Author Topic: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012  (Read 18011 times)

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jayb

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September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« on: September 04, 2012, 01:03:08 AM »
The last four days have been pretty intense; lots of ups and downs, changes of plans, limited sleep, etc.  I took the day off from work on Friday because the Mach 1 was still not ready to make it to the track, and the SOHC for the Shelby clone still needed to be finished.  I hit the shop early to finish up some of the details on the Mach 1, and was soon joined by BradFORD, Steve P, and Joel.  We worked on items like the engine compartment braces that run from the shock towers to the fireway (which had to be custom built to clear the sheet metal intake), the brace running between the lower control arm mounting points on the frame (which had to be custom built to clear the oil pan), finishing up the wiring and putting the interior back together, etc. etc.  Around 3:30 Steve S. came by with the hood and shaker scoop assembly; Steve had it all roughed in and ready to bolt on the car for the track day on Saturday.  Everybody was blown away by the scoop and hood; it looked a lot better than what I thought it would.  Here's a photo of it installed:



After the trial fit Steve worked on modifying the hood hinges so that the hood would fit properly on the car; it seemed like the hood had the bolt holes shifted 1/4" or so, making alignment nearly impossible.  The mods to the hinges solved the problem.  Next we stole the prop rod for the Galaxie's fiberglass hood off that car, and put it on the Mach 1 so we had a way to hold it up.  Stealing parts off the Galaxie would turn out to be a recurring theme over the next few days LOL! 

Finally, after working on the car all day, we got it loaded on the trailer and ready to race at 11:00 PM on Friday night.  I had planned to be spending a fair amount of time working on the SOHC engine, but the Mach 1 took up all the time on Friday, so that put a crimp in my weekend's plans.  I had mapped out the weekend as follows:  Friday get the Mach 1 ready and the remaining assembly done on the SOHC; Saturday we planned to go to the track to run the car, and have Joel get his license passes in, and then Saturday night I was going to put the SOHC on the dyno.  Sunday was dyno day for the SOHC, and Monday was installation day and hookup, hopefully ending with the engine running in the car at the end of the night Monday.  So, I was behind schedule as of Friday night.  I decided to see how the track day went and then replan from there.

Saturday morning at 6:30 I was on the road to the track, which is a local 1/8 mile track about 80 miles from me.  I picked up Joel along the way, and we were at the gates when they opened at 8:00 AM.  BradFORD and his son Alex and some of his friends showed up shortly thereafter.  By 9:00 I had the Mach 1 teched and was ready to race.  It had been nearly five years since I'd run the car at the track, and a good seven years since I'd run it with a C-4, so I figured it would take me some time to get used to the car again.  Also, there was zero track prep at the track for the test and tune that ran from 9:00 to 3:00, and I had brand new race tires on the car, so I figured I'd have some traction issues.  First pass it was pretty clear that this was the case; the car was all over the track from the launch, and I got out of it part way through second gear because I hadn't hit the brakes hard since 2007, and I wanted to be sure they would work.  But they did, and other than the lack of traction the car felt pretty strong.  So, I went back out again a few minutes later, and this time stretched into third before letting off.  Again the traction was a big issue, but it felt a little better than the first pass, and ran a 6.65 in the eighth.  I rolled back into the pits to let the car cool for a half hour or so, and give it a good once over, then went out to try to make a good full pass.  This time though, although the car launched reasonably well, I had problems with the 2-3 shift; the car did not shift gears, so I immediately let off and coasted through to a 6.90.  Back in the pits I decided to adjust the shift linkage, and make sure that I had a positive shift into third.  After re-adjusting the linkage I ran the shifter through the gears, and it dawned on me that the missed shift was my own fault; I had just forgotten to push in the shift button on the shifter during the pass!  The C-4 has a reverse valve body, so the Drive position is first gear, and the shifter has to be pulled back one detent for second, and then the last detent for third.  I just forgot to push in the shift button when I went for third gear, so the shifter didn't move and neither did the transmission linkage.  I must have flashed back to the Powerglide during the pass, which shifted the opposite way and didn't require the button on the shifter to be pushed in order to make the shift.  After this I went back out again, and made a decent pass at 6.44.  The car was hooking better despite no track prep, and on the next pass I ran 6.36, which is equivalent to about a 9.90 in the quarter.

