Happy to see you survived to rebuild and race another day, looking forward to see the next generation of your ride, getting that fast, the chassis rules will make it a much safer car for you. Speaking as an old circle track guy, safety has come long way from back in the day, ALOT of us were/are very lucky to be here and after seeing the pics, you too, have a LUCKY Star w/ your name on it.
yes i was very lucky. i hope to be back to work next week. i got rid of the carbs two years ago. i liked the look of them. they just didn't provide enough fuel. the efi provides economy and performance with that old time look. talk to andy starr at hilborn. he is at the east coast office. his number is 215-643-4607. they have several options. they can do the upright four port like mine or they have a e-model horizontal. they work so well its like driving a brand new car.
I got the frame home today from the chassis shop. I gave them a big check to order the tubing. They say they will be putting tubing on the frame jig thursday. There will be a slight change of plans on the chassis. The only plans nhra has that dont have bars going from the main hoop to the trunk area that dont attatch at the top of the hoop can only be a 7.49 chassis or faster. So we will build that.
I stopped at the polishers today on the way to the chassis shop. I picked up the wheels to machine them for the hats. They have been sanded with 320 so far. I cant wait to see them done. I also put the dana housings ends in the lathe. They will be reused. Now im trying to get the welds drilled out on the housing to get the rest of the tubing out. Its no fun.
You didn't mention if Herb had come up with the PN for the high strength Dana spider gears, it is P3690226. Now all you gotta do is find a set!
thanks for the part number. i did call herb and he did not have the number on hand so this helps. the old hustle stuff and old dc catalogs only list a complete rear end or all the service parts together. i was not able to find the part number by itself. were did you find it? he did say the side gears have a zero stamped into them and the spiders have a groove about .060 cut into them. the zero can be seen without taking the sure grip apart. theres a good swap meet tip. i will start calling around. in the mean time i put in a spider gear i had from another sure grip. i tried to drill out the welds tonight with no luck. i spoke to a friend who had done this. he said he went through a pile of drill bits. he finally used a die grinder to finish the job. i took it over to a friend that has a plasma cutter. that got the job done. i will clean up the holes then try to press them out. its a lot of mess in around for 15-20 pounds.
I worked at a local speed equipment wholesaler at that time, and was also a big Mopar guy back then. I just got off my lazy backside, and pulled out my mid-seventies Direct Connection service bulletins. Much the same as your Chevelle, I still have a '66 Satellite from my early 20's, and the 440 from my old Duster. It ran 11.0s @ 120 with a flat-top hyd cam 440 and ported 906's. I am going to do a fresh set of 915s sometime, and put that thing back together. By the way, I need an RB Tarantula for that deal, if you know anybody who has one they want to get rid of. I want to put it together with all early seventies external parts, I have a cast iron tach drive distributor, SW mech. tach and a 950 3bbl for it as well.
i had a 66 satellite. 383 four speed 391s. i bought it for my wife. unfortunately she had trouble reaching the pedals and it was sold. those manifolds are fairly common at swap meets around here. i will keep my eyes open for one. how about some stage fours with the decal on the valve covers. bolt the cable drive rev limiter to the inner fender and that would say early 70s all over it. just like a early pro stock.
Well this story sure had a sad beginning but is turning into one of those great hot rod building stories. Keep the updates coming.
The front brakes showed up. It looks like i will be spending more time on the lathe and mill. The hats fit the new aluminium repro five spokes not the real mag ones. the bolt pattern is too big. were the bolt holes are there is no material to drill into. There are no hats made so i will just have to make my own. But isnt that what hot rodding is about.
well, I have two sets of virgin 915's here, and at my age I figured I'd better start using them. The satellite was my "back-up" at that time 383 and a TF with 4.11's.
This this is the back side of the wheel. There is no material to bolt a hat were it needs to be. I thought about mounting the hat just above the race. i will have to make a new hat.
Hey, racer-x; In addition to the tube frame, I hope you do a nice detailed in-depth how-to on the rotor hats/mounting. I've seen it done (results only) but wondered on the details to go from nothing to safe usable. Guy(s) weren't very helpful w/info. & nice rebuild going on the coupe. I'm following your thread w/interest. TIA. Marcus...
Steve morley who owns this car has graciously offered to help with the front wheels. The wheels need to go on a rotary table. A register is cut into them then a hat is made to press on the rim. The rotor bolts to that. I picked up shipping boxes and i will ship it all out today. Just knowing this will be taken care of and done correctly is a huge load off my mind.
The original build and this rebuild of the car could not and can not happen without the help of several people. With that said here are perfect examples. As mentioned above regarding steve and the wheels here is another. Herb mcandles called me this morning. He said go buy a lottery ticket i have what you need. I have four spider gears in my hand. He looked for two days rumaging through his stuff for me. These gears are very rare. Most mopar guys dont even know they exist. They were never offered in complete rear ends only as a service part for racers during the early pro stock days.If you are not familiar with herb look him up. He was a hired chrysler factory driver and ronnie soxes team mate. He is in the super stock hall of fame. Herb is a true encyclopedia on everything mopar. He was there when it all happened. He tells it like it is. Truly the real deal. He has helped me out in the past on several occasions were others couldnt. Just getting a call back from one of the all time greats makes it extra special. I will post pics when i get them.
RacerX, you Can do an 8.50 cage with no bars protruding thru the body. I had mine done by Gizmo and he built this and it is certified to 8.50
Silly Q on my part,as I've never seen this= Do you have to machine the front rotors to get them bare? Or do you run them "as is"? The coating/ano is throwing me off!
When I posted the part number, I was honestly thinking "yea right, dream on buddy!" Man, I'd say you scored LARGE!
having restored several antique motorcycles to concourse condition i know how to cast a large net to find parts. or its the stubborn german in me. i like a challenge. 45 year old car parts are way easier to find than 75 plus year old bike parts. on top of that all bikes have fallen over at some point damaging things. its rare to find what you need on the first call. i did get lucky. with the lottery as high as it is i will buy one ticket. who knows i could be on a roll. herb is a good friend that went out of his way for me. he is very aware of the effort going into this car and is exited to help. the rotors are put on as is. the black coating will wear off quickly. my chassis builder is very good friends with noted chassis builder merf mccinny. those two conferred with the div. three director. they decided collectively that the only way to get a certification to go as fast as i want to go the chassis had to be built to a spec 7.49 or faster. they thought a left hand steer roadster would work at first but due to the bar placements i would have to climb in through the roof. I'm good with a 7.49 tag then i never have to worry in the tech line. the faster you go the harder they look. with the plan to run nitro all the safety stuff must be there. they get all crazy when you mention the cars on fuel. after being able to walk away from this wreck I'm ok with extra bars nhra deems i need. I'm surprised your bars are welded directly to the floor without the required plates that distribute the load. or maybe I'm just not seeing them in the pics. i believe welding to sheet metal requires a six by six plate. check the rule book for clarification. passing tech and passing a crash can be two different things.
I got the axle tubes out. The plasma cutter was a life saver. I thought this job would be easy. Once again i was wrong. Im glad thats over.
More of the car was taken apart. Most of it cant be saved. The dash most likely wont fit again due to the cage. The cars wiring will all need to be replaced. I filled up the chevelle and took it all home to sort out.
The Jalopy Journal
