Met up with an old friend in the Los Angeles area this morning. He offered me a chance to buy his '55 Handyman wagon roller. Anyone interested for a Junior Stock clone project? Seemed like I recall him mentioning having begun to clean it up already. Probably around $5K. c
I thought to myself, wow, they're really THIN WALL castings these days if those cylinder walls can expand/shrink that much just from honing! Two-three tenths (ten-thousandth's, that is) is more like it. Peter
I would draw the line at .001" max over limit if the cylinder block was not cooled to ambient temperature AND strongly advise (read: warn) the racer to go look for another cylinder block. IMO this was NHRA's fault for not allowing for thermal expansion if shortblock of class winner's car was checked while not fully cooled. That of course, is irrelevant since the racers quickly got the message and went a few thou under maximum allowable oversize to compensate for this. However, those guys that got bounced probably are still not happy about it. Question is: where the heck do you get a set of pistons for an .057" or .058" overbore? Pete
Is this it? Just kidding... Would make a cool project car. I can just see it now: H.A.M.B.'s HOW TO BUILD THE ULTIMATE NOSTALGIA JR. STOCKER Pete
Three words: too freakin' cool! This baby is just itchin' to be dropped into the engine compartment of a period-correct (wheels, tires, decals, etc.) 1962-64 BelAir, Biscayne or Impala! Pete
Speaking of those early Chevies, how did the two-piece driveshafts hold up under drag racing applications, specifically with a manual transmission? <EMBED height=385 type=application/x-shockwave-flash width=480 src=http://www.youtube.com/v/cv1RjPHMI9g&hl=en_US&fs=1& allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></EMBED> Pete
The photo of Mousie's car reminded me of Gebler Headers. Herb Gebler supplied headers to a lot of cars that ran Capital. It seemed to me that he disappeared a number of years ago and then I learned that he was building headers for many NASCAR teams. When I had my machine shop I built some boat engines for APBA racers. We had a couple that ran 1 liter Stock and Modified with Toyota engines. Somebody told me that Herb had built some headers for those applications so I called him. I was surprised to learn that he got over $1000 for a 4 cyl header. That was ten years ago. Guess he made OK with the NASCAR boys!
I have talked with people who successfully swapped in a one-piece shaft, especially in later years. When I ran a '64 Impala in Stock during the 1970s, I had no problems with the stock shaft although, admittedly, the car was a small-block with a Powerglide but it ran low 13/high 12 second times. I've talked to others who mentioned that there was a way to substitute a solid pillow-block for the center bearing support and eliminate the relatively fragile rubber mount. I never needed it. Another weak link was the single attachment point for the upper control arm that essentially depended on the sheet metal floor pan for mounting. It was never clear to me if 409 cars actually had two upper control arms but I know that some of the racers added a second arm. I believe that the car I ran had only one, extending from the passenger side of the center-section of the housing to the floor. Again, I never broke that but I've heard stories about the control arm ripping out of the body. That would have been a rude sensation, I'm sure. c
Chuck, The single upper bar was actually attached to a steel cross brace that was welded between the frame rails. Constant launches would eventually either tear the weld loose or deform the cross brace, or possibly even pull out the bracket bolts. Some racers added a thicker steel plate behind the cross brace. The factory never built a car with two rear upper bars, not even the Z-11s. Verne
Atco Sept 1970.....I think it was the final round or maybe one of the later rounds at the WCS event. I was there racing and recall this run and think the R&S wagon won..... Borcherdt had a big carboard barbell on the package tray and I think the story was that he came up light at a race somewhere and the dumbell deal was a joke....
Great 'Freddie B' story Rich! Seems he was always a bit 'weight conscious.' As I recall, (the word was) a bit before his 'Junior-Stock period,' Fred's incredible Pontiac-powered *B/MP or B/G*? International pickup truck sported a 1/4" steel bed 'liner'! But that's just 45 year-old conjecture .. please stop by and tell us the real scoop Fred!
I dont know how others did it but I talked to Dyno Don Nicholson several years before he passed away when he was staying at Dick Estiveze's for the summer in Waldorf Md. and he said he just cut the x frame a little in the back and installed a one piece pontiac drive shaft. End of problem. He said NHRA never did find it during tech....LOL.
They missed the holes cut in the top of the frame and taped over and painted black too, or so the story goes,.
Can't let page number 303 slip by without (at least) one post about the 303 cu in Olds. Here's a nice little piece --> See ... http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/curbside-classic-review-1951-oldsmobile-super-88/ for text.
I had a '50 Olds once and bought it for $25.00 The kid that owned it couldn't get it started. I got it going after fixing up the points. It was pretty much on it's last legs but good for some trips back and forth to work for a few months and also a lot of laughs.......When I would first hit the starter button...it would crank very slowly and if anyone was in the car with me they would be sure it had a bad starter or battery. I would just look at them and say....just wait a minute and it would slowly start cranking faster and eventually build up enough speed to start.......It was a 303 and had the backdraft carb and had a hydro.......Sent it to the boneyard after it just wouldn't start anymore.....motor was whipped! Big ole 4 door sedan just like in the pictures....