At this point I felt the car was working reasonably well, so I handed it off to Joel so he could make his license passes.  NHRA licensing requires a new driver to make six passes, the last two of which have to be 9.99 or quicker, or 135 MPH or faster, in the quarter mile.  In the eighth mile, you need to run 6.39 or quicker.  I had already run faster than that, so I figured Joel could too if he was able to get used to the car.  The first four licensing passes are warmup passes, and Joel did OK on those, running 6.65 on the fourth pass if I recall correctly.  There was an hour and a half left in the test and tune, and it appeared that Joel had a pretty good shot at getting it done.  Unfortunately, trying to make his fast passes caused some problems.  Things happen pretty fast in a nine second car, and Joel had issues keeping the car pointed straight down the track, making the shifts, etc.  So he was not able to get any qualifying passes in during the test and tune. 

After the test and tune was over we got permission from the track manager to run at the end of the time trials for the bracket race, so we stayed at the track and Joel got another three runs in.  I was hoping that the better track prep that the track did between the test and tune and the time trials section would make things easier, but again Joel had some problems and wasn't able to hit the number he needed.  His second run made me really nervous; he was having traction problems and as I watched the car from the side of the track it steered towards me and came pretty close to the wall.  Back in the pits Joel and I talked it over, and we decided that he would try one more time to hit a 6.39 or quicker pass, and if it didn't happen we would call it for the day; it was already after 6:00, and I was losing time on the SOHC assembly.  But Joel's last pass was his best of the day; the car went pretty straight and he hit the shifts cleanly.  Unfortunately, he only ran 6.49, a tenth short of where he needed to be.  The car hit the rev limiter at the top of second on that pass, and that probably cost him the tenth.  Joel said he shifted when the shift light flashed, but the transmission delayed going into gear.  Maybe the transmission fluid level wasn't right? 

Anyway, we put the car back on the trailer and went back to my place.  I wanted to change oil in the car and take a good look at it because BradFORD had found some shiny stuff in the puke can when he drained it at one point.  We'd changed the oil filter at the track and hadn't seen it again, but I wanted to take a good look at the oil anyway.  Fortunately, it looked just fine, so we filled it back up and made plans for Sunday.  Joel had talked to the track manager before we'd left and he said he could let him sneak in during the time trials again on Sunday to try to license, and Joel was feeling pretty confident after his last pass, so he wanted to take the car back to the track.  No way I could go with him; it was 10:00 PM when we finished the oil change on the Mach 1, and I was way, way behind schedule on the SOHC engine.  So, Joel took the car home on the trailer and I spent until midnight in the shop, making plans for Sunday.

After kicking around the schedule for a while, by Sunday morning I had concluded that there was no way I would have time to finish building the engine, put it on the dyno, and then get it installed in the car in two days.  I went to plan B, which was to just finish building the engine and put it in the car.  I was going to tear the injector setup off the Galaxie and use that on the engine, because the tune for the engine with the Hilborn setup on it was already in the EFI box in the Shelby clone; therefore no dyno tuning of the sheet metal intake which I had planned to use would be required.  I got started on finishing the assembly of the engine at 8:00 AM on Sunday, but shortly after I got going I got a call from Joel.  He was stranded on the side of the road with a flat trailer tire!  He didn't have a spare, and he was not able to get the lug nuts off the wheels because he didn't have a big enough wrench with him.  BradFORD was on the way; he was going to meet Joel at the track, and would stop on the way and help with the tire situation.  I kept going on the SOHC, and about an hour later Joel called and he was rolling again, but was already late for the time trials at the track.  I put all that aside and by noon I had the oil pan installed on the engine, and was ready to start the top end assembly.  Then I got another call from Joel:

