Glenn's dragster thread

[GlennLever]

April 08, 2013, 06:22:29 PM

Well this was not all done today, but within the last week,
The engine was run and ran well

A complete update can be seen at this link
http://www.leverfamilysite.com/2010_Front_Engine_Dragster_Week_2013_04_13.htm



We had a coolant leak on the right head.


Took it apart


Put it back together


Made an improvement to the coolant system


Put together a list of items that need to be completed to go to the track on the 27th

[GlennLever]

April 13, 2013, 02:51:27 PM

I moved the FED from  the garage to the trailer today. One step closer to the track.

[GlennLever]

April 16, 2013, 07:34:57 AM

Bought 110 gallons of fuel today.

[GlennLever]

April 21, 2013, 09:29:28 AM

THIS WEEK AT EMPIRE DRAGWAY
04-21-13 7 am The forecast for today is Sunny and 50.  Test & Tune and Swap Meet is on. Gate opens at 10 am, Time trials from noon-5pm. Admission prices : $14 Race, $13 Watch or Swap.

Too cold for me, I will go down and pass out fliers, and wait till next weekend to take the dragster out for the first time.

[GlennLever]

April 27, 2013, 10:22:11 PM

Well I finally got down the track.

We were able to make three runs, the first one I had some tire shake and it broke the trans brake wire in two different places. I was unable to back up as I have a pro brake and to back up you have to put it in reverse and hold the trans-brake button. So after the burn out I just ran it down the track (no time slip).

The second run we tried to get rid of some of the engine proposing (rev up idle down) by leaning out the idle circuit. We went from the 70 pill to a 75 and dialed the idle circuit back by three notches. This did smooth out the idle, but the engine seemed to labor and after the burn out did not want to stay running. Ran a 8.290 at 155.95 three tenths faster than our best run and one MPH slower. Hottest EGT was 1095, the number two cylinder read 450, for some reason that cylinder has always been cold. 60 foot was 1.197. Air density was 1798

The third run we fattened it back up let it porpoise, it launched hard and straight and seem to run much better. Ran a 8.258 at 157 MPH. Other than the porpoise idle it idled fine, no problems with it running after the burnout. 60 foot was slower at 1.240. Air density was 1633

All testing was done with 43 bottom pulley and a 56 top (-23.2 under driven verses the 43 bottom 54 top we had talked about (did this because of your feeling that we would be to fast with the 43 / 54 combination))

Launch was at 4271 RPM the EGT on number two is crazy starts at 678 and at the end of the run is 280 and is not smooth at all (I’m thinking the sensor is bad)

Max boost at the top end was 10.32

So now we have to slow it down by .250 to run our 8.500 index.

Both the engine and the transmission ran MUCH cooler than without the blower.

All in all a good day

[GlennLever]

May 05, 2013, 03:36:51 PM

Went testing yesterday, here is a summery

Goals, smooth out the idle, get closer to the 8.500 index
We played around with the idle, but did not make much improvement on the idle
First run
Air Density 1973
Top Pulley 58  (went bigger here)
Pill 70
Fuel Pressure 81.98
Top end Boost 9.67
60 foot 1.263
¼ mile   8.548  154.42
Comments, for and 8.5 index this is close, it was a dude on the top end, EGT’s right side very low and uneven, feel so sloppy thought I would not be able to run it this slow for the season so made the decision to see if we could get to 8.00 instead of running 8.500 and if the motor couldn’t take it so be it.

Second Run
Air Density 2052
Top pulley 54 (more air, make it leaner)
Pill 70
Fuel Pressure 82.08
Top end Boost 11.30
60 foot 1.222
¼ mile 8.319 156.79
Comment, sounded strong, EGT’s were much more even right side lower than the left, felt like it was working, made the decision to run 8.500 for the rest of the season to save the motor.

Third Run
Air Density 2077
Top pulley 57
Pill 70
Fuel Pressure 79.43
Top end Boost 9.67
60 foot 1.260
¼ mile 8.459 154.85
Comment, sounded ok, want to go faster, but will resist. EGT’s right side over 100 degrees cooler than the left side.


Fourth Run
Air Density 2045
Top pulley 58 (less air)
Pill 75 (less fuel)
Fuel Pressure 76.24
Top end Boost 9.34
60 foot 1.237
¼ mile 8.455 154.47
Comment, sounded ok. EGT’s right side over 200 degrees cooler than the left side. Upper RPM curve is smooth on the graph.

Left head needs to come off and be sealed that same way we did the right after the first start up. It is leaking. New item on turnaround list, check valve cover bolts for tightness, ask me why.

