Hey all- I was over at Tommy's today and we fired the car on nitro. Sounds great, no oil leaks, clutch setup nicely, it appears we've got the fuel system dialed in. So, we're going to take the car out to Sacramento Raceway's first Saturday test and tune on October 9th. I'll give a report when we get back, and of course anyone in the area who wants to come hang out is more than welcome to. Chances are we'll put you to work. ;-) Dean
4 cam Hemi huh??? I really would love to see some pics of it!! I read somewhere that Chrysler was working on one during the '60's, but they couldn't get it to run on it's own power...... Anyone know anything about it???
I'm assuming you are Dean Seavers this is your article? Very cool! http://www.nitrogeezers.com/tom_dicktakes_innovator.htm
Yes! That is correct. For those who don't know (there was a big thread about Tommy and the home-made quad cam hemi last year here on the HAMB if you want to do a search under voxnut to find it) Tommy has spent the last 45 years building this 4 cam hemi in his garage with nothing but a Bridgeport and an old Craftsman lathe. Here are some You Tube vids: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF8wPTUXxnw and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H53fSqjCvsM
Here's the old thread with way more info for those interested: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=413668
I'm pretty sure Tom & I have rubbed shoulders at some point. I'm an old drag racer & I remember talking about this engine eons ago! I'd forgotten all about it!
Steve- that's pretty cool! I don't think Tommy has ever run anywhere other than Sacramento Raceway. Did you used to make the rounds up here?
While I can and appreciate all the time, effort and personal monies that went into this motor,and the fact that you are doing this old school with grit and determination, If you were at my track I WOULD THROW YOU OUT OF THERE SO FAST! Put a person in that seat BEFORE you fire it--stupid sh#t like that causes big problems for the rest of us. Check out the blower explosion vid and watch the rear tires get big enough to almost drive off the jacks.
DRE- I've talked to Tommy about this numerous times and he's finally agreed and will be in the car, or have someone else who is cabable in the car when we fire it up at the track in October. Thanks for the note.
As you can probably imagine from the nature of the project, someone cut from Tommy's cloth is a stubborn old guy, who has heard myriad opinions on his project that run the entire gamut so it's hard to talk him into a lot of things regarding the car. The track has never said anything about it (probably because he's been grandfathered in since he's been out there testing since the 70's when it was somewhat common to not have a person in the car) so believe me it's been something that has been important to me so I've been working on him for some time. I hope that lapse hasn't diminished your opinion or interest in his project.
I think the engine is kool, but lately when somthing goes bad NHRA snaps to a quick rule that the racers are the ones to suffer, take into account th edeath of mark niver, He did everthing he was suposed to and still the net killed him. NHRA dessission the next day was for all cars of that nature to have carbon fibre brakes at a cost of thousands, after the thousands of runs made previously over the years with steel brakes without any problems.
That's become a bigger problem ever since the high sherriffs in the NHRA have become people with a buisness background and not a hands-on racing background. At least in the (now distant) past, more decisions were made by people who at least at one time were actual racers and had some degree of applied logic, rather than being completely reactionary. With my own little vintage front engine dragster project, I've lamented the banning of breather masks and open face helmets as a reaction to Brendan Murray's boomer at the NHRR in Columbus. Fine, ban them for N/TF, or even cars faster than 7.49, but I can guarantee that my 9-second injected dragster is not going to grenade itself in a fireball the way a blown fueler will. But it seems to be easier to just make sweeping reactionary rules than ones that involve common sense.
I was there for Brendans Boomer, The whole firemask thing is touchy because its the only thing that the driver wear for protection that does not have an SFI rating and nobody wants to go through the expence and hassle to get it done for the few they sell. Also one has to modify inside the front of the helmet to give room for the extra padding of the firemask otherwise the helmet does not sit down on the drivers head and the chin strap is too short, now we all know that modifying the helmet foam voids the rating.
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