Project Drag 521

[EricJB]

Best 60ft is 1.78. As hot and muggy as it has been, It's about 1.85. Most of the V8 cars that run near mid 14's are around 2.2.

 

Light weight and low gears.

[mrbigtanker]

Awesome man.I see 12's in the near future.you can do it.good job.

[EricJB]

Well my season is over. The truck is back apart and plans/parts are being gathered for next year. It needs a cylinder head really bad. And it's getting a pair of 48 DCOE's and an 1 3/4 merged header (that I have to build).

I had an awesome time, learned a lot, (another way of saying I got my ass kicked by a few veterans) and know what I have to do for next year.

 

The fastest pass of the season was at the Goodguys nostalga drags on a cool friday morning. 14.53 at 89.xx. I never did break 90 mph. 14.65 to 14.70 was the norm.

 

I kinda blew it with the Go Pro. I need to find someone to help me with that. My buddy Dave went with me and took a camera that only took short crappy vid, but it's better than nothing. The first was a traction test, as it felt like it was spinning too much. The second was me redlighting (again) against a former track, and division 6 champion. I raced him 3 times and never got around him. Very cool guy though. Teardown pics and merged collecter fab on the way. Buying a new Miller 250 tig welder on Monday.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc2dXjZvPRQ

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNtiux0b3uM

[wayno]

Why is the season over, no more racing for anybody??

You jumped the gun a little in the second video, but that happens sometimes, as it's difficult to get off the line at the exact moment you need to.

Are you running faster or slower than last year?

It didn't seem to me like you are spinning excessively.

[culowdragger72]

great job on the build EJB, just seeing the that 521 launch like makes me want to build my motor up

[EricJB]

Hey Wayno. The season ended at the end of August. The finals were over Labor day weekend. The second vid was my worst redlight of the year. (.059 seconds) My other redlights were .007, .013, and .030. These guy's are tough, and you have to push it.

Last year I was running 15.40's with a best of 15.27. Next year it's going 13's ( I keep telling myself that anyways)

The tire spin issue was mostly resolved by the time the vid was taken. But it still comes back depending on track conditions.

 

Thanks Dragger. I've spent a ton of time working on the 60ft time. now I have to work on getting the thing to move on the big end.

[wayno]

So your gaining second a year, so in about 5 years your really going to be hauling ass.

[EricJB]

In the next 5 years, I'm either going to find a 1200, or build a front engine dragster. I will keep the 521, and make it run as fast as I can But at some point it will be the weight that will be a factor.

[EricJB]

Looky Looky. Just got it today. Now for a bit of a refresher course, a ton of practice, and then on to the merged collecter.

 

 

[Farmer Joe]

oh hell yeah man!!

 

i look forward to this upcoming update!

[EricJB]

Well I may have jumped the gun a bit on the merged collecter. Machining up the pieces was easy, but I still have a LOOONG way to go with the tig welder. Surprisingly, I do better on cast aluminum than I do with mild steel. So dont be looking for any dime on dime quite yet. It truly is an art.

For those of you who aren't famliliar with the difference between a formed collecter and merged, it goes something like this. A formed collecter is just a bigger pipe where the primary tubes come together. On a tuned header, where the primaries are the same length, the pulses hit the bigger pipe one at a time with the firing order. This works fine for most street engines, but if the primaries are different length, ( not tuned) the pulses collide into one another, making the header worthless.

 

With a merged collecter, the primaries are merged together, and create a venturi. What this does, is causes the pulse of one cylinder to draw, or scavange the next pulse, creating a vacuum, sort of. By doing this, you pull the the exhaust gasses from the next cylinder and help to draw the incoming charge during valve overlap.

 

 

So the first thing I did was make 4 of these. I used my Bridgeport with the vise set at 5 degrees, cut about .700 off. Then I rotated 90 degrees and did it again. You could use a band saw as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then proceded to botch them together. I ran out of time, did'nt get the last piece done, but you can see the cone in the middle starting to take shape. The end with the my thumb will get a 2.5 inch flange welded on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It will look a lot better when it's done.

[wayno]

He's making his own header, WOW.

[mklotz70]

Sweet :)

[Farmer Joe]

i like it!