All testing today was done without a shift light as it quit working, all shifts were within 100 RPM of 6300, most were less than 50 off.

Graph below is off the fourth run

[GlennLever]

Today at 03:37:08 PM

Well it seems like I was just here, only on the other side. I hope this is the last time this season I am pulling heads for coolant leaks

Once again there is no obvious leaks present





The trailer looks like a race trailer now, at lease the weather is good.



The offending head is on the work bench to be cleaned up and reinstalled

[GlennLever]

I was also in my trailer today, Steve was over. I got the head off, sealed the coolant leak up, head back on, valves set, and the NEW BLOWER on.

Looks like rain tomorrow, I think club racing will be rained out, and my swap meet is Saturday morning rain or shine, Saturday afternoon may be OK to see if it runs and does not leak. If it does Matt might finally get his wish and see the radiator, pump etc go away.,

[ricardo1967]

Glenn - That's a nice looking blower... say more please.

[GlennLever]

Glenn - That's a nice looking blower... say more please.

It is the new Littlefield.

What was on the engine was a modified retro high helix anodized stripped used blower that I picked up three years ago.

I finally put it on this past winter in the attempt to pick up 3 tenths so that I could run an 8.5 index.

I went to the gasser drivers meeting this April and they had inserted into the rules "standard roots blowers only". What they had done is copied out of the NHRA rule book heritage series rule book the wording on blowers, no realizing that NHRA had amending that rule specifically allowing high helix blowers. The rule makes no sense when you think about it because it is a index class.

So. I contacted them and than ordered this blower (they have now realized the mistake, but to late for me).

This is a "Standard 8-71" anodized stripped blower. As the blower is bagged I saw no reason to pay for the polished version. The bottom front half is completely open and the rear is a delta. the top hole is shorter and the case "raps" around the rotor much farther than the old style. The end plates have been strengthen. http://www.littlefieldblowers.com/products.shtml

Right now it is so tight you can hardly turn it over with your hands and a large pulley on the top.

I'll report on performance difference once it is broken in.

[GlennLever]

Just found this picture on another web site

[ricardo1967]

Cool stuff, thanks for the info Glenn.

[GlennLever]

Went testing Friday, and ran the gasser series race on Saturday; This is after fixing the leaking head gasket on the right side (this time) and bolting the brand new Littlefield standard 8/71 blower on. I first ran a tank of fuel through it to take some of the tightness out of the blower, it still has a ways to go to be broken in, I still have not gotten the shift light working. The bulb is ok, the connections seem Ok, I think the MSD RPM switch is broke. Here is a summery

Get closer to the 8.500 index

First run, Friday night 6:10 PM
Air Density 1640
Top Pulley 58
Pill 75
Fuel Pressure 82.11
Top end Boost 10.13
Sift to second gear 6479
60 foot 1.316
¼ mile   8.698  155.68
Comments, This is the first run with the new blower. This is slower than with the old carb. setup, need to do some work here.

Second Run, Friday night 7:08 PM
Air Density 1512
Top Pulley 54
Pill 75
Fuel Pressure 79.62
Top end Boost  11.94
Sift to second gear 6407
60 foot 1.226
¼ mile   8.254  158.89
Comments, Pumped more air into the engine, leaned it out. This is really unusually good air. This was a very smooth run, when I got out at the top end I thought I had run a slower run than the last one. Engine really liked this set up, but it is too fast for the 8.5 we are looking for.

Third Run, Friday night 8:04 PM
Air Density 1529
Top pulley 56
Pill 75
Fuel Pressure 80.27
Top end Boost 10.65
Sift to second gear 6481
60 foot 1.253
¼ mile 8.469 157.42
Comment, Good comparison run  (air quality). Took a little air away (fattened up a little to make it go slower. Still too fast. Engine struggled a little to get to the shift point. Really pulled hard after the shift. Accelerometer went from .57 to 1.14


Fourth Run, Friday night 9:04 PM
Air Density 1119
Top pulley 57
Pill 80
Fuel Pressure 77.42
Top end Boost 10.65
Sift to second gear 6494
60 foot 1.248
¼ mile 8.483 157.42
Comment, Air quality jumped up. Took a little air away (fattened up a little to make it go slower), took some fuel away to try and keep the air fuel ratio close. Still just a touch to fast, but close. Engine did not like this, felt rough.

