1962 F100 unibody drag truck

[gdaddy01]

great job ,keep on keepen on

[KMcCullah]

Happy New Years guys. Hoping for better racing in 2021.

Despite our best efforts to reach the tens last season, it didn't happen. 11.08@115 was the best we did. Primarily due to dismal air quality. 8500+DA every race. Tons of smoke in the air from forest fires too.

We tried several things to make the truck faster. When the motor and tranny was out for freshening, I swiss cheesed the front and mid cross members. This was good for about 25lbs. That steel is thick!






Tests with and without the ram box proved inconclusive. It's hard to tell anything with 100+ambient temperatures. I've got some sticky backed silver insulation that I'm thinking about trying out. Also thinking about tacking in a couple of air smoothing vanes. It has to be turbulent as hell inside there at 115mph.



The last thing we tried at the end of the season was calming the air down over the bed. It didn't seem to matter much. Getting rid of the factory tail gate netted us about 30lbs though. The panel over the fuel cell pops out like the leaf on mom's table. The wing lays down with the new tailgate. We put little latches under the wing.







One of the things we're currently working on is the front axle. Will post up a few pics when it's finished.



 

[Leny Mason]

Hi, could You go with a mono spring that may save some weight to, I love those trucks . Leny Mason

[winr1]

I will weigh my F1 straight axle and ask my Friends what their 61 to 64 straight axles weigh

The F1 axle weighs around 7 or so more pounds than 1 65 F-100 I beam



Ricky.

[KMcCullah]

I will weigh my F1 straight axle and ask my Friends what their 61 to 64 straight axles weigh



Ricky.

This might be interesting, Ricky. The new front axle weighs in at 31lbs.

[KMcCullah]

The front axle was a long process but we finally got it done. I had Speedway make up a tube axle with king pin bosses for 1940 Ford spindles. The standard tube they offer is 2" DOM 1/4 wall. The heavy duty tube has a 3/8 wall. Given the weight of the truck and the possibility of huge wheelies, we went with the 3/8 wall tube. We decided on the spindles because Wilwood makes a slick 12" rotor with aluminum hub that fits the early Ford spindle. The old steering arm had a wider bolt pattern and a curve that wouldn't work with the shock. Dad took the lead on this one and fabbed up a new steering arm that clears the shock. We ended up with quite a bit of spring droop after overhauling the factory spring packs. About 7". After quite a bit of searching around for a long travel 90/10 shock, I ended up getting custom shocks made. They're actually designed for IMCA modifieds. Minimal rebound valving with stout compression valving makes them like a 90/10. At the first test and tune we had some bad death wobble. The aluminum tie rod was fluttering like a guitar string up to about 90mph and then it would calm down. We had hopes of not needing a steering stabilizer but it had to go back on. Too spooky to drive. It takes some brain reprogramming to keep your foot on the floor when you can't steer.  All told we lost 60lbs off the nose. Unsprung weight to boot. 60' times improved to 1.43-1.44. I'm headed toward sneaking up my launch RPM. It's set at 2800 right now.





 









Video from races 5/8/2021:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leaac6oPzRU

[475fetoploader]

That is cool guy stuff right there. Great looking video. It seems to set the front end down somewhat gently.  Good combination.

[Jb427]

Looks great 60lbs is not bad at all

[KMcCullah]

We had another fun summer of drag racing. Dad was able to reunite with several high school classmates. FE's and F100's seem to attract old guys.     My driving has improved to a point that I usually make it to the semi finals most race nights.

 The local track had it's season finale Wally race last night. We thought as a last ditch effort for the 10's, we would try a 2" Super Sucker. The truck liked it! We ran a new best of 11.06@116. It didn't get us to the 10's but any improvement in bracket racing is a win in my book.

Below is a link to a video that a friend took with slow motion. I thought it was pretty cool. Especially since it was the same pass that we ran our new best time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt7xTs2soBk

[jayb]

Awesome wheelstand, Kevin, truck looks great!  Way to put the hurt on the Batmobile 

[475fetoploader]

Great launch!  Super cool you had a great season. I imagine the off season will yield a 10.90 first weekend next year.

[cjshaker]

Great launch! That thing looks exactly like a '62 Unibody that I used to have...although it was a bit slower with a 300 I6.  I sure loved that truck!

I noticed that your front tires stop turning immediately after coming off the ground. I wonder if your front brakes are dragging just a bit? Not sure if it'd gain you any ET, but might be worth looking at.

[KMcCullah]

Thanks for the compliments guys. Will pass em on to dad.

Jay- The Batmobile belongs to Sherman Umberger. He's a super nice guy. Awesome drag racing family. I wish the video ran another few seconds. It would have caught him getting loose and crossing right behind me.

Doug- The brakes do slightly drag. I wasn't a 100% happy with the way the calipers mounted up. They're 4 piston calipers so they have to be mounted dead nuts centered with the rotor. The shim washer kit that Wilwood sent didn't have the exact thickness of washer we needed. McMaster-Carr would probably have the shim washers I need. Will revisit this winter.

One of the improvements I forgot to mention was the aluminum drive shaft. The trucks usual 60' times were always 1.43-1.44. The first pass I made with the aluminum drive shaft, the 60' time improved to a solid 1.42. I was surprised. I thought it was going to help pick up some on the big end. But after 40 passes, the only improvement we ended up with was 60' times. I reckon with a more aerodynamic car it may have helped on the big end. The truck has the same aerodynamic qualities as a refrigerator. 

[mbrunson427]

Next summer I'm going to make you come over the hill to Bandimere!

[KMcCullah]

It's been a while since I've updated our progress. Time just seems to fly these days. Sheesh.

We spent another winter shedding weight of the truck. The first thing we did was haul out the seats and slider frame. I found a bomber looking seat that fit pretty well. Made a pair of custom brackets and called it good. This was good for about 95lbs.



The next thing we did was trim all the fat off the doors and replaced the windows with red plexiglass. This netted us about 27lbs per door.



We hauled out the back window and made a plexiglass replacement for it too. It looks cool and all but it's sucks to drive in the dark.



Last thing we did was replace the steel back wheels with some aluminum ones. I took a shine to the wheels that mbrunson427 had made for his Mustang so I called Bogart and had a pair made. It took 4 months to get em but damn are they nice! Dropped about 17lbs per wheel.



And after all that, we FINALLY got our ten second time slip. Just barely.



Note how the 60' foot time is missing? This is because the truck wheelies waaaay past the 60' beams now. Especially after a light spray of VHT. The few time slips I've got with a 60' time show in the 1.41 range. So this is where we're at now. We're working on limiting straps (expired harnesses) to shorten the front axle drop. Will post a few pics when we get it figured out.