Interesting pictures from Tom M...

[HolmanMoodyStroppeGang]

Hydrazine, What's the worst that could happen?
His expression is like, wait a minute! I shouldn't be seeing my rotating assembly right now!

Hey Hey Hey.........that is our home track Lion's Drag Strip, called 'The Beach' and 'Long Beach' by the old guys.   Spent a ton of wonderful days there and loved it all

We were there that night, some of the gang, and this is the MAGIC MUFFLER  car, also called the CT Strokers car

We also...ha ha     Have had this picture, but we have one from the photographer's set, and it is on the wall of fame,,,LOL   And also was at the prior place, which was a top tier place.  This is just a hilarious deal and so funny

OK

he did not get hurt

The cause was over used stock steel rods in part, and a stout tune up and fierce competition you could say

It was like this.   We had 64 car fields for only Fuel Altereds at the peak of that era

How bitchin it was, to see maybe 80    85 such Hot Rods, all there to qualify for one of 64 slots, which resulted in a one day super show?

2 rounds for all these cars to make a pass. Then 64 pair off, down to 32    hour passes, 32 to 16....sun begins to set,,,,,,16 goes to 8,,,,,,many cars are pulling out, all that energy of, we won, we lost....

Blown up stuff all over

8 down to 4, at maybe 730 or so, in the Summer,,,,  4 down to 2 around nine ish



then a Final around 10 PM

The cool air would pour in with ocean mist

The track would have all that rubber on it, cool, and the oil downs would be cleaned up

Many cool races like that

I was standing directly behind the Winged Express, heads shown above, when that famous event happened.  The car was in the Finals, in the left lane, And that car launched like a beast, flames standing up about 6 feet  or so, car kicks it's ass end hard left, he does not lift one bit, stays in it, car hooks left, and a magnesium Halibrand kisses the steel guard rail, deforms the slick, sparks the edge of the wheel, and these bright silver sparks shoot to the sky like a 4th of July rocket, he just rides it out, corrects it to drift right back to the groove, car hooks, loads the motor, screams, gets up on the tires, marches like an army and wins.

Incredible stuff happened there and that picture was in all the magazines and hilarious

This Magic Muffler car, is a 92 inch wheel base Fiat Topolino.  No trans blankets and diapers then

a LOT of cars just dropped the trans back then and this was HILARIOUS to see

It was common for new guys, say, on a Wednesday test night, a Thursday open event, during qualifying

We would see it and just roar

and after,,,,the track official would be on the PA, and get kind of mad, due to the show being stopped, they had to be done by 10 PM, so. they often played that famous old Circus Song to kind of tease the guy who blew up.

To kind of laugh and tease......so funny,,,,,It is that Big Top Circus song that they use to open up a circus...LOL    funny

Scott injector, 6-71, note the trick Delta Drive,,,,made at our place in part, we sublet to Delta for a while

Let's see...not so sure the ran Hydrozine but might be able to catch one of them some day

On Hydrozone, that is a long one, for after work

Thanks now

[ScotiaFE]

I am not sure if we have met but O/T, I am told that Nova Scotia is just beautiful and would love to explore it some day.  You are a lucky man to live in a wonderful land.

Sure we have Tom. I'm Howie Merrette from Nova Scotia.
We have conversed many times on the spiderweb. 

[HolmanMoodyStroppeGang]

Ahhhh

OK, you are andretti's friend,,,,ahh   from 54....spider web?   Is that the nick name for 54?

OK  Thanks for the uploading and have a fun weekend

Lets see

If I can trust you, to not publicize some content, maybe with time, I can show you some of the stuff.

Blair, Brent, barry and other friends have seen some of it

Jay too of course....and friends we know of course

Just promise to not forward it to any of these, well,,,people who lake manners or who smear and so on, invent, go OT all day

I have 5 FORDS

Thanks

[cjshaker]

Just promise to not forward it to any of these, well,,,people who lake manners or who smear and so on, invent, go OT all day

Is that a quote from the book "How To Win Friends And Influence People"?

[HolmanMoodyStroppeGang]

Howdy

Wow, that is a pretty Mustang and I have had a 69 MACH a long time too.

