Projects Austin Somerset Gasser Build (DragNasty)

You know he is!!!
Just got to show him up!!!

 

Well I learned something tonight that I didn't know and honestly hadn't even thought about. It came from a fellow HAMBer that has followed the build...and apparently has some DRAGNASTY ESP going on. He contacted me off the thread and asked if I would call him. Good thing I did! Even though I had not actually mentioned it yet, I had plans to put her back together with the ARP stud kit that is sitting on my shelf. I knew it was going to be headache with the Jesel stuff, but I had decided to take it on.

@InsvisibleKid told me he did the same kind of switch from bolts to studs on a SBC and it caused all kinds of issues because the engine had not been honed for studs. He reported after putting it on the dyno it had crazy power loss and after opening it up had wild ring drag. That is what I love about the HAMB, tons of real world experience and folks looking out for one another for no other reason than it is just the right thing to do.

So I am trying to wrap my brain around this new information and decided to see what Google had to say about it. What I found is "IK" is correct and why. It is about bore distortion. It is a fact of life, it is going to happen to some degree in every motor, high performance or not. In the case of head bolts vs. studs, because of the physics behind their different styles of clamping force etc. they will distort the bores differently. If a motor was set up with bolts (meaning it was honed with the torque plate "bolted" down) and then maybe more importantly ran for a while with the heads "bolted" in place there is a risk. If you were to change to the studs, they could/would distort the bore differently and depending upon a ton of factors you could get ring drag etc. etc. etc.

So with that being said (and the Jesel nonsense not withstanding) we are going to just go back with bolts. We will however put a stud in the newly installed helicoil hole. Thanks for the education "Kid"....

 

Well, thank you because I've never heard of that either. Makes sense tho, I can't imagine it making that much difference, but I guess it does.

 

Well........ Aw jeeze.... I had to learn the hard way. Even though my builds take years, and don't post build threads, I've had to find some things out by lessons learned. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but, if I can prevent something from happening, and have first hand knowledge of such= $, I'm gonna chime loudly. You've gone the distance, and we're living vicariously through your adventures...... I had to say so, so preventing further aggravation= time/cash/ dismay.........
You've got a lot left in the car=ET. The MPH is there. Just playing/sorting/testing, and most of all, having fun!
I've picked a few minds in my time here, and learned a lot. I might not be able to contribute all mighty knowledge, but- If I helped/saved anything as far as time/$/heartache, then I'm good/we're good!
I'll be watching as always, and wish I was there mixing it up with you. Now go lay some tracks, and Get er Done!
The way the HAMB brotherhood exists............

 

So a couple of other issues we are addressing before the HAMB DRAGS is the before mentioned cross link bar that is supposed to be here this week, raising the wheelie bars back up and the engine temp sensors. Way back in the first round we found our temp sensor in the head was heat soaking something crazy. I mean the gauge read 240 plus but the heat gun couldn't find any place on the head hotter than 205. And we found it was as much ambient as anything as after wrapping the daylights out of the exterior part of the sensor we dropped it nearly 25 degrees at the gauge. Now with the aluminum heads we are getting the same crazy high temps with no other signs of overheating. So I ordered this little jewel.



This thermostat housing spacer can take both the gauge and the computer sensor. I am looking forward to seeing if this helps our phantom readings a bit.

 

I just got a PM from a HAMBer saying we never reported the final outcome of the helicoil episode etc. Sorry about that...we got so side tracked on bore deformation I guess I forgot.

So as was indicated by our exploratory drilling (Lol) there were no threads in the head. But there was an over sized hole with faint tap or thread markings for about half an inch or so and then about 3 rounds of full threads way at the bottom just before entering the water jacket. I have no idea what was in this big hole before that took initial torque but what ever it was is gone! ....and the hole in question was around 9/16 in diameter.

The only choice I saw at that point was twin helicoil. So I did some research and found a 7/16 helicoil will screw right into a 9/16 helicoil. I snagged a 9/16 kit from the parts store and the tap in the package said it required a 29/64 bit (good luck on a Sunday afternoon with that). However when we got home (bit-less) I took a look at the hole and it was just a shade larger than 9/16 we put the tap in and it was absolutely perfect and we cut the prettiest set of threads you've ever seen. Then we installed the 9/16 helicoil followed by the 7/16 both soaked in red thread lock.

 

we plan on using the hamb drags as a drag week test session. so yes the car will be on nitro.

 

"Oh boy I am not sure that starting line will hold that kind of horsepower and the shut off area is pretty short, that corn field comes up pretty fast!" See what I am doing there James, I am starting the mind games....LMAO
Just kidding, can not wait to see the Nitro Madness Coupe make a pass! It will be and epic HAMB DRAGS Moment!

 

Take every jab you can.

 

Just an added note about studs vs bolts...The main bearings also will have a bore distortion issue if a swap is made to studs..If it is felt that studs are needed then the engine will need to be line bored using the studs..

 

You know I have been day dreaming about the next project. I think I want to build a wheel stander. Out of something no one has seen before... I am leaning towards my Dad's 50 year stored project 1948 Thames 1/2 Ton Van. It is a bit larger than the 1/4 ton vans like @GlassThamesDoug.....