"I have good news and bad news"
"OK, what's the good news?"
"The car is mostly in one piece"
"MOSTLY in one piece??"
"The rear end blew on my first pass"

Great, just what we needed.  At this point I was beginning to wonder again about letting my friends drive my cars, and why I was putting myself through this torture of busting my hump trying to get two cars ready for Drag Week.  I sat down in my chair in the shop and gave very serious consideration to throwing in the towel on the whole thing.  Joel needed to get the car back on the trailer and I guess the rear end had locked up on the track, so it was going to be a while before he made it back to my place with the car.  I decided to just keep going on assembling the SOHC while I waited.  I got the valvetrain installed was began turning the motor over lashing the valves when I heard some little clicks from down in the bottom of the motor.  I knew exactly what it was; the ends of the rod bolts were hitting on the windage tray as the crank turned by.  I had this same problem last year on this engine right before Drag Week, and had had to pull the oil pan in the car to fix it.  So when I installed the oil pan on this engine, I'd been careful to check for clearance in this area.  I'd had at least an eighth of an inch.  The only thing I could think of that could be causing the problem is that the oil pan was putting a bend into the windage tray when it was installed, and moving the tray closer to the reciprocating assembly, causing the problem.  Sheesh, now I had to pull the oil pan again.  Another trip to the chair, to think about whether to proceed with this, and if so, how to do it. 

Around 4:00 Joel showed up with the car and trailer.  I got some more details then; apparently he had launched the car on his first pass on Sunday, and it went out about 30 feet when the rear end just locked up, and the car skidded and shuddered to a complete stop.  BradFORD thought the pinion gear had grenaded.  Joel, who is not superstitious, commented that a black cat had run in front of his truck ten minutes before the trailer tire blew LOL!  I told Joel about the issues with the SOHC and that I had to pull the pan again and was wondering if the whole effort was worth it.  We decided to give Steve a call and see if he could come over to discuss the whole situation.  Steve arrived about an hour later and we conferenced in BradFORD, and tried to decide what to do.  In the end we concluded that the rear end in the Mach 1 could be repaired during the week and we could still make the event with it, but if there wasn't any way to fix the idle problem it wouldn't be a streetable car, so it didn't make any sense to go.  Also we concluded that if the SOHC engine wasn't together and installed in the Shelby clone by the end of the day Monday, we had no shot at making the event with that car.  So we decided to use those two points as decision points.  If we could get the Mach 1 to idle down to a reasonable speed, and if the SOHC and trans was installed in the Shelby clone by the end of the day Monday, we'd still be a go for the event.

Steve left with the hood for the Mach 1 and the Shelby clone; he is doing a modification to an aftermarket scoop for the Shelby clone also, plus doing some work on the second Drag Week trailer, so he is as busy as any of us.  His first pass at the scoop for the Shelby clone looks really cool, just like the Mach 1 scoop does.  Joel and I spent Sunday evening working on various projects.  Since I was so bummed out about having to pull the oil pan off the SOHC, Joel did that for me, and sure enough the rod bolts were hitting the windage tray.  I took the tray off and plasma-cut some holes in it to clear the bolts, then re-installed the pan at the end of the evening.  While Joel was taking it off I had been pulling some parts I needed off the Galaxie.  Then we decided we should try to tear the rear end out of the Mach 1 and confirm what the damage was.  Joel pulled it out of the car as I filmed him for a youtube video; by this time we were both a little punchy and it turned out to be a pretty funny video.  I think Joel is going to post a link here.  In any case, when we got it out we found that the ring gear was completely toast, with nearly every tooth torn off.  Here's Joel holding some of the carange:



