Messages

1

Your Builds / Photo Gallery / Re: Overseas new members ride

« on: April 17, 2020, 04:10:40 AM »

Brendan also told me he was glad he was wearing his open face helmet with glass goggles as a full face helmet would have melted the Lexan.  That was the biggest F.E.D. fireball I've ever seen.  I believe the cam drive in the Chevy failed. 

I have noticed that some of the pro drivers appear to be wearing some form of woven thin glove (assume Nomex) under their A-20 glover.  Anyone know what they are and where to get them?

Steve,
        I wore kevlar gloves under the -20 stuff. Easy to find and generally under $10 pair

Roo

2

Roo Man's Room / Re: cable thru chassis

« on: April 07, 2020, 04:03:37 AM »

I usually run two cables from the shut off switch--one to the back of the car as required by the rules and another to the cockpit so that the driver can shut off the electrics there as well.

Roo

3

Roo Man's Room / Re: cable thru chassis

« on: April 06, 2020, 05:49:07 AM »

With a doubler or tube welded for cable entry/exit it will still certify.

Roo

4

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: Finally taking the digger out on Sunday

« on: March 18, 2020, 01:39:00 PM »

It is fairly simple--when you stage the wall is a certain distance from one side of the car and the centerline is a certain distance from the other side--keep those distances the same and you will go in a straight line. You don't need to be looking sideways to do that, just paying attention to the relative distances from any part of the car that is in your field of vision.

Roo

5

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: Crowerglides

« on: February 12, 2020, 02:43:09 PM »

Is it an older six lever clutch? If so, you may need higher amounts of weight as suggested. If you want small increments use AN washers--they come in .030 and .060 thickness. Also try half nuts vs full nuts or longer bolts as ways to change weight.
  Get yourself a gram scale and quantify what you have available to change counterweight. A compartmentalized fishing tackle style box is a good way to keep all of your parts organized.  Also keep a book with details of what you try.
  If you have a crew member video your runs (a very good idea) a "slip" stripe on the tire is also a good plan, especially if you don't have a data logger. When it does spin the tire how quickly and how much the stripe blurs will also give you valuable information as to what is happening and when.

Roo

6

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: Crowerglides

« on: February 11, 2020, 05:15:46 AM »

   How much counterweight are you running? --how close is it to spinning the tires (hard) ?  How well prepared is the track?   Is it running close to its potential--horsepower/weight etc ?
   Basically---if you have more power than the track can handle you need to slip the clutch more --if you don't have enough power you need to slip the clutch more to keep from pulling the motor down.  If you have plenty of traction and power you need to add counterweight until the wheel speed gets too high--aka tire smoke.

Roo

7

Roo Man's Room / Re: Towing with a strap

« on: January 28, 2020, 04:51:15 AM »

Where the strap is hooked up should not affect the steering although I am not a big fan of the deal that puts tow loops on the spindle caps. I do the same as Frenchtown on my cars. The 5/8" tow pin is the NHRA standard for TAD and T/F so any of the safety vehicles at a track sanctioned by them should have that capability.

Roo

8

Wanted to buy / Re: WTB small oil tank

« on: January 14, 2020, 04:12:21 AM »

sandhopper,
                 I managed to find the tank that I have. It was built for Mark Vaught's first car and became redundant when I built his current ride. It measures 22.5" long  (including the mount and outlet)  and is 7.5" wide. It has a swirl pot to reduce aeration of the returned oil and also has a built in heater element. It holds about 3 gallons in the main body. PM me your cell number and I will send you a couple of photos.

Roo

9

Wanted to buy / Re: WTB small oil tank

« on: January 10, 2020, 01:42:47 PM »

I may have something that would work for you. Let me check this weekend.

Roo

10

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: Potential FED Build

« on: December 30, 2019, 04:35:01 AM »

I have a Pro Tools bender which is just a clone of the JD2 and it sometimes has problems with 1.5" x .058" with a 6" CLR die. I either use .065" and splice it to the .058" with the sleeve in the front cage hoop area or I go to Force's shop and bend it on their $100K mandrel bender (which obviously is not an option for you  )

Roo

11

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: Potential FED Build

« on: December 28, 2019, 05:26:09 AM »

Apart from the other reasons noted above, the biggest advantage in using 4130 is that by using .058 wall for the main frame rails you can slip fit decreasing diameter tubes to step the rails down from 1.5" at the shoulder hoop to 1.375" in the engine bay and then 1.25" for the front of the frame.

Roo

12

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: Gear oil and tranny/rear end support

« on: November 12, 2019, 04:34:27 AM »

A lot of Super Comp style cars run what I think your mates are talking about. It is generally a couple of heim jointed links that run from a mount on the pinion support to a similar device on the back of a shorty powerglide. It does not affect the chassis rigidity but it does take some of the longitudinal axis load off the mid plate at the step. I have also seen cars with a more rigid arrangement , generally a couple of tubes from mounts on the upper frame rails to brackets attached to the upper bellhousing bolts.

Roo

13

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: Power+weight+time.

« on: October 07, 2019, 05:05:46 AM »

Not my car, it is the car that got me pointed me in the right direction and buying my own. It belonged to one of the brothers that I currently drive for. Sorry Picture quality is not real great.

Rat, is that the same Colthrups that have been around the QLD drag race scene for years?

Roo

14

Roo Man's Room / Re: Wheelie Bars

« on: September 10, 2019, 03:36:44 AM »

I am thinking I should change mine it’s a really long bar 7’ long made from 1” .058

Does it do the job? If so I can't see a reason to change it.

Roo

15

Roo Man's Room / Re: Wheelie Bars

« on: September 09, 2019, 01:43:25 PM »

None of my recent customers have had clutch cars apart from the dragster that I am getting ready to ship to New Zealand and it has my standard package. I am also building a fuel altered that has a clutch but I am planning to put the same bar on it as I normally use.

Roo