GASSER MUST HAVES and cant haves?

Since I was using the tow bar the two front brackets were perfect for the tow rope, on one side around the pits etc DND

 

Yep
Never get tired of seeing that beauty!

 

Looks like the Southeast Gassers is one of the few (maybe ONLY) gasser club
that says GASOLINE required. DND, what was it like back in the day... did
guys get caught using 'helpers' in their 'gasoline'?? I used to use the purple
avgas, but it disappeared when the commuter airlines switched from piston
to turbine engines. You could run amazing spark advance but after about a
dozen 'runs' (I would never admit to street racing, it's illegal) the exhaust
valves were toast...

 

NOT DND!
NHRA ran STRICT fuel checks at big meets. I think at Woodburn it was the honor system. It was kind of easy to spot alcohol or nitro, weren't too many other options then.Some guys will always cheat!

 

Nope I was a legal beagle bought Standard White Pump gas, and when I switched to fuel it was 90% no playing around here

After it broke a rod it was back to the good old parts washing stuff right out of the pump, and leave the good stuff to the fuelers

Thanks Dave for the kind words !!!

DND

 

The Geezer Gassers used to have that rule also, gasoline only. Not sure if they have stuck to that over the years though.

 

that looks like one of those famous Eric Rickman "stepladder" shots.

 

Finally getting the olds engine back together. Should have the heads back from the machine shop in the next week or so. Been wrenching on my 46 chev a bit trying to get it running for summer.

Sent from my SM-G900V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I was looking through one of the retro mags at Wally Mart yesterday.."Gasser Edition" (aren't they all?)
First young fella had a Studebaker Lark, axle and all..NO hood , tunnel ram .He said he didn't want anything newer than 1967. Transmission? Powerglide! This is so wrong ,I don't know where to start.
That thing must be a real joy to drive ,with the converter it would take to make it work with a tunnel ram.
Second was a 32 Vicky that Bucky Hess dug up somewhere from back in the 60's. Some kind of 4 speed (probably a BW T10)
Third was a , I can't remember, but it had a Muncie M23. What the hell is a Muncie M23?

 

Hey Falcon all the photo troop's at Peterson used a ladder, and this time it was Pat Broiler at the Pond for the Hot Rod feature in Dec 65' issue

DND

 

Tunnel rams didn't come out until 1968 from the manifold companies.
In 1967, there were TWO of them. One for sure was Ralph Ridgeway's
corvette fuelie doghouse with 2x4 on top. There also was a racer out west
named Caudle(?spelling?) with a self fabbed tunnel ram. Both gentlemen
were robbed by edelbrock when he came out with the TR1 in the spring
of 68. Ralph Ridgeway beat hin to it with the ridgerunner in early 68...
there's one for sale on ebay.

There were crossrams and big 'log' manifolds in 67. Fuel injection was
the common intake setup.

 

Hey Guys,
Nice memories of the step ladder era... Those step ladder shots were pretty nice. Most of the mags had their own step ladder rules and they seemed to have a market on those shots. I did not want to be a copy cat with the same style, ladder shots. Besides, if you (actually me) went to a photo shoot on a Harley, strapping on a step ladder would look hilarious.

So, seeing all of those high 3/4 shots made me shoot those very low ground level shots. At first, using a 35 mm SLR was difficult as you had to lay down on the ground to focus and then use the timer. But, with the 2.25 x 2.25 twin lens reflex cameras, looking down from the top made is simple to get those "lowdown, cool, arty" shots.

Jnaki
Yes, I drove my 40 Ford Sedan Delivery + El Camino to some of those shoots. I could have taken a step ladder in the back. But, I did not like the editors to criticize my photos as a copy of someone else's techniques. There were enough red marks on my written stories to make it look like a rejected high school essay ! Those editors were tough.



Not gassers, but shown as a technique for photo shoots of cars in the posts.

 

Yes ,Carrol Caudle.
Of course those cars were M/P class. FI was not allowed.
Most SBC gassers had Hilborns or some variation.
Just reminded me .The young fella with the Lark said he only made one concession on the early parts. He had shiny Edelbrocks, tags and all. Of course the tags could have been removed,and the carbs shot with some purple cleaner.
No one would have known they were later carbs.. But hey , he made the magazine cover!

 

Janki its amazing how the too different angles of the 37' give you a different slant on the car

The ladder shot is kinda artsy and shows the flowing lines of the car, and the side shot lets you know this baby is ready to do some serious business looking at those rear slicks & wheels

 

True gasser "poster child".
Love that thing Don!

