Messages

16

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: Still Haven't Raced At Our "Home" Track

« on: September 20, 2023, 06:56:09 PM »

I happened to be in the tower one evening talking to the lady who manages our "home" track when someone on one of the radios reported seeing a bolt of lightening in the distance. The manager turned FULL attention of everyone with a two-way radio to be on the lookout for lightening, and phones were fired up to weather sites that showed locations of lightening strikes. She said if there was a hit even 10 miles away she'd shut down the timing system. It actually got zapped 2 times this year and cost a LOT of $$

Lynn

17

Front Engine Dragsters / Still Haven't Raced At Our "Home" Track

« on: September 19, 2023, 07:13:11 PM »

After quite a few test sessions at what was to be our "home track" we were finally ready to race my FED. But, lightening really fried the timing system for the 2nd time this year and racing was off for several weeks. So, we bit the bullet and towed 2+ hours, instead of less than 1 hour, to race at another nearby track. We actually really like the place but the extra hour of travel is kinda hard on Sunday morning plans when it goes really late.

So, this weekend our "home" track is finally going to be back in operation, but no regular bracket program, it's a YouTube poster special 2-day event? Huh? A What?

But we're anxious to race so I guess it's another 4+ hour round trip. In reality, I think I'd lean toward wanting to run at the track further from home....it's quite well arranged and the people are really friendly.

Lynn

18

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: Chassis - paint, powdercoat or POR?

« on: September 07, 2023, 07:00:58 PM »

I really don't have anything different to add, but I too vote for paint. I know powdercoat is really held in high regard, but beyond the "need to add a bracket and can then just touch up the paint" I see a bigger problem with it. It's "so good" that it can flex to some extent.....it's basically plastic. That's where I have a problem with it in that if a joint is developing a crack paint will crack too and eventually a slight rust line might develop which might might be discovered and can be corrected before a big failure.

I did my FED chassis with a electrostatic paint system I have from my fabrication business days. Paint used was an enamel. Looks fine to me and MUCH cheaper than powdercoat too.

Lynn

19

Dan Dishon's Transmission Den / Re: Powerglide Questions

« on: August 21, 2023, 10:36:20 AM »

Thanks Frenchtown Flyer! Here it is a day later and I'm still smiling and trying to think of other friends to tell about our first (very successful, I think) night of running brackets! 

Lynn

20

Dan Dishon's Transmission Den / Re: Powerglide Questions

« on: August 20, 2023, 03:14:10 PM »

My FED now has 26 - 1/8 Mi. passes on it. With the transmission not shifting to drive on pass #21 I pulled the engine/transmission and got into the tranny. I had always suspected I didn't leave enough clearance in the high clutch pack. To remedy the problem I replaced the 5 .098" friction discs with 4 new .098" discs and one .060" disc. That got my clearance up to about .086" and now the car isn't draggy in 1st gear. Big difference!

To cure the "no shift" issue I pulled the valve body apart and installed a TSR manual shift kit which also boosted the line pressure. Previously I had followed a manual shift conversion that I found online, but this TSR kit is so much more complete and it really seemed to wake up the transmission.

On to results...which in the end is all that counts. The first 21 passes the car had made were more or less Test-n-Tune runs not actual racing. Last night after 2 timed passes we ran a foot-brake bracket class for the 1st time at a different track than we had ever run. Our "home" track's timing system had taken a hard lightening strike and wasn't running. WE WON 3 ROUNDS!!! But, the night had dragged on so late we left after the 3rd win. The 4th round would have been a bye run for someone and 1 race, so we probably made someone happy (the driver who was handed the bye run) and someone mad (the driver we beat in the 3rd round). But, not wanting to sleep through church this morning we left and still didn't get home until 3 AM. In the 1st round we ran a 6.85 on a 6.85 dial! I couldn't believe my eyes when the ET lights lit up. The car ran another 6.85 again in the 3rd round. Those 6.85's were .21 faster than our previous best and our 60' times were .10 quicker than our previous best. I attribute the improvements to the properly clearanced high clutch pack no longer "dragging" in 1st gear and what seemed like a crisper shift to the driver.

I still have a smile on my face! I'm pretty sure my driver does too.

Lynn

21

Dan Dishon's Transmission Den / Re: Powerglide Questions

« on: August 05, 2023, 02:49:45 PM »

After some thought and a couple conversations with people much smarter than I about transmissions (Carl Munroe's son in particular), the engine and transmission is coming out. Transmission will come apart mostly to re-do the drive clutch pack to get more clearance so it can "slip" more freely in low gear. The valve body will also be redone with a new TSR manual shift kit rather than the home-brew manual shift conversion I did.

Not transmission related, I also talked with someone (Cliff Ruggles) about a slight hesitation the car has had off the line. A couple things were suggested to get the Q-jet carburetor set up a bit different to get rid of the hesitation/bog. He also made some suggestions about starting line procedure that hopefully will get the car off the line better and improve our 60' times.

