I have been thinking about what you said about the roll cage that we are building. The NHRA rule says that with stock frame the cage has to be welded to it. Is that for cars/trucks that run fast enough to require a cage or is that for anyone with an installed roll cage? I understand the importance and added strength of tying the cage to the frame but my truck will not run fast enough to be in the NHRA speed or et bracket to require a cage. We just wanted one in case the transmission blows causing the oil to hit the tires causing a wreck on the big end of the track.

 

http://www.nhra.com/contacts/tech_faq.html

Look about 1/5th of the way down. They are VERY clear that ALL vehicles which had an OEM FRAME must have the cage or roll bar directly attached to the FRAME. Also, at 11.499999999 you need a roll bar, that follows their specs. At 10.99 you need a roll CAGE, unless running an un-modified firewall, AND floor. If the firewall and floor are not modified, you can run just a roll bar to 10.00.

At bandimere, if you have an aftermarket safety devices (5 point harness, etc) and your vehicle does not require it, you are STILL required to keep them within the 2 year update period. I would imagine, that even if you did NOT require a full cage, that if you had one, you would need to have it meet the rules and regs as if you did have it.

The way i look at it is that there is a reason they worked it into thier rules that it must be welded or attached to the frame. It is more than likely, safer to do it that way.

If any vehicle except for convertibles runs an 11.4999 or faster, they have to be equipped with atleast a rollbar (convertibles at 13.49)

Also, with trucks, there is a rule somewhere in relation to Crankshaft centerline distance to ground requirements in relation to ET and Speed. The faster the truck, the closer to the ground the center line of the crankshaft has to be, or it will not pass tech, or they will restrict your ET that you can run.

If i can find my NHRA rulebook (yeah right) i will try to find the distances for the crank centerline.

 

I totally agree that it is the safest way to do it. It wont add that much work to do it. Douglas is a little relaxed on tech inspection if you have been there before so I am not to worried that they will give much look at it. I think that our firewall and floor could be considered unmodified since all we have done is the wheel tubs. As far as crankshaft centerline goes we are probably at about a foot and a half, maybe less.

 

Took the box back off yesterday so we could bleed the brakes and install the drive line. Also did some fabrication on the roll cage.

Today, we went to Denver to pick up the shortblock and heads.

To Do List: assemble engine, install dash and gauges, do carpet, finish roll cage, install fuel cell.

Slowly but surely getting there.

 

Making progress fast enough to be ready for the start of the season!!

I'm about 1 paycheck away form having my project complete...just have to do misc crap to it..Build a transmission crossmember, install and plumb and wire fuel cell, pump, filter, and all my lines, install the fuse block i picked up and clean up some wiring. Then its time for engine break in and a test drive as long as i built everything correctly..

Who did you guys have do the short block and heads?

 

We should be at the test and tune at Bandimere in April. What is your project? You have contributed alot to this thread and my build and yet I have no idea what you race.

The short block was done at AMS in Ft. Collins. They are supporters of the track in Douglas and have helped us out before. The heads are Kaase/Motorsports SCJ's that we got from Scott Main at MPG. He CNC ported them and did the valves, etc. We were going to go with P51's but we are quite a bit over our $8K budget as it is.

 

Its always a nice feeling knowing that a project will be done for the first test and tune of the year lol....

Ive raced my truck the last 4 years. The first 2 it was my only race vehicle, and daily driver. The 3rd year, i raced my truck all year until august, when i got a 64 chevelle with a supercharged big block in it. I took the supercharger off of it, went atleast 4 rounds every time i raced it, then blew the engine in it at the beginning of the 4th season (last year). I swapped another 454 into it, threw the supercharger back on it, and the chassis flexed a little too much the first attempted pass and split the radiator. Put in a new radiator, and the first pass after that, it started to knock. So i sold the chevelle and raced my truck for the rest of last year.

My current project is a 1955 dodge custom royal lancer with a 454. After having the chevelle, i accumulated alot of chevy parts and thats the only reason i went with chevy powertrain in the dodge. I have some photos of it, and a video of it.Il put links at the end of all this rambling..

The truck will stay a backup vehicle, daily driver, and trailer toter..The dodge will be my bracket car, and i will be building a ford sometime in the future for single digits.. after i get the dodge into the 10's (this will be a few years).

Heres a quick video of the dodge fired up running on float bowls full of fuel only.... Current Project Running

Heres one of the old chevelle.. Had a 100,000 mile 454 in it, with a .520/.520 solid lift cam, and a 3500 stall.. Ran pretty good for an old POS engine..Chevelle 12.91 And a photo of the chevelle

And then ofcourse the truck... 14.42 in the truck And a photo of my truck

Ill link to a few photos of the dodge, if you want to see more, or know more about the work ive done to it, send me a PM..lol..

First photo of the project

Here it is outside

And another junkyard engine


The guys from AMS race down at Bandimere aswell...

Was the $8000 budget for the whole truck, or just for the engine?

