What's the general feeling on manual transmissions? Try to use ones from the correct timeframe, or are late model boxes ok?
In that most later production gearboxes offer no particular advantage over the period box beyond a synchroed first, and in that first isn't a problem gear for the strip (some don't even use it) it shouldn't be a problem application. Personally, I wouldn't quibble a later one. Same thing for rears. The caveat is "production". Dedicated aftermarket pieces certainly wouldn't be in the same spirit as home or even shop modified production ones would.
I agree with ****. If you have several ******'s available you might look at the gear ratio's and calculate the rpm drop between gears. Ron
Another amen from this corner as well!! Use the rules as written. if the same amount of energy and thought was put into building cars to the rule book as there is to changing the rules , there would be hundreds of cars. Amen...
Having run a LaSalle in a dragster and a g***er I can vouch for their strength but you can not shift them fast. Also I would think their availablity would be very limited. In 1959 you could buy all the side shift Cad-LaSalle trans you wanted for $25. A top shift would be about twice that. I should have bought a truck load and saved them as well as all the other old parts.Roy
Most of the Automobile Mfg. made speed equiptment in the 60s when the Horsepower race was on. Alot is still available.. You just got to look around some..I'm quite sure my little 6 banger isn't going to break my Muncey any time soon..
while they aren't as plentiful as some other choices, the thought that you may only have to buy one is a comfort, even if you can buy lesser trannies in multiple for the same money. I have two, both side shift, and have less than $400 in the pair. The shortened one is going in the rail, and the stock one is for spares, though I'd trade the stock one for a backup shortened one any day. I see them regularly on ebay, all over the country, and there are a bunch of folks on the HAMB that could be helpful in finding one if a guy was so inclined. In Hud's case, where he can grenade anything lesser, it's a very viable option.
I can only voutch for grenading the T-86/T-90 Borg Warner types. Not exactly the standard by which all 3 speeds should be measured. Even then, its the input shafts that are dying twisted deaths. I'm interested in this LaSalle talk, I've never seen one before. I was looking into the Saginaw GM 3 speeds, which may not be a good choice either. We need a transmission tech thread badly, if nothing else for us un-initiated to see what choices are out there. Hud
Many times it's not the engine in front of the trans that is the problem, it's the loose nut attached to the shift lever.
i think my 8ba flathead must have come with an in built rev limiter,a compression ratio similar to moist flatulance and ports that need a road map to find there way.
Lmao, I'm going to have to saw about 1/4" off the bottom of the head to get my compression up with the stock pistons. It's so low stock I think it could run on a 50/50 mix of water and kerosene.
I look at the bright side of the equation. With my 218" flathead 6 I can use 87 octane pump gas in the race engine and not worry about the fuel. Actually "moist flatulence" probably has higher compression....... we are probably closer to dry flatulence but we should pick up some performance from the air flow over the exhaust stacks creating an extraction effect.
Our 230 mopar actually ran better off 87 octane than any fuel we put in it. It was weird, 94 in the truck to pull us there and 87 in the tractor. Gas was alot cheaper then. Those were the days. Extraction effect, I like that one. Hud
Hud, How much power are the Hudsons making today? I'm sure someone is racing them. Are there any running at Bonneville? Ron
If anybody knows the real hp/tq, they aren't telling. 2 new Hudsons are supposed to be running Bonneville this year, one belongs to Ivan Zaremba of "Cars" fame. His Smokey Yunick built 7x Hornet was the sound and modeling for Doc. Its been told the other car is a member of the HET forum, but it is really tight lipped as to who it is. Both are shooting for the top Hudson record. Randy Maas runs a full bodied '41 Hudson coupe around Chicago and runs in the 13's. His engine is a 5" stroke, 11:1 compression, weber carbed engine. He has no concrete dyno data. I don't know the weight of his car, but I'd guess it in the 2800-3000# range. That was part of my quest, to finally put some known hard numbers behind the engine - whatever that may be. Also flow data. My test mule block would have a worked over stock, a 7x, and whatever turned out to be best setup with flow data. I grew tired of the black hole and wanted to give folks something to compare or shoot for. I was making alot of progress and nearly there, but was stalled due to economic setbacks. I really wanted Mondello's involvement for credibility's sake and to learn from and hopefully avoid some mistakes of my own. Keep your eyes open at Bonneville, you may learn more there than I can tell you here. I wish I could go myself, but just can't. Hud
hey zach build the damn thing already. i'll learn from your mistakes then build mine! Hmm triple singles, a solid cam and a zoomie on something that should never have any of these things. It's killing me not having anything old .
If ya live long enough, you'll have plenty of old stuff....... If ya live right, some of it will still work.
Jeff, get off your **** and build one yourself! You had something old, and you sold it, and you regretted it. Never sell anything and never stop building stuff.
You asked me about the rear axle in my ha/gr.now this is a secret so you gotta promise not to tell anyone.it's a toyota hilux pickup.they are cheap strong and easy to fix. They have 31 spline axles and a huge range of ratios.they come in lsd or you can get romac spools for them too.
Here in Aus we have those who want to count the rivets to make sure it is exactly right. In setting the Australian fastest ET I lost the race to a much slower car. 13.01 to a 18.00 so any motor that can run consistent is better than a motor that blows up because you rev it too hard. been there done that. Not sure if a rev limiter is the answer. Good driving habits may be? In Australia they dont even want us to use any European motors, EG Armstrong Siddley Saphire. would be a perfect race motor even stock standard. One fella runs a Humber motor successfully. Whats happened to all the old striaght 8 over there in the US???