Hot Rods Dare to be different - 63 Scout

You and the bro have done wonders with the two cars on what seems to be (like for most of us) a modest budget and you got the wife to join you on the trip. Sounds like a good year to me.

And got a young lady into our sport to boot. Just be careful she doesn't make a grab for the drivers seat in the scout.

 

That young lady - Megan - is very accomplished.

• 3 x Track Champion - Jr Dragster - twice with more points than any other class
• 2 x IHRA Ironman winner - Jr Dragster
• 8.50 dragster license at 18 yo - Frank Hawley school
• 6.00 Top Dragster license at 18 with a best of 7.49 / 181
• Fastest woman in Manitoba
• Youngest Top Dragster license in Canada
• 2 x winner Can Am Outlaw event

Currently running Super Comp 8.90 RED (modern style - ugh)
She was making passes in the Prefect at Meltdown and has her eyes on her own vintage ride...or she's waiting for Uncle Davey to build another one and she gets to drive it...

The funny part is - I have offered her and a number of others a chance to drive the Scout and all but 2 of declined (Larry Arnold and Scott Brown) and they drove it when it was a mid 11 sec wheel stander. That was 2 engine combinations ago.

Now that the Scout is blown injected and on alcohol - no-one - wants to get in it... except me of course. I'd do that every day. Even Megan says no with the excuse "I'm nuts but not that nuts"

 

Hey saxxon I'll trade you a pass in my digger for a pass in the scout lol I ain't scared question is can you handle a stick shift dragster lol


Chrome don't get ya home

 

If I fit the dragster - you're on !!
Is it ok that I don't give it back if I like it ??

Still secretly coveting the Willys

 

Well you could own both of them if you wanted them bad enough I have a project waiting in the back yard that could take their place lol. Sad part is I would probly like the scout just as much as you like my crap lol


Chrome don't get ya home

 

Well you have had one heck of a season to say the least !! I hope you can get a handle on everything for next year !!
I also hope you can maybe find time to visit Saskatoon next summer maybe if SIR has a feature event would be a great time to come out here !! It would be great to see you run here !!

 

Saskatoon is on the radar. Still bummed we didn't make the 50th. PSRA - I'll give you a heads up if it happens.

One last note for the season wrap up ... the run at Fall Fall Out was very tentative with a 1.67 60 ft off the foot brake and only at part throttle for most of the pass. We also had the blower turning 1-1 as opposed to the 5% over at Meltdown. Yet it still went 10.05. The Scout is showing it can run 9's at the slower blower speed. It also showed me it can launch straight off the new wheelie bars. Next year I want to crank up the launch, maybe even launch it off the trans-brake and see what happens. But this is not the primary goal: The trans brake could be tricky to hit a consistent launch RPM as I do not have a rev limiter wired into the mag and this thing shoots up and down the rpm scale really fast. Launching off the stall speed of 4200-4600 might be fun... not advised... but fun

Most important goal is to make the Scout repeatable. More racing than wrenching. The second major goal is to bring the wheelie bars up a few inches. The front end hanging in the air is what made the Scout a favorite among the fans and photographers... not the et. I have my 9, all I want to do is run another to back it up, then we bring it back to low 10's and have fun, show off and entertain the troops.

 

I really need to get the front end fixed...

This was the second moonshot wheelstand from Meltdown 7... After this one the wheelie bar mounts were so soft I could bend them by hand.

 

The Scout is packed away for the winter.
Big thank you to my wife for lending me a hand dragging the engine and trans out of it. Somehow she put up with me and a wonky engine hoist and didn't once threaten a divorce... (I think she secretly enjoys working on it with me - she would never admit that of course...)

With the Austin at a friend's place it left the trailer unoccupied... so the engine and trans are in the garage (soon to be at a heated shop) and the Scout will be on jack stands in the trailer for the long cold winter.

I pulled the trigger on a new intake. This one is still a street version but it's a large port - 1206 gasket (and bigger with porting) unit. It's also about 2" taller than my current one. This should eliminate a lot of my intake gasket issues with a far better squeeze on the gaskets. It should also give me a better port match as I was running a small port (1205) intake on a large port (1206) head. I don't care if all of this gives me a few more HP as long as it helps to keep it all together and the blower on top of the engine instead of on the picnic table between rounds. It also gives me some clearance on the valve covers and therefore easier to remove as required. I managed to sell my current unit within minutes of ordering the new one.

The engine will see a new flex plate - the current one is out of spec and missing a few teeth, and the trans will get a once over. It has performed great over the last few years and the oil is still cherry red so I don't expect anything more than fresh clutches.

Check out the 48 Austin PU thread to see what I'm up to this winter.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/48-austin-a40-pickup-gasser.1037796/#post-11769568

That's it for this year kids

 

if you get rid of the water in the engine the heads could be o-ringed. no more gaskets to blow out or scrape off. all modern engines designed for blown applications are done this way. it could be taken a step further with the top of the manifold getting the o-ring treatment also. patience and a mill is all you need.

 

one thing I do know is the better things fit together on a blown engine the better it stays together !! I think you were right on buying that new manifold plus as you said fixes a few other things also !! have fun this winter !! that is one thing I have now is a large heated shop /garage . I hope soon my daughter and I can start building a hot rod/drag car !! just something fun and cheap to run and take to the track off and on !! maybe a model A with big block .