Please post the pictures if you like FORD man.    It loads and says, file too big for me. I don't have a fast way to modify the images and could use a new program, for later.  You sound like a smart tech guy so thanks.


I sent a private email and the point is these parts and logos and the tricks inside, that was FORD property, and then ours, now we just want that Bill Stroppe's fast gas decal to get re done, not plagarized, and we want the design on the part to remain from our blueprints and dimensions

I get told to protect the logo, designs is the deal.

Also, yes, I don't want to fight with guys we don't know about FE's and neither do my old pals.

This email you just posted, for example, was to a friend and not for the blog

But no problem I guess


Not trying to win friends, influence people sir, just showing some old parts

Sure dont want to fight about parts anymore

I would appreciate you deleting this quote, I made a typo,,,LOL       Lunch is over

See who guesses right. 4 parts total. Nice to get acquainted, my name is Tom

Thanks now

Happy Friday

[Autoholic]

If you need some image work done, you can email me. My email is jbauer127@gmail.com. Just send me the images and I'll do what I can to sharpen them up.

I found a  decent Stroppe decal online for example and did some work on the contrast as well as getting rid of some of the odd stuff in the white background. There are two versions, a jpg (2nd image) which has a white background and a png (1st image) which has the background deleted. Png images are useful for shirt printing and website use. I can resize logos if needed. This decal was a quick 3 minute job but I have restored images in the past, at the pixel level if needed. I'm currently working on the new coiled snake logo of the GT350. I found a good picture of the emblem and I can use it to get the coiled snake black and white image.

[HolmanMoodyStroppeGang]

Wow

You are talented my friend and you did a wonderful job.  Thank you very much from all of us.  This is the decal from the 40s and the 1950's, up until the merger with Holman Moody.

Ford came to Stoppe in the 40's because he and Clay Smith, the cam and racing legend, were best friends who built Hot Rods from their early teens.  By the 40s, they had been winning a lot of boat races using only highly modified flatheads. 

As regional Champs they were invited to the big national event in Michigan and qualified first and then won.   Henry Ford himself came up to Stroppe with his friends and asked Bill; " How are you making my engines so fast?"   They had beaten all the Ford backed boats, and the private racers.

Stroppe began to explain part after part that they made from scratch out here, including cams, pistons, special heads, stroked cranks, hot magnetos and better rods. Many more tricks too

So Henry Ford asked him to come to Michigan, sign a contract and lead his own divison

Bill said I have to think about it, ask my family and friens who helped.  He returned West, then called a while after to explain, he could do better things here because he had a big shop, many trained men, young kids, and this was key, he could race all year and test all year due to mild weather.  There's no freeze, snow and little rain, and there were test locations always available

So that made sense, the more you test, the more you learn, so they made a deal.  This deal lasted for the following 6 decades and finally ended about 5 years ago due to illness and budget issues.

Today, a 125 man team may service 1 or 2 stock cars for instance, but that was our peak head count, and it was never less than about 60 guys, usually 80-85

Thanks FORD and thanls Bill.   The rule was like this, FORD Racing West, the Stroppe shop, he only hired the very fastest guys he could find from any part of America. So FORD sent us many great guys, so did other teams.  It was kind of a shock to meet these guys, then hear their resumes. Many guys were former drivers who built their own cars and engines, like many of you guys.

Stroppe had a big heart, so if a Sprint car driver was good, and got noticed, and won, then got hurt,which was common, he might give them a job, especially if they had a wife and kids to feed.

Here's an  example. Les Ritchey was a famous FORD driver and builder that won many races and who was so good.  We lost him when his shops best car, the Performance Associates Mustang, crashed. Some of our guys were at the race. He had 5 good men, and all had kids.  So Bill hired his 4 best guys to be a good man who looked out for racers who ran FORD's

One, was a stand out engine builder, who went on to help inspire the SHELBY aluminum FE's, which kind of reignited FE's in many ways.  This was my old Pal Wally Cartright. ask around, Wally was a fast Ford man who built for the best,including ed Pink.  Knew him well at the shop.

My good pal is redoing a CAMMER fastback Mustang replica of the Les Ritchey car right now. I am trying to help, find rare parts, and have Stroppe in the loop and others.

