The Road to Drag Week 2016 - Old School Style

[cjshaker]

I don't have anything near as exciting as Jay or Joel, but thought I'd throw my .02 cents in anyway.

Most of you know my car and combo, basically a stock bodied R-code Mach 1 with a Calvert suspension and 427 MR under the hood. Nothing fancy, basically a stock 427 except for the cam and rocker set-up, running though a Toploader 4 spd and Locker rear. Your basic stuff.

Without a line lock, I couldn't do a proper burnout at the FE Reunion, and coupled with bad shock settings I had really bad traction issues. To get ready for Drag Week I just added my Hurst Roll Control kit. Not where I wanted to put it, but with the engine, master cylinder and booster in the way there was no way I could get down in there under the master to mount it there. Removing the booster assy and master just wasn't something I wanted to do, so I mounted it in front of the shock tower.



Since my road is closed due to replacing the culvert next to my house, I have ZERO traffic on my road. Which presented itself as the perfect place to try it out



I finished it up Saturday and gave it a go-round on the road (this is all just fiction if we have any law enforcement officers on this page and everything seemed to work fine. I have a bit more air to bleed out, but I need to drive it a few times to get it worked through the system. Static bleeding just wouldn't get rid of it all.

Since I never use or need the heater, I removed the heater hoses for Drag Week to give me less things to go wrong. I actually like it better without the hoses in the way, so it'll stay that way. I also have my intake marked for different timing settings, so I can make quick changes without dragging out the timing light. If I get bad gas, it also gives me an idea of where to back it off to. I've always done it this way and it's pretty handy; I just verify the settings every spring to make sure nothing has changed. You can see my red 42* setting, where the engine made it's best power. The green is for 40* and the black for 38*.





I need to get started on my hitch and trailer now. Heo gave me a great idea for the hitch that I think will work out good and I won't have to cut up or weld anything to the car except to a spare rear bumper that I already have. Thanks for that idea, Heo! I've also decided that my little 4 lug lawn trailer isn't really up to the task even though it's wired for road duty, so now I need to find and purchase a better lightweight trailer and get it rigged up. I've been looking at the perforated steel trailers at Tractor Supply and think their smallest one will work ok after I re-do it. My friends still think I'm crazy for doing this, but they're anxious to come to Columbus or Norwalk to watch me and the others run.

[jayb]

Looks good Doug, wish my Mach 1 was as clean and sanitary looking as yours is.  Certainly an advantage to staying mostly stock.  I'll bet your friends will all be converts to Drag Week once they attend the event!

[Heo]

Im glad if it was  helping you Dough. I rode in Doughs car last year Jay
and it have that New car feel to it no squeks or rattles

[afret]

Line lock looks great.  It should help you with getting your tires to hook.

If you have some spare time after getting your hitch and trailer done,  you might consider getting cold air to your carbs at the track if your hood scoop if functional .  It helped my street car about .2-.3 sec in the quarter sealing the hood scoop to the carb. but it seems some others didn't see much difference with underhood air. 

Might be worth a try though for track use if you have a spare dual quad air cleaner base laying around.  I think Moroso makes a foam seal for this that you can glue on the air cleaner base but with a regular base, I don't think you'd have room for the air filter so it would be for racing only. This guy is selling a cold air base for use with an air filter but not sure if it's for a Mustang:

https://fastlaneinnovations.com/product/ramduct-2x4bbl/

[cjshaker]

I've been thinking about that, Earl. My hood scoop is the stock Mach 1 hood scoop and the hood is not cut out underneath, so it's not functional. I do have a reproduction dual quad air filter setup like is on the car now (except the one on the car is original), and I've thought about trying to rig something up that will catch clean air, but I haven't gotten past the thought stage yet. I don't really want to go cutting on the car too much though. I have another car that I'm working on that will be subjected to the knife

The cold air definitely makes a big difference on my car. The difference on a cool fall day is pretty drastic, but it still runs ok without any issues even with the hot air under the hood. Took me a little tuning to get it that way though, and I have to mix my gas so it doesn't try to diesel on shut-off on hot days. It doesn't do it except on hot days, and letting the clutch out a bit while shutting it off stops it. I think I'll be carrying an extra 5 gallons of race fuel to mix on fill ups between tracks just to stay on the safe side.

[Hemi Joel]

Nice car.    I want to see a pic of that closed road with tire stripes all over it!

