rebuilding after the crash

2008ish or so we had some really shitty Nitro. It was a full 55 gallons, the fuel was white, not yellow, and there was literally trash in the fuel. The funnel filter was always full of crap straight out of the barrel. And it burnt like shit. The car did not run correctly. Brian, do you remember where that junk came from? I was thinking it was either DSR or Pro Nitro (Evan Knoll). I think we called it China Nitro for the rest of the year.

 

There was still good nitro out of Chicago then. I think it was Agnes nitro in blue drums.The Chinese stuff was getting more popular because it was around 200 dollars less per drum. I never used the Chinese stuff back then. I do remember guys complaining about it. Junk in the fuel; bad smell; hard on fittings and pumps etc. Once Timothy McVeigh did his thing domestic nitro for racers was over. That's when homeland security started to get involved.

 

Man, I didn't know there are cylinder shims available. That would've saved me a lot of headache.

 

On the shims check your gmc diesel dealer.
The detail on the locks and valve. I hope this is the detail you wanted. It's hard to hold the phone and parts to get a good pic.
The nitro engines use two extra studs per side. They are next to the dowels. They keep the head gasket in place to prevent it from pushing out. They went in today.

 

The car is back at Chassis Sercice in Wadsworth Illinois. The tank addition is all layed out. It will be cut out and folded into place then welded together. A few bars need to be added along with tank mounts. The shocks; coil and points box need to be mounted.i have been very fortunate so far weather wise. It could get ugly any time.

 

Christmas came a little early today. My machinist buddy stopped by on Wednesday. I was showing him all of the work that was done over the weekend. I brought up the sleeve issue. I told him I needed a tool that would sit on the deck and allow me to accurately measure the sleeve heights to deck height. There are many ways to do it. We went over several options. The tool has to be very stable with a wide base. It has to be larger than the bore. I need multiple locations for the indicator etc. I gave him a indicator and off he went. Said he would be back Friday.
He made this today. He said it's made out of jig stock. The material is aluminum with magnesium in it. It makes the material very stable and not effected by various temperatures. There are three locations for the indicator. There's three drilled and tapped holes to secure the indicator. Hand made quality tools are so cool to me. It will last a lifetime. What a great gift. This is the same friend that made the wrist pin checker.

 

Looks Perfect Merry Christmas. Gary

 

Very cool tool to check liner height. Way better then what I had when I was a engine tech on Caterpillar truck engines. Merry Christmas Brian to you and your family.

 

Thanks. Merry Christmas guys.
Pro form does make a similar tool. It's just not the same quality.

 

Well Brian, I just finished reading the entire thread. I tried to read ten pages per sitting but occasionally I just couldn’t stop reading. It’s been an incredible journey and you’ve accomplished something that bench racers have argued about for years, a car that can be driven to events and changed to nitro on the fly. The All Mopar theme is great too. Thanks for including the tech that you felt that few would be interested in, I’m one of those folks who appreciate the in-depth stuff.
I assume the TFX block didn’t materialize since you’re prepping the KB. Big question, are you planning on swapping out the Bruno/Lenco combination for a clutch now that you won’t be participating in Drag Week and other drag-n-drive events?
Also, I noticed that you never mentioned any service or trouble with the conventional drive shaft. Was it trouble free so far? I remember looking at it and wondering if it would be a weak link.
To paraphrase the old Star Trek saying; You’ve gone where no man has gone before and you took us along with you. Thanks, and I hope that the adventure continues….

 

Oh, yeah, Merry Christmas!! I hope you’re getting together with your whole family.

 

I want some of Brians' Christmas presents!

 

Merry Christmas everyone.
It's hard to believe anyone has spent the time to read almost 200 pages. Thanks to all the followers of this thread. To answer the questions. The Bruno will be staying. A slipper clutch would be the way most guys would go. I have no way to get at a clutch to service it. The only way it could work out is if I made the body hinged at the back. Then I could flip it up. It would be difficult with a steel body.
The drive shaft is a three inch thick wall chromoly unit with large 1350 joints in moly yokes. It won't break.
The converter technology has come a long way recently. Pro mods; alcohol funny cars etc are starting to use them. I'm sure you will see them used more do to consistency and you don't have all of the service work.
I have not found a billet block that was serviceable that I can afford yet. The kb will be fine for next season. The block is still on the wish list.

 

The kids went home today and I have off so it's hemi time. The parts needed to be cleaned and blown off. All the studs went in. The heads were torqued along with the manifold. The manifold was sprayed with lay out dye. The manifold will be packed with rags and sanded flat. This is a vital step before the blower goes on. The new heads can possibly make the deck no longer flat. It's something that needs to be checked.
The sleeve to deck heights will get checked again. The heads being torqued can push the sleeves farther down the bore. More so that pounding them in.
The head gaskets will be inspected to see how the hoops are seating in the gaskets and receiver grooves.
The gaskets were covered in heavy bearing grease to help them seat.