 

It's just that not everybody bought into the "honor system" Gary.
I recall a friend playing with tolulene IIRC in his 221 powered Pinto f/gas? car in the early 70's.

 

Toluene is AVGAS, the stuff you can buy at the airport in a 5
gallon can if you tell them you have an ultralight. Toluene
has a high enough vapor pressure that it won't boil off at
high altitudes - same with sitting in an airplane wing tank,
baking in the sun all summer long. The blue stuff is about all
you'll find nowadays... it's 100 low lead (yes, it does have lead
in it.. no cat converters!) and is rated 100 octane at lean mixtures.
Cars run rich mixtures.. and it's about 115 octane. Burns slow, so
even though you can run 40 degrees on the spark, your exhaust
valves, which aren't the sodium cooled ones that airplane engines
use, will burn up fast. Like 10 passes. (I will never admit to street
racing, it's illegal) The leakdown gauges, which airplane mechanics
have always used for engine inspections, will sound out the header
pipes to let you know it's valve time before the next $$$ night.

If you buy permixed weedwhacker gas at walmart, that smell is
toluene, with a touch of xylene added. Won't gum up your small
engine carb like the gasohol crap at the gas station will, when it
evaporates and attracts water, leaving death gum in the carb.

DND can tell you a lot more, since he's an airplane guy.

 

I was not trying to run 90% nitro in the gas class, at the Pond Harry would pay you for making a few runs on fuel and smoking the rears as the fans loved that stuff !!!

Thanks for the kind words Denny

DND

 

Willy B you may certainly have more experience with avgas than I do, but I used avgas back in the 70s from the local airport down the road from me and was somewhat familiar with it or so I thought. I also used toluene as a diluent when making large amounts of fisheye preventer for industry and they were certainly not the same. I understood that avgas had a small percentage of toluene but never thought they were one and the same. The odor of each were quite different and in the industry projects we were very careful with breathing toluene as even in the 80s we were told it was bad to inhale. You and Don may know otherwise but your statement has me wondering.

 

I don't think they had MSDS sheets back then... but car gas and avgas are different now.
Heck, even diesel is different enough that the old pumps will burn out if you run today's
'diesel' in them.

 

Bet the old ( new at the time ) ALUMINUM retainers, went the way of the cuckoo bird.

 

I ran 'em, with thin steel shims underneath.
Oil still turned silvery after a while....

 

I do know that if you want to store gas, you need a sturdy drum and a way to top the gas with butane, which adds a few psi to prevent light parts from evaporating. That was before alcohol ruined it, years ago.

 

I bought this car in '65 finally got it in the road in '95. Daily driver. Must- haves for me were tilt 'glas nose, mags all around, Corvair steering gear, Hydro tranny, Olds rear, real Hilborn scoop (couldn't afford a blower so it is a fresh air scoop), hemi engine, 4" pipe bumper, YELLOW, front wheels out of wheel wells, chromed stock front axle, finned Buick back brake drums . I got most of those parts in the 60s when they were the hot setup.

 

You have your license plate for a wheelie bar... (grin)

 

with 3:23s in that Olds rear, haven't had that problem yet. Got a pumpkin off ebaY a few years ago with 3:54s, might be able to generate some smoke with those gears.

 

Just remembered .The third car was a very nice 56 Nomad.
Still don't know what an M 23 is. Apparently nobody else here does either.

 

I worked in a factory years ago and the painters used toluene as a paint thinner and solvent, sure doesn't sound like something that would be sold as avgas.
It was stored in a small brick building with other flammables and was constantly getting stolen by the local huffers. Working in maintenance we built a secure steel door, end of problem.

 

I read the Nomad gasser article too, I figure the M-23 has the be an upgraded version of the Muncie. Or, might just be same old trans renamed for marketing by the guy selling them. Article says it is a Jeff Collins/Midwest Muncie super high performance transmission.

 

The M23 is one of the newer Muncie transmissions (built by a couple of trans rebuilders)that are alleged to be super duty (to an extent I am sure). I have a friend that has one and speaks highly of it (with a 400+ SBC). I bought a new M22 wide not long ago and it is a pretty decent trans and can take a bit of abuse. I would not mind buying a new M23 wide for an upcoming project but the price is a bit higher than my M22. I understand that some of the internals are a step up and the case is alleged to be stronger as well. For the hardcore racer though I am not sure it will stand up to let's say the Hightower which some of the Southeast gassers use.