Well, that's one way to lose weight to go faster. Have the doctor remove superfluous bits of your anatomy!
I don't have many more organs to give up, spanners. Dave, the driver and his friend Mike are taking the dragster to Glory Days in two weeks. I'll follow on my own a day later and be there for Friday and Saturday. Hoping for a good showing with the dragster and a good turnout. For me, it's as much fun to watch as to run a car.
Dave and Mike took the car to Glory Days at Byron, Ill Thursday, got checked in and went through tech. I left home at 5:45 AM Friday and got there at noon. The first run was 11:85 @112. Not too impressive. It was 95 degrees with very high humidity. Second run was 11:50-something, still low MPH. I was overheating. Coming off two recent surgeries and having a history of heart trouble, I decided to drive home after only 4 hours at the track. Eventually Dave ran a record best ET of 11:38 after it cooled down a skooch. I guess the new converter was worth it. No tuning attempts were made all weekend and I'm pretty sure it was very rich. I might get the two carb set up on it for the next race toward the end of August.
Great times bobw you really need to bring the car to Tulsa and run with us. Late Sept Nitro nats would be a perfect time, cool weather.
Back when I was just starting off at a test 'n tune at Sydney (8 years ago) my engine was stock, and so was I, they ran me with a rear engine dragster. The lights came down and I was in front for the first 2 feet and then he blasted past. I turned in a blistering 17 second pass. The other bloke was out of his car packing up his 'chute when I got there. I pulled up alongside and said " next time I'm not giving you a head start." He laughed and shook my hand.
Great story, spanners. I'm not complaining about the match ups. We just want to make passes. It would be more interesting for the spectators if the cars were paired for closer finishes.
The annual Super Secret Fun Run is this weekend. Sponsored by the Minnesota Street Rod Assn, all members race free at Brainerd International Raceway. Driver Dave took the car up Friday for tech and I went up Sat. morning. We had high hopes since the weather was cool and dry and the car ran 11.38 in the humid heat in Illinois in July. Best we could do Saturday was 11.63. Still, it was lotsa fun. Here's Dave lining up for the third run of the day.
Thank you, spanners. The wheels are 15 by 8 with 26 by 8.5 by 15 M/T worn out slicks . There is no wheelspin off the line. The tracks are prepped though. Got wheelspin in the driveway. Update: Dave ran a 11.45 Sunday morning before packing it in and heading for home.
Thanks Bob. I've got a pair of those rims and am thinking of building something like a cross between a HAMBster and an Altered. Six cylinder power of course.
The 2 carb set up is ready to go back on the dragster. With the smaller plenum the carbs (autolite 2100, 1.08 venturi ) should get a good signal. We race in 2 weeks at the Fall Out in Eau Claire, Wi. Got to make some driveway test shots to assure there's no problems.
Driver Dave and my pitiful pit crew which consists of Jerry (nugget32) and me put the two carb set up on the dragster today. After a couple hours of story telling we got down to work. A little trimming on the top plate for firewall clearance and tightening some leaky fuel line fittings and we were ready to start it. It fired right off and to me it sounded more powerful than with the 4 barrel. The off idle stumble was gone too. It was just about a year ago when I first tried this set up and it would hardly run. I cut a lot of volume out of the plenum and seems to be the big difference. It's been raining for three days so no driveway hits were possible. We'll be running it at the Fall Out Drags next weekend.
Love the setup. Can't wait to hear and see it run. Please try to get a video even if it's just a driveway hit.
Got the throttle linkage sorted out and working well. Just have to pump up the slicks and get some race gas to add to the 91 octane non-oxy that's readily available. Then it's off to the 4th Annual Fall Out Drags at Rock Falls, WI this Friday and Saturday. Trying extended reach spark plugs this weekend. Hoping for faster, more complete combustion.
We made it to the Fall Out Drags in Eau Claire, WI Friday. It was warm and very humid. There were about 150 nostalgia race cars there. The car ran very well; no bog, no sputtering. But the E.T. didn't improve. We did get a 1.50 60' time so that was encouraging. Ran a best of 11.40-something. Jetted the carbs up two steps with a slight improvement in MPH. Still seemed lean. Wed. night I went to ER with a blood clot in my leg. The Doc put me on a blood thinner and it is getting better. I guess my enthusiasm wasn't there for racing Friday but I still enjoyed seeing friends and cool cars.
You're having a bit of a rough trot lately aren't you? You remind me of that scene in Monty Python's Holy Grail. The challenger gets both his arms and legs chopped off and says "it's only a flesh wound. Come back here and I'll bite you on the kneecaps". I hope you're on the mend.
Yes, spanners, getting old isn't for sissies. A friend came up to me Friday and said, "You need a third carb." I've been noodling all day and my conclusion is my 1.08" venturi carbs are too small. Changes, always changes in the quest for more performance.
The idea of the third carb made sense. I finished a new top plate for the intake and rough cut a walnut riser. I don't have a decent third carb so the hunt is on.
Hi Bob, We're running similar carbs on The Family Truckster. Before you try three carbs I would block off the power valves and go up a few main jet sizes. We just switched from 1.02s to 1.21s last weekend and it picked up a little - maybe a tenth.
Is there a secret formula for plenum size or is it a case of 'suck it and see' (pardon the pun)? I'd like to try something like that but my engine has only 3 intake runners and the driver has limited knowledge.
spanners, I have a book on building Chevy 6's by Leo Santucci. In it he shows a design for a plenum based intake for racing. For a 292 he states the plenum volume should be 126 cu. in. For a 250 the volume is reduced 17%. You can extrapolate from this the plenum volume for your engine displacement. He also recommends 7.5" from the carb base to the cylinder head flange (runner length). I went to a Ford only salvage yard today and got the third carb. Spent a couple hours cleaning it.
Thanks for the information. I'll do some working out on that one. I like the idea of 7.5" assuming that would be about the same for most engines.
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