[cjshaker]

I offered the crew an extra $100 if they slowed down the work. The boss was NOT amused by that. Some people just have no sense of humor

[Heo]

 

[cjshaker]

Not much to report on on the car, since there isn't much to do to it. I fitted my spare HS rockers to some new heavy duty shafts, for spares, although it's doubtful I'll need them. I need to order some spare pushrods also. It hasn't been easy getting stuff done, with temps in the garage over 100* by the time I get home.



I finally got started on the trailer and hitch, which was/is my biggest concern. Trying to keep everything lightweight without building a special expensive aluminum trailer has been my goal. I found a good deal on a lightly used trailer, the kind for hauling lawn mowers, so I bought it and promptly took it home and put it on a diet, and cut it into bits First thing I did was remove the heavy rear ramp section and chopped a 1' section out of the front and welded it back together.







After doing some trial fitting of the tires and spare parts I intended to haul, I determined it was still too big, so I chopped another 1' off the back.



Now I just need to make a cheap aluminum frame for a box canopy to keep stuff dry inside. Simple but effective...hopefully. I'm still trying to derive the best way to make a hitch without cutting or hacking into the car. I think I'm going to need to drill 2 bolt holes in the trunk floor, behind the rear valance, and that will be it. As of now, I'm going to use some 1/2" bar stock sandwiched between the bumper brackets and the body, as the main point for attaching the hitch. It'll space the bumper out a 1/2" and probably make it look a bit goofy, but it'll be easily removable, and the weight might even help with traction.

Jay, it'd be interesting to see how you attached your hitch to the Mach 1. Got any pictures of that set-up?

[jayb]

Doug, the first go around for me on the hitch didn't work, it tore the sheet metal in the trunk on the fourth day of Drag Week 2005.  When I went back a couple years later, I also used the hitch to mount the parachute, so I did some fairly involved gusseting and support work under the trunk floor to make sure it was stable.  You probably don't want to do that, and I don't have any pictures of it anyway.  I like your idea of the replaceable bumper, and I think as far as a support extending back towards the trunk floor, I would make sure to put a plate under the support so force against the trunk floor is spread out over a wide area.  With your trailer being pretty light, I think that's going to work fine.

[cjshaker]

I like your idea of the replaceable bumper, and I think as far as a support extending back towards the trunk floor, I would make sure to put a plate under the support so force against the trunk floor is spread out over a wide area.  With your trailer being pretty light, I think that's going to work fine.

That is exactly what I had planned on, a plate that spread the load out. The 2 holes I mentioned were for the plate to bolt to the floor. I might include a light upper plate to sandwich the floor.

I was there that first year when you started developing problems with your hitch, at Columbus I think. I let you use a telescoping mirror I had, so you could see what was happening underneath. I'm still waiting on the check for tool rental.

[Pentroof]

Doug,
I don't quite understand the strategy with the trailer. How much weight did you actually save by cutting it down? A short tongue to axle length will make it less stable and actually could have a worse effect on the hitch with side loads as it corrects itself going down the road.

Is the plan to build a tall box to enclose the gear? You may find the sail effect creates more resistance than if you kept the original deck size and reduced the overall height.

Future refrerence for thought and others as well: Im not sute where you live, but in many parts of the country you can pick up an older aluminum snowmobile trailer very cheap, as the trend is moving more and more to enclosed units. They weigh almost nothing and most have torsion axles with externally greaseable hubs. The decks sit above the wheels, but could be narrowed and cut down to fit between them.

One of these years I'll have to join you guys on this Drag Week adventure. Good luck!

[jayb]

I was there that first year when you started developing problems with your hitch, at Columbus I think. I let you use a telescoping mirror I had, so you could see what was happening underneath. I'm still waiting on the check for tool rental.

You may be waiting a while longer 

[cjshaker]

The tongue to axle length has only been shortened by 1', which I think will have a negligible impact. The tongue is still long, which is the important part. I cut away about 120 pounds. The box will only extend up about 6" at the most; just enough room for the slicks and my tool box to fit. I've seen the aluminum snowmobile trailers; they're much bigger and heavier than this will be, more cumbersome, and not cheap. I have $250 in this right now (the purchase price), and since I already have most of the material to finish it, I estimate about another $100 to put into it. That's pretty cheap for a reliable trailer, I think.

[Heo]

Woow 104 F inside the garage....we dont get 104
outside.... ever...Can i please rent your old barn
thats closer to the road.....Damed i can rent your
dragweek trailer and live in that after drag week
is ower