Projects Dragmaster Dragster Found Hanging On A Wall.

Our parts came in from Speed Sport Chrome and the work was real nice. We had the original front rims rechromed even though the price of aftermarket rims was cheaper. The original front rims had "Made In England" stamped into them.

 

The front end is together and mounted. John had new king pins left over from a build that we used.

 

I took everything for the wheels to a friend of mine that owns Southern Cycle a Harley shop that is the best at lacing wheels. He told me that lacing these was a trip. When he unlaced them to go to chrome he took pictures of how they were laced to be able to reassemble them the same because of how the hubs were made. I include the best picture I had of the wheel before restoration to give a comparison. John cleaned and did the minor polishing on the spokes and hubs.

 

The original tires were Pirelli 2.75X19 I found a pair reproduced in size and exact tread pattern. Here's the front end assembled after restoration. We found a vintage Enderle fuel filter and were able to mount it using the original frame brackets. We're starting to think about engine mounts using a donor short block.

 

Fantastic job! She is really looking great.

 

Damn those shiny bits look good!

 

Front end and wheels look great!

 

This story just keeps getting cooler!

 

Great work on the wheels brother!!

 

Its your build, everything is so bright and shiney as if this is the first time it was rolled out of the shop.
Personally, I would have carefully removed the MQQN tag off the tank and sent it back to get the spun finish put back on so it looked like it did when the car was new, looks too dirty (could be the pic) when everything else is new

 

You are moving right along on this recreation.

 

fantastic!

 

Yes I agree with DRE once the frame gets painted black next all the chrome it will make the tank stand out more

Might call Moon maybe they have new stickers for your tank ?

DND

 

Guys you'd be surprised what a good aluminum cleaner and scotchbrite(with the grain) will do for that moon tank.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

That would work but you would have to be very careful around the name tags or remove them trying to keep them intact
Taping them off might work too but it will be hard to keep away from the edges with the pads

 

John got the engine and heads completely stripped and magnafluxed and the Flamethrower distributor checked out on an old Sun machine, it needed the points adjusted. He modified a Govt. shipping crate to hold everything for the trip. I called Dode in advance to arrive on a time he expected. Dode and Jimmy Scott unloaded the parts with a fork lift Dode calls Smokey.

 

My daughter Taylor is 20 and wanted to go with me on the trip this time, she didn't want to go to Dodes with me because we were going to spend the better part of the day going to shops and meeting some of Dodes friends. So I got us a room at the Wyndahm Oceanside Resort in you guessed it Oceanside it's about 20 minutes from Dodes. I couldn't believe my daughter would rather hang out on the beach and the Pier all day with my credit card than go check out some old shops. Go figure.

 

We got the parts unloaded so Dode could look them over and left the crate with him to pick up when we went back for the engine.

 

I had considered buying the new tank Moon sells that is a replica of the one I have but wasn't sure what finish would fit the build best when it was done. I figured it would be easier to clean one up than to dull one down. The blower and valve covers are going to have a natural finish that I think will look closer to the finish the Moon tank has now making it blend in instead of stand out so much.

 

I respectfully disagree. The condition of the tag, a small detail lends credit to the originality of the whole deal There is no way to get a tag like that except for it to have lived through time. That is just me though. A cool idea though. Didn't know you could do that. Ha.

 

Great story.

 

After checking the parts, Dode went over his ideas on the build. He pointed out a 6-71 GMC blower on a bottom shelf that he is going to use for our engine. It was the O.E. green color and had never been modified for a car. He told me at one time he had 18 of these he had taken off the engines himself, and this was his last one. He is going to bore the engine .125 over and use a 350 Chevy crank to closely resemble the 1/2 inch stroker cranks he used in his engines. He's going to do all the machine work and balance the entire assy., with the crank balancer I posted earlier. Externally it's going to look like a 1960 but internally there will be upgrades. The heads will have roller rockers, screw in studs, guide plates all new valves and springs. It will have a rev kit, straps over the mains for added strength and Crane cams is going to grind the cam. The timing gear cover, fuel pump and drive, 2 port injection and air scoop will all be Hilborn. Dode told me this engine is going to scream.

 

Once the engine is bolted together send it over here

Mine is going to be based on a 350 block bored + .030 to get me to 355ci. crank will have a BBC snout just for the added strength for the blower drive. Haven't decided on heads but like you it will be all modern an bullet proofed on the inside. I have managed to source a vintage Weiand intake, Magnesium Bugcatcher, retro Corvette valve covers and Moon timing chain cover.

 

" The heads will have roller rockers, screw in studs, guide plates all new valves and springs."

That's going to be tight under stock corvette valve covers..... Take a guess how I know?

blown 002 by 61cad posted Sep 6, 2011 at 1:01 PM

[GALLERY=media, 323533

 

How about one more story. Dode wanted to go eat lunch but first he wanted to introduce me to two of the people that were going to be a part of the engine build. The first stop not far from Dodes was Roy Miersch shop. That shop is cluttered with vintage racing pieces. A FED sitting up on a shelf, parts everywhere. Roy was rebuilding an aluminum head for a customers dragster, he also builds the Royal Ram Blower manifolds. He was a part of the team in the late 50's early 60's that campaigned the twin engine Howards Cams Spl, and was instrumental in the recreation of the car today. It was destroyed in an accident in the early 60's. Roy's going to put together everything for our blower drive. The next stop also not far from Dodes was Verne Tomlinson who worked at Hilborn for close to 50 years. His shop is just as cool with vintage equipment everywhere. Verne is putting together all the Hilborn parts for the engine. Verne showed me an original 1 piece Hilborn fuel pump he has had since 1960 that has never been installed. I ask Verne if we could have it for the build he said he'd had it so long he hated to part with it but he'd find a nice original one for us. When Dode and I were heading back to town to eat I told him about the pump and what Verne said, Dode looked at me and smiled "Don't worry I'll get it" We spent over 2 hours at the two shops talking engines and racing with Roy and Verne one of the highlights of the day. The other was eating at the Greeks with Dode, listening to his history, not just racing history, it was real interesting.

 

That's just what Dode said. He said it can be done, it's just going to be tight. That is a nice looking engine you have, your car is sharp, real clean.

 

I have a NOS Dragmaster that has never been put together !........... Did I mention its an old plastic model kit from back in the day. For a minute got you excited huh ? I still think it's cool.

 

This just gets better all the time. Thank you so much for posting all of this

 

And that is your right. as I said, for me personally, if I found the car complete and un-molested (just filthy) I would think nothing of keeping the tank as is. A lot of the old cars in the NHRA museum are as raced, and then there are some that have been freshend up. With all the new bright work , paint , hardware--- again "to me and my taste" a fresh MQQN finish appeals to me, Polish the tank---NO WAY, to pretencious.
If MQQN still makes tanks, they are not Replicas, they are just new MQQN tanks and you can order them plain and put the fittings where you want them

 

We even tried Cal- Custom and they too required a spacer to run Roller Rockers. So, what you see in the picture is a tall Cal-Custom knock off with polished breathers and a Hemi water fill adapted as an oil fill.

Thanks for the kind words.