What a Rush

[The Horvaths]

Have you or are you going to weigh the car? I've weighed mine once but am not sure the scale was accurate. And being a drag car, I suppose it has lost some weight? Definitely curious about it.

When Dana owned it, he had the weight listed as 3650 Lbs. We've made a few changes but no significant weight alteration..
..yet. Dylan's going to actually add a roll cage. We removed the back seat but it's now gone from a plastic fuel cell to aluminum and the transmission scatter shield is going to add a few pounds. As for the engine, it's similar enough that the weight hasn't gone up very much.

Sportfury440
- dad

 

[LocuMob]

I'm going to try to weigh the car this spring, I have another scale in town, if I can catch someone there, or a few outside of town at co-ops. I'd just love to have an accurate weight of the car.

Love the color of the car BTW.

 

[65Fury440]

I came here looking for burnouts.

Mine weighed 3980 lat trip at the local scale.

 

[The Horvaths]

I came here looking for burnouts.

Mine weighed 3980 lat trip at the local scale.

What can I say? We're bad with estimated times. Lol.

 

[The Horvaths]

This whole “day job” thing can really get in the way.


- dad

 

[The Horvaths]

In a word:
11x2” brakes.

Right rear wheel cylinder leaked brake fluid and it ate the rubber of a brand new drag radial. Sigh..

It took a few hours of investigation to piece the needed parts together from parts intended for various other cars. We’ll know in an hour or two if I’ve actually managed to pull a rabbit out of the hat. As for the destruction of the drag radial, we’ve already gotten new wheels and street tires for a bit of break-in driving. It was while putting them on that I found the real source of the brake leak. If you were following along earlier, you may have noticed that I falsely believed that I had found “the” leak at the proportioning valve. Fixing it was “one step forward..”



- dad

 

[LocuMob]

In a word:
11x2” brakes.

Right rear wheel cylinder leaked brake fluid and it ate the rubber of a brand new drag radial. Sigh..

It took a few hours of investigation to piece the needed parts together from parts intended for various other cars. We’ll know in an hour or two if I’ve actually managed to pull a rabbit out of the hat. As for the destruction of the drag radial, we’ve already gotten new wheels and street tires for a bit of break-in driving. It was while putting them on that I found the real source of the brake leak. If you were following along earlier, you may have noticed that I falsely believed that I had found “the” leak at the proportioning valve. Fixing it was “one step forward..”



- dad

I feel your, fun? I gave up on hoping that anything is done after I do it the first time.

Edit: I'll add that I usually am doing whatever task for the first time, so three times later, I have it down pat for the next time I run across it in the future. It does feel nice to know, understand, and complete the process.

 

[The Horvaths]

If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. It’s good to be different. The sense of accomplishment eventually outweighs the frustration.

We wound up re-using the bulk of the hardware, but (and it’s a really big but), the drums and shoes are brand spanking new!! The general consensus was that 11x2” brake parts are virtually unobtainable. I found them in stock at Summit and we were able to pick them up last night. Yeah!

- dad

 

[The Horvaths]

 

[Fratzog]

The sense of accomplishment eventually outweighs the frustration.

It's also comforting to know that all is well with the brakes because you did it right.

 

[65Fury440]

Wow your car has monoleafs and aftermarket axles too?

Hope you get the breaks fiksed.

 

[The Horvaths]

Wow your car has monoleafs and aftermarket axles too?

Hope you get the breaks fiksed.

Moser axles and one-off CalTracs

 

[65sporty]

So did you guy's ring in the New Year with the rumble of a Mopar stroker and wake your neighbors

 

[The Horvaths]

So did you guy's ring in the New Year with the rumble of a Mopar stroker and wake your neighbors

Somewhat. Life tends to get in the way of things, so no driving yet. We are close though! Still need to make strap downs for the fuel cell and finish the brakes. I got to hear the car run a little bit, but asking it to idle in 20° weather is unfair (no choke, need to fab one). The videos don't do justice to the way it really sounds.

 

[The Horvaths]

Remember this? The FiTech pump was overrunning the little Holley pressure regulator. New fuel pump, max 15 PSI. It’s now regulating to 6.5 Lbs. Just what a Holley wants. It’s a Walbro 5CA401-1 with an added pre-filter.

The hose clamps had to be changed from what came with the pump and positioned magically to mitigate interference with the red mounting ring on the fuel cell. I also had to use a different port from the original one because the new pump has an outlet tube that is just a little further out from the center. I moved the hose connector in the fuel manifold body and it fit like a champ.

- dad

 

[The Horvaths]

Hey, I tried twice to delete the redundant pictures. Whatever!

Anyway, with the new intake manifold came new opportunities!!!


For leaks. How do I check for leaks without a remote start or a friend?

I spritzed carb cleaner on the runner mounting surface area until there was a little pool.

I turned it over for three revolutions and looked again. Dry as a bone on the right side.

Lucky me!

I needed some back pain anyway. Sigh.

There’s always time to take an opportunity. Drill/tap time. You all have a 1/2-18 NPT tap, don’t you? Did I mention that I have a tool habit?

“Why the hole?” you ask..

Vacuum gauge is going in. It’s cheaper with the boost option. Bosch makes a fair gauge for a fair price.

Here’s the core problem behind the intake leak:

This one spot has 0.004” clearance. The rest of the intake is nicely on the heads. I don’t have a machine shop handy to cut it properly. So, it’s getting a new valley pan and some gaskets.

BTW: The carb studs were just a hair too long. It needs washers or spacers under the nuts.

See? The nut’s stuck in place on the last thread.

- dad

 

[The Horvaths]

Here’s where the vacuum fitting is going.

Here’s the stud peeking out above the carburetor flange.

Here’s the solution for stud thread engagement limitation.

The new carburetor came maladjusted from the factory. I’m going through it with a fine-tooth comb. To begin with, the primary throttle plate was just open but the idle transfer slot was not exposed at all. The secondary throttle plate was fully closed. Tight. All the way.


Grrrr..

After setting it so that both primaries and secondaries showed “square” idle transfer slot exposure ( exposed height ~ same as width), I managed to convince it to start and idle. I’ve since pulled it and will document the ever loving snot out of it before I proceed. It’s actually really rich, as initially expected.
Dylan may post a brief video.

Vacuum at idle is really low. The primary metering block came with a 5.5” power valve. Until things get sorted out quite a bit, it’s getting a 2.5” power valve instead.

Oh, and the driveway has two huge black marks from where the FiTech dumped several gallons of fuel down her throat. The oil is trashed and I will change it before next start. Poor thing.
More to follow.

- dad

 

[65sporty]

I take it the 2 huge black marks were not from the rear tires

 

[The Horvaths]

I take it the 2 huge black marks were not from the rear tires

Nope. Sigh. Dylan may actually post the video. It’s not as exciting as we’ve hoped. Sigh.

It’s still pretty awesome!


BTW, after the FiTech incident, the high-pressure pump added insult to injury. It’s all better now but there’s never joy in wasting high dollar fuel to wash down a new build. Sigh.

There is a little light at the end of the tunnel.

- dad

 

[LocuMob]

Talk about working out the bugs! Can't wait to see the car in it's full glory, as I'm sure you can't either.