My son and I watched some of my old drag racing tapes this weekend. We were watching my Gasser Files tape, I noticed that a lot of times when a Gasser came down hard on the front tires after pullin them from the ground that the result was some horrible wheel shake. Both front tires would shutter back and fourth violently. The anouncer of the tape said this was common with Gassers and their suspension, and the way their susupension reacted to being loaded and unloaded with stress. Can someone explain exactly what he meant? What causes this? Does it come from the steering arms repelling the force? Also is there a site I can look up to distinguish the different classes of Gassers? I know one was posted awhile ago but I can't remember what it was. Thanks for the help in advance Justin
I'm sending you a scan of 1964 Nhra rule book gasser section, they used some strange front end settings to reduce drag , scary thing is it was murder on tie rods ,imagine losing a tie rod at the top end.
<font color="purple"> A friend in my car club and I were talking about the few months he drove for Stone, Woods and Cook (in the 60s when he was like 20). He had mentioned that he hated the way the straight axle landed. </font>
Best site(for pictures) www.gassermadness.com about 80% of my screen saver slide show is pics of that site and wdifl, great phtography. -Jesse
I am not an expert on this phenomenon, but it was my understanding that this was a result of excessive camber (or was that caster? I can never keep those straight) that was put in to help keep the steering of the straight axle setup stable at high speeds. The tradeoff was that problem occurring at low speed. Dragsters with a tube axle also had a horrible flopping around when they were reversed, but I am not sure it's the same thing. Input from others may shed light on it and what the real causes are (and what may help prevent it in a tube axle/straight axle/beam axle car.
Mike thanks! Your knowledge is great! Hopefully all is well with you. Yeah I was wondering if that affected their performance at high speed. I know the compounds in the slicks had a lot to do with this also as far as straight on performance. Purple that is cool that your friend drove for Stone Woods and Cook. Their cars are some of my favorites. gettingreasy, yeah I love gassermadness for some strange reason I have a fascination with these cars. Probably cause it took a lot of strength and determination and know-how just ot get them down the track decently. Blownolds. Camber/caster is when the bottoms of the tires toe in right? Thanks gusy for the input. Justin
I don't know if you can see it in this pic ,but my 56 has some of those weird settings (gonna fix it), My henry J had a ford I beam front /solid mount olds rear with the camber fixed this way as well every time i left, it took a right turn towards the gaurdrail or center track when it came back down from then on it was a ping pong ball all the way down the track back n forth correcting and over correcting -parted it out and sold the roller.too scary- even for me
Thanks for asking Justin I've had my last treatment and have cut back on the other meds , been worse by the day and was told to expect it , no longer any cancer for it to fight so it is working me instead and there is still the detox from the codeine and other meds , but even this will soon be over, If anyone has a need to go to the VA hosp for cancer /Hep. C treatments- DO IT, I'm CURED after being given a 60/40 shot against surviving.You can look forward to a year of flu like symptoms and severe weight loss /weakness, but when its over your not dead and you can look forward to a full life. (except that is now sober ,drat it, I'll miss my MGD,but there is always O'douls amber-LOL) Merry Christmass + have a HAPPY SAFE NEW YEAR -Mike BTW those sticks at my sides USED to be 18" guns I have dropped almost another 40 lbs since that pic in aug.from my norm 218 lbs a year ago, I am now 120.
Not much help about Gassers,but I like 'em.Mike did you get my email to you a week or so ago?Let me know please,Patrick
Not a gasser expert, or even a steering expert by no means. But my understanding is that the caster was set real deep for more stability at speed. Makes 'em hard to steer at low speed. The other thing that was common in the older racers (gassers and otherwise was to stand the wheels straight up (camber) with little or no toe in for less drag. Also makes 'em hard to steer. IE easy to over correct. My understanding of caster is this. Draw an imaginary line through the center of the kingpin (we're talking about straight axles right?). where the line strikes the ground is where you measure your caster angle. For stability at speed you want the line to strike the ground ahead of the wheel center (or positive caster). The farther ahead of the center the more stability, but harder to steer or impossible in extremes. You motorcycle guys will recognize caster as trail (if your old school and into chops). I made a crude pic. perhaps it will help. Now off topic mike could you send me a copy of that scan also? I've wanted to build a D gas coupe since I was a kid and have completely lost track of the rules. Thanks.
Pat, sorry i did'nt, but I am having troubles with my carrier and may have to get a new one , whats up ? I still have a week or so to tie up some loose ends.
<font color="purple"> I still hope to get back to my gasser project, but I will set it up for the street. I love to drive and want to be able to do just that. Glad to hear things are getting better Mike. Just think, now that you're tall and skinny you can be a super model like Claudia Schiffer. </font>
Good to hear everything is improving for you Mike. I got the email you sent me but I can't enlarge them big enough to read without the image getting all pixelated. I drive a MGD truck for my job. O'douls will never replace!!! heh heh heh.. Here is my delimma I am drawing a 1940 Chevrolet gasser for a friend. The car has a straight axle that is relocated slightly to the front of the fender opening. Rear axle is at stock location. The car is drawn to be running a mechanically fuel injected big block. I would like to know what class this car falls into. porknbeaner,, ahhh I totally get it now. and I can see how that would effect the handling of these cars. Thanks for the little illustration. Thanks guys for the light on the subject. justin
I would like to know what class this car falls into: It's weight versus displacement, plus of course additional classes for supercharged and in later years a flathead class. Give me a hypothetical car weight and displacement, also a day to dig in the archives. I'm pretty sure I can come up with an NHRA rulebook old enough to have gas class rules.
Mike do you have any more pics of the red 40 chev? I like that one. I also just sent you an email. I am having trouble gettin the pics to enlarge without getting them all pixelated.. Aaaarrrgh.. Damn puters!!!
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