Glad to see that the weather held so you could get in your first T&T on the new setup. Very respectable times for the first time out. I am sure there is more than .36 seconds left in the tune up. The two things these motors like is lot of timing and they need way more air to make HP. I will be surprised if you don't end up with a bigger 4 barrel or dual 4's on her so she has the air. Fuel is easy to get in, having the right amount of air is the hard part. When is the next T&T going to be? Sure am glad it went so well, with all the stuff going on the last few months it has to be a real good feeling and helps take some pressure off. Nothing like making pass after a long hard winter.
that After a pretty successful T n T, I naturally tore the thing apart. I needed to find a better way to get out of the dragster. A spring loaded seat didn't seem practical. I took Tom's (Old28) advice and made foot boxes in the floor. They are only 4" deep but testing shows they will be some help. At least I won't be bruising my arms prying myself up against the roll cage. I had a dual master cylinder installed. It was plumbed so both halves provided pressure. I believe this was equivalent to a 1 1/2" cylinder bore as I had an extremely hard pedal and it was at the top. It was impossible to hold it on the line and build rpm's. A while back I got this Willwood pedal assembly on Craigslist and with the Howe 7/8" bore master cylinder hibernating in the garage attic, I believe I have an assembly that will work much better. Next T n T is the 27th. Hoping to break into the 11's. Thank you Tom for your support and encouragement.
Ha Bob, use old dudes got to stand by each other, at this point all I can do is throw out a few idea's and see if you guys will run with them. My eyes are showing normal on the right side but still off on the left side. You got to get pedal set up so you can hold about 2800 - 3300 stall foot braking the car at the leave. If not up on RPM those slicks will bog the leave and that is time you can't get back. I know that setup you have motor wise will run high 11's with the right advance (I ran 36-38 in my 194" L6) and lots of air. Maybe two 4bl later on. Good luck on the 27th. Glad you tried the foot boxes, should help a little. Glad your back in the car.
here's the 4" deep boxes that constitute the dropped floor. Also, the Willwood brake pedal and Howe master cylinder are installed. The brakes work much better
Foot boxes look nice and should help with getting those old bones out of the cage. Have you tested the new brake system in your driveway to see what RPM you can hold? Going to be able to T&T on the 27th?
Bob, given your recent health issues are you still planning on coming down to the Meltdown Drags next month? This year's Saturday evening racing sounds like something that a person doesn't want to miss.
Just asking on the foot boxes... photo angle looks like maybe the foot brake reach may be affected by the foot box depth? Would yer foot get caught up in the box when going for the peddle ?
The wheels the slicks are mounted on are not period correct so screwed some Moon discs on. Crosley, when I am in driving position just my heels set in the foot boxes. I can work the pedals from that positoon. When I want to get out I draw back my tiny little feet into th foot boxes, grab the hand holds I cut in the cowl and, after removing the steering wheel, stand up. I do believe the car is ready for the Meltdown Drags in Byron, Ill. in two weeks. I'm excited!
Bob, car sure looks good and ready for a day at the drags. How do those slicks hook up in the driveway tests? Do the foot boxes help with getting those old ( I mean mature) bones out of the car? Looking forward to seeing some numbers with the slicks. Best of luck at the Meltdown Drags.
Bob, The footboxes look good, anxious to see what you think of the car with slicks.Good luck at the Meltdowns.
I left home at 5:30 AM Friday for the 6 hour drive to the Meltdown Drags in Byron, Ill. This event is truly the Woodstock of vintage drag racing. The volunteers , organizers and staff are friendly and courteous to the extreme. Weather was hot and humid; mid 90's and 75%. I thought I might have heat problems just getting over a stroke. But all went well. There are kinda, sorta classes but mainly cars are loosely grouped by style and quickness. No eliminations are run. You can match up with your favorite opponent and grudge race for bragging right though. That brings me to my long awaited race with Bob Huberty aka 2b-banjo on the Hamb. We lined up and were set for the tree. Bob left a few thousandths red which startled me into inaction. I left .810 later. Embarrassing to say the least. My friend Terry warned me that the finish line was hard to detect. Of course, that didn't really matter as Bob was a couple hundred feet ahead at this time. I saw some flags and assumed that was the finish line so I slowed. Wrong! It was the 1/8 mile marker. anyway Bob ran a stellar 11.79 @ 113.10 mph with his injected alcohol flathead while I ran a 8.173 @ 83.7mph 1/8 mile and held it steady while I was trying to find the finish line, for a 13.234 @ 85.14mph. I gained 2 mph the second half of the track. Interestingly, Bob only runs 2 gears After the trouncing we never matched up in staging again. Was I ducking him? I think not. Just didn't have anything for him. I kept trying things, like keeping in it til the finish line (which I found difficult with so little experience), timing & carb adjustments. I had a best of 12.457 @109.47mph and got in a total of 6 runs on two very busy days If you live within 10,000 miles of Byron you should attend this event. RacerRoy3, was that you that stopped by for an instant? If so, dammit, you should have stayed and visited longer
There were 3 ex-Hambsters there; My slushbox/Holley carbed with slicks unit, Bob's injected flathead on alcohol, and a sbc powered car.