If this all improves the car as expected, I am hoping to cut about .1 to .2 seconds off our best-so-far ET. I guess we'll see in a week or two.

Lynn

22

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: controllinh rpm w/o 2 step.

« on: August 03, 2023, 03:11:16 PM »

My suggestion may not work at all for you but I'll throw it out there.

I just bought a AutoMeter Level III shift light. It displays a digital tach and "launch" light that can be programed as well as up to 5 other shift points that can all be programed to light as desired. In addition, it has recall and up to 80 seconds of playback. I haven't put it on my FED yet but both I and the driver feel the launch light would be easier to see and that starting line RPM could be held more consistent than trying to watch an analog or digital tach. We're planning to run a no electronics bracket class and are trying to get more consistent on starting line procedure and thought having the launch light would be the 2nd best thing to moving to the next class that allowed 2-steps etc.

Maybe it's of no interest or possiblity of working for you but thought I'd mention it.

Best wishes.

Lynn

23

Dan Dishon's Transmission Den / Re: Powerglide Questions

« on: August 02, 2023, 10:28:35 AM »

Thanks for the reply. I do not have a vacuum line going to the vacuum modulator and the connection point for a line is left open. My question is should the adjustable vacuum modulator adjusting screw be turned "in" to limit the travel of the modulator valve? If I understand correctly from the Powerglide book I have if the modulator valve moves toward the rear of the transmission it might actually lower the line pressure possibly having a negative or softening effect on clutch and band application. There are so many moving and inter-related parts in motion in a valve body my brain goes into overload trying to put it all together. I probably have a short attention span too, which doesn't help.

Lynn

24

Dan Dishon's Transmission Den / Re: Powerglide Questions

« on: August 01, 2023, 07:54:57 PM »

I pulled the low band servo today and found a tiny chunk of something that was attracted to a magnet....on the spring side of the servo piston. Didn't find the source of the small piece. The piston ring on the servo piston was in great shape and no scratches or other damage in the bore of the case. Pulled the valve body down, managing to knock over the drain pan and dumping about 2 quarts of ATF on the floor, and double checked all of the spool valves for smooth operation. All seemed good.

I had converted the valve body to manual operation using the installation instructions for a TransGo kit by using a 1/4" long piece of tubing under one of the valves....shift valve I believe. Double checked the length at exactly .250" to be sure it was right.

I don't have a trans brake (just foot brake the car) and instructions on installing a shift kit said to install the vacuum modulator but not to hook up a vacuum tube to the intake. Check. It is an adjustable vacuum modulator and wonder if it needs to be adjusted in some particular way to make the modulator spool valve operate correctly with a manual valve body? Thought is that improper adjustment might be screwing up the 1-2 shift. I have a 50/50 shot with my guess, but I'm thinking the adjustment should be screwed in to seat "snug" like an idle needle in a carburetor as a starting point thinking that would simulate a low vacuum, high load situation? My transmission is a later one with the separate pin and spring on the tip of the modulator spool. No mention of adjustment was seen in the instructions.

Any thoughts other than to leave racing transmission building to racing transmission builders?

Thanks

Lynn

25

Dan Dishon's Transmission Den / Re: Powerglide Questions

« on: July 30, 2023, 02:47:25 PM »

Well, my FED now has about 20-22 (1/8 Mi.) passes on it. We were at a nostalgia 2-day thing at Sikeston, MO on Friday and Saturday. Overall things went OK I suppose. I was very pleased that the car and even the "lollypop" trailer I built got a lot of compliments.

It was mid to upper 90 degrees and at one point when I called a nearby airport the density altitude was 2500+ Ft, even though the track is at about 450. I guess that might explain why the car seemed to get slower as the day(s) wore on.

On the last pass the time and speed were MUCH slower and when it came back to our pit the driver said it didn't shift when he popped the lever from L to D. We jacked up the car and ran it it 1st and hit Drive and it seemed to shift OK. Did it again and it didn't shift. Made a quick check of the shift cable adjustment and when the shifter is in Drive the lever on the transmission is solidly in the detent. Fluid level is OK and the fluid was only about 135 degrees and didn't smell burnt.

I haven't gotten around to checking anything else, but plan to check line pressure and drop the pan to see if there's anything in there that shouldn't be. A quick look in the Powerglide book by Munroe suggested that the sluggishness/dragginess we always have experienced in low might be a leaking low band servo, and if I read right that might also affect application of drive. Does that sound right or possible? I would be a happy camper if the problem didn't go any deeper than the servo!

I welcome any suggestions of what might be the problem. I'd rather not experience the joy of pulling the engine and transmission (again) to completely go through the transmission. I'd rather wait to freshen/rebuild it in a few months when there's no racing.

Thanks

Lynn   

26

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: Shift Light Placement

« on: July 27, 2023, 03:22:11 PM »

Just to follow up, here's what I did. Perhaps somehow this will help someone else down the line who is having a similar issue with a flickering shift light.

