Messages

526

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: front tires

« on: August 12, 2014, 12:30:15 PM »

Yes, I recommend 3.00x21 Avon SpeedMaster rib tires.
I have built a couple sets of 21" dragster wire spoke wheels, and the Avons look right, and are the lightest of the 21's.
The racers that run my 21" are very happy with the way they and feel, steer at speed, like 190+ mph ranges.
One of my customers had the NHRA Tech dept question the 21" application, but after I brought a 21" wheel to the NHRA office for them to inspect, they said no problem to run in Comp Elim.  BTW, the 21" wheels with the Avons are 27" tall, give the racers more roll-out than the more common 17" wheels/tires, there by giving them a head start on the lights.

Jon, Hayden Wheels

527

Spud Miller's Cave / Re: Slow Reaction Time down with no Electronics?

« on: August 11, 2014, 09:02:29 PM »

Jr Fuel racers that race the Heritage .40 ProTree and race Comp Elim on a .50 Full Tree need to slow the car down by a tenth. It's too tuff to get the driver to slow-up by a tenth, consistantly . So we use a trick transbrake selonoid with a selection of different valves and springs to switch between .4 Pro tree and .50 full tree, from Rossler.  We just keep changing them for the best RT for the driver/car combo/ track.  We also use a very long Biondo transbrake switch and use it for fine tuning.  For our Div 7 race in Sonoma, we had the TB switch sleeve off.
Good Luck
Jon, Hayden Wheels, and Hammer/Hansen/Hook/Ramay JrFuel "B" and B/ND

528

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: front tires

« on: August 10, 2014, 02:52:29 AM »

Don, what size M/C racing tires is your friend getting, using ? Most 17" M/C front tires are 120/70, or 120/60x17, which are 4.6" wide, and should be mounted on 3.50 or 3.75" wide wheels. Big show [NHRA] TF tires are 3.4" wide, so 4.6" is BIG.  I think a 4.6" wide tire on a dragster will slow the dragster down, too much rolling resistance. But I guess Free is Free
Is your friend mounting the used M/C race tires on the most common 1.4" wide wire spoke rims ?  What does he do to get those 4 1/2" wide tires on 1.4" rims ? I have a real hard time getting any 17" front runners to fully bead-up on 1.4" wide rims, so it sounds like 4 1/2" tire would be impossible to bead up.
Plus the highest speed rated motorcycle tire I've seen is 174mph, that's sustained speed, not 1/4 mile. They speed rate test tires because at sustained speed tires get hot from flexing and if the tires are not designed to handle that much heat, they come apart.
I've seen some M/C manufacturing tire testing labs where I've seen parts of tires stuck in the ceiling. 

Good Hunting,
Jon

529

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: Helpful advice for first timer?

« on: August 07, 2014, 11:52:48 AM »

Yes, the heat-up your helmet is a good idea, it is what I did when racing at night in Wisconsin. The point is to have the helmet shield close to your body temp. Sometimes I just took the shield off the helmet and put it under my suit next to my body.
NOW about going into neutral during a run, you may need a better shifter that has a lock-out to prevent going into neutral OR reverse.
We had a trans linkage issue last year, when our driver shifted into high gear, it went into neutral, motor went to 12,000 rpm, broke the block, some pistons, some rods, one head and some lifters. A high RPM rev limiter will not catch a fast reving motor unloaded. That will be about $13k to replace. Fix your shifter so you don't ruin your fun before you really get started.     

Jon Hansen, Hayden Wheels and Hammer-Hansen-Hook-Ramay JrFuel

530

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: Helpful advice for first timer?

« on: August 06, 2014, 01:28:14 PM »

I agree with taking it easy, and comfortable. My 1'st time driving a FED in 1963 [ before RED] I had some visual experiences. You see your brain is your computer, your eyes are lens, and your ears are microphones. So what happens is your brain is not used to  [ programing] for taking in all that data so fast. Each pass you'll feel more comfortable as you brain gets reprogramed, plus the affects of adrinalin [sp?]

