Projects Dodge This - 1939 Dodge Southeast Gasser Build

Like Carl said, you rock brother! KL

But man, 3rd gear has give you a fit since the TKO in the model A I see where you said this one is a bit out of reach when you're all strapped in though. Keep hammering brother! Hopefully I still can make SIM

 

All you have to do is cut the steering arms and move them out towards the tire if you leave them in the front. You will have to lengthen the tie rod tube more than likely. It don't have to be perfect but yours is going the opposite way. Mine is not dead on.

 

39 dodge steel car . hemi.....4 speed.....nostalgia...

 

Dusterdave - he said this week is too busy to pull the engine but maybe Friday he can. It blew up in the parking lot on Sunday so we are wondering if it was something that went wrong on Saturday or if it hydraulic-ed on Alky or what. He set the timing to 30 degrees - assume that's all in timing - not sure of the boost he has. Probably time for h-beam rods.

 

I know little about fuel injectors, but" back inna day", some of the oval track guys ran alky and a touch of nitro. No fuel pumps of adequate capacity were easily available, so many racers used a pressurized system with a hanp operated pressure pump plus, to help keep up the pressure, the stock pump was rigged to pump AIR into the sealed and pressurized tank. Carbs were usually multiple heavily modified 97s. Float/needle&seat leakage was a very real problem and consequently hydraulic lock.
Solution was to engage high gear and pusk backwards far enough to turn engine backwards a couple of revolutions. Also why you see in old films the ground crews rotated radial aircraft engines backwards with the prop before starting., except often this lock would/could come from oil in thee downwards facing cylinders.

 

DOM you always have some interesting historical information! I always enjoy reading it.

Hope Tyler can get things patched up for SIM. It's getting close. Hate that he's had so many issues.

 

Fascinating information .

Taking the plugs out and spinning the engine over would do the same thing

 

"Backing down" the engine with a socket and long ratchet before starting is still standard procedure for blown/injected combos. Otherwise they can go Ka-Boom.

 

very nice meeting you at greer Tony. I love the car, cant wait to see it again at union

 

DOM, I had to unwatch and rewatch the thread a few times but it seems to be keeping me up to date now.....had to do that to a few threads so it must be a new gen HAMB glitch.

 

Great meeting you too Gaberal ! The car looks fantastic, you did a lot of work in a short time. Looking forward to more good times ahead.

Last night the neighbor kept his word and brought over the Whistle Pig Rye. Man that is some fine bourbon.

 

Tony, it sounds as if you hit a home run again with your new neighbor! Agrouchy, nit picking, anxious to find fault neighbor can be a hot rodder's worst nightmare if you work on your rides in a home shop. Just ask Tyler about his neighbor.

 

Yeah DOM we got a good neighbor, his dad ran a circle track car in Arkansas in the 90's for Walmart - the number 11 car. Think he said it was Walmart #11, he is going to find pics. He said if his dad was still alive he would not leave my garage

Anyway last night the wife thinks this stray cat cares about us or something - she goes out before bedtime to look for the cat only its not the cat she is feeding - I laughed till my side hurt when I pulled up the security camera tape



Back on the car, the shift lever needed some bending. Blacksmith Tom says heat it cherry red and make what you want, yeah right- maybe pizza or pretzel was what I wanted .....



That went all wrong - then I found a shifter in my parts pile that was muiy - bueno -



Added the line lock button and done.

Then the neighborhood kid came over and asked what was going on - "Have you heard of Ackermann? "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ackermann_steering_geometry
He quickly Googled it on his phone - and said oh sure that's old news.

Right - here's a wrench


We flipped the steering links to the back of the spindle and moved the disc calipers to the front. The Ackermann was right on the string we ran to the rear end. No bending needed.


Next we got rid of the boat pedal and put in a roundy round pedal -



Added some solid links for the linkage. This should work better than what was there.

Just need to make the wheelie bars and Steel In Motion is next!

 

I like that gas pedal, funny but I was thinking earlier today about how to describe such a pedal to you.

 

Hi Tony
Any updates?

 

Hey Dave - just got back from Steel In Motion. Check Tombo's pics
http://tombo.smugmug.com/2015-STEEL-IN-MOTION/

The car handles awesome. After an epic horrible pass on Friday night - I figured out the line lock ( JEGS ) was dead and at 3am stopped thinking about shifting and all that other stuff and Saturday I just drove the car. Had some real good passes and a great weekend.

