We'll looking back its been nearly 3 years since we started the Living Hamb. Its was delayed by a separation and divorce and a couple of losses of family members from the Big C. But i'm happy to report that Living Hamb debuted last week and apart from a couple of minor fixes everything is still intact. Quick recap= the car was bulit from scratch by myself and my father in law Poppa John(now outlaw lol). Neither of us had built anything before. I've been involved with drag racing for close to 25 years (36 years young this year) crewing on numerous cars from super gas to top fuel but i could never justify the cost of a car considering i had other responsilbilties ( apprentice mechanic, young family , house etc) but the hambster creation was the inspiration i needed. 3 months ago the car was a roller with all the major components in the shed but yet to be fitted. Target was Nostalgia drags at Willowbank Feb 19th. Took the car in early January to local tech inspector for him to inspect the frame structurely and got the ok to finish it off. Final tech inspection passed 8th feb, car totally stripped 9th, parts delivered to paint shop 10th, sanding 10th and 11th, paint 12th, and everyhting back home in the shed that night. Now only have to put it together for license pass Friday night 18th Everynight after work till 12 and as late as Friday morning i was having clutch problems with a loss in slave cylinder travel. Fix= make rod longer!! Got gears enough to get it on the trailer "we'll check it at the track". Quick adjustment at track and first pass time. I decided i was first as i had been on the track before, in street cars. I was SUPER nervous. i was just about to pedal our creation down the track. My $200 engine is breathing hard but a quick flick of the thermo fan blows the smoke away-doesn't look so bad. With granny shifts first pass done 19.86/74.90. Car feels really good. No vibrations, steering good.Sweet. Time running out so Johns turn. He'd never been on the track before but with same granny shift approach 20.81/79.15. And officals signs off on the car and our license passes. Race day and Poppa John is the nominated driver for this event. First pass out and 16.46/82.00. Cool- thats a breathing slanty, haven't set timing yet, stock everything including single barrel carb. We're stocked!!! Following passes are 19.09/77.96,17.52/82.16, 17.90/41.81 and 21.78/68.45 all passes with trouble getting second gear. Offer a quick suggestion to Poppa for our last pass and finish with a 16.74/81.85. First meet done, car performed good considering it's got a smoking habit and we are both very pleased with ourselves. There is nothing like building something and watching it work. That was Saturday, Sunday i picked up a set of frame rails, i beam front end and a diff for number 2. Surely 2 is better than one.
Yesssss! Does that come anywhere near expressing the feeling? Beginning a parts pile for another one for us, my wife wants one.
I liked your writeup. Overcoming difficulties no doubt makes it even more meaningful for you. You built a good looking dragster. Have fun with it.
Hey old 6, don't forget build pictures, or is it going to be a clone? Maybe in pink. Will she be able to start from the lady's tee's.
Won't be no pink!! And I think I'll just start out there where the rest of you do, thank you. No lady's tee(or tree) for me.
Ye ha , another HA/GR TO RACE , I wish I coulda been there but with my car in bits and a million other things to take care of , oh well August aint too far away. Soo glad to hear you're up and skidding.
through the turmoils of life, you've got there, job well done, embrace it and enjoy it for what it is. Congrats, Drewfus
Ok, so on to number 2. Picked up frame and front end on the weekend. Cross members to be cut out of frame and frame shortened a bit. But brain teaser is the front end. I want to run single transverse spring. Any suggestions on mounting??
Heck,with those pads it'd be easy enough to cobble up some nifty bolt-on spring & radius rod (or bones) hangers, just a bit of scrap tubing and plate.
Got the bug now. Need to go racing again. Race in Warwick 2 1/2 hours away this weekend so arrange the trailer start to get all the gear together and then it rains non stop for the last 24 hours. Damn it!!!!
Welcome to drag racing, screws with your head. Finding a mental balance is the new challenge In regards to your front end, would be easy to just make a bolt on arrangement for the spring, although the weight of it looks painful. why not run quarter elliptics like this (see Jivebombers blog) could be fairly easly achieved by making a bolt-on bracket to suit that axle (even though its really heavy) Cheers, Drewfus
Well it surprised me but I,d be keen the weigh this front end and compare it to the front end on car 1. Didn't feel much heavier to me. Plus the big bonus on this front end was the price......FREE!!!!. will be at the trailer shop next week to pick up spring and HQ hubs to replace the discs.
A single quarter elliptic is a weight saving option we used and you can always poke it full of holes.
Sorry for the thread hijack. Anytime I see pics of Miller Big Cars I get all warm and fuzzy. Here my interpretation/tribute to the Miller 91 rear drive, in about ¾ scale. Its more go-cart than real car, although its fairly fast (55 mph) for the neighborhood. Skip Pipes
Glad to see the parts are going to be used. Better than lying around where they were. Rod will be happy to see them up and running, make sure you offer him a skid or two. If I can be of any help, let me know. Cheers, Grant.
Your guess is as good as mine lol. Swap meet special. Guy told me Humber but i can't find any Humber photos that match it. I love it and basically built the whole car around it. Wanted to leave it rusty/dusty but had to paint it as per regulations
No worries mate, if you need any bits for the "Leaning Tower of Power" let me know, I know a guy.....
you have finally done it well done congrats hope to see you at the 6 banger nationals in september or nostalgia nationals in august
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