Some racers I know had fogging problems until they installed a helmet breath guard, from a motorcycle/ snowmobile shop. It keeps your hot breath off your shield.  Check the M/C snow shop for anti fogging stuff. When I was driving at night I would put my goggles under my shirt before putting on my helmet so the goggles were the same temp as my face, ala no fogging. Of course that when open face helmets were legal.

The best would be to go to a Frank Hawly driving school, and they have you take it in steps, launch 1'st 2'nd 330', 3'rd 1/2 track, etc.
I always practiced each step of a run, sitting in the car, to program my actions/ reactions, so I did each step automatic.  Don't worry about the blower visual issue, you'll drive it looking down the track just keeping the car in the center of the track. My worst visual was my dual engine BBC Top Gas Dragster, were I sat low enough behind the motors so my line of site was in the middle of the blowers.
 A 6 foot tall person could stand at my front axle and I could not see any part of him. But then again nobody should be standing there before I make a pass.

I hope this all helps !   

Jon Hansen, Hayden Wheels

531

Matt Shaff's Engine Shop / Re: Aluminum rod lifespan.

« on: August 04, 2014, 12:19:59 AM »

I replace my MGP rods after 70-75 full runs in my 9500 to 10,000 rpm 16:1 compression, all iron SBC alky JF motor. But if I have 60 runs on them by the end of season, when I have the off season to freshen it up, then of course I replace them. I have sold some of my 60 run rods to racers that only run 7500 rpm, and they have used them up to 120 runs, counting my 60.
Count your runs and call the rod manufacture with your engine combo, bore, stroke, RPM range, fuel type, blower, no blower, etc.
I guess you could use the "replace at end of season" plan if you are lucky to race 70+ hard runs in a season.

Jon Hansen, Jrfuel, Hayden Wheels, and JrFuelDragsterAssociation

532

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: Engine oil recycle / Tire recommedation

« on: July 28, 2014, 05:29:19 PM »

We run an inline oil filter. If we suspect any problem, it's real easy to check the filter for metal.

I like Borrani's also, I have 17",18", 19" Borrani rims in stock.
On our JrFueler, I run 18" Borrani wheels with short side wall, 2.00x18, Bridgestone M/C racing tires.
The 2.00x18 tires are the same Dia as 2.50x17 , and they weigh only 8 lbs per wheel and tire, and with ceramic bearings have very low rotating weight, ala less HP to get and keep them spinning.

Any idea how old the 3.00x19 Avon's are ?  You should be able to check the sidewalls for the week and year they were manufactured.
IE. 0807 = 8'th week of 2007.  I'm interested in buying some from your supplier. jchansen60@gmail.com

Jon Hansen   

533

Altereds / Re: Dry block

« on: July 27, 2014, 11:12:41 PM »

Curly, are you running a radiator because you burn gas, or drive your racecar back from the track to your pit ?
If you are burning alky, your car will run faster if your motor is hot, 180° to 200° if you still run water, or 150-170° if dry.
If you are running fuel injection, lean your barrel valve to build more heat.
I run water just in my iron heads and iron block in my alky JFueler [ no pump or radiator] , running 7.00's @188 mph with 16;1 compression with no head gasket issues since I started running Cometic 3 pc gaskets.
If you are not sure if your motor is running too hot, next time you pull your heads off, look for black spots on your cylinder walls, if you have black marks, that is where is was red at onetime.

Good Luck, have Fun !
Jon

534

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: Battery cable size/ ISP lateral head supports.

« on: July 27, 2014, 08:22:12 PM »

We use the ISP head supports since NHRA made a rule about it, as far as I know they cover them with Nomex.

