New zoomies were made today. Theres nothing like the look of 2.5 inch pipes on a engine with big valve covers.
Im going to make a second set thats identical to these exept they will have baffles inside. Drag week should be alot easier without the side pipes. The turn around time will be greatly reduced. If anyone is considering building some i highly recomend doing a search for nitro madness zoomie headers. They did a tech article with hedman. Great tips in the article.
I have a question Brian. When you are running your injection on gas and the F.A.S.T. ecu is controlling it, there is a o2 sensor right? I have been told the wide band o2 sensors will not work correctly when installed in zoomie headers. Or did I miss something, and your system is set up different.
mike good question. you are somewhat correct. when I was at pri I asked the f.a.s.t. tech guys about that. they said the o2 sensor goes in the pipe of my choice. they would prefer that it goes is the cylinder that would be running the most lean. that would be the front pipes for a blown car. the placement in the pipe is what matters most. it needs to be placed so there is at least 12 inches of pipe after its installed position. this would be similar to headers with a collector. while not a perfect setup by sampling the leanest cylinder it does allow the system to run and run safely under max load. I hope this helps.
I think so to. jim you were part of the exhaust changing at indy and saw what I had to go through. it took a lot of valuable time when I could have been making miles. I think this is the way for me to go. im sure I will still need to use ear plugs on the street. I had to use them with the side pipes. with the cam installed at 112 it makes the exhaust real loud. there is another side to this zoomie thing. we are working on ways to switch over to nitro on the fly. with the zoomies in place we are one step closer to making it happen.
Thanks Brian. I am hooking up a AFR gauge, and have side pipes similar to yours, which is not a problem, but I would also like to use the AFR in my zoomies. I switch back and forth. I do let the zoomies on alot because I get tired of switching. On the street They are LOUD, ear plugs, and keep an eye out for police. LOL. I think I can place the 02 sensor in my zoomies and still have 13 to 15 inches after the sensor. Should work
The power of the hamb has been demonstrated once again. This time andrew lavine aka aussie57wag from australia came through with finding the australian magazine the car appeared in. Without his help im not sure how i would have gotten a copy. Several times fellow hambers have helped me out. I cant thank everyone enough. The car is coming togethèr for this upcoming season. The block has the crank and cam in it. The gear drive and front covèr are in place. I put the rods and pistons together this week. I will have a completed short block this saturday. The zoomies are at jims being fully welded. Then they are off to get coated next week. I received the insert baffles for the street zoomies this week so i will start on them soon. The front frame section is at jims being modified for the five gallon nitro tank. He also has the passenger seat. Im cutting eight inches off of it. Its very hard to see out the back window due to it being so high. It was dangerous street driving trying to make right hand turns. It a three ring circus right now with everything going on. It should be all wrapped up by mid to late may.
Outstanding pic on the aussie mag. After dw you'll be famous around the globe, at least the coupe will Thanks for keeping us foreigners up to date with your very detailed and informative postings Brian.
Congrats Brian, I am wondering if this car is going to get more ink now than it did during Version 1?
Up early today. Its time to assemble a short block. The rods i use come with arp bolts. They are designed to be used with a bolt stretch gauge. Measuring the stretch of the bolt is more accurate than using a predetermined torque spec. .005-.006 is what we want. That is right around 85lbs on the torque wrench. A change for this year is .003 extra ring gap. After a visual inspection of all the parts from last year it was determined we needed a little more gap.
Damn that's really precise! Guess you better be on your A game when you play with nitro! Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Nitro is very unforgiving. You have to enter into it with the mind set your first mistake could be your last. Once you get your head around that you become extra careful with everything you do. You also become very disciplined . Then its all good.
So what it looks like in the photo is you measure then tighten then measure again to get the stretch? Is the gauge removed after measuring then you do the tightening and re-installed?
The first step is to measure before tightening. With a new set of rods I torque to 60lbs then measure again. I start creeping up on the torque. Measuring every time i tighten. I repeat until i reach .006 stretch. Im using the torque wrench as a referance. It takes some time to get this done the first time. I have done it enough over the years that i know on my torque wrench i can go right to 85lbs and be at .oo6 every time. So now i zero the gauge. Torque to 85lbs. Then double check the stretch.
Soooo.... let's say if we ever joined the big boy nitro club plastic gauge isn't necessarily the best in this scenario. Ok smart ass comment. Back to the build. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
All you need is the specs and the right tool. The bolts are specific for using this tool. Time now to put in the oil pump and button up the pan. View attachment 3508301
Some of my posts are done to possibly help someone out. There can be times when info is hard to come by in a highly modified hemi. a lot has changed since the sixties. Take the oil pump as a example. A titan pump is the only way to go on a all out hemi. hot heads is a authorized distributor of titan pumps. they know what you will need. its good insurance and a must when using roller rockers. Issues arise when the pan no longer fits due to the pumps size. The pan needs a kick out like this. Using the titan pump requires returns in the valve covers or the pan will get sucked dry. Timing a efi engine requires a little bit different process. Timing was verified first at 50 btdc lining up the magnet on the trigger wheel with the pick up. this signal tells the computer when to fire the injectors. Then the balancer was set at 30 btdc. this is max ignition timing on gas. the computers timing map will take care of the rest. I then placed the intermediate shaft in engaging the oil pump. its wise to verify correct engagement on a new build to prevent a disaster. I always set mine up with the slot on the shaft parallel with the back of the engine. This allows the bumps on the cap to clear the intake and blower. With out the top cover on its easy to make changes to get it right. I then verify the rotor phasing with my slightly modified cap. The base of the distributor and the block have matching punch marks so in a thrash we can get real close if a timing light is not available. So with out further delay i present this years hemi.
