Alright Guys I've got some questions. 1. Do you have to use only water in the radiator to race. 2. Do you need a helmet if you're car doesn't run below 14-15 sec. 3. I've got Tri-Bar spinner caps on my Cragar SS's. Will those have to be taken off. 4. Does the windows have to be rolled up while racing. 5. Is two springs on the carb a must. ----------I've got a metal gas line to the carb, a 2 quart overflow and a seat belt.
The last time I was there I didn't race so I put the car in the car show. Didn't get a trophy though. I took Second Place in my class but I was watching you guys race from the Grandstands and missed the Awards presentation. If I don't race I'll put the car in the show and I expect to miss the Awards presentation again this year. ( It's a better place to park your car. ) Jim
1. water or anti no matter
2.helmet, best to have one but cant rember
3.wait for tech to tell you.
4.windows up a must.
5. yes two springs.
6.ruber ok as long as it is under 6 inches around carb.
7.overflow a must.
8.seat belt a must.
hope this helps and hope to race ya
:burnout:
Jim, At the shoot out we had in Byron, an nhra track, we were told olny water in the radiator, as not to grease the track in case of an engine failer. Tom
Jim:
Come to the awards banquet, even if you don't race. You pay for your own meal, and have a great evening of comaradarie.
John
Where can I get a list of the event's. Like the awards banquit. I'm reading the tips on drag racing on the y block website. The fact that this is a big event is scary in itself. Jim
Jim:
Bob Martin had some info in the latest Y Block Magazine concerning the Y blocker schedules, and if you join Tom's '57 group, the events will pretty much be parallel. I don't know if Bob has posted that info on the Y website, but if he hasn't, send me a mailing address and I'll copy the info and send it to you. There is also a link to the NMRA flyer for the event on the Y site. Hope to see you there.
John
John,
I'm going to bust my ass to get this work done to the car next week. I'm planning on running my car at the meet. What can they do if I screw up. They won't eat me, I'll make them sick if they do. My address is
Jim Nolan
1727 S. Briarwood Dr.
Warsaw, In 46580
I want to know as much as I can because when I go over there I don't want to depend on everyone to lead me by the hand. That would be humiliating to me. Thanks, Jim PS. I'll look through the places you mentioned.
http://www.nmradigital.com/events/event7.php
Well, I got a room at the Red Roof Inn. I'll get there Thursday night. The reason I went there was because of Buffy ( ten pound poddle ). Besides, it's three minutes away from the strip and when I blow up my car I won't have far to walk. I'm planning on being there at 8:00 Friday morning to get set up, go through inspection and see if I can keep my car in a straight line for a quarter mile. The last time I was on the drag strip was down at Gulfport where I proceeded to tear the sycronizer out of my T85 and I had to drive it 1000 mles back home that way. Hopefully it'll go better this time with the Tremec. Jim
You wont tear up the tremec..I'd be more concerned about the u-joints than the trans. Of course, if you're not running slicks, I wouldnt worry about it. Just feather the clutch and throttle to get it rolling without spinning too much then mat it. Put a pair of 27X8 cheater slicks in the trunk and come on. I wish I could play this year, but at least I'll get to watch and hang out.
Jim:
Being a street car, I think you'll find that tech isn't too tough. They'll look for a secure battery hold down. a puke can, and seat belt. Your Cragar spinners will be no problem because they're bolt ons. If they find something they don't like and it isn't easy to fix there, they will probably just tell you to have it fixed before you run at their track again. They are not in the business of running racers off, they want your money. I think the limit for required helmets is 13.99 and quicker, so if you tell tech it is slower than that, you'll be OK without it. Not that a helmet is a bad idea in any racing car. I'll put the copies of Bob's article in the morning mail.
John
Thanks John,
Today I re-welded my slapper bars to enable them to come within less than an inch away from the spring eye. It's right up against the bottom of the spring perch. When sitting on the ground the rubber bumper is 1 3/8 away from the spring. I'm going to make spacers to go under the rubber bumper to bring it closer when I'm drag racing. How close would you have the bumpers to the spring when racing. Someone mentioned 1/2" I thought. Memory lapses. If everything goes OK I think I'll tackle the headers next. Jim
I think 1/2" would work or tighter. I guess you don't need a driveshaft loop. I raced a lot
of All Ford events. It's basically a big bracket race for what ever div your in. Always set
the car up to NHRA rules and you'll never have a problem. Have fun and kick some ass.
I miss it :004:
Make sure your Helmet is in date. I brought a vintage helmet once and they did not like it, fortunately I had another current one to pass tech with.
Be polite to the people doing the tech, that may make the difference in the end.
Thanks for going every extra car adds to the event. It is a great race, and awesome to meet the people who you read about and talk to online. My wife didn't understand why I would travel so far until she meet everybody.
Make sure and go to the evening awards dinner and hang out with the Y-Block group, they are a really great group of people. Bob Martin keeps everything organized and recorded.