This whole situation is a little confusing to me, because the rear end setup in the Mach 1 is identical to the one I have in the Galaxie, and with more power and more weight, the Galaxie rear end has held up just fine.  The only difference is in the ratios, 4.56 in the Gal and 4.71 in the Mach 1.  BradFORD set up both gear sets, and he knows how to set them up for a drag applications.  The gears are normal street gears, not pro gears, but the cars are always launched off a foot brake, not with the trans brake, and I've never broken a set of rear end gears before.  Tomorrow I'll be ordering a set of pro gears for the Mach1, just to make sure this doesn't happen again, although I'll confess I'm a little concerned that they will wear out quickly with the street use they will get during Drag Week.  But this development with the Mach 1 has made me a little paranoid about the gear sets in the Galaxie and the Shelby clone, so I think I might order a spare set of pro gears to take with me to the event. 

Joel left shortly afterwards, and I hit the sack pretty exhausted.  This morning I was back out to the shop at 8:00 AM, continuing on the assembly of the SOHC.  Joel, Brad, and Steve P. showed up around noon, and we worked together to try to get the projects done so we could decide if we were going to still try to make it.  Brad worked on getting a street exhaust system on the Mach 1 so I could keep it running for a while and try to tune the idle.  Steve cleaned up around the Shelby clone, then got it pointed in the right direction for installation of the engine.  Joel worked on getting the Hilborn setup taken off the Galaxie, and I continued the assembly of the SOHC.  All of this stuff took longer than we thought, but finally at 5:00 PM the Hilborn setup was installed on the SOHC and the Mach 1 was ready for some tuning.  I thought the night might end right there; I was not optimistic about getting the Mach 1 to idle.  It has far and away the most radical cam I've ever run in a vehicle, and with the sheet metal intake I just didn't know if I could idle it down to 1000 RPM or not.  We had drained the race gas and filled it with pump premium, but for the first 15 minutes I still had no luck getting the engine to run much below 1500 RPM.  The O2 sensor was useless for idle tuning; when it was reading 15:1 the engine was pig rich and would stumble and spit, while filling the air with fuel fumes.  Finally I started to make some headway by ignoring the wideband O2 sensor and running the fuel map numbers back and forth to see when the engine quit from too much fuel, and when it quit from too little.  I put the numbers about a third of the way up this range, then started messing with the timing.  I also took some advice from CDMBill, and tried to tune with the secondary throttle bores on the front throttle body, rather than with the main idle screw.  After screwing around for about a 1/2 hour, I had the engine idling at temperature between 850 and 950 RPM.  It wasn't particularly stable, but it was certainly livable on the street.  This was really the first good news I'd had on these projects since Friday when Steve brought the Mach 1 hood and scoop over.  I felt kind of recharged after that, so we all got to work on getting the SOHC off the engine stand, hooked up to the trans, and into the car.  We got it done by about 8:45;  here's a couple of photos:





There is still a lot of work to do on the Shelby clone to get it ready to run, but at least we have a shot.  And I'm confident that with the help of overnight delivery ($$$) of a ring and pinion we can get the Mach 1 back in the game by Friday as well.  I'll try to post another update later this week; we need to leave for Drag Week early Saturday morning.  Its going to be a hectic, sleepless week, that's for sure  :o
Jay Brown
- 1969 Mach 1, Drag Week 2005 Winner NA/BB, 511" FE (10.60s @ 129); Drag Week 2007 Runner-Up PA/BB, 490" Supercharged FE (9.35 @ 151)
- 1964 Ford Galaxie, Drag Week 2009 Winner Modified NA (9.50s @ 143), 585" SOHC
- 1969 Shelby Clone, Drag Week 2015 Winner Modified NA (Average 8.98 @ 149), 585" SOHC

   

dowds

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #1 on: September 04, 2012, 02:42:24 AM »
Wow, never a dull moment leading up to drag week for you guys, hope you get one car ready in time i am looking forward to the daily reports.