I cant wait to see your truck down at the test and tune...Alot of the people i talk to on forums live half way across the country, so i never get a chance to see thier truck in person, im looking foward to seeing it and taking a first hand look at all thw work you guys have put into it.

 

I would like to see some more pictures of your dodge if you have any.

Does AMS race both green camaro's? Always thought that was pretty neat. The $8000 budget was for the whole truck for this year. The plan was for front suspension $600, rear suspension for $800, front tires and trailer tires were generously donated(big sticker now on fender), gauges for $400, carpet was $100, fuel cell/fuel pump and misc. fittings and hose for $400, axles shortened for $150, heads for $2500, seat re-upholstery for $400, roll cage for $300, and the rest for the engine. We already had all the valvetrain, rods, and crank so all we needed were the pistons and AMS said they could do what we needed for $2500 so we would have been a litte over budget but now we are way over budget because like usual a bunch of things went wrong: the cam from the last engine was ruined and we had planned on re-using it since it had about 10 passes on it. The broken rod ruined our good block so we had to pay for machine work that we paid for last year. Also, just bought a canton stud girdle and windage tray, ARP head studs, and new Diamond pistons. Pushing $10k and still a long way to go.

 

I have seen the Mom and Daughter from AMS racing..The mom in her camaro, and the daughter in her S-10 blazer with a 406...

I have over 30 photos of the dodge right now, plus 2 rolls of film from when i started on it.

Basic big changes to the dodge were cutting off the original frame just infront of the firewall, and subframing it with front frame from a 76 camaro..Now i have power disc brakes, power steering, i am able to get shocks, rotors, calipers, brake pads, dropped spindles, front end rebuild kit, etc alot easier and cheaper than the original dodge stuff.

Stuffed a ford 9" out of a small bronco under the *** of it. Its a 4.10 posi unit i got for $125. The rear end, believe it or not, is about 3" too short for the frame of the car, so after this next season i will be moving in the frame rails in the back for more clearance, and so i can fit a wider tire than a 10.5 dot slick..if i need a wider tire, i like running on the narrowest tire i can. Had to get custom leaf springs made for the rear, and i have it leaf sprung, along with a set of coil over shocks and am going to be building lift bars from the rear end up to the transmisison cross member for better weight transfer.

The engine is a "50,000 mile" GM crate engine out of a 2500 truck. Its a 4bolt, should be somewhere 8.5:1 CR, has old heads on it that i hope are good and a .550/.550 hydraulic cam. The only 2 intakes i had are single plane dominator intakes, so i used the weiand with an adapter plate to go with a 4150 series carb. Have the nitrous plate sandwiched between the adapter plate and the carb, with 100HP jets in the N2O setup.

Transmission is a TH400 out of a 1990 van, i installed a manual / shift kit in it, and hope it works. The last time i installed a shift kit in a transmission, i blew 2 of the drums apart within a week. The driveshaft is a shortened driveshaft out of a 90's Ford van, with 1350 series u-joints front and rear. I had front Range Driveline do the shaft for me, and set me up with the u-joints and slip yoke.

I have re-done most of the wiring inside the car, including installing a fuse block (the car originally did not have a fuse block at all) Also converted the car from 6 volt positive ground to 12 volt negative ground.

The photos i have of the car with no front frame rails have not been developed yet, so the photos i have are only the ones i have taken with the digital camera.

I plan on putting a cage in it when i rebuild an engine that will need a cage, and also at the same time that i move in the rear frame rails.



Heres some links..This is gonna take me a minute...

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i lost count
starting again at 1
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http://a534.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...6f1cfed60d.jpg


I skipped over a bunch that were repetitive photos...

I have my 6AL box, fuse block, and nitrous relay/fuse all mounted in the glove box. My MSD coil, i removed the sticker and painted it black and it is mounted on the firewall. For cooling i got an electric pusher fan from Zirgo. The fan is supposed to be capable of moving 3800 CFM of air as a PUSHER..lol..I hope it works. The fan will be wired up to a temp switch in the head, and will kick on at 190, and kick off at 175.


$10,000 isnt too bad, if it gets you in the single digits. I think im sitting at about $3000 right now on mine...But ive traded alot of parts off for other parts....

 

My dad is hoping for 11.30's but I think he is crazy. The old engine put out maybe 400 at the wheels and I think the new engine should be in the 650-700 range. I wish we could have traded parts but the chev market seems to overwhelm the ford market everywhere I have been.

 

I set the sub-frame up to have the original ride height of the car, and then put 2" drop spindles on it. I could have lowered it alot with the front sub-frame, but wanted to have enough room to slide under the car when its on the ground incase i have to fix something.

Front subframes are nice, a friend of mine has a 53 f-100 that he clipped with an old torino front frame, put in a 428PI, and the truck sits about 2" off the ground. It also runs low low 13's with a 3.73 open rear lol.