Had a good run next to Tommy who bracket races every weekend, he said it was running in the high 6's so that's way better that I was doing at Greer. By the end of the season I'll have this 50% figured out its why we do it.





The trip home was hard on the Sedan Delivery - it was at 240F going 65MPH on the interstate. We pulled off to take back roads and it was like a WWII plane with one wheel down and no rudder when we rolled up the driveway. She coughed and died. The battery is exhausted and its too hot to crank but she got us home. Need to do some work before Knoxville on May 30th. She is sitting on the battery charger with her "Laid In Suede" trophy which weighs 300lbs and might be why she overheated but its going in the living room



Run it close to the bone.

 

Here is the first Saturday pass - I thought it was a red light but I couldn't see the ground from my seat - she looked like she was flagging up so I left

 

She sounds good! That's the 50th Jeg's line lock I've seen bite he dust. I bought their elec coolant fan relay and sending unit kit. Relay went 1st, sending unit next. A bunch of china crap. You've done a great job on the car, keep us updated.

 

Looking great Tony!!! Sure wish I could have been there, but nothing seemed to fall in place that last week.
You stated you thought you redlighted,were they running a flag and a tree?

 

You can see your much more comfortable behind the wheel .
Engine sounds sweet and the wheelie bars look as if they have helped
Great job
Keep posting your progress

 

No tree - but the flag start was from the ground up - we can go when the flag leaves the ground - BUT - in the car you can't see the ground or the flags, so her shoulders moved and bam off to the races! If you look at Tombos pics, the top row, you can see it was not a red light. Good times!
http://tombo.smugmug.com/2015-STEEL-IN-MOTION/

 

Tony thing looks like it's starting to come around and running better. Glad to see you there and enjoyed the racing. The old hoopty Wagon is making some good passes. Maybe we can get lined up against eachotehr again at Knoxville.

 

Jimmy I watched some good passes you made in the Hoopty Wagon - you grudge matched the Southern Flyer - good race right there. I got home from work and Kim said "Did you order a line lock? What about the tach cable ? You can't drive the car with that bouncing like that. What about the Sedan Delivery? Knoxville is all up hill!! ?? "

2 weeks man!

 

Sounds like you've gotten Kim all fired up on this drag racing shit, LOL!!!!!!!

 

Put a 160* t-stat in the delivery and should be good for the summer.

 

Amber took this video - she made a cool B&W version on Instagram, but DOM can't see that, she added spots in the film and stuff - I can't do. Big hug to Amber after she salvaged the race by going to the pit for a squirt bottle and a jump box to get Q&D to start. For some reason the engine won't start without a shot of gas down the tubes - not all the time though. Lesson learned.

 

Car looked great this weekend Tony! I'm still super impressed on how much you've accomplished in such a short time. Good seeing you briefly. Now get to workin' on that punch list from Kim!!

 

Was good seeing you this weekend Tony. The 39 is one sweet machine and looked killer going down the track! Let me know when your gonna be hitting up the track with the S.E. Gassers and I'll try and make it out with the family. Just to let you know you have me wanting to build a HIGH AND MIGHTY clone out of the dodge coupe!

 

Dog Patch,

Do you have a seperate trans cooler on the delivery? Most of the trans guys I know now recommend a dedicated trans cooler, and bypassing the one in the radiator (especially for towing). This will take quite a bit of heat load off the cooling system. Personally, I don't like to do this unless I install a trans temp. gauge as well, but that's just me. Lots of people run without and are perfectly fine.

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Thanks Jason - we did pass each other a couple times. I didn't realize how hard it is to keep the battery charged, fuel in the tank, air in the tires fix the little stuff between rounds. Hope to get down to Charleston for Circus Bear's birthday party.

Good seeing you Rob! If you build a High And Mighty I want a ride! We are palnning to hit Knoxville on May 30th and Shady Side on June 20th Come On!

Yeah it has a separate trans cooler - a big one with a 10" fan on it. BUT - its in front of the big radiator. Think its blocking air - or at least dumping heat into the main radiator. That push board is probably not helping with air flow either. So right now the plan is:

- push board on release pins to quickly pop it off
- 160 thermostat (195 now)
- make a fan shroud - doesn't have one now
- move the trans cooler over to the side and maybe open the front radiator support panel to let air pass through otherwise the heat will still dump into the main radiator
- check if the air is escaping up over the radiator - what DOM said to look at.
- put a temp gauge on the trans to see what its doing