[EricJB]

 

^{This guy explains it way better than I did.}

[EricJB]

Oh ya. 48 DCOE's

 

 

So now I have to make the soft mounts and the mani fit. God I love my Bridgeport.

 

 

Softmounts for 48's and a good starting point for the die grinder.

 

 

I built an exhaust for my flatbed a few years back, and learned a lot about cutting bends and welding them together. So this time I made one of these.

 

 

So this time the cuts will be straight. And I will be using my bandsaw instead of a chop saw.

[EricJB]

Fucking photobucket. I guess i'll split this up in several posts since it keeps locking shit up and then erasing everything.

 

My 1st collector ended up in the scrap bin. It was just too big. The 2nd one made it on the truck

 

1st

 

 

2nd

 

 

Then I made a die to form the exhaust tubing to fit the flange, and it worked out pretty good.

 

 

 

 

[EricJB]

And then I got a bit sidetracked. the new carbs didnt fit the softmounts or manifold, so I had to bore them, and then do some serious hogging.

 

 

I guess I already put this up here. Oops.

 

 

 

Then on to the head. just getting started here.

 

 

 

i shipped a cam to iskendarian cams last week so they can grind it to a Z196. It is .530lift / 306 duration. Then I went on a lengthy search for valves and seats. I think its about time to finish the header.

[wayno]

You really want to blow that 90mph barrier away, don't you, seems like you want to skip 90 altogether, and just hit that 100mph mark, good luck on your endeavor, I hope you make it.  :D

[Dirttrack510]

Awesome work!

[ghammer]

I've just got to say....WOW!!!! Keep up all the hard work. It sucks being bit by the speed bug......it's just so damn expensive!! And welcome to the tig welding world. They are great machines. I too have a 250dx. Everytime I use it, I say to myself.....what would I do without it? And I also have the same problem, can weld the crap out of aluminum, with nice welds, but steel and stainless....not so much. Nothing beats seat time with your welder to improve weld quality though. Keep all the crazy mods coming! I think we are all waiting to see the magic 100 mark surpassed!

[EricJB]

You know you have an understanding girlfriend when she lets you heat the head to 300f in the kitchen, and then wake her up from a nap to hand you frozen valve seats, so you can beat them in on the kitchen counter. The seats are in. Thanks Candi.

 

 

 

 

 

I decided to go with 44 intake and 38 exhaust cut down to 37.5. Unfortuantly my valves and got switched in shipping and I got about 600 viton valve stem seals instead. Boy were they happy when I called them back. Time to start porting. The track opens March 23rd

[wayno]

You have a lot of porting to do.

[EricJB]

" Hey I know, I'll just build a header" Who's fuckin dumb idea was that? Oh ya, it was mine.

 

Heres the collecter. This is version 2.0. The first one hit the scrap bin because it was just too big. I also broke down and bought a megaphone for it.

 

 

Next was the flange, all welded up and match ported.

 

 

So now we get to the fun part. My merged collecter is about 5 inches long, so I was aiming for 24 inch primaries for a total of 29 inches. That proved to be harder than I thought. I started out cocky and full of myself, and ended up with my ass kicked just trying to get through it. Story of my life Ha Ha.

 

I bought some bends that were not very good quality, and later decided to buy a Summit V8 header kit, and just cut what I needed out of that.

 

It's basically a big box of pipe.

 

 

Here is my tools of choice. The angle iron on the sander helped get the ends squared up. But I found that finding the seam of the tubing and lining it up at 90 degrees to the belt worked just as well.

 

 

It took all weekend to get #1 and #2 done. I scabbed #3 and ended up cutting it back off. #4 was the worst, even being able to do it on the bench.

 

 

And here is what I ended up with. Pretty damn sexy if I do say so myself. 

 

 

 

It is now painted and ready to go. I have to thank Candi once again for forcing me to got to the eye doctor and make me admit that I cant see shit. I went and got a reader lens for my welding helmet, and now I can actually see what I'm welding. Big Difference.

 

The head is ported and waiting (still) for intake valves. I will post that up shortly. But with all this talk about Breathers lately, I think I will do that next.

[mrbigtanker]

Looking good,12's here you come,then next will be in the 9's.brap brap :thumbup: :thumbup: