Nostalgia Dragster Rebuild

[McCosker]

This is very cool, I love the nostagic drag scene. The older cars are just amazing.
Where did you find the Hemi, there wouldnt be to many 392's in Aust.
Makes my SBC seem even lamer than it did before.

[Preen59]

This is cool as Preeny.

You'll have to give me a shout when it's nearly going!

Is that littlefield blower magnesium?

On a side note, your going grey gun's with the dragster, what about the 16V. I'm sure that could do with some attention on your holiday's!

Dad's paying most of the bills on this car so i'm quite happy to be working on this rather that my 16v..

Plus, I mean, come on.. 200 horsepower.. Or 2000 horsepower.. What would you rather be playing with?!

That Littlefield Blower is annodised aluminium. We're actually going to sand blast it off because none of the blowers back in the day were annodised.

I'll give you a call for sure when we get it going.. If your back can handle it we'll give you a Cackle.

This is very cool, I love the nostagic drag scene. The older cars are just amazing.
Where did you find the Hemi, there wouldnt be to many 392's in Aust.
Makes my SBC seem even lamer than it did before.

The block and crank has come from the USA. Pretty much all of the accessories have come from the states. Not much stuff here as you said.

[Preen59]

More pics!

Wheels finished off..





Crappy old tyres+boot polish+white craft paint=



And after half a bloody day of jerking around, the oil filter adapter is FINALLY on the block!



The adapter didn't have the thread tapped deep enough. So, i had to go to work, borrow a tap, go to PIRTEK, get some BSPT to JIC fittings, get back to the workshop, tap the adapter to suit the fittings, screw the fittings in, realise that PIRTEK gave me one wrong fitting, drive back across town to swap the fitting (after about 5 goes they got the right fitting for me!!), drive back to the WS, put the new fitting in, and THEN screw it to the block!

So finally, NOW the short engine is right to go in the car.

[Jarred]

...drive back across town ..

luckily it only takes 7 minutes to drive from one side of orange to the other side aye???

[Preen59]

luckily it only takes 7 minutes to drive from one side of orange to the other side aye???

Hahaha that's pretty much spot on too!

It takes atleast 10 during peak our traffic.. Sometimes i go up the street and have to park a block away from where i need to go, too!

[Preen59]

Got a bit more done today. Assembled the clutch etc and fitted the flywheel to the crank. Then the bell housing and the drive shaft.







We had a heap of issues. I had to take to the block with a 4 inch and grind some off a couple of the mounting lugs to get it to fit in the chassis. Also, for some reason the clutch was fouling on the throw out rod in the bell housing. We can't figure out why it is, because it is the original clutch from that car. Dad grabbed the 4 inch and clearanced it some more (it had been clearanced originally) but it still fouls slightly, so i will have to make a spacer to space the bell housing back about 1/4 inch or so.

Here's the old man doing some "slight modification" to the bell housing.



So anyways, that's where we're up to.. Dramas dramas dramas. Haha.

Oh, we have come across an XC V8 auto station wagon (one owner!) that we may be able to get at the right price for a push car (Early drag cars were push started).. So we'll see what happens.

[Jarred]

v8 XC wagon, pimp mobile!

And geez, I can see where you get ya good looks from there preeny

[Preen59]

v8 XC wagon, pimp mobile!

And geez, I can see where you get ya good looks from there preeny

Yeah man, roof racks and low! With a push plate on the front!

Haha, what, you mean my uncle??



Oh, i also forgot to mention, we got the sand blaster up and pounding!! Works a treat.

[dubbed]

Geeze you wouldn't think old buggers like that would be making a ball-tearing Hemi! Make sure you get some good vids. What sort of time and MPH are you going for?

Maybe drop it in the XC afterwards Unless you're building a big 460 for it

[Preen59]

Geeze you wouldn't think old buggers like that would be making a ball-tearing Hemi! Make sure you get some good vids. What sort of time and MPH are you going for?

Maybe drop it in the XC afterwards Unless you're building a big 460 for it

Hahaha you'd be surprised at what some "old buggers" can do!

It would probably run around the mid 6's at a bit over 200mph.. Atleast that's what they used to run. They would probably run faster now with treated tracks and new tyre technology etc.

This car will not be raced (as stated previously), it's a restoration.

I don't think the XC would be very economical with a blown nitro HEMI in it! hahaha.


Update on the XC: We went and had a look at it this arvo. Looks the goods. Hasn't been registered since 1996 and only has 90 thou on it! It's got the original chrome roof racks, air con, the old double swing tail gate, electric rear window.. All the mod cons! We've agreed on a pretty good price (The old man and I are going halves). We will go back in the next day or 2 with a jumper pack and some fuel and get it running, then it's all ours.

[Blitzen]

Thats awesome to hear...Finds like that are always awesome.

[Preen59]

Small update.

Fixed the clutch fouling issue. Converted it from 3 plate to 2 plate with minimal buggering around. I won't explain what i did but it was pretty easy after the went off and i came up with a solution.


We picked up the XC this arvo! A battery and some fuel down the carbie and off she went in a cloud of exhaust rust! hahaha. Not bad considering it had been sitting idle for 12 years!

Here's some pics..

[Jarred]

now that's alotta dust!

Pretty good pick up I must say.

should be pretty mint with a bit of spit an polish

[DaveMack]

Bit of a 'boat' though ... that's one BIG car.

Dave

[dubbed]

That's old skool Ford V8s for ya! Is it a Windsor or Clevo? Awesome XC It looks clean as. They're usually laden with rust around the wheel arches, dog legs, window seals, and boot. How does the old boat look in that respect?