Wayne (oz)

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #2 on: September 04, 2012, 08:17:52 AM »
Just a thought arnt pro gears 35 spline on the pinion? You might need to order a new pinion yoke also.

machoneman

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #3 on: September 04, 2012, 10:39:17 AM »
Amazing amount of work Jay! Hey, I also thought the hood/scoop would look butt ugly but wow, it looks much better than I figured.

Go, Jay, go...LOL!   
Bob Maag

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #4 on: September 04, 2012, 02:44:25 PM »
Wow!  what a saga!

Jay you should collect all your "Road to Drag Week" postings and publish them as a book... There are more twists and turns than a Tom Clancy novel
1955 Thunderbird Competition Coupe Altered Chassis "War Bird" 383 Lincoln Y block 520 hp
1955 Thunderbird 292 275 hp Y Block
1956 Ford Victoria 292 Y block

1957 Mercury 2dr Wagon "Battle Wagon" drag car 
1957 Thunderbird Glass body Tube Chassis drag car 333 cu in 500 hp Ford Y block
1961 Starliner 390/375 clone
1965 GT40 tribute w/FE
1966 Falcon Pro Touring project
Kaase Boss 547. 840 HP 698 Torque  pump gas
1992 BMW V-12 5.0
2001 Lincoln 5.4 4 cam.
1968 Cougar XR7

machoneman

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #5 on: September 04, 2012, 03:03:27 PM »
Btw, on the Pro gears they will not wear away fast enough with the limited street miles you appear to run each year (testing, Drag Week, cruising, etc.) I'll venture neither car gets much over 1,500 miles per year and many locals here do run them on the street for quite a few miles, albeit w/o big block FE power!

If you were doing say 5K+ each year then yes, street driven Pro gears would not be a good choice......JMO.

On the apparent ring gear carnage, that is damn unusual as I've had and seen plenty of shelled rear-ends but...are the pinion's teeth pretty much intact? I ask since the hand-held shot looks to be only ring gear teeth. A somewhat intact pinion would seem to indicate faulty heat-treat on the ring gear, given the bearing retainers, bolt/studs and the 9" case itself are a-o.k.   
 

 
Bob Maag


WConley

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #7 on: September 04, 2012, 10:44:10 PM »
Keep up the good fight.

Wish I was closer.  Then you'd really have somebody around to screw all of your stuff up!
A careful study of failure will yield the ingredients for success.

jayb

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #8 on: September 05, 2012, 07:10:04 AM »
Just a thought arnt pro gears 35 spline on the pinion? You might need to order a new pinion yoke also.

You are correct, and I didn't realize that; thanks for pointing it out.  I ended up buying new gears, pinion bearings, a pinion seal, and a yoke from Mark Williams.  They should be here today...
Jay Brown
- 1969 Mach 1, Drag Week 2005 Winner NA/BB, 511" FE (10.60s @ 129); Drag Week 2007 Runner-Up PA/BB, 490" Supercharged FE (9.35 @ 151)
- 1964 Ford Galaxie, Drag Week 2009 Winner Modified NA (9.50s @ 143), 585" SOHC
- 1969 Shelby Clone, Drag Week 2015 Winner Modified NA (Average 8.98 @ 149), 585" SOHC

   

jayb

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #9 on: September 05, 2012, 07:19:18 AM »
Quick update:  Last night (Tuesday) we got some of the minor things taken care of on the Mach 1, and I ordered the new rear end parts I needed for the car yesterday, so they should be arriving today.  BradFORD will slam it back together so we can install it hopefully on Thursday night.  He was concerned about the Detroit Locker in the rear end; he thought it had taken a hit when the ring gear blew up.  Last night we chucked the locker into my lathe and measured .015" runout in one 180 degree area at the ring gear mounting flange.  I had an AHA! moment, and realized I had a spare 35 spline Detroit locker, but I couldn't find it!  Joel and I looked for what seemed like an hour, all over my shop, and could not locate the stupid thing.  Kevin was over last night also, and I was complaining to him about not being able to find it, and at the end of the night around 11:00 PM we took a last sweep through the shop to look for it.  Kevin found it in a white plastic bag, sitting on the steps going to the second floor.  I'll bet I walked by it 50 times that night and it didn't dawn on me to look in the bag.  But now we've got a known good locker to install with the gears.

