just to get a Et , Then later we would go on hunt for a race in deferent towns.
Late 70 , Running mid 7:40s
Early 80s Low 7 & 7:00
85 ish 6;70s
87-88 6:50s
90-92 5:50- 6 O's
Some Na , some on spray , some boost
My self in 91 still a teen , 3500 pd car No Jungle Gym, SBC on L 60s
6:40-6:50 107-112 mph threw pipes , almost a DD,
My Cousin was Booted 91ish from
Speed World Fla 1/4, in his all steel Full fenders Non chop 32 5w SBC Off Street DD ,, No Jungle Gym, over 150 mph ,
On Mc Corry Tires (spelling not correct) they where like M&H

 

you've got me on the edge of my seat....

 

I want one!

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...picture-thread.228509/page-2143#post-14971458

That's a pretty crummy video of a 9.5x pass. 514" Cadillac, TH400, 3.50 gear. 2500# staged.

 

Another builder to plaigerize. I'm watching...

 

Be a fun one to watch! Thanks for sharing!
These build threads Inspire folks with stalled projects!

 

I think that 9.50 is a very respectable time for pushing that half acre of flat glass down the strip.

 

We’ve started building the frame table!

 

I totally get it Sam ... The 32 frame I did for a friends 30 coupe took me hours to form fit it to the body. My frame table was 8" I beams

 

Good solution on making your not flat table flat. Should work slick.

 

Flat is important but in the end, the frame is going to be measured for square and level all on its own anyway, so having an imperfect table has never been a big deal to me.

I like to watch how Dennis Taylor builds a tube chassis car off of just a few pieces of rectangular tubing welded together on the floor.

 

I was literally thinking that after all the work and thought I put into it so far. My template for the body needs to be the same side for side. The uprights need to be 90 degrees to the bottom of it (square) and then I can simply use a laser level to project a level line and measure up and down from that.
Several ways to skin a cat.