rebuilding after the crash

I seen an add from Eddieville that your going to be at the Nitro Funny Car event this weekend. Is that right? Sure hope so. Seen it at Cobo a few years ago and talked with your freind.
Doug

 

You read it right. We will be there Friday for set up. The car is ready. Weather looks like 80s no rain. See you there.

 

Ready to pull out for Q-1

 

Be fast. Stay safe.

 

Good luck Brian ride safe and most importantly have fun

 

I don’t care what anyone says,,,,,that right there is a Hot Rod,,,,,,a perfect example of a bad dude Mopar Hot Rod !
I would love to see this bad boy in person.

Tommy

 

It's SOOOOO Bad Ass, you might just mess yourself! It's one of Man's finest creation's!!!

 

Lol,,,,,you’re right,,,,but I just want to see and hear it in action,,,,,,,I don’t think my insides would survive a test flight !

Tommy

 

yeah, it's fun in real life! from 2017 on Drag Week. Quite an adventure driving along with Brian.



Also, if you show up where he's running the car, and are friendly and want to help, he's likely to put you to work and you'll learn so much in such a short time your head will spin

 

Back when it was new. Only running 40 percent. Now it's 85 percent. A whole different animal.

 

Things didn't go as planned. The big wheelies the previous weeks messed up the front end. We didn't notice the front axle shifted to the right over a inch. The car drives hard to the left. The panard bar bracket had hit the ground. It's weld is cracked. We are home safe. At noon today the crew is coming over to re scale the car to get everything back straight.
Some good news. The t shirts went over big.
To stop all the violence at the hit I'm going to put a timing grid on the car. That's a programmable timing map to pull timing at the hit. It adds timing as the car goes down track. That's a big reason why cars are going so fast today. I have one built into my efi system. Now I'm ready for the nitro side. Big tech info coming up on that.

 

“Animal” I feel is the operative word.

 

Good Gracious,,,,,you are running 85 % Nitro now !
Be careful man,,,,,,,,that can be a parts breaker,,,,,real easy !

Also,,,,,,..it can be very unpredictable,,,,,,,with a mind if its own .
Nitro can be a cruel mistress,,,,,,you never know when it will turn on you.

Tommy

 

I’ve this feeling, just a feeling, Brian is looking “over the edge” and is going to go a bit further

 

Raising the nitro level has been the best thing. I had been running 70 percent for a few years. It was hard on parts. Back siding pistons; pinching rings; smashing upper bearings; burning plugs etc. I attributed it to normal nitro things. Then I tried 80 percent. Like magic all those problems went away. I always heard 70 was hard to run from old guys but never knew why. It's because 70 is prone to detonate. Nitro burns very slow compared to gas. At 80 percent the burn rate slowed down and the detonation went away. The combustion chamber is happy. Running 80 can be safe if you don't get the urge to twist the mag up to 60 degrees of lead. I run 45.
This has been a crazy learning experience over the years.

 

You know what you are doing,,,,I’m confident of that !
As long as the advance is kept in check and the blower ratio,,,,you should be good !

Tommy

 

The car was put on stands. Points were dropped to get a chassis centerline. The rear-end was checked for square. It was good. The wheelbase was checked. That was good to. The front axle was re centered with the panard bar. The rear tires circumference was checked. They were good. The car was set on the ground with a driver in the car. The upper four link bar pre load was way off. Taking the weight of the radiator and fans must have done it. The anti roll bar was then set back up to neutral. It's ready again.

 

Sorry but I ain't seeing anything about the cracked weld being repaired ... great if it's been done, a reminder if it hasn't

 

What you have just said, might as well have been spoken in Greek. Chassis geometry is my weak link. I'm glad you all got it sorted out. With all that power, you don't need any extra twitchiness! (Is twitchiness even a word??? Asking for a friend...)

 

The car is being dropped off at the Chassis shop Thursday and picked up Friday after welding. He has seen the pictures. Easy repair.
I will try to make sense of the Greek terms.
A plumb bob is used to drop points on the floor of the frame; rear end; frame rails. From these points the center of the frame is found. A chalk line is made on the floor. A point on the center line about four feet in front of the rear end is made. Measuring from the axle ends to this point on the center line checks to see if the rear end is in the right place. The wishbone track locator is adjusted if needed.
A piece of square aluminum tubing is bolted to the axle flange. It provides a nice sharp edge. We measure from the king pin to this edge to check the wheelbase side to side. The lower four link bars control the wheelbase. The same measurements are done with the front axle to center it in the chassis. The panard bar moves the axle right or left.
The tire pressure is set with the car on the ground. A driver goes in the car. The upper driver's side bar is adjusted so the front bolt can slide in and out. This would be neutral pre load. Shortening or making the bar longer can steer the car right or left. A good Chassis is neutral. A flexing or bent Chassis can use pre load to make it go straight. I found I had a bunch of pre load. Removing all the parrs from the trunk changed the way the car sat. That's what was causing the issue.
Lastly the anti roll bar is set neutral.
If I needed to set the pinion angle I would use the right upper bar with the left upper disconnected. Once you have seen it done its not that hard.
I make sure the car is level on the car stands. I use a long level on top of the injector hat.

 

^^^^^^
Most here can not digest what
" One flat" adjustment of Jam nut can change .

 

The bars have what looks like a nut on the end. The good bars have them machined into a one piece bar. The flats are used a way of measuring how much the bar is lengthened or shortened. It's like saying I turned the bar 1/6 of a turn. One flat can make a difference on how the car leaves and tracks. It sounds like not very much but one flat is.

 

Was nice ta meet ya and your friends. It was really kool to here storys about Pfeifer and "the BRUISER". Hope to see ya down the road some place some where.

 

You really need to come to the out of Site drags at the Grove. Bring the car. That's were it raced the most. There will be more of my friends there with more stories. I will have to ask Jerry if he has any pics. Go on Facebooks Union Grove sites. Ask for pics. Dougie or Richie will have some. They will both be at the Grove for the race.

 

WOW! I just finished reading every post in this thread. Brian you are an amazing individual with serious skills and a massive amount of knowledge. Thank you for posting such in-depth information on your build and all the trials that have come with it. I knew very little about nitro powered engines (my brother raced go carts in the 80’s and ran 5% in his engines but that was nothing compared to your level of commitment.). Good luck going forward as I will be following along hoping to learn more.

 

I’ve said it before I’ll say it again. One of my favorite threads on the HAMB I always look for when logging in. I can imagine how much longer it takes documenting progress here and taking pictures rather than just getting stuff done. Your insight and explanations in a way us average hot rodders on this site can understand is much appreciated by me and many others.

 

I'm amazed guys read the whole thing. That must take hours. Thanks for all the kind compliments. I try to explain things in a way to add to everyone's knowledge base. I'm glad some out there like this thread. Next stop Kaukauna Wisconsin for a booked in two pass day. The msd grid arrived today. That should make the car more consistent.

 

Certainly this is a top 3 thread for me, probably #1 actually.

 

I always look at your posts because your content is always Great!

 

Thanks guys.