Somewhere I had a pic of my rail in the pickup before I built the trailer but cant find it now. There used to be some on the net too. Even with the six carb set up. Doesn't matter anyway. I liked the rear engine deal. Enjoy the pics of everything. thanks don
At our May race I had my bolts come loose in the converter when the car was warming up. I never had the trouble before and was lucky as we got it shut of before any damage was done. I burnt the back of my hands tightening them but have added that now to my list of pre race checks. It is always those little things that you don't suspect that bite you. Usually at the most inappropriate time too. Anyway Congrats on making to the Semis. Next time all should be well! don
I shot this video at Picton Airfield. It is out of focus because I inadvertently had it on close up. Unfortunately it appears to be the only video of Mikes shakedown run that day so I uploaded it anyway. You can hear the early hemi a 331 nicely. Mike wanted it as it was in the 60s so even the cam is period correct and very mild by todays standards. Despite that after his shakedown run Mike Put experienced FED pilot Pat Doornbos in the car. On Pat's final pass of the day he turned the old hemi loose and told me it hit 6100rpm in the eyes. So if you do the math 355 rear gears , 28 inch tire and 4 % converter slip that is pretty impressive. Again I apologise for messing up the video. BTW the other car is a Small block chev powered gasser and this was its very first pass. don <div style="width:480px;text-align:right;"><embed width="480" height="360" src="
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I should mention this car is not a piece of crap. It is a pretty decent piece. The low price simply reflects in our area there is a big move back to door cars and there is simply no market for REDs right here as there are several for sale. I even considered picking it up at that price just to flip because it is a steal however MRS D would shoot me if I bring one more project to the place. don
I heard today the old What a Ride RED is for sale. The car was for many years a regular at Shannonville, Luskville and Cayuga. It is a moly car and if memory serves me is an old Swindol car. it still has its 57 olds rear (Mark Williams axles but old coarse spline and no spool.) I used to supply the power plant (flat tappet single 4BBl 454 Chevy) for this car in the 1990s and it was the first local car in the 8s at Shannonville. Later Wayne Stewart bought it as a roller and supplied his own power plant. Wayne has returned to his first love , door cars and has put the REd up as a roller. Asking is only $2000. As I recall it is still in decent condition so that is a steal. Wayne lives in Demorestville, Prince Edward County Ontario Canada, a town with almost one race car per capita. Just a heads up in case someone is looking for a good vintage RED. This car was originally run in our area by racer Paul Ruttan. don
Yesterday I took the pistons I am going to use on one of the engines I want to use in the VW. I had to retool the pin holes to fit the slant six pins so brought them close with an adjustable reamer then went to a friends automotive machine shop and used his Sunnen hone to finish the fit. Rods are now hung on the pistons. Today , if all goes well I will get the block ready for its .100" overbore. This is a test engine for this combo and so I will be building what I call a Dixie cup motor which I often do when experimenting with a new idea. Minimal expense just to test the idea. If it turns out good then a serious version (forged pistons etc) will be built. Over the years though and surpisingly we have never lost even one of our Dixie cup experimentals. Still it has proven to be a good method for flogging ideas. For example expense so far in $ including the motor and used pistons is $0. I have a stack of custom made cams for the /6 so I will pick one of them that I liked .I have a head with big valves and porting I ran for six ears so will check it over and use it. it has springs and all and is good to go after a quick check . I have three intakes to choose from and a spare set of headers that will fit in the VW. I am hoping for about 280 HP from 230+ cubes don
You are so right Glenn. I just poke along and it is getting done. As of today I have working steering. I limited the amount so I wont wind up on the roof in a jam. I may rework the drag link as I am not totally pleased with it but will take the weekend to mull it over and see what I decide. However it steers. The current plan is to finish all the front end stuff including making the lock nuts , finish cleaning up the axle assembly, then paint it and put it all back into the chassis for the last time. In the back of my mind I am mulling over the engine deal. should I build another Killer, should I use the low mileage 225 I have here with my passive supercharging setup (GM engineering experiment from 1962) or find a GN Buick turbo set up from the early GN days and make it really cook still using a carb and traditional stuff. Should be able to make some serious umgh with that set up seeing as how both the Buick V6 and the slant six were the same cubic inches back in the 60s and close today so the Turbo deal wouldn't know the difference. Have played with Turbos on Slant six before. Back in the day. A 170 cuber and a Corvair Spyder turbo. Worked very good even though it was a very mild setup. Here is a photo of its first pass back in the 70s.
When I built my car I used a commercial Gas pedal assembly. A MR Gasket one. Never liked it as it is very stiff at the start making staging always a challenge at best. After a week floating down the Danube and day dreaming I decided to attack that when I got home. First plan was to see if I could rework the Mr Gasket one . After about a hour of trying I came up with a little bolt on device that essentially cures the problem and allows for smooth throttle operation from idle to full. Tomorrow I will finalize it and report back. Sometimes a restful week can be a great benefit to your racing plan. Perhaps the farther away the better. Who'd a thunk it? don
For $9.99 I bought a cheap video camera from Excess Cargo. My good one was always messing up, turning off automatically and I couldn't tell in the sunlight if it was on or not. The cheapie will run two hours straight so I turn it on in the pits and leave it. Since at the Airfield they run a hot lane for us it never needs more then about 5 minutes or so. The only usable in car video I ever got was with it. I made a small bracket for it and tape it to the roll cage. Very hard for me anyway to run the car and the camera otherwise. Here is the camera don
Mine cost $450 Canadian $ including tires. I cut one normal fender in half to get the narrow ones so the car could sneak up between them . It took a week to build. Doesn't need ramps per say (Just a block of wood to split the rise at the back), tows well I can and always do load the car myself and I don't half to unhook it , just raise the jack to load and unload. I am tickled pink with it. don
Have a great day. I feel your angst all the way up here. I don't know about you but I am always nervous about the first time out. Either with a whole car or with a new cam or manifold like I was with this. Stomach is on knots as I drive to the track. In fact sometimes I feel like going back home. However once I am there I settle down. Sometimes I make only one run at first then go home and think about it. I am able to think stuff through better at home then try and sort it out at the track with 50 experts who drove there in Passats and Camrys offering unsolicited advice. This video was the second time out for the new manifold and headers. Obviously we were on track and once the burble is dealt with it is certainly going to be good. I hope all goes well for you this weekend. Safety first of course and then a good strong first pass. I am anxious to see how you make out. don
Video taken by my friend Steve with his phone. You can hear the engine burble as it runs the bowls dry just before the 1 2 shift. Luckily it recovered and ran strong the rest of the way. I didn't push the converter stall on this run as I was preoccupied with the tunnel ram testing. It is getting harder to remember what to do every year. I believe I have now cured the fuel delivery starvation in first gear. I may talk my friend Pat into running it for me. don
Well, I built this last year for my Fed. It will handle a longer one or could be built that way easily. It is built from 2x4 1/8th mild steel rectangular tubing. Axle is a modified K car unit. Wheels are from the wreckers and tires are proper trailer tire with load rating easily exceeding the weight it carries. This trailer was built to mate with my 63 dodge MW street car and makes a bit of a stir when I show up towing the dragster. Why an open trailer? Because as a kid I remember how exciting seeing a "REAL RACE CAR" was. An enclosed could house anything but No one can enjoy it. I park it inside when not in use with the rail parked on it. With an enclosed trailer there is no visual effect. don
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