Pat
Sounds like a killer event..I sure would like to go one year... getting real tired of any NSRA Easter Egg events..........
The Expo and Y-Block shootout is the best Ford event in the country as far as I'm concerned. I cant wait until Labor Day Weekend...I plan to be there.
Guys,
Can't wait. I did go up to Osceola and run the car a couple times just to see what it would do. Are you guys sure I need a helmet. They let me run in a straw hat at Osceola.
At Osceola when I pulled up to the line and started to stage the guy standing there kept looking at me real funny. Since everyone around me had brought missiles to run and I had brought a B-B gun I figured he just wondered why I was there. Instead he walked over to the drivers side of the car, leaned in and said, " Sir, you need to put your arm inside the car and roll your window up". Nice young man.
I hate to go buy a helmet if I don't need one. My car's not that fast at all. In fact after my first run down the track a little kid on a Cushman Eagle wanted to run me heads up for five bucks. During the second run my car literally ran out of gas on the top end. I paid the kid his five bucks and went home and ordered a 110 gph fuel pump.
Let me know for sure. Do I really need a helmet that has a new date code. Jim
Jim, You do not need a helmet, All you need is a seat belt and over flow tank on radiator. You will run with the 57 Ford class,Just look me up and I will help you out. We run right behind the y-block cars,but not against them. I run with an out dated helmet, that one of my racer friends gave me. an outdated helmet is better than a base ball cap. Tom
Thanks Tom,
I'll need all the help I can get. If I get one event under my belt I think I'll be good to go. I've got water in the radiator, two throttle springs, metal fuel line, overflow tank, seat belts and I even took the tri-bar spinners off the rims. I've got the traction masters being sent out tomorrow so I'll have them to weld on but other than that I'm ready to go. Going to Osceola helped as far as the inspection process goes. I'll set up my canopy Thursday evening or Friday Morning.
When do you guys usually get there? Jim
what times did you run?
I knew someone was going to ask me that. I will tell you no matter if it does humiliate me.
I've got a stock D4TE motor with 4V. About 270 hp on a good day. 3.50 Tru-track and with Tremec TKO. Tires are 215R70X15 W/32 lbs air. Now the excuses.
First pass after having to drive thru the water box because they didn't leave room enough to drive around it.
Reaction Time = .475 sec
60 Ft.= 2.92 ( Spun tires ALL the way thru first gear)
1/8 mile ET=11.5 sec
1/4 mile ET= 17.5 sec @ 79.95 mph
Second pass, same water box.
Reaction time=.3199 sec
60 Ft.= 2.6 sec (tires spun a little at first then seemed to catch.
1/8 mile ET.= 10.88 sec
1/4 mile ET.= 17.72 sec @ 64.7 mph ( motor shut off when I shifted to 4th gear. and coasted to line without engine running. We think it ran out of fuel pump, ordered bigger pump.)
I know I need tires but plan on going down to 28lbs air and using a little less foot on launch. I've not got a power house to begin with and plan to have tires and motor for Bryan meet and Columbus next year. This year I'm bound and determined to just have fun with absolutely no predetermined expectations. JIM
Did you get my PM the other day about checking the fuel line and pickup? I would do as Ron said and upgrade to 3/8 line and fuel pickup.I would bet that the fuel pump is ok, but the line couldnt carry enough volume for that 390 with all the carb wide open, just my thoughts..
James,
When they restored the car they put a new fuel line on. It's just 5/16" though. If it happens again I'll change the line for sure. When I bought the new Edelbrock fuel pump I had them send the one with 3/8" fittings just in case it was the fuel line. It's too late to do anything about it now but it looks like it wouldn't be that hard to replace especially since it was done two years ago. They replaced all the brake lines at the same time. I'm just going to install the new fuel pump and weld the traction masters on it when they come. It had never ran out of fuel before.
I'm open for suggestions as to what might have happened to the car during that run. When I shifted into 4th gear the engine just quit. No backfire, no shudder, it just died. The first thing I thought was Oh s_ _ _, now I've broken my car. After a few seconds I lifted my foot off the gas and when I was about 1/2 way up off the gas pedal it started running again as if nothing had happened. No backfire, no shudder, nothing. I just let it coast to the turnoff and drove it back to the pits. It didn't act as if anything at all was wrong. It runs very smoothly. If it had been electrical or something with the distributor I'd have thought the cylinders would have loaded up with gas and backfired when it started running again. That' why I thought it ran out of gas. Anyone's opinion or anyone's experience with a simular situation. Jim
Jim:
How much fuel did you have in the tank? A full tank would make the fuel pump's job a little easier, and the weight would be good for traction. An electric pump near the tank is a common item on drag cars to help fuel delivery. With the perfomance level of your car, a stock type pump should be adequate. Your times are very close, that's good. Consistency is the name of the game in bracket racing. Also, you will not need a helmet. If you show up with an outdated helmet for your own protection, don't let the tech guy see it. If you have a helmet, it must be current. No one but the tech guy would check it, so wear it when racing and no one will know.