I'm interested of that ring cap change, what were the symptoms you'd like to cure with more cap? Prevent ring warping or better sealing or?
If you go back to a post i did on january 7th. It shows the block. The cylinders look tiger striped. This is a sign that the rings were butting up to each other. The engine was getting very hot as we were sorting out the fuel curve. Hot enough to burn ground straps off plugs every pass. And there were signs of piston spray on the back side of the exhaust valves. Giving the rings a few more thousanths along with more fuel should take care of this. We run gapless second rings so im not too concerned about the extra gap on the street. Even with the wear patterns the engine was leaking under 5 percent. Well within a normal range.
I know a bunch of us really like all your tips on a subject we are all not that familiar with keep them coming.
The day has come to build another set of zoomies this set will be for the street. I have talked about the pri show before and why i go. They have all the latest and greatest parts on display from around the world. Its a great place to learn about whats out there. I talked to chris at hedman headers. They had several zoomie kits on display. Chris told me about the different kinds of materials available. There is cheap material and good material. Hedman only uses dom grade tubing. I met for the first time a company called heart throb exhaust. They had several styles of mufflers and inserts on display. We went over what i was looking to do and it sounded and looked like between the two companies i had the street zoomie issues solved. Today i cut all of the pipes to size. I then started putting them together. The inserts as delivered were too tight of a fit. They needed some time on the belt sander to get a nice snug fit. They need to slide in the pipe. The inserts can be wrapped with fiberglass. I cut pieces to size then used masking tape to hold them on the insert. I know the tape will burn off in seconds but its not really needed once the insert is inside the pipe. Its such a tight fit its not going anywhere. Trying to get it all in the pipe without the fiberglass sliding up or getting the insert stuck took a few tries to get the right techninique. A tight spiral wrap of tape worked the best. Using a twisting motion as the insert was sliding in worked best. I finished off the job by using a round piece of aluminum and pounding the insert in as far as it would go. Its down where the tube starts to bend. Its wedged in at that end. I will tack it at the other end. That way they wont ever rattle. It will be interesting to hear how loud they are. They guy at heart throb said going from a 2.5 inch pipe and choking it down to 2 inch with the optional fiberglass will help reduce the noise level.
Bian , when NHRA did the sound rules in the early 90's we used safety wire ( we criss crossed it front to back ) to hold the fiberglass matting to the baffles , it worked great as the matting didn't fall apart when you pulled them out and you could slide them right back in . some guys used a 1/4" sq chicken wire mesh around them . the Safety wire I think would work better on the long runs as the chicken wire is dip soldered .
I have no intentions to remove the inserts. They cant be removed due to the pipes turnout. They cant come out the end that has the flange either due to the pipe being modified for two bolts holes that need clearance. The inserts needed to go in before the flange gets welded on. I made two identicle sets. One for street one for strip.The only way to tell the difference is by the weight. Getting rid of the sidepipes will simplify the swap. I can see how the wire mesh would work. Its a good idea. I tried zip ties but they were too big. I had some tape in the shop so i tried that. With some practice it worked.
Its been a busy couple of weeks. The first set of zoomies were dropped off to be welded or should i say brazed. The shop uses a silicon bronze rod. The metal is never heated to the point of melting. Jere stahl taught jim to make headers this way. Brazing eliminates the annoying cracking. One of the things we learned last year was the oil filter was in the wrong location. I thought putting it on the frame under the zoomies was going to be a good idea. Wrong. It made changing headers and dropping the diaper difficult. Repositioning it to the motor plate gets it out of the way. I installed it with the cover up so the filter can be removed without making a mess. The chassis was reset after it was taken apart for chroming. We drop plumbobs from all corners. First we set the wheelbase then square the rearend. When the car is all back together ready to race we then set the preload to neutral. We set the blower in place to make some measurements. There are some big changes coming soon in regards to that. The chassis gets dropped off friday to finish off the nitro tank and interior. The passenger seat was cut down eight inches. I couldnt see out the back window vèry well. It was actually dangerous. My wife will alter the seat cover. Last but not least im heading back to rogers to complete the heads this weekend. I was notified the new trailer is schedualed to be completed june first. I found the aluminum dana cover i was looking for. This is a old pro stock part. It saves a pound or two. There sure is lot going on.
The Jalopy Journal
