The Road to Drag Week 2016 - Luxury Land Yacht style

[thatdarncat]

My 1967 Cougar race car project has been progressing, but sadly not enough to be Drag Week ready this year. 2015 was the first year of the 3 year cycle of Hot Rod Drag Week rules and it became apparent that moving the Street Machine Eliminator class lower ET limit down to 10.00 seconds would move the upper cut-off to get into the 32 car bracket race to determine the class winner to something that would require a NHRA legal roll bar. Because of that reality I decided not to run my '67 Shelby at Drag Week again this year. So, on to plan B. After watching Hemi Joel do the easy Parade Lap of America last year in the GTX convertible I thought I'd give that a try and hopefully, if all goes well, have a smooth and relaxing Drag Week experience for 2016 by taking my 1978 Lincoln MK V. No it won't be the fastest, but it may be the biggest!





I bought the car in Arizona in 2000 and it was my summer daily driver for the next 5 years. I continued to use the car to commute some each summer for the next few years, but a couple years ago it developed a water pump leak and I parked it in my pole barn. First step for getting it ready for Drag Week would be fixing the water pump issue. I'm very grateful my professional mechanic buddy BradFord "volunteered" to tackle the water pump replacement and at the same time replace the original timing chain as well. We took the opportunity use the early 460 non-retarded timing chain. Here's a picture of BradFord either replacing one of the dozens of smog era accessory brackets or taking a quick nap. 



I apologize for it not being a more exciting project, or FE powered, but hopefully I'll have a chance this year to provide some Drag Week updates for the forum. 

[cjshaker]

What's going to keep you from falling asleep while going down the track?
Those things are some of the smoothest sailing cars I've ever rode in. I was hoping to see the Shelby but was wondering if you were going at all since I hadn't seen you post anything. Just the chain swap should make a noticeable difference. Those carbs are nothing to write home about either. I had a '78 Mercury  4dr station wagon with a 460, once. After changing the timing chain and jetting the carb way lean, I managed to squeeze 16-17 mpg out of it on the highway. In contrast, the best I could get out of my '77 Ford wagon with a 400 was about 14. Those 460's have torque for days.

[Qikbbstang]

Got to ask was 78 the last of the 460s in Lincolns?
     I paid $250 for an ex-Penn state HWY 460 Patrol car at a Florida used car lot and drove it home. My friend wanted the trans and told me he'd give me $125 for it and have his mechanics pull the motor for me. The car had flapper valves on the air cleaner housing like Boss 302 and Q-code Mustangs. (they sold on ebay) The shifter had PRND2  there was no indicator of 1st or any way to manually put it there... Ford did that for warranty if you think bout it - cops could not hold it in 1st). The "virgin" motor had the good rods, a HD dual inlet oil pump plate, and a truck type oil cooler adaptor on block. Only odd thing odd on engine was rev-cups under the valves. Heads were the crap emission bolt down rockers.
  The car had a large oil:water heat exchanger mounted on top of a specially stamped inner fender (deeply recessed so it could clear the hood) and Aeroquip braided SS lines all sheathed in rubber. (still have heat exchanger) I regret not yanking out the chromed T-handle cable assembly under dash by door that allowed twist locking the throttle at rpm to rev her up and keep it cool. Looking back that was a rare car the last big block model cop car..

[country63sedan]

I own a 75 Continental. My Grandpa bought it new, and I bought it from him shortly before he died. He made a point to tell me he put the timing set for a 69 Mark ? in it. He wanted to improve fuel mileage. He smiled when he said "The mileage didn't change, but the power sure did." He also mentioned "It'll bury the speedo with ease."

 I've made several long trips at 95 with my arm on the armrest, steering wheel between one finger and a thumb. I still want to try land speed racing with that sucker, but don't want to cut it up for a cage.  Good luck and have fun at drag week. Later, Travis

[AlanCasida]

Should be a fun trip. 

[Hemi Joel]

I like it!   A yacht needs a name. What will it be? The queen Mary? No, too British, not drag racey enough. How about the Drag Queen Mary? OK, that doesn't sound right for some reason. Does it leak oil? It could be the Exon Valdez. Or maybe Sialia, after Henry Fords yacht? That seems too hard to pronounce.  Best Idea:  U.S.S.  Leland

You will have to change tires at every track. Will you need a trailer to carry a jack big enuff to lift it?   

[57 lima bean]

Remember you have to run slicks.

[thatdarncat]

Remember you have to run slicks.