We use #2 wire on the racecar and in my remote battery pack, we don't want batteries to start the car in the car because we work hard to make weight. 3.5 lbs per CI in our 16+ to one compression all iron SBC on alky JrFuel dragster that weighs 1430 lbs with driver. The only battery we have in the car is a 15amp, 1 pound battery to run the trans brake and the RacePak. We just plug in the 24volt battery pack, start the car and put the 10 lb 24 volt battery pack back in the tow truck.
Now if weight is not an issue in your class/ bracket and if you need extra weight on your nose so your car goes straight, you could replace your lead weight with your batteries, just use the # 1 wire. 

Jon Hansen, Hayden Wheels

535

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: Engine oil recycle / Tire recommedation

« on: July 27, 2014, 08:04:54 PM »

Sidewinder, Here is my 2 cents on oil, and front tires ;
1'st of all I run my oil for the entire event, change it when we get home. We raced our JrFuel last week end in B/ND racing Comp at the  Div 7 race in Sonoma Calif. We ran it 6 runs, 4 qualifying, and 2 elims. I guess I could re-used it but I've been dragracing dragsters since 1962, and have never re-used the oil. I don't know what kind and weight oil you use, but we use Motul 6100 10w-40, it's a synthetic blend. I have been told you don't want to run a full synthetic oil in an alky burning race engine, because synthetic oil and alky fuel are ester based products, so you will get too much dilution. The Motul has extra additives so unless I'm way rich, we don;t see any alky in the oil, [no baby puke]. Another team I help, drains their oil after each event also, and run the drain oil in their truck.
I know of a TAFC that uses a converter [ no clutch] and in order to get the idle low enough they run it very rich, they have to do that because the throttle plates can get stuck when adjusted that closed. So they cook their oil after every run to cook off the alky.
If you are running 50-60w oil you may want to set your clearances tighter and start using 10-40 oil. It takes power to push that heavy oil thru your motor. I only advise 50w oil if you are running nitro, mostly because you run larger quanity of fuel.
BTW, we have won 3 NHRA JrFuel Heritage Championships with my 10,000 SBC, and only broke one motor because of a bad trans, when the motor went to 11,500 rpm.

OK, now about skinny front tires, as far as I know Avon, or anyone else no longer makes a 2.75 or 3.00x19 rib tire. You no doubt want to replace your Avon's because they are cracking from age, and they might have stopped making that tire over 10 years ago. What I would recommend is sending me your 19" wheels and I can change them to 18" rims, then you could use new 2.50x18 rib tires. Ya I know the 18" will be a little shorter at 23" to 23.5" but you will be able to replace those tires. Plus it looks like, looking at your picture you can lower your front end and not have any clearance issues.

Feel free to call me with any questions, 800-624-3803, Hayden wheels,
Jon Hansen     

536

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: front tires

« on: July 26, 2014, 10:33:10 AM »

Here is a couple of tips on front tires; Always use valve stem caps, I prefer metal, because at speed the valve can push in because of centrifical force and let the air out. I've seen that on  NE-1 and NF/D dragsters. Also of interest is the big show dragsters run up to 80# of air pressure because the front wings put over 10,000 lbs of down pressure. I installed a new pair of GY front runners on a NTF car at the March Meet this year because one of them was coming apart, and he was only at 40 # of pressure, and his wing was putting enough pressure on the tires to build heat.

Be Safe,
Jon

537

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: front tires

« on: July 26, 2014, 09:17:37 AM »

