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Re: Dunn Benson Drag Strip

Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2012 11:33 pm
by Fred32v
If your going to paint them, I suggest you paint them real old school, half black and half white. :)

Re: Dunn Benson Drag Strip

Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 11:40 am
by Maverick
Fred32v wrote:If your going to paint them, I suggest you paint them real old school, half black and half white. :)
I donno, Fred. Thinking they should have as little contrast with the all-chrome front wheels as possible.

Can't recall right now what Ford called their black center/chrome rim wheels back then. (Edit: Magnum 500s) Image They were a popular option on Mustangs, etc. in the '60s. I thought about those when I was chooseing wheels but decided the black wheels wouldn't look good with the blue/white Sprint. The only black on the car is the grill & headlight bezels.

There is a better rattle can chrome paint available now. That's what I'm thinking I'd use on the whole wheels if paint is required.

Re: Dunn Benson Drag Strip

Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 4:38 pm
by oldvettedad
Pretty sure Fred32V was referring to what we, back in the 60's, sometimes called "Clarabell" wheels. Here is a picture of the Ramchargers Dodge, which is the first i remmeber seeing with these. So if you can find stock type wheels, this is an option
Image

Re: Dunn Benson Drag Strip

Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 6:04 pm
by Maverick
OH!!!! That's interesting! Wouldn't need Cragars for that.

Problem is finding 15X7 steel wheels with 4-4.5" backspace. There were some police Mopars like that but they're rare and coveted by the Mopar guys.

But, I gotcha now Fred. That would be fun.

Re: Dunn Benson Drag Strip

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2012 9:40 pm
by Maverick
WXO and I were at the strip again today. The Maverick's best was 8.2867 ET @85.76 MPH. Unfortunately, got a red light with -.0037 reaction time. But the most exciting thing was when I got to the end, let off, and the throttle was stuck open. :shock:

I removed the air cleaner before the run and I didn't take the gasket off. :oops: The gasket got sucked down the carb and stuck the secondary butterflys open. Not a good feeling to be going 85 MPG and engine won't shut down. It probably wasn't full throttle but it sure felt like it. Managed to get the ignition off without locking the steering wheel. We had to pull the carb off to get the piece of gasket out. No damage to the engine. That was our first track-side repair. Gotta pay more attention to loading the tool box next time. :oops:

Sorry, no photographer this time.

edit: According to one 1/8th mlle to 1/4 mile calculator, 8.2867 in the 1/8th will be 12.987 in the 1/4. We gotta get to a 1/4 mile track to get some real numbers.

Re: Dunn Benson Drag Strip

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 4:24 pm
by wxo
I know it was understated in his update, but from the lack of responses, I'm wondering if anyone noticed that Mr. Maverick broke into the "12's" last night. :D Great run, Jim! You cleaned my clock all night long.

Re: Dunn Benson Drag Strip

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 4:46 pm
by Maverick
wxo wrote:I know it was understated in his update, but from the lack of responses, I'm wondering if anyone noticed that Mr. Maverick broke into the "12's" last night. :D Great run, Jim! You cleaned my clock all night long.
It was another two-for-you and two-for-me night with two red lights in my lane.

The proof will be in some 1/4 mile runs. You're not that far away for the 12s. Keep working on it. We need a video of a run down the 1/4 with us both in the 12s. :D Then I'd be ready to retire. :mrgreen:

Re: Dunn Benson Drag Strip

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 7:07 pm
by Fred32v
My whole life, street cars in the 13's was the definition of very fast, but 12's.......WOW!!!

Re: Dunn Benson Drag Strip

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 7:28 pm
by wxo
My best run last night was an 8.63 at 82.57 MPH. I had another decent run at 8.68 at 82.13 MPH. Looks like I picked up about two tenths since last time. I was running consistent 8.8's before last night. I'm still missing a little speed, though. I'm about 1 MPH slower than I was when we ran at Piedmont.

It seemed like I couldn't concentrate last night. Jim kept leaving early and it always distracted me from my launch. I think I need some blinders. :mrgreen:

Re: Dunn Benson Drag Strip

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 8:20 pm
by Maverick
wxo wrote:It seemed like I couldn't concentrate last night. Jim kept leaving early and it always distracted me from my launch. I think I need some blinders. :mrgreen:
OK, that worked for this run. Now, what do I do next time .... hmmmmm. I'll think of something. :mrgreen: :twisted:

Re: Dunn Benson Drag Strip

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 8:34 pm
by Maverick
Fred32v wrote:My whole life, street cars in the 13's was the definition of very fast, but 12's.......WOW!!!
Same here. The fastest car in my group of friends was a Henry J with an Olds tri-power, open headers out the front fenders, welded up spider gears and slicks. It's best time was 13.90 ET. That set the goal for the Maverick, even though its 50 years later. Maybe a new goal of 12.90 should be set.

My friend let me take the Henry J down the track once. I didn't make the whole run -- twisted a universal off on a 1-2 power shift. Lois & I are celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary in August and I'll be returning the favor when my friend takes the Maverick thru the traps. Maybe I should get a drive shaft loop installed before August. :D

Re: Dunn Benson Drag Strip

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 9:11 pm
by oldvettedad
Just saw the latest posts. WAY TO GO Maverick! Jim I told you that car should be a 12 second car. That engine builder built a real nice piece. Good power, pump gas and streetable. You know it has potential for low 12s, but might have to take away some of the niceties that make it a fun street car. Anyway, I hope the quarter mile times show it is a 12 second car.

Re: Dunn Benson Drag Strip

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 10:23 pm
by Maverick
Hey Dick. Yep, you called it.

The combination of the 2400 stall and 2" shorter, sticky tires made a big difference. Guess the converter and shorter tires are compensating for the 3.00 rear end.

To go faster I think the next best changes would be a higher ratio rear end and long tube headers but those things would degrade driveability. If it's in the 12s I'm real happy with it as is.

Re: Dunn Benson Drag Strip

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 8:17 am
by MostMint
I recall going from 3.23 to 4.56 in my TA and gaining like a tenth or two. The stall converter is the biggest gainer because it reduces the time you spend in the lower RPM range. I went from finishing near the top of 2nd to finishing near the top of 3rd. If you are finishing in the middle of a gear you might get more improvement.

Re: Dunn Benson Drag Strip

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2012 1:22 pm
by wxo
For those of you anxious to hear about the racing last night, I'll give you a quick report from my point of view. It was HOT, 88 degrees, humid and the gnats were biting. I was not pleased with my runs. The best was the first one after a long cool-down period.
Smoke did an 8.845 1/8 mile at 81 mph. That translates to about a 13.84 in the quarter. On that run, I launched off idle and it bogged a little at the start, so I decided to raise the rpm a bit the next time. I spent the rest of the runs trying to get a good reaction time while I kept changing the launch rpm. I went from terrible reaction times to red lights and back and forth until Jim finally got so low on gas that we decided to call it quits. Since I was working on my launch techniques, I didn't do any cool-downs at all. With the heat building up, Smoke's final run was 14.04 at 80 mph. The new exhaust cutout sounded more racecar-like, but I can't say it helped much, if at all. I recorded several runs with HP Tuners on my laptop. When I get some time, I plan to look over them in detail to see if there is anything I can do to go faster. I also have just received my new NTG AFX wideband air fuel ratio kit. It will be fun to get some accurate afr data and compare it to the settings of the dyno tuner.
Jim's Maverick was fast as usual. His best time was 8.59 at 83 mph. That's a 13.46 in the quarter. I'll let him fill in his details when he can. He is very busy now entertaining his out-of-state visitors in Raleigh for his and Lois's 50th wedding anniversary.