I re-positioned the light to mount on a bracket bolted to the intake and the light is now at the front upper corner of the left valve cover. Just lengthened the wires enough to reach back to the previous hook up points at the distributor. Power to the light is "ON" with the ignition. Pulses come from the "Dist" terminal on the HEI distributor cap. Since I had cut the wires short when it was mounted next to the distributor I added wire length and connected the wires with "bullet" connectors near the light so it could be removed easily.

Did a test fire of the engine and set the light setting down to 3,000, revved the engine briefly and the light came on nice and solid with no flickering. I do like the launch, recall and playback features of the AutoMeter light I bought and will probably switch to it later after a bit of real-world testing at the track. Thought I'd do a proof-of-concept mounting with the less expensive ProForm light since I had already shortened the wires.

Tomorrow and Saturday we'll be running the car at the Bootheel Fuel and Gas nostalgia drags at Sikeston, MO. For us it will be another test-n-tune opportunity but we might get brave and pick out a similar ET car to challenge to a grudge match. As always, if there are no puddles of oil or transmission fluid under the car, and it can still be rolled on the trailer when it's over, I'll be happy! It's going to be a hot couple days at 95-ish degrees so cool-down time between runs will be a bit longer I'm sure.

I also bought a digital tire pressure gauge. Glad I did. My dial type analog gauge from my circle-track racing days was way off. After I set the pressure evenly in the slicks, using the digital gauge, the roll-out was within 1/8" side-to-side. I think that's about as good as I can expect. 

Lynn

27

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: Shift Light Placement

« on: July 27, 2023, 11:33:17 AM »

Thanks for the quick reply. There would be a spot to tuck it in under the cowl, right at the base of the windscreen and I thought it would be visible enough in peripheral vision to be useful. One problem with that is that there are 3 buttons on the light to program different functions and it would be all but impossible to get to them in such a tight spot.

Induction is just a single 4 Bbl carb and a fiberglass air scoop so I'm thinking off to the left and just in front of the carb might be another location. The shift light would be just inboard and slightly above the left valve cover. In that location the light itself would be about 16" or so from the distributor. Maybe that's enough separation to get away from the electrical "noise"? That might be a possible location short of drilling into my cowl and you can probably tell that is about the last thing I would want to do.....it's so pretty as it is. But then again function must trump form I suppose.

Lynn

28

Front Engine Dragsters / Shift Light Placement

« on: July 27, 2023, 10:39:32 AM »

I had installed a simple ProForm shift light on my FED but it seems it's "flickery" and really not helpful.

To go to a better shift light I bought an AutoMeter 5350 Level 3 unit with more features, including a "launch" light, playback and recall.

I had the old shift light mounted on a bracket attached to a threaded boss on the intake manifold and the shift light was along side the GM HEI distributor. Originally, not wanting to cut the wires in case it needed to be moved I coiled up the wires and zip-tied them. Thinking the coiled wires might be a source of the flickering light I finally shortened the wires to get rid of any possible "inductance" (proper electrical term??) current between wires when wrapped up. That didn't help.

That's when I got the AutoMeter light and called factory support to ask about coiling the excess wires, telling him it was mounted right next to the HEI distributor. He said at that location it would not function properly because of electrical "noise" from the HEI.

Since cockpit space is already cramped I'm open to suggestions on where I could mount the light, maybe first trying the old one it at a different location. I don't really want to mount it on the cowl because that would require holes in my beautiful cowl, and I'd need to wire in a quick disconnect to be able to remove the cowl and put it off to the side of the car. Thought about fabricating a bracket off the front of the intake, near the water outlet (SBC), to see if that might get the light far enough away from the distributor electrical "noise".

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks, in advance!

Lynn

29

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

« on: July 19, 2023, 05:13:52 PM »

That's about 2 perfect runs together if there ever was one! Even being able to hit it that close isn't what I'd call a slump.

Lynn

30

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: 2nd Test Session This Evening

« on: July 19, 2023, 07:30:18 AM »

I, for one, basically only check for "posts since last visit" occasionally. Usually, I just go directly to the "front engine dragster" section for posts of interest specifically to FED's.

I've been around cars, motorcycles and airplanes on and off my whole life but I'm usually on forums to ask questions. Perhaps I should branch out a bit more. I still seem to have more questions than answers but I'd be happy to try to contribute and participate more. I can certainly say this forum has been a great help and motivation throughout the build of my FED.

As far as the "build" section, I didn't start a thread on my FED build. I never remember to take photos and never wanted to clog the forum with every detail of my build. Also, I'm not very computer and smart phone literate and have to re-learn how to downsize photos every time I want to post one.

I just realized that since my car has been to the track for some testing I could add more info to my profile. It's no longer just a conversation piece in my shop, it's a race car!

All that said, this forum has been a huge asset and help to me!

Lynn