5 of the old gang are meeting tomorrow


Stroppe went on to do FORD protype work and flatheads, a bunch of Y block 292-312 work, then the entire FE run, from 332s,to racing 352s, 390s, until the 80s, in offroad, 406s, the MERC teams, 427s,428s, BOSS 429s, 351C's and a lot more. We had The Ford Drag Team the entire time, part of the GT40 work, some Bonneville, Salt, Boats, stock cars, road rally cars, we dominated Off Road for decades in 5,6,7 classes often, we had all of the Pantera programs, the Lotus Cortinas, and so on. 



Thanks so much !  i will show the guys, maybe use this on Shirts

Thanks

Will email 5 more pics

Look forward to meeting you

Best

T

[HolmanMoodyStroppeGang]

Wow

First, that color is just, it moves me it is so deep, and straight and it pops and look cool man

Reminds me of MANY famous race cars color.  Really nice car man..!

The INDY AUTOLITE dyno had less servos and automation and was smaller than the FORD EEE compound but it was very high tech, in part, due to all the Aerospace around here.  It did have a set of mainframes for a while, and was used to simulate an entire 500 mile race, with cautions and restarts. The blown alky INDY program vented the exhaust through a block wall and between the big buildings.  It was so loud some men got dizzy and sick.  It would go non stop all day, funny

I have to add the comments and post and then Hydrozine and the rest


Thanks !!

[Autoholic]

Here is something interesting for you...

http://www.isaydingdong.co.uk/ourshop/prod_1269694-Holman-and-MoodyStroppe-Inc-HMS-Oval-Stickers-425-Pair.html

[Autoholic]

So here are a few more pics from Tom. He had this to say at the time of the email...

Here are more Drag Team parts by Ford and Holman Moody Stroppe

A few helped FE's run in the low 7's.

Wonder who knows the details?

Will add the descriptions soon and thank you !  Hope you enjoy the old parts.   Many were FORD team parts, given to teams, SK parts, with no part numbers and unavailable at a dealer.

We had the FORD Speed Parts division that could make and supply some parts.  They went with a sponsorship basically.

[Autoholic]

Tom, if you can send me any good pictures of decals and logos you like, or have paperwork with the logo you want, send the images to me and I'll see what I can do to restore them for your group. If you look at a previous post of mine, someone has stickers with the HMS logo.

[HolmanMoodyStroppeGang]

Thanks very much for the emails and help

I promised to explain the pictures so continuing on

9)  The iron SOHC head you see is from one of the original 500 made. For the new guys, the heads have etching on the cam towers and camshaft caps that have the production number. So it is cool to find these from the original run and I wanted some new SOHC guys to see some old FORD HEMI stuff. For fun.

We see so many that are cracked from Nitro, or welded many times, surfaced a lot, if you look close, these heads have never been surfaced.  Note the depth of the chamber along the OD of the circle. Also, the original drag broaching lines run the length of the heads here, so they never got cut.   Drag broaching is kind of like planing cast iron with a stack cutter.

Many many Cammers were also sold in parts, in fact, many original FORD team guys got their first SOHC in parts shipped by FORD or obtained from Detroit, or us. So those heads are NOT numbered as these are.

Also guys might notice, the blown heads we o ringed. These are not o ringed.

[HolmanMoodyStroppeGang]

9)  Top view of Blower Intake with rear pop off.   Note the long gentle V on the floor of the intake. These were common in Top Fuel or AA/FD and had many fans.  Note the down nozzles are close to the bottom, and they have a nice shot at the intake valves. Front pop off versions were also around.

Also CRAGAR made the last and very popular intakes too.

When a blown cammer car launches, the fuel that fell out of separation can accumulate on the bottom of the intake, and rush to the rear, then fatten things up a lot. So, if you bias more fuel forward, the balance makes better power.

No remember, much of this testing was done by plug reading, and by flame patterns, and by valve colors, after runs, and by piston colors, after runs, and by leak down, after runs

No Racepack data on Exhaust temps and so on.....

One trick we still use real quiet, on these Nostalgia Heritage bombs, is to count the threads on the spark plus and see how the edge of the threads 'rolls' or melts back.

