Messages

91

Dan Dishon's Transmission Den / Re: converter fallback

« on: September 09, 2018, 03:07:17 PM »

That's why I always ask where their lowest RPM goes to after the shift, Great if they have a Data computer , if not a play-back tac, or a camera aimed at the tac, and reply it.
Just trying to keep things consistant. How is a "stall check" is done ?
I have seen many a happy racer once they change converter , trans gear and or rear gears to better match engine power range.
Cheers

92

Dan Dishon's Transmission Den / Re: converter fallback

« on: September 09, 2018, 11:38:51 AM »

Shifting at 7000, and stall at 5800, isn't that a 1200 fall back ? It could be your converter maker is not right about your true stall.
My RacePak shows my converter flashes right after the shift to 8500 rpm after a 9700 shift. All the converter people I talk to say the RPM  right after the shift is the TRUE stall.
If you shift at 7000, and your fall back is 900, that would mean your true stall is 6100 rpm, Right ?

Just my 2 cents,
Jon

93

Wanted to buy / Re: Front engine dragster wanted

« on: September 05, 2018, 05:55:47 PM »

If you are still interested in Dan Fenton's JF chassis, which of course you could change to run NE-1,2,3, or put a blown alky engine in it.
More info, 210" WB, new chassis tag, complete, less engine and trans [ PG] Roll cage width is 19 1/2, will fit at least a 6' tall, 200 lb driver
Comes with current Crow belts, Simpson chute, Safe Craft fire bottle, engine is 36" out  [ you would need to run a "shorty PowerGlide" ],
light weight 12 bolt drop out rear-end, 4.88 gears lightened & Rem polished, with spare 4.46 gears, gun drilled Strange axles, with carbon brakes,
Alum driveshaft,  titium wheel studs, Weld rear 5x5 alum wheels with 31x12x15 Goodyear slick, 17" wire spoke front wheels with Goodyear front runner tires.
Bandit shifter, CM single wheel wheelie bar
If bought new from Neil & Parks complete would be $25-30K , Ball park what Dan is looking for $12k
Best ET with NHRA Heritage JrFuel rules was 7.16 @ 185 mph
Dan Fenton, 510-398-3709

94

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: Shifting per rule book

« on: September 02, 2018, 02:14:00 PM »

Yes auto sifters are not allowed in NHRA nostalgia. RPM shifters not allowed, but air shifters , driver controlled is
And just to confuse things NHRA Comp Elim can run RPM shifters EXCEPT IN THE A/ND & B/ND FED nostalgila dragster classes.
Another exception between Heritage and Comp A/ND & B/ND  is in Comp you can run a MSD Grid system, but not allowed in JrFuel.
In our JF car we just use a manual shifter, KISS .

Hope this clears it up.
Jon   

95

Wanted to buy / Re: Front engine dragster wanted

« on: September 01, 2018, 03:24:09 PM »

Bob, I know of a real nice Neil & Parks 210 wb car for sale run in JrFuel, SBC. it's complete with-out engine or trans, but everything else , chutes, belts, etc
If you are interested call Dan Fenton 510-398-3709 [ cell] 510-481-5381 [ home] in San Lorenzo, Ca [ bay area I think]
Its a real good car at a good price, Dan and his son bought Neil & Parks personal JF car.
Bob, BTW, don't get hung up on the size of the roll cage, because how to fit and feel in the car is more about the shape of the cage around the seat. An "A" shape tends to pinch your shoulders togther, while a wider "C" shape gives you more shoulder room.
I had a racer buddy trying to sell his car and a big guy tried to sit it , did not fit , he was 6-2, and 220 lbs, I took over to our car and he fit great in the same 19" roll cage, because our car has the more rouned seat tubing.  You have to sit in the car [ with a firesuit on ] to see how you fit.
you are invited to join us NHRA Heritage Jrfuel class, call me if you have any questions.
Jon 805-444-4489
also check out the Jrfuel DRagster Association. com, and jrfueldragster FB