Got the engine and trans in the Shelby clone bolted down last night, and also the front suspension reinstalled, which is also a big pain.  Also got the headers mostly installed; they need a little more work to be finished, but I can take care of that tonight.  After that the rest of the hookup is a lot easier, and I'm hopeful that we can get it done and get the engine fired on Thursday night.  Talk about cutting it close LOL!
Jay Brown
- 1969 Mach 1, Drag Week 2005 Winner NA/BB, 511" FE (10.60s @ 129); Drag Week 2007 Runner-Up PA/BB, 490" Supercharged FE (9.35 @ 151)
- 1964 Ford Galaxie, Drag Week 2009 Winner Modified NA (9.50s @ 143), 585" SOHC
- 1969 Shelby Clone, Drag Week 2015 Winner Modified NA (Average 8.98 @ 149), 585" SOHC

   

kevin

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #10 on: September 05, 2012, 02:03:05 PM »
Good luck to you  for drag week.after all you work and troubles i hope it
turns around to a complete success .
good LUCK JAY.
Kevin (new zealand)

afret

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #11 on: September 05, 2012, 04:25:34 PM »
Sorry to hear about all the problems but looks like you have a great team there so I'm sure you'll make it.  Good luck!

jayb

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #12 on: September 06, 2012, 07:28:30 AM »
Update from Wednesday night:  Had a big crew show up for the thrash last night, and we made really good progress on the Shelby clone.  The car is all together except for the fuel system, induction system, and efi connections, and that can be handled tonight.  We'll start the car tonight and check it out to make sure that everything is OK, maybe even go for a test drive.  Also yesterday I got the rear end parts for the Mach 1; BradFORD will be setting that up today, and hopefully re-installing in the car tonight.  Steve is also done with the hood and will be painting it tonight, so it should be ready to install on Friday night.  Then its onto the trailer for both cars, gather up all the tools and spare parts, and off to Tulsa on Saturday morning.  Looks like we're gonna make it...
Jay Brown
- 1969 Mach 1, Drag Week 2005 Winner NA/BB, 511" FE (10.60s @ 129); Drag Week 2007 Runner-Up PA/BB, 490" Supercharged FE (9.35 @ 151)
- 1964 Ford Galaxie, Drag Week 2009 Winner Modified NA (9.50s @ 143), 585" SOHC
- 1969 Shelby Clone, Drag Week 2015 Winner Modified NA (Average 8.98 @ 149), 585" SOHC

   

machoneman

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #13 on: September 06, 2012, 08:28:03 AM »
Yeah!
Bob Maag

57yblock

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #14 on: September 06, 2012, 10:32:03 AM »
Hi Jay I just joined the forum and I am wishing you guys GOOD LUCK on this venture. Talked to Steve P yesterday and didn't know he was going along. Say hello to everybody for me. And GOOD LUCK again. :)

jayb

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #15 on: September 06, 2012, 05:30:53 PM »
Thanks Phil, hope I don't need TOO much luck LOL!
Jay Brown
- 1969 Mach 1, Drag Week 2005 Winner NA/BB, 511" FE (10.60s @ 129); Drag Week 2007 Runner-Up PA/BB, 490" Supercharged FE (9.35 @ 151)
- 1964 Ford Galaxie, Drag Week 2009 Winner Modified NA (9.50s @ 143), 585" SOHC
- 1969 Shelby Clone, Drag Week 2015 Winner Modified NA (Average 8.98 @ 149), 585" SOHC

   

jmlay

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #16 on: September 06, 2012, 07:52:41 PM »
Congradulations, what an effort!!!