Ok, now Saturday, Gasser series racing, You have to remember I have only been running the dragster three years now and each year I have made significant changes to the engine so data from one year is not good for data for the next year (don’t laugh).
Gasser series is 1/8 mile ET racing, so I have no ¼ mile times (so for comparison a ¼ mile 8.483 is an 1/8 mile 5.427)

First round of qualifying, Saturday 1:44 PM
Air Density 1896
Top pulley 57
Pill 80
Fuel Pressure 74.19
Top end Boost 10.84
Sift to second gear 6568
60 foot 1.270
1/8 mile 5.301 134.87
Comment, Air quality is closer to normal for around here. Decided to make no changes between last run last night and this run. Track prep may not have been as good and I had some wheel spin of the line. There was a sharp peak in engine RPM right before the shift to second, in .05 seconds the engine RPM jumped 156 RPM. The air would have had the effect of fattening it up. Ran to fast for a ¼ mile 8.5

Second round of qualifying, Saturday 2:49 PM
Air Density 2007
Top pulley 59
Pill 85
Fuel Pressure 66.36
Top end Boost 9.02
Sift to second gear 6487
60 foot 1.277
1/8 mile 5.364 132.27
Comment, Air quality still falling. Took some more fuel and air away. Still too fast, but going in the right direction. Felt pretty good.

Third round of qualifying, Saturday 4:15 PM
Air Density 2262
Top pulley 60
Pill 90
Fuel Pressure 57.83
Top end Boost 8.43
Sift to second gear 6434
60 foot 1.283
1/8 mile 5.368 134.42
Comment, Air quality still falling. Took some more fuel and air away. Fuel pressure as well as boost is falling off pretty good now. Still too fast, but going in the right direction. Felt pretty good.

Ok, now we are into the first round of elimination so we decided not to play with it and see if we could predict an ET.
First round of eliminations, Saturday 6:10 PM
Air Density 2270
Top pulley 60
Pill 90
Fuel Pressure 59.59
Top end Boost 9.09
Sift to second gear 6200
60 foot 1.276
1/8 mile 5.378 131.88
Comment, I short shifted by 200 RPM so my ET was down. I treed the guy though so won the race by .1144 seconds.

Second round of eliminations, Saturday 7:34 PM
Air Density 1842
Top pulley 60
Pill 90
Fuel Pressure 64.85
Top end Boost 8.76
Sift to second gear 6343
60 foot 1.274
1/8 mile 5.391 132.15
Comment, Air got better. We were concussed by this run, it was almost identical in shift points, launch, etc as the last run but lost .020 on the run. It finally dawned on us that the blower was still new and still losing up. Over laid the two run graphs and low and behold boost at the shift on run 4 was 8.05 and on the last run 7.91. In almost all other respects the graphs from the two runs over laid themselves. I treed the guy again but it was not enough to overcome his dial in of 6.22 when he ran a 6.221. I lost by .0197 seconds.
Not a bad outing for my first race with a blower and mechanical fuel injection, I’m happy, cannot wait till the next outing. I can’t go this weekend as my better half, crew chief will be out of town.

[GlennLever]

So after 40 days and 40 nights of rain and cold weather it looks like we might get to go to the track tomorrow. The dragster has been wanting to quit running at the top end of the track (fuel running away from the  pick up) so I have been wanting to install a primer system



I purchased a "Kit" that used Enderle's billet tank through AlkyDigger



To do what I want which is a little out of the box I had to purchase some additional stuff



So this install made me really nervous as it just seemed to fall together, normally you have to fight and fit things many times but this just seemed to go together. The return from the "K" valve was just the right height of the bottom of the belly pan



I removed the two plugs from the side of the primer tank and two -8 fittings screwed right in, I removed the straight 1/8 NPT to -4 fitting out of the bottom and installed a 1/8 NPT 90 -4 fitting on the bottom. On the -8 fitting I installed a -8 coupler.



So the tank is just the right height so that the bottom fitting just sits on the belly pan, the -8 return on the tank is just the right distance from the side of the chassis and bottom of the belly pan. The wiring from the old electric fuel pump was in just the right location to connect the primmer pump. With it plumbed into the return line from the "K" valve the tank will always be full once started for the first time on a race day. That just makes one less thing that needs to be done in the pit.



I replaced the old fuel pump toggle switch with the rubber capped momentary on starter button ordered from Summit, and now at a push of a button I get a nice squirt of alcohol into the rear most port of the hat on top of the blower. I had used the rear ports in the blower for my rear two injectors. We will try it out tomorrow.

[GlennLever]

Well it has been awhile since I actually posted anything on the dragster.

Well it has been raining, raining, raining, and more rain.

I did get out two weeks ago and really hope to get out again tomorrow to do some more testing, but it looks like rain.

It is really important to get out tomorrow as I want to go to Norwalk the 20th for an NDRL race. The problem is that, one it is an index race and I have not gotten that squared away, two it is a pro tree and have had no practice on a pro tree, I may go anyway to get away from this RAIN (and yes I am tempted to use a forbidden word here), and three it is ¼ mile and lately for one reason or another it seems all my racing has been 1/8 mile, I hate 1/8 mile.