And of course, how much of the ground electrode burns away is key.  Each pass, melts the plugs a wee bit, so that observation is very important.

10) SOHC front covers.  The 65 could have a little porosity which was fine. This one was metal finished, has some tiny pits that do not leak, but, to run in a top class, some did chrome them and this is show chromed from the 60s. Also, the back plate for this SOHC is also triple chromed.

The natural finish was on many of the fastest SOHCs we saw, so this finish was no speed secret but real pretty.

Next, for the new guys, you see 3 openings on this cover

The low circular boss, is over the stub cam. Blown SOHCs usually got a gear drive installed.

This location carried many MAGNETOS or fUEL PUMPS.   It depended on the tuner and builder.   That famous Funny Car ,The Going Thing, had a huge fuel pump in the center location.  I mean, huge and one of a kind.

The Super Snake,that wicked tough Baney Pink Prudhomme dragster, the  SHELBY Super Snake, PINK ran the magneto was here.   That Don Long car is just a work of art, and, the sissy bar car is under restoration.   I hope to have time to get you guys some pictures for fun.

Now the large openings  up high in front of the heads, allowed access to the cam gears on each side..  Looking forward as show, the Left opening gives you access to the adjustable idler which you might re tension from time to time at the races.. The right side head, has a bolt on a ear cast in the head  to tighten or lossen the chain tension.

 Dyno Don, would sometimes change this tension to move his cams a bit between rounds!   He was a Cammer virtuoso to many of us. Never met a better driver or seat of the pants tunner and track reader.  He was a genius and wonderful man.

The opening on the right, had a plain cover stock, when removed, the fuel pump eccentric was on a gear called the fixed idler.  You turned the eccentric off of the gear for the blown stuff, in a lathe,, added a cap screw or broach, then changed the cover to a Hilborn cover.   That cover, accepts the rotory fuel pump for the injection.  The cover is cast, has a retained roller bearing, and the drive slide in it, then you bolt it down. I have a few if you are curious

The square MT item is a blower relief block off plate. It has an o ring behind it  But by oring I mean, Square ring..LOL

[HolmanMoodyStroppeGang]

Now to the second set of pictures

Next, an iron SOHC head, NOS,with the later stainless DONOVAN style valves. Some guys thought that a bigger 1.94 exhaust valve, like a 426 HEMI, was trick. This pair had that trick, I will replace them with the FORD size most likely. Not needed  if you ask me.

Also, 4 hole HILBORN Scoop which was common.  Notice that the holes in the scoop align close compared to the bore spacing on the head? The blowers 'HAT" supplies 8 nozzles, 4 per side.  So they wet the blowers rotors, and cannot shoot directly to the intake ports.   Adding 8 more nozzles was the hot tip, still is, so you mixed the two systems.

Non supercharged  Injection, port style, has the butterflies close to in line with each port, so you run 8 nozles, one per hole, down low.

I have heard guys call these 'down nozzles'. We call them port nozzles around here. Down nozzles are in the port through the heads, a 3rd row of nozzles

Also, a blowers helix opens first in the rear of the intake. Look at the twist in the 6-71, spin it slow,and see the pressure begins in back and then it moves forward as it spins.  The fuel goes from back to front. 

This is why the fast intake has the blower as far forward as possible, and, why you can have port nozzles on a fast blown HEMI, up to 15 steps different in size, smaller out back some times, bigger up front

On the hat nozzles, two schools.  Many fly, and we have flown, just running 8 equal nozzles spaced normally, 4 per side.

HOWEVER,,haha, some of the fastest cammers,,,,,,had 5 on one side and 3 on the other to address fuel distribution. One leading car, had 5 as for forward as the could mount for example.

The difference being, none of the blowers then were stripped. (No teflon to seal the lobes on the rotors)   The were very trick, to run very close, and tight, but without strips, one leading Ford SOHC team, even added a special diversion plate to force fuel forward first.

Imagine the big blower opening you see on the intakes I posted, that big pair of square openings, married, then reduced a lot.  You add a special part and 2 gaskets

[JoeW]

What happens when you have a  H scratched block with no provisions for SOHC oil drain backs