I have been sitting in this stupid thing since I was about 4 years old making car noises and pretending to pull wheelies anyway! LOL

 

Can't wait for the photo shop job on this one.

 

Actually sort of a done deal around here. When I got home tonight I mentioned to Dad about the Thames Wheel Stander. He said that has been a dream of his since he bought old heap in 1968. I had no idea. He ran back to his bedroom and dug out an old note book with a chassis design he had sketched out sometime in the 70s. So you can't argue with that...lol. Looks like a new build thread on the way.

 

Be sure to share the link somewhere in this thread!

 

That Thames is CLEAN....... could be one of a kind. A 1/2 Ton out this way that went to Tennessee had 3" mini tubs... for tire clearance. Car was clean, had old Green Faded paint on it.

 

Looking forward to it. Would like to hook up w/ Malcolm this time. Would be a good race! So Malcolm....I'm calling you out first round!

 

Well she is back together again at least the worst of it anyway. As usual it seemed to fight us a bit. I actually had all the parts gathered up two days ago and was ready to rock and roll on it when I discovered JEGS had only shipped one of the Cometic Head Gaskets! So obviously we only got one head on the day before while JEGS overnighted the missing part.



We were clicking on along pretty well last night but ran into a small issue with the thermostat extension/temp sensor holder etc. It has three 3/8" outlets and one 6 AN, which would seem plenty of options. However in either position there was a clearance issue of some sort. Basically we need another 1/2 spacer to get the original spacer far enough away from the intake to clear etc. So I am off this morning to see what I can find locally... Hopefully a quick final thrash tonight will get us to the Route 66 Festival Car Show Saturday.

 

Something sort of amusing, at least I had a good laugh at it. When Hilborn set up the parts list for the EFI system, something they added after finding out I might driver it on the street occasionally was a fuel pump controller. It is a pretty neat little device. It controls pump speed with PWM, pulse width modulation, at over 12,000 Hz. This means the electrical current to the electric motor is interrupted over 12,000 times per second to reduce the RPM. It keeps fuel cooler, minimizes cavitation, prevents vapor lock, and allows you to switch between full and controlled speed. Basically a fancy way of saying it keeps the pump cool so you can drive for long periods of time if you want...ie "Yahoo Cup" distances etc.


This is the only photo I ever had of the product. When it came time to put everything together, this little module was MIA. We looked every where for it. I showed Dad this photo and he didn't remember ever seeing it. I am assuming between unpacking all the individual boxes and transporting the parts out to the shop etc. we lost it. Probably just didn't see it in a box we tossed etc. So we moved forward without it. But recently I got to thinking and looking back through my photos of all the system spread out on the dinning room table. There is no sign of this little number anywhere. So I called Alkydigger to see if they had a packing list for my order and could confirm it had actually been shipped to me with the rest of the stuff. They discovered it had not. Somehow it had been left out of the order, paid for but not shipped. So being the stand up folks they are, they rounded one up and sent it to me.

Here is the funny part, it arrived yesterday and I opened the box...here is that little module to scale....LOL


It's HUGE! Totally caught me off guard. It was liking getting handed one of those giant joke pencils or something...LOL Hopefully we can get this little (Big) jewel wired up this next week before the HAMB DRAGS....

 

Looks like Cookie Monster was standing too close to your scoop when you started the engine

 

Now that is funny right there...i don't care what anyone says....lol

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The fuel controllers work great. I have a toggle switch wired into mine. It allows me to go on the high side quickly. Like say the opportunity presented itself for a unsactioned acceleration trial on the street vs. A unsuspecting opponent.

 

How do YOU find an unsuspecting opponent????

 

Or Billy Gibbons

 

Enloe you are on a roll today!...lol.

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Boy my grandson is going to be mad at you for sucking Cookie Monster up.

 

Well if you had asked me last night around 11 if we were going to make the show this morning I'm not sure what odds I would have given you. Probably not even as good as 50/50. But here we are! So we rolled in at 7:30 a.m. with the car on the trailer still not fired...lol



Route 66 Festival Car Show - Springfield, MO

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Here is an interesting little tidbit...Since the rebuild, the Austin has made four passes. A month ago or so we went to Ozark Raceway Park Vintage Drags and ran two 1/8 mile passes, sort of a shake down for the Meltdowns. Our first run we ran this orange, 1938 Chevy "Bobber" style drag truck.


Next Round we were lined up to run the Okie Twister but a few cars up someone traded spots and shoved us back one and we got the Orange Truck a second time.


Then it was off to the Meltdown Drags were Friday afternoon we lined up against this very fast little orange '38 Chevy Coupe, he ran a 10 flat quarter.


Then Saturday as I rolled around the wooden burn out barriers what do I see in the other lane, another orange '38 Chevy Coupe (not the same one as Friday).


So just for the record, we have made 4 passes since the rebuild in two states and all four of them have been against an orange 1938 Chevy! What are the odds...

 

Is that thing running yet lol


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Hell yes it is running...we fired it for the first time on the trailer at the car show Saturday morning and drove it in...lol

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