Messages

1

Matt Shaff's Engine Shop / Drawing oil pan interface SBC

« on: August 26, 2020, 11:52:19 AM »

I'm planing to build an oil pan for an SBC with stock GM block.
Does anyone have a drawing of the oil pan interface on the engine block?
Or know where I can fine one?

2

Front Engine Dragsters / Chute lever installation in FED

« on: July 20, 2018, 12:13:10 AM »

I need some inspiration of where to place the chute lever in my FED.
Do you have any pictures of how the installation looks in your cars?
Where is the lever placed, how is the cable fastens in the frame,what type of cable do you use?

3

Matt Shaff's Engine Shop / Push rods for a SBC

« on: May 20, 2018, 12:25:25 AM »

I have changed to shaft rockers and need to buy some new push rods.
Previous I was running 5/16" x 0.080" push rods with the stud mounted rockers without any noticeably problems.
Push rods are 6.50" long, cam is a mechanical roller with 0.735" lift and springs are 510 lbs.
Should I try to grind the heads for clearing 3/8" push rods or go with the smaller 5/16".
What do you run and have you noticed any improvements when going from 5/16" to 3/8"?

4

Roo Man's Room / Re: How much ballast needed on a 60's FED?

« on: September 10, 2017, 09:48:28 PM »

The rear end has a spool. The FED is all updated to the latest SFI spec. The "old" thing about the car is the engine placement that is way back. Shorty PG with coupler direct into the rear end.
I think we are quite good on backing the car up straight. I agree that it will make a big difference.
Roo. I agree that adding weight will not fix the real problem. I will try it next race and hopefully I can remove it later on.
When adjusting tire pressure to get the right traction and wheel speed. How small pressure adjustments will have impact? Is lowering pressure by 1 psi at the time a too big change?

Skickat från min GT-I9505 via Tapatalk

5

Roo Man's Room / How much ballast needed on a 60's FED?

« on: September 09, 2017, 04:13:41 AM »

Hi
I have an old 60s FED with 150" WB, motor 30.5" out and a total weight of about 1250 pounds without driver.
I'm having some trouble getting the car to launch straight and have now started to think of adding some weight to the front of the car.
I have added a weight of about 30 pounds to the front axle and I will try this next weekend.
But will I see any difference with this 30 pounds? Or do I need to add much more? What weight ration between front and rear axle should I aim for?

6

Roo Man's Room / Keep push bar or not?

« on: July 24, 2017, 02:09:36 PM »

Hi
My FED is supposed have been built 1966 and still have the old push bar in place.
I have always liked the look of the push bar in the back of a FED. But later I have started to think about if the push bar is making the FED less safe in case of a crash.
Are there any one else out there that has kept their push bar? Or is it recommended to remove them?

7

Roo Man's Room / Re: Recommended tube bender

« on: July 11, 2017, 12:42:09 PM »

Thanks for all the good advices.
Just one more question... 
Do I need a acetylene and oxygen gas welder or could I get away with a propane/butane (LPG) gas burner?

8

Roo Man's Room / Re: Recommended tube bender

« on: June 12, 2017, 12:01:47 PM »

It sounds like heat bending is the way to go.
I have never bent a tube with a gas torch before so every bit of tip or instruction of how to do this with a good result would be very much appreciated.
Would you bend the tube first then welding it to the frame. Or would you weld the first part of the tube to the frame then make the bend and after that weld the rest of the tube to the frame?

9

Roo Man's Room / Recommended tube bender

« on: June 11, 2017, 12:58:52 PM »

I'm going to change the lower lengthwise tubes in my front engine dragster chassis. There is a small radius and small angel bend on each tube where the engine plate is located.
Which tube bender can you recommend? I should be both affordable and high quality as always...
I have seen an old video from Mark Williams where they are building a RED. At some point in the video they use a gas welder to heat the rubes and bend them into position. It was a bend with small angel. Is this a method still used? How is the tubes like this treatment?

10

Matt Shaff's Engine Shop / Re: Setting push rod length

« on: April 20, 2017, 12:21:16 PM »

I will also need one push rod length on the intake and one on the exhaust. But the valves in my cylinder head doesn't have the same height above the cylinder head. This is due to that for some reason the valve seats are at different heights in the combustion chamber. The difference is not big, perhaps within 0.05", ( I haven't measured it that exactly yet).
But there are a difference and if I would do it 100% correct I would have a variation of the push rod length between all 8 intake valves.
Should I measure each intake push rod individual? Should I take an average of all the intake push rod lengths and use that length on all intake valves?

How does everybody else handle this variation? Or is it just my old cylinder heads that has this problem?

11

Matt Shaff's Engine Shop / Setting push rod length

« on: April 19, 2017, 12:00:43 PM »

I have changed intake rockers and has started to measure push rod length on my SBC according to the "half lift" theory. They recommend to sett the length within 0.01". I use Comp cams 5/16" Hi Tech push rods and they are available with 0.05" increments.
I also noticed that my valves sits at different heights in the cylinder heads.
So if I would to measure and set all 16 push rod lengths individually I would most likely end up with a whole lot of different lengths. I would also have to keep track of which push rod that belongs to which valve.
This is of course doable, but how exact does it has to be?
What are your "tolerances" when setting push rod lengths?

I'm looking forward for some tips from the gurus! 

12

Dan Dishon's Transmission Den / Re: Measure line pressure Powerglide

« on: December 24, 2016, 01:22:39 AM »

Is it possible to tap into the front/out side of the pump?
Where on the valve body is the most common place to tap for measuring the line pressure?

13

Dan Dishon's Transmission Den / Measure line pressure Powerglide

« on: December 23, 2016, 02:47:16 PM »

I'm thinking of getting a sensor for measuring line pressure in my Powerglide. I want to measure somewhere after the pump so that I can see the line pressure all the time regardless of which gear that is engaged.
Where is the best/most common place to connect the sensor?

14

Dan Dishon's Transmission Den / Re: Bolt together converter

« on: December 11, 2016, 06:25:56 AM »

That sounds very interesting!
I have been looking at regular converters from BTE and TSI and they are around $950.
The differances up to $1300 is about what my locla converter guy takes for opening a welded converter to clean and inspect it.

15

Dan Dishon's Transmission Den / Bolt together converter

« on: December 10, 2016, 06:59:40 AM »

What are your thoughts about bolt together converters? Are there any real benefits from them or are they just to expensive compared with the positive features they have?
Are there any bolt together 8" converters available?