The wife & I are in SE Iowa visiting & will be headed back to Dallas, TX on Sat or Sunday. I was hoping to make it to Tulsa on Sat but I am sure I will be derailed somehow. ;-) I might get lucky & be able to pull away, make it to Ennis if work does not get in the way.

Wish you the best of luck!

Mike
Mike

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #17 on: September 07, 2012, 12:21:54 AM »
Go give the Bowtie guys some double barreled hell. ;D

66FAIRLANE

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #18 on: September 07, 2012, 01:24:29 AM »
Your last minute thrash's never cease to amaze and entertain. Best of luck.

jayb

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #19 on: September 07, 2012, 07:49:38 AM »
Thursday night update - BradFORD has the new gears together for the Mach 1, but had various problems during the assembly so they are not yet installed.  That is planned for this afternoon and evening.  Steve got the green painted on the hood of the Mach 1, and has a half day at work today so he will be painting the black part this afternoon, so the hood can be installed this evening.  He also modified a scoop that I picked up for the Shelby clone, and has that painted and ready to install.  He also framed in the doors on the second Drag Week trailer, and put the plywood floor in it.  I picked up the white painted aluminum sheet that we are using to cover the trailer, and Steve took the trailer and some of the sheet home with him last night, and was going to start the sheeting process.  That will need to be finished up today and tonight.  The SOHC in the Shelby clone is ready for firing but has not been started yet; we ran out of time last night.  Still need to put water in the radiator and fluid in the Gear Vendors overdrive, and put the exhaust on the car so I can hear any engine noises when I fire it up tonight.  Also need to get the computer stuff worked out on the Shelby clone, and TIG weld some additions to the four link brackets that Joel machined over the last couple of nights.  All this stuff has to come together tonight, including a test drive on the street for both cars.  We are planning to get started at 6:00 AM on Saturday, collect all the tools and spare parts for the event, load the cars on the trailers, and head to Tulsa by 9:00.  After the thrash, I am looking forward to the relaxing 12 hour drive to Tulsa LOL!
Jay Brown
- 1969 Mach 1, Drag Week 2005 Winner NA/BB, 511" FE (10.60s @ 129); Drag Week 2007 Runner-Up PA/BB, 490" Supercharged FE (9.35 @ 151)
- 1964 Ford Galaxie, Drag Week 2009 Winner Modified NA (9.50s @ 143), 585" SOHC
- 1969 Shelby Clone, Drag Week 2015 Winner Modified NA (Average 8.98 @ 149), 585" SOHC

   

machoneman

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #20 on: September 07, 2012, 09:20:46 AM »
Jay that's great! Hope someone else drives the car so you can snooze in back. 
Bob Maag

Galaxie427

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #21 on: September 07, 2012, 12:31:00 PM »
Jay won't be able to sleep with other people driving!  :)  Just kidding, guys!!

jayb

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #22 on: September 07, 2012, 01:10:30 PM »
LMAO!!
Jay Brown
- 1969 Mach 1, Drag Week 2005 Winner NA/BB, 511" FE (10.60s @ 129); Drag Week 2007 Runner-Up PA/BB, 490" Supercharged FE (9.35 @ 151)
- 1964 Ford Galaxie, Drag Week 2009 Winner Modified NA (9.50s @ 143), 585" SOHC
- 1969 Shelby Clone, Drag Week 2015 Winner Modified NA (Average 8.98 @ 149), 585" SOHC

   

KMcCullah

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Re: September 3, 2012 - The Road to Drag Week 2012
« Reply #23 on: September 08, 2012, 10:23:03 PM »
Nothing is insurmountable with a can do spirit. Have fun at Drag Week guys!
Edit: I just found and read the 9/8/12 post. Sorry guys.  :(  What a huge let down.
« Last Edit: September 08, 2012, 10:50:16 PM by KMcCullah »
Kevin McCullah