Steve is right, Drag Week rules require either drag slicks or DOT approved slicks and NHRA rules require a driveshaft loop if running slicks, so next on the To-Do list was installing a drive shaft loop. The next best thing to having a car hoist is having a friend with a hoist, and my racing buddy Brad just happens to have a hoist in his garage. I had helped him earlier this year on the new race engine install and updates on his race car so he was happy to help with driveshaft loop install. It all went pretty easy. I used a Lakewood universal driveshaft loop kit I had sitting around. The upright portion of the support legs usually need to be shortened on all the Ford installs I've done in the past and I had previously cut off about 2" of these with a chop saw. We put the car in the air and did a quick visual on a possible place for the support legs to position on the floor pan. There was a spot within the required 6" of the front u-joint where the floor had some embossed ribs that the supports fit perfectly within, so the hope was that position might work. Next we brought the car back down and unbolted the seats. We left the seats in the car, but just tipped back. We pulled up the carpet in the front. These Lincolns have a ton of wiring running on the floor from the front of the car to the back as well as side to side, so the next concern was if the chosen spot would have issues with wiring interference where the holes would need to be drilled to mount the loop support. I got lucky here as the wiring ran close, but not over where the holes needed to be. I also got lucky as there weren't any floor or seat braces in the way. From below Brad drilled one mounting hole at a time using the driveshaft loop supports as the template and with me above I fed the bolts down through the floor and support. With everything in place it was just a case of tightening the bolts and putting the carpet and seats back in place. I know this is pretty basic for most of the people here on the forum, but it may help someone thinking of getting their car race ready, it's not too involved of a project. Here's a couple pictures:





In the case of my '78 Lincoln ( and most older cars ) there was plenty of room around the exhaust and driveshaft tunnel which helped. Just for comparison, here are a couple pictures I posted on the forum a few years back when I was getting my '96 Lincoln MK8 ready for the dragstrip. It was a lot tighter and the exhaust ran right under the driveshaft. My friend BradFord had to custom fabricate a driveshaft loop from scratch that would fit.



The loop above is what BradFord made, the loop below is a universal driveshaft loop for a late model Mustang.

[thatdarncat]

What's going to keep you from falling asleep while going down the track?
Those things are some of the smoothest sailing cars I've ever rode in. I was hoping to see the Shelby but was wondering if you were going at all since I hadn't seen you post anything. Just the chain swap should make a noticeable difference. Those carbs are nothing to write home about either. I had a '78 Mercury  4dr station wagon with a 460, once. After changing the timing chain and jetting the carb way lean, I managed to squeeze 16-17 mpg out of it on the highway. In contrast, the best I could get out of my '77 Ford wagon with a 400 was about 14. Those 460's have torque for days.

Doug, you're pretty much spot on. I've rebuilt, but never rejetted the carb, but the '78 Mark V and 460 4V gets about 14-15 mpg ( before the recent timing chain replacement ). I also have a '79 Lincoln Town Car with a 400 2V. Along with being way more gutless, it only gets about 11-12 mpg when I was driving the same route back and forth to work. And for BB, yes, 1978 was the last year of the 460 in passenger cars.

[57 lima bean]

Dang....I have a MAS loop just taking up space you could of had.Do you have the safety lanyards for your ore locks?

[TomP]

The bracket cutoff might be into the 10's so i'd suggest a bunch bigger engine. I think you can go 4.70" bore on the IDT block  and with a stroke over 4.5" and two large turbos you might do OK...

[JERICOGTX]

It will be the one car at drag week that will arrive at the next track, while still leaving the previous.one.

[Jim Comet]

Is there any rule about running dark tint on the side windows at an NHRA track? Or is it just that the starter has to be able to see the driver has his helmet on?

[thatdarncat]

Is there any rule about running dark tint on the side windows at an NHRA track? Or is it just that the starter has to be able to see the driver has his helmet on?

Well, yes there is a rule. Under NHRA general regulations 7:8. I'm summarizing here, but in the Pro and Sportsman catagories window tint ( other than factory glass tint ) is not allowed, in all other catagories window tint must meet state laws. The Lincoln had the window tint already when I bought it in Arizona ( Police cars in Arizona & New Mexico have window tint this dark    ). I'm guessing the car is pushing the tint limits in most other states. I have raced the car locally before and it passed tech, but I guess we'll see.

[cjshaker]

Seeing as how Drag Week isn't a Sanctioned Event, and a lot of rules are bent if not entirely broken, as long as it's not a safety factor, they likely won't say a word. That's just a guess though.