John
:burnout:
it doesnt matter 17, 10, or 25, seconds at the shoot out its all for the fun.
Like WV say's...its a good time no matter what time.I installed a small electric pump back in the early 80's just to deal with vapor lock.I would pursue this directly.If your driving the car to Columbus,forget about hook'n up (traction) as you'll hurt stuff.Wish I could be there but I'm heading to Brainered for the Muscle car meet.If you do break,WV will remind you that you do need your car for the shootout.LOL,he was kind enough to point that out to me last year after I broke.
WV 57,
You are absolutely right. It may end up being the slowest car out there but I'll guarranty it's the most enjoyed car out there. Spinning tires means the u-joint is holding. As far as the gas situation is concerned, a full tank of gas my be the best idea. When I went to Osceola I only had about 5 gallon of gas in it. And, with the slapper bars the car handled entirely different. I was used to the front end of the car coming up on launch and staying there until I went into second gear. With the slapper bars the car seemed to raise up off the ground in a level attitude. It was really weard. I'd never had that happen. Felt good though, felt real good. Jim
JIM, Do a search for a guy named Don Terrill he puts out a racing newsletter, lots of different contributors. Plenty of good advise and tips on every facet of the sport, from mental preparation to suspension set-ups. and everything in-between.
one thing I learned years ago when we were road racing was to not make too many changes between races, the more you made the harder it was to figure out which had a positive effect. Not all "improvements" were truly beneficial.
Sounds like you're having a great time and that's what its all about.
Noticed something really interesting at Bonneville Speed Week years ago. Guys in the same classes helping each other and even lending parts taken off their cars so the other guys could make their run. But even more incredible was that they overall weren't racing against each other but against records, either their own or the class record. A much healthier attitude and approach o'all. Sure there are some long established rivalries but its the only place in motorsports that I've seen rival teams on friendly basis and assist each other.
Zap- :unitedstates:
Funny thing about fuel lines size. Years ago (70's) the ol Ranchero was running 12:70's with a 390.
Good engine but mild. It had the orig 5/16 line half smashed against the frame from a previous
wreck. It would act up right after the finish line. Went to 3/8's fixed that. Later had 3/4" EMT.
It was overkill, but I knew it was big enough. :003: All this was with 2X4's. Honestly, I look back
and wonder if any of that was necessary. Covered all the bases though. We ran fuel pressure
guages always also.
Ron :004:
Oh, if thats the case, when you were accelerating hard, the pickup may have been uncovered momentarily, so when you let off, or it shut off for a minute, the gas moved back forward in the tank. Something else to think about.
Hey Shopratwoody,Did you ever think that all that fuel (ie) weight and mass,could be a detriment with flow on acceleration?
James,
You may be right about the pickup being uncovered. I deliberately left a small amount of gas in the tank to save weight. ( At 17 seconds, why bother ). Anyway, the specs say a stock fuel pump delivers 80 gph of fuel. If you break that down into 1/4 mile time that pump can deliver .377 gallons for every 17 seconds. Even if you restricted the flow to the pump by half, say 40 gph, that would still give you .188 gallons every 17 seconds. The average NASCAR engine fuel consumption is 4.5 mpg. If you break that down into 1/4 mile consumption that .0555 gallons every 1/4 mile. Common sense tells me the restriction in flow (fuel lines ) would be a lot more detrimental to fuel flow than the 80 gph pump. At that a 40 gph fuel pump would deliver 3.3 times the needed fuel for that 17 second run. Am I looking at this right? Jim
The fuel pumps are rated at free flow, that is, flow through the pump unimpeded into a bucket. Pumping into a carb with twin needle/seats for the floats, and into the engine to be burned will be significantly lower, but yes, the stock pump should be more than adequate at that level, even down to maybe 13-14 secs.
Quote from: F570RD on 2011-08-18 14:14
Hey Shopratwoody,Did you ever think that all that fuel (ie) weight and mass,could be a detriment with flow on acceleration?
Had BIG pumps :003:
I went out to the hanger this morning and installed the Edelbrock 110 gph fuel pump with 3/8" lines going to the carb. The Edelbrock fuel pump had the outlet directly underneath the power steering pump so the diaphram had to be disassembled and turned so the outlet would be straight out. THEN, the inlet was facing into the oil filter assembley. I had to use a 90 degree elbow fitting on the inlet side of the pump. So, gas going into the pump has to go through a 90 degree fitting. Why does this s _ _ _ always seem to happen to me. Tonight I'm going back out there and and figure something else out. I don't like it and it ain't going to stay that way. Jim PS I need a nap.
S---happening to you?...I thought I had a corner on that market. LOL...have a good nap...I'm headin' for mine.
90's aren't desirable :003:
I fixed the problem. It's better than what it was before I changed pumps. I have a straight shot into the pump now. Jim
awesome!