'68 Mustang Coupe Drag Car

[XR7]

I would sure think that will run well into the nines all day long, at any track near sea level and decent air. I think it will pleasantly surprise you! The chassis is pretty well sorted out, and you will have good power. I think it will get "dialed in" pretty quick. You will have to de-tune it and/or put a restrictor on it to stay out of the nines. You might have to re-gear it also because it will want to MPH.

I realize a 9 won't be happening at a mile high altitude, but should still run hard.

[mbrunson427]

Mike, we think alike
I'm just trying to figure out how to put an AutoMeter tach in the speedometer opening.

can't get picture to post

Mike, the only tach I could find that had the correct dimensions was a smaller auto meter white face gauge. There's a couple companies that sell the whole instrument cluster with new auto meter gauges in all the holes, but that was a bit overboard for what's needed here.

[mbrunson427]

I would sure think that will run well into the nines all day long, at any track near sea level and decent air. I think it will pleasantly surprise you! The chassis is pretty well sorted out, and you will have good power. I think it will get "dialed in" pretty quick. You will have to de-tune it and/or put a restrictor on it to stay out of the nines. You might have to re-gear it also because it will want to MPH.

I realize a 9 won't be happening at a mile high altitude, but should still run hard.

Thanks for the input Thor! The main thing I have been worried about is the car seems pretty wheelie happy. I don't know what to expect out of it when we toss some more power at it. Are we going to end up pulling ballast out of the trunk? I'm not very savvy at this sort of thing. What corrections would you expect are coming our way with the added power?

[475fetoploader]

May be a situation where changing pinion angle can ‘soften’ the hit on the tire. If you’re running caltracs, tuning the preload on the bars could take hit away. 

[mike7570]

Mike, we think alike
I'm just trying to figure out how to put an AutoMeter tach in the speedometer opening.

can't get picture to post

Mike, the only tach I could find that had the correct dimensions was a smaller auto meter white face gauge. There's a couple companies that sell the whole instrument cluster with new auto meter gauges in all the holes, but that was a bit overboard for what's needed here.

I put AutoMeter gauges in the top 3 openings the same way you did. The matching tach is too large to fit in the existing opening but enough of it should show to be readable. I have a spare junk dash that I might try modifying by cutting the opening larger from the back to see if I can get it to look decent. There is plenty of room behind the dash face since I'm not using any of the stock internals or wiring. 

[mike7570]

create image url

[bobb428]

Calverts dash with the 5" installed
154 by Bob Smith, on Flickr

[bobb428]

I would sure think that will run well into the nines all day long, at any track near sea level and decent air. I think it will pleasantly surprise you! The chassis is pretty well sorted out, and you will have good power. I think it will get "dialed in" pretty quick. You will have to de-tune it and/or put a restrictor on it to stay out of the nines. You might have to re-gear it also because it will want to MPH.

I realize a 9 won't be happening at a mile high altitude, but should still run hard.

Bandimere, while being at 5,800' is never corrected at that. We really don't have any mindshaft conditions here. My best pass, the altitude corrected @9,400'. I have to spin the ever living crap out of mine to get a decent time here.

[mbrunson427]

Marc, here are some engine compartment detail pictures as requested! We welded shut quite a few holes. I did a quick job of some shade tree bodywork before spraying it black. This week the goal is to get the whole front end of the car back together and get the trunk buttoned up (fuel cell and battery tray). We had to weld tabs onto the fuel cell because it didn't come with any sort of mounting provision.

[Stangman]

I’m curious about the ballast. How much is in the back of the car. Is it enough to get the rear to be the same weight as the front. Ya know we always try to get our cars as light as possible but I know the front of my car is like 450 lbs heavier than the back. I always wondered if the weight to get the car at 50/50 hurts the ET or helps.

[mbrunson427]

I’m curious about the ballast. How much is in the back of the car. Is it enough to get the rear to be the same weight as the front. Ya know we always try to get our cars as light as possible but I know the front of my car is like 450 lbs heavier than the back. I always wondered if the weight to get the car at 50/50 hurts the ET or helps.

There was a considerable amount of weight added to the trunk of the car. Between the battery, ballast bars, ballast box, and the mounting frame that was back there I would guess 200 pounds? To run B/SA the car needed to weigh in at over 3300 pounds. Not sure that the extra weight would have been added if there wasn't a requirement. I think in this case the car needed to be heavier and the trunk was the convenient place to put the weight.

I don't think we will end up using ballast. We are putting the box and the ballast mounts back in just for the sake of being able to easily convert it back to stock class configuration if we want to.

[bobb428]

The weights for the CJ combo's are just ridiculous! You look at the Richie in C, almost 3,600#s vs RA2 Pontiac's at 3,200#s. 

[mbrunson427]

More progress from yesterday, should be further this weekend!

[mbrunson427]

I ordered a roll bar mounted switch panel for the car. I'm really pleased with how it turned out, figured I'd show you guys. Jolt Systems is where I ordered it from, Ryan was super good to deal with.
https://joltsystems.net/collections/switch-panels

[WConley]

I ordered a roll bar mounted switch panel for the car. I'm really pleased with how it turned out, figured I'd show you guys. Jolt Systems is where I ordered it from, Ryan was super good to deal with.
https://joltsystems.net/collections/switch-panels

That looks da business!  Car is coming along great