Projects K-88 Dragster / 6 Cylinder

Interesting.

My local track is IHRA accredited, so I have to meet their rulebook (including the cage). It makes me run an SFI trans blanket, and also calls up a separate ****tershield for the flexplate. Checked with the tech inspector, and he wants the blanket but not the shield. I should have asked before I bought the shield too... it fits the V8 Powerglide bolt pattern but not the local I6 Powerglide pattern that I have .

If I had of known black-painted cardboard would p***, my life would have been easier (though perhaps shorter) .

Cheers,
Harv

 

Man this is cool....I really dig these early days shots with all the pioneering and ingenuity - priceless in my opinion.

 

Then my brother came through in a huge way and found a guy who had an Arias rocker ***embly for this Fisher head. Lo and behold it was for sale and no doubt this is a match like peanut ****er and jelly.

 

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It's a shame you gotta put a valve cover over that!

 

The fellas at Smith Bros. Pushrods came through and there they are all in a row. Ended up going with 3/8" and they should do the trick.

 

One of the other items I've been wrestling with is how to get oil to the rocker shaft. At some point in its life the lower part of the valve cover had been drilled and tapped (1/8" npt) right in the corner. After multiple attempts of trying to make this work with something and dealing with tight spaces...I opted to go out the side of the cover and will plug the hole on the corner. Not a lot of room to work with so ended up with -3 in the shape of a paperclip to get it done. With the water housing on the front of the engine (plan to run water) we needed to go to the side.

 

Finished up the header with some white paint and it's ready to install...

 

Looking great Dave, good decisions all the way !

 

Looks good. Great workmanship.

Thanks,

jim

 

Top notch!
That #3 pipe looks "s***y".....she's teasin the other boys

 

I just read the whole post and really liked it. Love your project. Back in the 70's I met an old guy that was racing a Topolino Coupe with a 292 Chevy 6. I think he said he had it in the 9's. When I got to the page with the Ch***is Research ****erfly, I thought, I have something to add to this project. Then I kept reading, and you already have one. The only thing I have left of my first FED in 1976-7, is the CR Go Fast Pedal. For forty plus years I've been saying I was going to build a new car around that pedal. Just a few weeks ago I made a deal with an old friend to buy his S&W FED. Since you already have one, maybe I'll put it in the S&W car.

 

The detail in the FED is beautiful.

Nods head in appreciation of the hard-plumbed lines instead of hoses, and ARP fasteners.

Go man, Go!

Cheers,
Harv

 

That took some time...like way too much time. Now we'll see if it melts the magneto cap - hope not.

 

Thank you Marty and hope to be trying to build fire in this thing soon.

 

That is very cool @Rarefish383S and thanks for following along. Congratulations on the S&W car and heck yeah.....give that pedal a second life!!

 

Thanks Harv and although there is some modern stuff on it, I'm trying to keep an early look if we can.

 

Sent the valve cover and side cover off to get polished and rounding up some smaller items (injection stacks, front spring clamps, etc..) for hopefully one last trip to the chrome shop.

 

I did a quick search, and everything just came up K-88, so I might as well just ask? How long is your car. I asked my friend how long the S&W is and he said about 18'. The closest set of S&W plans would be a 225". Longer than what I wanted, but it's complete. My first FED was 112", according to the guy I bought it from. 112 to 120, no big deference, but this thing looks LOOONG. Thanks, Joe.

 

This car is 107". Cool deal on your S&W car and keep us posted!!

 

Just found this build and I'm glad I could see such talent putting this together. I have a buddy with a '65 135" frame but I could never get close to what you and the others are doing - just don't have the talent. And so, I'm glad I can live vicariously through youse guys. What's the next tasks to do? Where will you first run the car?

 

Glad you're here and thanks for the interest. Very cool on the '65 ch***is...any more details...did he run it, how long has he had it etc???
The list on this is a lot of small stuff, guages, wiring, shutoff cables, etc.. The big thing is I need to get the transmission rebuilt and installed. Not sure where we'll run it first but hope to have it out in 2024 Good Lord willing.

 

A bit of a setback...now that the brakes are plumbed the front side panels won't clear the brake lines. I'm not too familiar with dealing with painted stuff so first I tried tin snips which distorted the metal as they cut and also peeled paint as it cut. So...opted for a cutoff wheel and a flapper disc and tried to go slow so as to not build heat. Worked out great. Pulled the tape and touched up the bottom edge with left over paint and crossed that off the list.

 

So you’re saying it’s peanut ****er jelly time? Hehe.

 

Thank goodness. I made the same error, painted the FED panels then realised the rear brake lines clash. Thought it was only me that did stuff like that.

I’ve been putting off cutting the purple flaked panels… scared of stuffing them.

Did you use a normal 4” grinder? Can I get a photo of the cutoff and flapper wheels please? Unsure whether to use the grunt of a grinder or have at it with the Dremel. I need about half a 1/2” hole where my finger is in the photo.





Cheers,
Harv

 

I can grab some pics for you Harv but yes...a basic 4" hand grinder.

I taped off the area and then took a 1/16" cutoff wheel in the grinder and got the bulk of it with that. Then I used a worn out flapper wheel and just took a little off at a time to keep the heat down and crept up on my cut line. Peeled off the tape, touched up the edges with a hand file and touched up the raw edges with left over paint and a modelers paint brush. The body is aluminum so it cut pretty easy.
p.s. - I'm digging that color choice of yours!!

 

Many thanks - clear how to attack it now.

The colour is pretty cool - looks awesome in the sun.



Cheers,
Harv

 

Oh man...that looks great and thanks for sharing those!!!

 

Awesome build, I love the GMC. Got any ideas or connections for finding a mechanical fuel injection set up for a Skinner head?

 

I sure don't but if I hear of any I can let you know.

 

Picked up side cover and valve cover from the polisher and started to bolt on the shiny, shiny.



Went ahead and bolted the header on as well and had to put the valve cover on (still waiting on gasket material) to get the full effect.

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