Either the front slick, called front runners, and rib tires will work fine. However if the static weight on the front axle is over 400 lbs, I recommend using 2.50x17 rib tire or a front runner, GoodYear, Hoosier, M/T, Phoenix.  The front slicks will have more rolling resistance, and be a little heavier than the rib tires. Of course the front runners are more money; GoodYear retail is $185 ea, some of the other brands are as low as $145 ea. We, Hayden wheels, imports and sell Kenda front rib tires that look the most like Avon SpeedMaster. The 2.25x17 sell for $60 ea and 2.50x17 sell for $70 ea.
Another thing to be aware of is the front slicks are difficult to mount on wire spoke wheels, as a matter-a-fact most slick manufactures will not mount them on wire wheels, because they are tricky to mount and bead-up all the way. The best bet is to have a motorcycle shop install them because they have the right tire mounting machines. Keep in mind rim width makes it tricky too. When you just measure the bead width of the tires and the rim you'll see that on a 1.2 [ inside to inside] rim the front slicks are too close to 1.2". They are even hard to mount all the way on a 1.4" wide rim. Some of my customers prefer running 1.6" or wider so they don't have a mounting issue.
Bruce is right about ozone protection is better on the rib tires, all race tire manufactures don't use ozone protection because they figure the slicks will be replaced before they start cracking.
17" front rib tires started being used by the race car builders when they discovered the light weight, and inexpensive Avon tires, and to this day 17" wheels/ tires is the standard for dragsters.
For a bit of history, when an Avon rep came to SoCal  to visit/ thank a chassis builder for buying all those 17" Avons, he was shocked to see his moped tires were being run over 200 mph, he flew back to England and had the molds destroyed. Too bad they didn't know that on dragsters the front tires don't build heat, which destroys tires, because we run 35-50# of air pressure so the sidewalls don't flex and build heat, and of course don't run very long [ hopefully].

Feel free to call me with any questions, 805-444-4489
Jon, Hayden Wheels

538

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: New tire recommendations for our FED

« on: July 23, 2014, 01:41:16 PM »

Wow, Supercat, I'm impressed, 1,000 hp on a NA alky FED, the only JrFuel cars I know that make that kind of power is Scott Parks, and Brian Darcy. And they run 6.70's. What size is your motor and are you running nitro ? Another question, why does your car/ driver weigh 1760-1780. Our JrFueler weighs 1440 with an all iron motor and driver, where is your extra 300 lbs ?

Ok, back to your question, most fast JF cars are running 12" wide wheels, because anything narrower it gets loose at start or after the shift to half track. We ran 10" rims for years, then found out we needed more traction at Bakersfield when sun went down and the track got loose. Then as we made more power we ran the 11" [ nite time Bakersfield] wheels were need more often, so I put together a set of our 31x12x15 GoodYears on 12" rims, which is what we run most of the time now in JrFuel "B".  Downside to 12" rims is the tires will not grow as much so we get a little slower top speed [ 187 mph instead of 189]. Most slick guys say don't go over/under 1" difference on the rims than tire width. But I know a number of racers are running 12" tires on 10" rims, just lower HP cars.
I just talked to a RED Comp racer this week-end while we were racing Comp at the Div 7 race in Sonoma, and I sold him a pair of used 33x12x15 GoodYears because his 33x12x15 Hoosiers get loose at half track and they don't grow as much as the GY's. But the Hoosiers have softer compound rubber.
I have a set of 33x10.5 x15 M/T but I have heard they need to be on 14" wide rims to work. Too bad our rules limit us to a max of 12" rims, plus they are REAL heavy, like 45 lbs on wheels EACH.  Our 31x12x15 GY's weigh 26 lbs each, mounted. It takes more power to rotate that extra 20 lbs each.
Anyway that's my 2 cents.

Have Fun,  Jon Hansen, Hayden Wheels

BTW we run allot of 7.0's using a 8700 rpm converter, and 4.88 rear gears and 1.68 first gear PG

539

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: No racing this season.

« on: July 23, 2014, 12:59:53 PM »

I hope your surgery goes very well.
When you come out to Calif for the CHRR, look us up, all orange Jr Fuel.

Jon Hansen, Hayden Wheels, and Jr Fuel Dragster Association

540

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: First Front Engine Dragster?

« on: July 23, 2014, 12:50:44 PM »

So, you are looking for more roll-out on your dragster front wheels, ala head start on the start line ?
I've made a few 21" wheels with 27.5" tall tires for some full tree Comp racers, you just may have to change your chassis, because your chassis will be 2.75" higher, over the usual 17" wheels.

Jon, Hayden Wheels