Im thinking the car, all finished up should weigh 3600-3800. I have it stuck in my head for a 13.6 NA and an 11.9 with nitrous. But it might be a little quicker than that, i dont like to set a low ET goal and then run slower, so i set a high ET goal and hope it runs faster.

The fan should work good. I have a nice 4 core desert cooler radiator in it..out of a 64 chevelle..lol..The old chevelle had the desert cooler radiator in it with some fans i pulled out of a mazerati bi-turbo and cooled great. Im thinking i shouldnt have any over heating problems.


Ford parts are a little harder to come by. All of the ford parts i get, i keep, like the 429 CJ i have had under the bench in the garage for about 4 years now lol.

650-700 HP would be nice , especially in a truck. if you ever go to a trans brake youll definently want to go with a 1350 u-joint and if you use nitrous off the line, a 1350 joint wouldnt be a bad idea either...

 

I think the trans brake and new transmission are going to be needed about race day number 2. All we have now is a stock C6 out of a 90's F250. We just installed a shift kit and it has worked great. Starting to have my doubts about it with the new engine though

 

Running nitrous is no big deal...We have installed and used it on a ton of stuff ranging from original engines with cast pistons, up to full race engines with forged high compression engines.

The main thing i have learned is to make sure both solenoids are working before ever running any nitrous thru the system. Also, set the engine up to run perfect on just the engine before adding nitrous. When you shoot nitrous to an engine is a bad time to find out you need to adjust the carb because of a deadspot, being too stingy on the accelerator pumps, or having the wrong jetting in. Also timing is very important with nitrous, we always backed timing off 5-7 degrees with cast pistons, and 2-5 degrees with forged pistons, depending on how big the shot is.

The polar bear swap meet is this saturday up at the adams county fair grounds. They call it the polar bear meet for a reason, if you go, make sure to bring a nice coat.

Sometimes transmissions will amaze you...lol...the transmission in my old chevelle was put together by a friend of mine about 9 years ago. He thought it would last maybe 6 months. That transmission outlasted 3 engines, and still shifted tight and never slipped...

 

Heres the "Official" information about pinks all out, and some information that was not included in the press release.

first, the press release:

From Jeff Sipes @ Bandimere:

The popular SPEED program “PINKS: ALL OUT” will be taping an episode at Bandimere Speedway on Saturday, August 9th. Racer and Spectator tickets will go on sale on Friday, February 1st at 9:00 am MST.

All race event participant registration will take place online, at www.bandimere.com. Race entries will be limited to the first 400 participants. Prior to purchasing a race entry, please be aware and understand the show rules/format:
- Open to door cars only (must have functional doors).
- No open-body cars, motorcycles, ATV’s or snowmobiles.
- Limit one entry per driver
- Must run 12.99 seconds and quicker.
- Participant tickets are non-transferable and non-refundable.
- No saving pit spaces. Move in together to pit together.
- Tech on Friday between 10 am – 4 pm.
- No separate campers /RV’s – must be used as tow vehicle.

Additionally, spectator tickets will be available at this time. The “Top Eliminator Club” tickets will include access to the T.E.C. tent, reserved seat, private cash bar, and private restrooms. Reserved West Grandstand seat will be available in sections 1 and 2 only. The West reserved ticket features the closest seating to the startingline, as well as the race pits and midway. General Admission seats will be available at this time as well.

Pricing will be structured as follows:
PINKS All Out Participant 2-Day Entry $40
(includes Friday Test/Registration and Saturday Time Trials/Selection)
Adult General Admission – Friday $15
Adult General Admission – Saturday $20
Adult General Admission – 2-Day Pass $30
Adult West RESERVED – Saturday Only $25
(Sections 1 & 2 only / may choose specific seat online)
Youth (12 & Under) FREE
Top Eliminator Club – Saturday Only $30
(per person – adult or child)
Parking $10
Motorhome Parking $50

Now for the additional information:

Friday, August 8
PINKS All Out participants will be able to enter on Friday for a Test & Tune event. Here, racers will pit, tech, and register with the PINKS All Out officials prior to test runs. Gates will open at 8:30 am and tech / P.A.O. registration will open at 10 am. Time sessions will be called in by entry number beginning at 2 pm.

Saturday, August 9
Tech and Registration will be open in the morning, prior to time trails, and will close when prior to time trials #1 beginning. PINKS All Out participants will be called to the lanes by entry number. Time Trial #1 will be run on a pro tree, with scoreboards and time slips. Time Trial #2 will be started by Rich Christensen’s arm drop, and no scoreboards or time slips. The PINKS All Out Final 16 will be announced on the P.A. and called to the staging lanes once P.A.O. officials are ready to run. Elimination’s will be started by Rich’s arm drop, with no scoreboards, time slips, or win lights. Winner of each round of elimination’s will receive $1000 cash from Rich to use for wagering in the next round. The winner of the final round wins $10,000 and a NAPA tool box.
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Hope that helps out some, and see you there.

 

Either way I am going. Hopefully as a participant but if not I will be in the crowd. Thanks for the information