 

Well it started when I was down with a respiratory infection for a couple weeks and couldn’t (shouldn’t) go out to my cold shop. Then it replaced my current favorite novel as a bedtime story. lol. It was a real page-turner.
With more and more guys using converters in Pro Mod and TA/FC, I’m sure that the converter technology will continue to advance. It seemed like you had quite a few issues over the years with the converter, the Lenco, the Bruno and the flexplate. Being a written narrative maybe those troubles weren’t really as frequent as they seemed.

 

That manifold dressing trick is one of several excellent things that I’ve learned from this thread that apply to my stuff. Even with my street blowers on old iron engines it’s good to know I’m bolting it to a flat surface.

 

I definitely had some issues. The flex plate was a poor design. They fixed the design and sent me a new one. No problems since. The Bruno has actually been very good. Some of its issues were of my doing. I had one actual converter failure. That was a bearing that went bad. The aluminum converter was bad from the get go. It's all good now.

 

For anyone blowing out manifold to blower gaskets it's always a warped intake deck. Another tip torque the intake and blower in several steps slowly and in a cross pattern.

 

Hey, Brian;
The reason I read & refer to this, is because of the detail you put in. Info I probably won't find anywhere else, & if someone wants to detail models, this is the best place to see things, both where & why...
As always,
Thanks.
Marcus...

 

Thanks for the valve and collet pics. Really interesting

 

Before and after pics. It only took a few strokes to remove the dye. Everything is nice and flat. You just never know on a new combination. I will sleep good tonight knowing there will be no vacuum leaks or lost pressure. If there is a vacuum leak the idle won't be controlled. It can also cause a lean cylinder that could burn a piston. A pressure leak will reduce performance or cause a fire if it was real bad. It's safer to check.

 

Looks Great! Gary

 

Now to pull it all apart and check the sleeve to deck heights. I will also inspect the head gasket to see how it's engaging the receiver grooves.
If it's all good then I will hone it to check the bores. Taking the sleeves out and reinstalling them can make them go out of round. A special rigid hone can fix that. After a few spins of the hone the pattern is closely inspected. More on that this weekend.

 

That’s beautiful work Brian !
Better to be safe than sorry .

Nothing runs like a well built Hemi .

Especially when it’s got a blower on top !

Tommy

 

After flattening the manifold, will that need performed again after taking it apart and together again?

 

No. Just once as long as the block or heads have not been changed.

 

Happy new year everyone. I hope your 2024 is full of everything you want and need.
It's the year of the elephant as in hemi. Block prep is going on today. With the heads off post torquing the sleeve heights were measured again. I found number two was up .010 but only on the exhaust side. I wrapped some 150 grit around some square stock and made that go away. They are all .004 up off the deck.
The head gaskets went on next. They come with the valve reliefs in them. I traced this out on top of the sleeve. Some minor touch up was needed to make the sleeve match the gasket. Why? Because the intakes are bigger and the valves are tipped outward for better flow. Valve to sleeve clearance needs to be checked or real bad things can happen.
After all of that fun the sleeves were honed. A special rigid sunnen hone is used. Turning the top handle makes enough pressure to stall a 1/2 inch drill. A heavy duty 5/8 drill is needed. The extreme pressure and the hard stone makes the sleeves round again. It doesn't take much. I use a 150 grit stone. It leaves a rough surface to hold oil on the sleeves grooves. I finish it with only a few spins of the rabbit turd hone. This knocks off the sharp edges for good ring life. Special honing oil is used. The object is to make them round. Some light scratches are ok. Taking everything out will make the bore too big. Your looking for good not perfect. They look good. Piston to bore clearance measured at the bottom of the bore is a very acceptable 010
A valuable tip so the hones won't get destroyed is to do the job with the crank in place with the counter weights up toward the bore. This keeps the hones from getting snagged on the registers breaking the stones.
The block was sprayed down and blown out many times. Some polishing on the outside because I like shiny things and it's ready to file some rings.
Another thing we do is get a coffee filter and put atf on it. I run these up and down the bores until they come out clean. It's a great way to remove any grit left on the sleeves.

 

The heads are assembled. The intakes injectors and studs are back in. The injector and components are back on the blower. The rings showed up. Just waiting a few more weeks for rods.

 

Happy New Year Brian.

 

I picked up the car this morning. A potential big weather system is coming next Tuesday. I don't want the trailer out in the salt.
The old front frame came home to. I saved it for future street use.
The new frame section is almost done. They don't need the car to finish it off. A small bar is tacked in place to simulate the drag link. The tank extension pieces are being cut out now. It's coming together. Good progress.