Boy Bob, I wish it had of been me that stopped by but it wasn't. We had a motel room for Friday and Saturday and were really looking forward to it. But the 110+ heat index put a stop to the whole thing. My MS condition and several of the medications that I take make me extremely heat sensitive. Since drag strips are generally not known for the great shade trees (with some exceptions), it just wasn't realistic to even try to go. I thought about just going up for the night drags on Saturday but the 8 hours round trip didn't make much sense.
Here's a chunk of video from the Meltdown Drags. At the 3:00 minute mark Bob & I face off. It was the first real race I've had and in spite of the way it played out, it was exciting. RacerRoy3, I understand your situation. The heat and humidity almost kept me away too. I was more uncomfortable standing around in the staging lanes than buckled in the car
Nice run, nice video. Car sounds as good as it looks, too. Looks like the Meltdown was a good get together. Rather wish you'd caught the Crosleys' run behind you as well, though. We have a whole group of'em from the Old Farts' team that show up at ANRA and some of the other nostalgia meets here. Don't feel too chagrined about the r/t. Hell, I mostly I did worse for the whole first year I was back in the game. Took me still a couple more years to get used to this whole "tree" thing. And I still forget to check my dial-in sometimes.
ps. We've had an SBCed ex-HAMBster showing up at butch's ANRA meets, up at Bako lately, too. Perhaps another coming extrapolation of the concept?
If it's a choice between not racing because you don't have the money to build a flattie or in-line engine, or using the small block Chevy that's been under the bench I say, "Let's go racing!" I've even measured mine to see if it could be "slingshotized". Nope, it can't. Thought about a body (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery) but I'd have to lose a corresponding amount of weight so it's just as fast. If my Ford 6 ate itself I'd be hard pressed to buid another one when I could put in a couple hundred dollar Sbc from Craigslist.
I hear ya. Slants're pretty cheap by old engine standards, and it'll still take me just under 1.5 grand to get my next one put together. Machining that I don't have equipment for'll be strictly for a bare short block, +.060" poke, -.060" deck, and decent balance, and'll run around 5 bills. I've fetched 4 bills worth of plain stock parts; slugs, rods, bearings ...... the basics. And with gaskets, seals, etc, expect another bill. Nothing else, the cam, head, valves & gear, timing set, pan, etc, are in that, and I do my own notching, head work, assembly, and set-up work. Actual total cost to replace my blown block & parts'll be just north of $1,100.00, and, with the cam, looking up at $1500.00. If I weren't eyebrow deep in love with the whole point of the build, that 2 bill SBC'd start looking pretty good.
ingOld6, you mentioned you wished you could have seen the Crosleys run. Well, have I got a deal for one of your friends. My tube framed 406sbc Crosley wagon can be had for small money. Any decent tuner/driver can have it in the 10's. We will be running it in a couple weeks. The sbc route is just too easy. Works for somebody that wants to race and not have to try too hard to make the thing go quicker. Regarding porting, how do you keep from nick a valve seat when doing the bowls?
Well bobw, 12.457 @ 109 had to make you happy. I know you, peddle to the metal to the stripe to see what she has. Little more tuning and old 6 will have to change those numbers again to the 11.50 range. How did she hook up with the slicks? Glad that you were good medically for the weekend and are doing well. Hang in there, it only get better.
Tom, glad the move went well and you are recovering from the stroke. Give it time you might be surprised how much vision you regain. I don't know if you watched the video above but if you study it my car leaves kinda slow, 1.89 sec. 60 foot, and maybe at 150 feet down the track it really accelerates hard. That is probably where I shift and, for the first time in the run, floor it. Traction is not a problem as the Byron dragstrip has a lot of glue on it just like Famoso. There's a fair amount of e.t. improvement in just learning to drive it. And quit being a sissy.
Passes, passes, passes and the e.t. will come down, but the key is tuneup. That motor has an 11.25-11.50 just waiting to be set free and I know you will find it soon. Remember that you may have to run tire pressure a little higher than normal on those well prep tracks, your not leaving off a trans brake at 5500 plus. Have fun, summer ain't to long in your part of the woods.
what converter are you using? I had a 3000 in mine and it ran less than respectable 60 ft. I put an 8 inch in and things improved
Fantastic video Bob. When you get the rust off the r/t that alky flaty will have it's hands full. Sorry for being slow to post. I had to take the Mrs. on vacation so I wouldn't lose my privileges. (I used to know what those were but that was a while ago.) On the subject of putting an OHV V8 in a HAMB, remember it is about preserving the past. Wouldn't it be great to see a stock early Cadillac or Olds engine with a three speed in one trying to keep from burning down the 6" treaded tires?
Do the bowls first. Seriously, if at all possible, do the seats after the porting. If not, just be damn careful. I use a Dremel with long shank bits when I have to do it the hard way. Slower, but safer. Try and get some video and/or pictures of the Crosley, and I'll pass'em along.
The Jalopy Journal