We never had any trouble with the 2 piece driveshaft in our 59 Biscayne P/S, but it was just a 283 2 barrel 4 speed. Speaking of being tossed in tech nit picking, a buddy was tossed at Indy for class in the mid 70,s for having 1 TRW pushrod mixed in with the other 15 in his 428 Cobrajet Mustang by accident. Now theres a major performance advantage for you ! Another in a Pontiac Judge at Indy for class for 1/2 a cc short because he didnt know to stick the head in a cooler of ice water before being CC'd.
I met a guy at a friends shop in Daytona that raced a green fuel injected 57 Pontaic 2 door sedan in stock that he bought brand new and still has it. I cant recall his name but he ran it in the early days at Masters Field & Amelia Earhart Field in the Miami Fl area. He lives in Deltona Fl now.
to COLSEY thanks for showing KEN WORRELL and one of his early OLDS"S he and his brother JACK had some success with them. thanks again JAKE
Ken and Jack Worrell ran at Island Dragway a lot. Jack had a wagon and it was a stickshift....3 speed. It was a '49 or '50 Olds and he won often with it around 1966. For a while he was the car to beat every week in Jr Stock II. I think it ran U/S. Ken's car was not as fast and was easier to catch......We raced them both pretty regularly......I can still recall how much I hated having to race Jack and that lumbering wagon....he would shift to second and the way it kind of bogged down due to the gear spread.....I was sure my partner would catch him....NOPE.....usually could not get around him. I think it ran in the 17's and Ken's car ran in the 16's. Our 283/220 sedan delivery ran low 15's at first and then after a while high 14's. Pretty slow compared to todays cars out on the dragstrip... Jack later had a Ford Fairlane convertible....a 428 Cobra Jet I think it was and it was also a regular winner and record holder.
Yesterday I had lunch with Dave Bishop and JAck Redd . Dave gave me some photos to scan and share. Here is Dave's cousin Tim at Indy in 1969 where Tim beat Jim Waibel for class. Here is another shot of Tim's car at US 13 along side his usual tow car "Puff the Magic Wagon".
How in the h#ll would one see a difference? Somebody wanna explain the difference? I agree on the nitpicking comment. Gotta be some politics in there somewhere.
Steve, you have just become my favorite hamb member! I went from the beginning of this thread and somehow I missed that.
As I recall, at that time, the rule stated, "stock pushrods." The difference is not hard to see especially when there are two varieties present on the table. If the wording in the book specifically states "stock," mixed and matched parts are a gamble and politics don't have to figure into the equation. I've raced and undergone teardowns in Stock Eliminator under pre-Junior Stock rules, during the Junior Stock era, the post-Junior Stock era of the 1970s, and modern Stock as recently as the last three years and, in my experience, the rules structure during the 1970s was by far the most rigidly enforced. Since about 1983 there has been a gradual (and sometimes not-so-gradual) liberalization of rules in the interest of convenience and economics to the degree that today's Stock cars have a mixture of requirements that, in some respects, are more liberal than early Super Stock interpretations and yet adhere to some fine details that seem to make little if no sense. Example: Every part of the valve train rule has been liberalized to the point that camshaft profiles, lifters, pushrods, guide-plates, studs, springs, retainers, and keepers are non-stock but Chevies still use stamped steel rocker arms that are subject to failure at an alarming rate on some combinations. That's just the way it is. If your Oldsmobile destroys rockers on every run because of the basic design, get a Ford. There are several current and former tech officials contributing to the thread and I suspect that they would concur with my assessment. Bottom line, in 1975, people frequently were D.Q'd for non-stock details that were enforced primarily because NHRA did not want their new incarnation of "Stock" to be a shadow of Junior Stock. c
If my memory serves me correctly the TRW's had balls on the end and the factory pushrods were 1 piece, so the one stood out, I could be wrong. My 66 year old memory failed on the Fuel Injected Pontiac. It was a 58 hardtop with a 3 speed owned by Al Starch, not a 57. He also ran a D/S 60 Biscayne 348 in the mid 60's when he worked for Bob Fulp in Ft Lauderdale. The engine "may" have been slightly oversize in the Fulp tradition, like 61 inches oversize{rumored}
When we first bought out our D/S 68 Z/28 in 1980 they checked the firewall to look at the tag and make sure it had the correct DZ code on the it , plus looked at the front brakes to make sure it had the double piston Corvette front brakes, then made us run both spoilers or no spoiler. They didnt like my Hooker adjustable headers with the adaptor plate , said it had to be one piece too. Next week we showed up with the adaptor welded to the header, they didnt like it but it was one piece. They never did catch the Doug Nash 4 speed case with the letters & numbers ground off & painted silver. They were really nit picky in those days
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