Went club racing Friday June 21 club racing 1/8 mile. Here is a summery

First run, Friday night 8:23 PM
Air Density 2200
Top Pulley 60
Pill 90
Fuel Pressure 60.38
Top end Boost 9.02
60 foot 1.316
Calculated ¼ mile   8.443
A/F ratio 3.808
Comments, I did not write down the pulley size and pill so this was done from memory, data is questinable.

Second Run, Friday night 9:22 PM
Air Density 1810
Top Pulley 62
Pill 90
Fuel Pressure 59.82
Top end Boost  8.31
60 foot 1.303
Calculated ¼ mile   8.586
A/F ratio 3.810 
Comments, This is really unusually good air. Took away some air, but the density go better the end result was little change

Third Run, Friday night 10:15 PM
Comment, I had to throw this run out (won the race), dew had fallen and after the 1/8 mile marker I had to get out of it as it got really squirrely (rear tires started to spin in the dew on the track). Data was all screwed up and graph was useless.



Ok, now Saturday, Gasser series racing, June 22.
Gasser series is 1/8 mile ET racing, so I have no ¼ mile times (so for comparison a ¼ mile 8.483 is a 1/8 mile 5.427). We only had two time trails as there was a bad accident that shut the track down for awhile, the guy is ok?, but will be in the hospital for awhile.

First round of qualifying, Saturday 3:07 PM
Air Density 3079
Top pulley 62
Pill 95
Fuel Pressure 51.61
Top end Boost 7.53
60 foot 1.312
Cal 1/4 mile 8.702
AF Ratio 3.688
Comment, Felt terrible, to slow for the 8.5, fuel out the pipes, need to make big changes

Second round of qualifying, Saturday 4:35 PM
Air Density 3249
Top pulley 60
Pill 105
Fuel Pressure 52.06
Top end Boost 8.31
60 foot 1.265
Cal 1/4 mile 8.392
AF Ratio 4.074
Comment, Much more like it, but now too fast. This run was against my arched nemesis (a good friend who in the second round of eliminations I give the race away to by breaking out and red lighting). I had my best light ever a .508 and beat his ET by .1865, now if only I could do that in a race.

Ok, now we are into the first round of elimination so we decided not to play with it and see if we could predict an ET.
First round of eliminations, Saturday 6:13 PM
Air Density 3100
Top pulley 60
Pill 105
Fuel Pressure 50.99
Top end Boost 8.24
60 foot 1.247
Cal 1/4 mile 8.410
A/F Ratio 4.072
Comment, Treed him and won by .0281.

Second round of eliminations, Saturday 7:41 PM
Air Density 2858
Top pulley 60
Pill 105
Fuel Pressure 53.28
Top end Boost 8.31
60 foot 1.241
Cal 1/4 mile 8.355
AF Ratio 4.110

Comments. This guy and I end up racing each other a lot as are ETs are always close. We have yet to have a race, we each keep giving the race to the other one, this time I red lite and broke out. The dragster sounded good and felt good, it likes this air fuel ratio better, but once again I am too fast for the 8.5 index.

Serious consideration is being given to going in the other direction (8.000 index). The problem boils down to engine RPM. I am concerned that this engine will not last if I push the RPM higher, currently turning 6400s at the top end. This is a stroked Pontiac 400 punched and stroked out to 461. A simple fix would be to put a higher tire on the rear. I am currently running a 31X13X15 M/T. by going to a 32 high tire I increase the circumference by 3.96 percent (drop the top end RPM by 253)(circumference 97.0 to 101). No one makes a 32X13X15 tire Hoosier has a 13.5X13.5X15 in a lightweight C07 compound, but the side wall will not clear and I cannot space it out as the tire rim combo I have now is spaced out, so I would have to buy rims also. Hoosier also makes a 32.0X13.0X15 in a D05 compound which is a soft compound and one of the problems is I have low HP and based on the graphs I am dead hooking now. M/T makes a 33X10.5X15 tire with a M3 compound (medium). This tire is interesting in that the compound is a little harder, the with is smaller so it might help with the launch, but I afraid that I do not have the HP to turn a 2 inch taller tire.  INPUT REQUESTED

Tuning, it I stay with the 8.5 I think I want to try a 110 pill and adjust pulleys to get an A/F ratio of 4.1. By taking away more fuel and keeping the A/F ratio about the same I should take away HP and slow it down a little more. Sure would like to go to the 8.000, but have the RPM  / tire problem.