2010 Front Engine Dragster Week 2011 02 05

REMEMBER TO CLICK PICTURES FOR MORE DETAIL / LARGER PICTURE

P2050083_smallWe had yet another official car nuts meeting this Saturday. Fruit, bagels, cider, pop, and coffee was on hand to keep the hardy souls that showed up full of energy to face the cold.    Where the heck is the dragster, it was just here.
DSCN9138_smallFirst up was to change some of the suspension setup. Once the engine and misc. equipment was added to the dragster the front suspension collapsed to the point that the tie rod was at the top of the “U” channel provided for it in the body. First the torsion bar links were swapped side to side (that made it to high), next they were swapped back and the spline was moved on notch down. That helped a lot, but will have to be twicked some more. 
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DSCN9152_smallNext up was to weigh the dragster. There has been great speculation as to how much it would weigh. Dire predictions of up to 2,300 pounds have been put forward. The builder predicted around 1,400 pounds. The fire bottles are not in the dragster as I am getting ready for the trip to Indiana and do not want them to freeze, and I am not in it. Turns out it is a lot lighter in weight than thought. Total weight is 1505, left front is 160, right front is 181, left rear is 605, right rear is 559. Weight bias front to rear is 77.3 Weight bias side to side is 49.1
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It should be noted the floor is not flat. If you look at the pictures you will see a drain in the center of the floor and the floor does have a good pitch to it. This weigh in was more to see what it weighed rather than to balance it out. That is a project that will happen before racing, but after the show.

Now to the major task at hand, move the dragster from the garage to the trailer for its trip out to Indiana doe the World of Wheels car show. It was a nice warm balmy day, actually one of the warmest days we have had in a while, and next week we are once again headed into the an Arctic freeze.
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Can that guy really be that big and where did his ponytail go? I guess he really does need a 23 inch wide cockpit.

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The over center jack for the front axle is not yet complete so some boards were used to get the dragster over the “Bumps” in the road on its journey to the trailer.
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P2050028_smallWe have all heard the term anchor man, not sure Tom was the best choice for this as he is not the biggest one of us. That person was sitting in the dragster and had the easiest job! 
P2050030_smallIs this the beginning of that proverbial slippery slope?
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Only car nuts stand around out in the cold when 50 feet away is a warm heated garage. The question came up, what are we going to work on now, well the dragster may be show ready, it is not yet race ready and there is a Kaiser Henry J that needs its (little tiny 429 ford) engine removed. Also in a weeks’ time the dragster needs to make the trip back up the driveway.