 

Sponsorship !!
Normally I don't go for sponsors. Life has been good to me and I can afford to do this madness without begging for a Scout full of stickers and sponsor signage. (The big ugly Snap-On I've been displaying is coming off this year). The folks I do acknowledge (Pro-Gear, Softy's Speed Shop and Brazier Race & Machine) are vendors that have been kind to me or have done good work for me. Having said that, I have been approached with a couple of Sponsorship offers lately that I will be exploring.

One of the things I have always hated about the Scout is the paint. It sucks !! Really sucks... one step above - poorly prepped house paint applied badly with a brush - sucks... It was the result of a rushed decision that continues to haunt me. Add in damage front and back, a lost magazine feature because of the damage and Meltdown coverage highlighting the bent metal in every picture - and - it's time to make repairs. I posted on Facebook that I was looking for a body shop to fix the front end and mentioned I would be interested in a full make-over ... well... someone answered. A well established custom paint shop has approached me to do a full repair, re-paint using the same colors - no cost to me ... I have seen his work and it's top notch. We'll be talking next week but I have a lot of confidence we can come to an agreement and the Scout will have the paint it deserves for next season. I'm seriously excited... Just so I don't jinx it completely I'll keep the name and terms quiet until we get and agreement. You can bet your ass I'll splash the finished product all over the HAMB and Facebook.

A local Amsoil dealer came to me with an offer for sponsorship. We'll be talking this Saturday about it. Product is a certainty, money is a possibility. As long as they don't want to splash their logo all over the Scout I am willing to talk. They are opening up the offer to include the Pelissier Family Racing operation. This would be the Scout, the Prefect and my niece's super comp dragster.

And ... Praxair has agreed to sign on again with me this year. Last year I established this relationship and scored a welder, welding cart and equipment from them. I loved working with these folks and they were very happy with me. They mentioned making the offer a lot sweeter in 2017... I'll be talking to them in January.

Fingers crossed here kids

 

Sounds like you are getting all your ducks in a row.

 

Big bummer about the front end damage, but the wheelstand shot is unbelievable.
It looks like you could keep the front wheels up for miles if you had enough road.

 

Very cool. I can't wait to see that thing in person next season.

 

BTW big congrats on breaking into the nines!

 

Thank you !!

Never in my wildest dreams did I think the Scout would run mid 9's. I greatly underestimated the changes made last season. (Understatement of the year ??) Now that I've let loose the dragon it will be hard to pull it back.

When we ran the 9.78 / 136 at Meltdown we were set at 5% overdrive on the blower and made that pass with a soft launch and the intake gaskets going away. When we went to Rock Falls we went 10.05 with the blower set for 1-1 and with a very lazy launch (1.67 60ft) If you watch the video you can hear me get into the throttle about 100 ft off the line. But that pass told me it will run fast at the lower setting and that I can lean hard on the new wheelie bars. I can run high 9's - 10.00 with the 1-1 set up... which is a LOT easier on parts and easier to launch.

So far I'm holding to my promise to not mess with the combination ... except the new intake...

 

It's those stupid things that make us grin so much at the drag races...If we were sane we wouldn't be having so much fun.

 

Cool beans on the paint job and sponsorship! One thing for sure, your Scout never lets things get boring. Its always fun to check in on this thread and see all the crazy stuff that's been happening.

 

Hmmm ... has me thinking about pulling the engine in the Scout back a bit - like a foot !! Then run A/FX since my choice of fuel and lack of a passenger seat is already offending some of the gasser purists...



Just kidding of course ... or am I ???



.

 

Looks like a good time to me just make sure that you add one of those engines while your at it lol


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

 

Ya think it goes on the wheelie bars now? Set that puppy back and carry the wheels through the lights.

 

I'm not understanding the problem (??)

 

No problem. Bring on the show!

 

Happy New Year folks
Broke my New Year resolution about (not) buying non essential parts - on the first day of the year. Price on the chute was very very good and I decided - to coin an old phrase - it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. With the Scout pushing 140 mph it's not a bad idea. Besides - it looks cool.

 

that's not a bad upgrade. most guys think of a chute as a stopping aid only. its also a way to get straightened out if you loose control. it works by pulling the back of the car around. try pulling it a few times to get used to the feel of it. get a diaper on that truck if you don't already have one.

 

Had a diaper and burned it on the headers at Meltdown and again when tuning it in the drive. Now that the engine is out I'll mount it again and create some brackets to hold the side material against the block and away from the headers.

Full safety upgrades this year. Some because I have to (timed out) and some because I should. (Fire suppression, better suit)

 

good idea. they are cheaper than a stay in a icu burn unit.

 

Walked into Softy's Speed Shop yesterday to say Happy new Year. - Big mistake - in a good - bought car parts - sort of way.

Brian Jr and Softy's Speed Shop have been an associate sponsor since the start. I get nothing from them except good service and fair prices. Because of this I am happy to put their name on my race car and speak highly of them whenever possible.

So of course during the "visit" I start talking about what I will need for the new season and it escalated from there. I ended up purchasing upgraded gaskets for the intake and valve covers as well as spares, a new engine diaper since I burned up my current one on the headers as well as a new mag hold down. Then I gave him a list of all the safety pieces that have timed out. Flex plate, Plate shield, Trans shield... which I will order in closer to the season. And then made some inquiries into a -15 and -20 suit and some gloves and boots... and just for giggle, the Simpson regulator mask and goggles (The Deist one is ugly) For a year I don't make any major set up changes ... This is going to hurt...