96

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: Down force and zoomies

« on: August 25, 2018, 12:26:04 AM »

The reason I posted about zoomies, and conards is because of the photo of Curly's car, with a real sharp angle conards, even NTF don't have that much angle. I'm sure they slow the car down [ie hold the car back] , they look kool, but slow his car down. which is OK if he is running brakets and can't run run quicker than the bracket.
THe other thing I noticed are his collector pipes, which work good on gasoline, but all the info I've seen is no advantage burning alky, jusy heavier, and no down force.
Also the reasdon we put conards on our Heritage Jrfueler is I saw RPM spikes on my RacePak about half track, and looking at another teams RacePak at the same track / same lane and he had no RPM spikes on a good run, they had conards.  Indicating too much tire spin after the shift on our car. So we put low angle conard, with good size spill plates,  now we have better traction after the shift. And the low angle high spill plates don't seem slow the MPH. 

Just my 2 cents
Jon

97

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: Some basic simple questions

« on: August 21, 2018, 10:50:35 PM »

Curly, if you are running the side wings to help with down force down track, because it's getting loose and moving around, you might want to think about running zoomies, because they will add down force, with-out adding more areo drag, like the wings do. That is unless you are trying to slow the car down to run brakets.
And it will look more nostalgic, and zoomies are lighter than the collector pipes, too.

Jon

98

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: Starting Battery Setups/Carts

« on: August 21, 2018, 10:32:38 PM »

A few years ago we moved from two 12 volt car batts in the back of our truck and long cables, problem was moving the truck in place, and getting out of the way.
Then I made to two Odessy batts that we could take out of the truck.
Then I made the lightest battery paks using litheum batts that with a  alum carry case weighs 10 lbs with cables. For one reason all of our crew are close to or over 70 years old.
We have been using the Hayden light weight battey paks for 5 years.
We do run an on board 14 amp battery , that weighs one lb to power the RacePak and trans brake.
One idea I've been working with a Heritage AF team with a blown Alan Johnson Hemi is running the two Hayden batts on board that uses a hi-torque flywheel starter, that works Great, we also have another Hayden Pak to plug in if any crew forgets to keep the on board batt charged up. My idea is Heritage AF can only run Heritage races, but if the FED is self starting he could run some Top Dragster races, IE more TNT and seat time.
The point I'm making is any blown car could use this system with out the hassle of using the blower starters. Yes, the on board batt's weigh about 8 lbs total, but if you don't need to get lighter, all you'll need is a crew member with a primer bottle.
Let me know what you think,
Jon Hansen, 805-444-4489

99

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: tear off and blinders

« on: August 21, 2018, 10:02:51 PM »

Keep-in-mind you will need to buy a helmet shield that has tear-off buttons on it.
Our JF car we have always used a somewhat tall windshield so when we have oil leaking out, it deverts away from the drivers helmet.
Don't crash because you can't see !

Jon

100

Your Builds / Photo Gallery / Re: Glenn's dragster thread

« on: August 18, 2018, 12:49:29 PM »

check your cam belt drive, we had the same results as you, when we lost a couple of teeth on the belt.
Jessel says to replace the belt every time you have a "incedent" with the motor. The teeth got fractured when we kicked a rod out, when the trans broke and the engine went to 12K.
Good Luck !
Jon

101

Your Builds / Photo Gallery / Re: Ed Mabry 71 Jr. Fuel

« on: August 14, 2018, 08:34:15 PM »

If you are trying to fit your FED and a golf cart in your trailer, one thing I have seen is to load the dragster in backwards [ rear of the car toward the front of the trailer,] then scoot the front of the dragster over to one side of the trailer, there-by giving you room to store the cart.
Another trick I've seen is to build a ramp for the cart, after you take the winshield of to make it lower, store the dragster under the cart ramp. It makes the trailer crowded but it will work with a short trailer, untill you take the cart ramp out of the trailer at the races.
The most creative race car trailer combo I've seen is the stacker tool box loaded in the very front of the trailer, the backwards FED but the front end is lifted up to the roof [ winch] so his Vega SuperGas car fits under the front of the dragster, and then the golf cart behind the Vega, all in a dual axle 28' [ ?] trailer , crazy Heh ? No I didn't take any photos.

Cheers, Jon

102

Jon's Wheel House / Re: Proper Slick storage

« on: August 14, 2018, 08:10:49 PM »

I agree, warm-up stands and we take the wheels/tires off the car for Greg's reason small shop. I would suggest the same advice for those racers that keep their cars in the trailer for the winter, don't need to take the tires off if you will race again in a month or two.
For longer term storage I suggest putting the slicks in a plastic bag [ big] and store in a cool dark place. DON'T store in the attic, unless you want the tires to get smaller, like some of the Pro-Stock guys do, because they want them smaller. And the compounds will get harder too. They have been known to store in the hot attic for 3-9 months.
My Hayden wheels and tires are stored in my concrete bolck shop with no windows and the temp stays very close to 75°, even when it's 100° outside.
I think if you don't get the tires off the floor the slicks may take a set with the sidewall wrinkles, and may get cracks too.

Jon, 800-624-3803

103

Your Builds / Photo Gallery / Re: Ed Mabry 71 Jr. Fuel

« on: August 14, 2018, 12:38:49 PM »

We use on our JrFueler a dolly to lift the front end off the ground , to easier move the car in and out of the trailer. Once loaded in the trailer, we lower the car onto wood supports located at the rear motor plate for support while towing. We have never had any towing damage in the 20 years of racing this car.  I  have seen other teams use a jack to lift the car to locate the wood support. We also just tie the rear slicks down with the double straps deal and that's all we use.
I have also seen teams buy a rubber bladder under the motor, then add air to support the motor, but we have a belly pan under the engine instead of a blanket, so it would have to be removed to use the bladder. I know of a Ford JR car that after it's last race had the bladder go flat and ithe lower frame rail are still broke., it's still for sale.
On my BB/GD that I won the 69 US Nationals, we had a dolly that we had built with the end of it attach to the trailer hitch on our tow truck, real easy to tow around the pits.

Jon

104

Dan Dishon's Transmission Den / Re: PUMP PRESSURE CHECK

« on: August 12, 2018, 08:14:26 PM »

Looks like a puke tank/ overflow tank to me.
This is what we have used for our trans puke/overflow for the last 15 years, it's light weight, clear so we can see if we have an issue, and tech OK'd it.

Jon

105

Front Engine Dragsters / Re: calming the car down on the starting line

« on: August 01, 2018, 11:41:32 AM »

I agree, add at least 20 lbs to the nose, because the front is slaming up, hitting the WB and unloading the slicks. If you set the WB around 1 1/2-2" a flxable WB should more gently push the fron down. But you may discover you need to add more weight to the nose. That's all about the engine location, you could run less nose weight if you motor was out 46" +. Back in the day TF cars ran the motors out 36" BUT that was before VHT, and they smoked the tires, ie before slipper clutches. The trick JrFuel cars are running 48-52" out now in order to keep the tires spinning some, so they don't dead-hook and puul the motor down below your HP rpm range.
We run our JF powerglide with a 1.68 1'st gear to hit the tires softer, plus the trans ratio is closer to the 1 to 1 of hi gear.
The other thing that has helped us on traction is we run a looser converter, [ now 8500-8700, but my next one will be 8900-9000] it hits the tires softer, and allows the engine to get up to the HP rpm.
A good goal for picking the stall is 1000-1500 below your shift point, but best is to send a dyno run to your converter guys , I highely recomment A-1, they have a lot of FED experience and customers. Again JF rules limit us to 12" wide tires, we run 33 & 31 tall tires. we have tried 33x10.5x15 MT tires too running 7+ pressure, mostly because the MT have stiffer sidewalls designed for 10.5 door cars but our best ET's have been with the Goodyear 31x12x15, at around 5 1/2 to 6 lbs.
BTW Hayden wheels are now dealers for Goodyear and M&H slicks.
I hope this helps