Drag racing

[hurstscrambler]

After a very long build process, I finally got my 1969 AMX to the drag strip to make a few passes.  Knowing there are at least a few other racers here I figured I would share it.  I went Saturday to a test and tune/track rental and after getting the roll cage NHRA certified I was able to make a few shakedown passes.  The first pass was a mess as I screwed up staging the car so it ran a 15.50 at 107 mph. For the second run I didn’t use the 2 step for my launch and was rewarded with a 10.70 at 123.  For the third and final run the car went 10.26 at 134.  I’m very pleased considering that was the cars third time down the track and this was my first time driving a 4-speed car at the track.  I have only ever raced automatic trans cars and I believe my previous best was an 11.40 at 115.  The car is. 1969 AMX with a N/A 431 inch amc engine, jerico 4-speed, Dana 60 rear on 28x9 MT slicks.  

So so what’s the word, has anyone else been out racing yet?  It seems like some tracks are opening up.  Andy

[mrgumby]

That want to much money last week up there.  200 bucks for  for a couple of passes.  Lebanon valley is doing the same thing just test runs no racing yet

[1977vega]

Atco raceway In NJ opened last weekend and it was packed, we didn’t get out yet but my dads car is together and patiently waiting. 

[hurstscrambler]

That’s true, it was $200 for the driver and $10 for my buddy who was helping me.  Then $170 for the cage certification.  Plus a couple of celebratory beers and Lobster rolls aftwards.  Expensive day, but better than hurting the engine.  I hope they start doing street nights again soon or nostalgia days.  It was very slow, if the car was up to it I could have made a ton of passes.  I had head gasket problems previously and I wanted to dump the oil before making a ton of runs.  Everything looks good, so I should be good to go back up at any time.   Andy

Edited June 11, 2020 by hurstscrambler

[Freightrain]

I finally dynoed my new engine last weekend.  Really snowballed to more then I really wanted to put onto it.  496 FE, trick flow heads, roller cam, TD rockers, tunnel wedge 2x4 intake with 2 600 holleys.  Made 665 hp at 6600, 630 ft lb at 4000 rpm.  Car went 10.69@125 last year, it should see 10.4's?  Hope to install it this weekend.  First stick race is june 27.  Really wanting to get behind the wheel again!

[mowerman]

God love you Larry I’m excited for you I’m pissed they just officially canceled Sonoma Funny car nationals we had tickets this year oh well it looks like more home repairs and barbecues.... bob 

[hurstscrambler]

That’s cool Larry, I’d like to make it to one of those UMTR races one of these days but who knows when?  What does the wagon weigh in at these days?  BTW, I have a T+D shaft setup on the engine in this car and they appear to have been worth the money.  Andy

[Freightrain]

Car is 3820 by itself.

When "we" determined I had to put a big roller stick in it I knew my vintage Dove rockers would not survive.  TD was the only real option, but heard it would be 3-4 weeks. Ugh.  They showed up in 10 days from the day I called!!!  Sweet.   Those old Dove parts lasted 20 carefree years on my old flat tappet cam.

Just need to work on getting this new found power to the ground.

Edited June 12, 2020 by Freightrain

[Freightrain]

Well, i brought it home Friday afternoon, got an early start today and it's in the car and running by noon!

Got some tidying up to do, wash the car and get it loaded up tomorrow?  Hope to tnt it next Friday to see what it will do and be ready for the race on the 27th.

[hurstscrambler]

Good deal!  Let us know how it goes.  I was hoping to get out again this weekend, but too much other crap to do.  Hopefully soon.  Andy

[Freightrain]

Loaded and ready.  Ugh, what a bunch of work...washing, cleaning, swapping vehicles, getting B out to move trailer.  I'm whipped.

[other dog]

On 6/11/2020 at 12:42 PM, Freightrain said:

I finally dynoed my new engine last weekend.  Really snowballed to more then I really wanted to put onto it.  496 FE, trick flow heads, roller cam, TD rockers, tunnel wedge 2x4 intake with 2 600 holleys.  Made 665 hp at 6600, 630 ft lb at 4000 rpm.  Car went 10.69@125 last year, it should see 10.4's?  Hope to install it this weekend.  First stick race is june 27.  Really wanting to get behind the wheel again!

Wow!

[Swishy]

down here we have different V: of drag racing

 

 

 

LOL

cya

[Freightrain]

Well, I got to play this weekend.  Went to TNT Friday and spent the night and ran Saturdays program.

Car ran well, not quite the numbers I was hoping but there is some carb tuning needed. It is running a bit rich, so once I lean it down it should pick up some.  It is going .1 quicker in 1\8 mile, but not picking up in the 1\4.  But it is not running rich until the 1\8 mark....thus the fall off.

 

Did go three rounds on Sat.  Was having troubles finding the tree(cutting a good light) with being my first time out in 8 months.  Did go .002 second round so I know I can do it!!  In all had a great time.  Got absolutely roasted from the blinding sun.  It was brutally bright out.  No complaints though.  Track photographer should have pics posted soon.

[Freightrain]

Well the second stick race is in the books.  Not much to say about it, as it was called off during second round due to a major oil down that the track didn't want to deal with that late on a Sunday night.  I had won my second round, so I was making my way to the winners circle one round at a time.  Ugh.  Did have a photographer getting good shots though.

[j hancock]

Good looking launch!  Nice that you have had a day or two to sort the chassis!

[Freightrain]

Oh, Jim...if you only knew....LOL!!!

Two weeks ago, I went to Magnolia(same track as above picture) and did a little test and tune.  What started out as a good day, turned for the worse.

I made a first pass for a baseline and started adjusting rear shock settings to see what I could do.  As I tightened up the rebound setting, every pass got a better 60ft. I was smiling, as this track is typically not the best hooking track(thus I figured if I could get it hooking there I would be even better elsewhere).  As it got better, it was carrying the front end farther, BUT, it was pulling to the left.  So, as the front end would settle down on the track, I would have to give it some right hand steering to get it back in the groove.  For the 4th pass I had run out of adjustments in the back, so I loosened up the front shocks....a lot(first mistake).  As I pulled out of the waterbox, the tires bit and the front end snapped up hard.  Hmmmm.  I said to myself "Well I do have wheelie bars, so I'll be okay"(second mistake).   The lights came down and I let it fly.  Literally.  It went vertical on me right now....as it veered left.   I had a split second to decide the fate. I quickly shifted into second to load the motor and try to bring it down quicker.  I also kinda pedaled the power too.  Just a bit too much(third mistake).   The car came down..........HARD!!  I mean real HARD.  Though it did save it from ending up in the grass and heading for the old Armco guardrail.  At the ET shack I noticed a rattling noise(my electric fan chewing into my radiator).  I get back to the trailer and assess the damage.  The fan broke off the radiator, thus chewing holes in it.  Done.  The oil pan was now concave worse then it ever has been, along with the headers(which were mashed up from years ago).  I load it back into the trailer and head home.

 

I get it in the garage and pull the engine.  I couldn't trust how close the oil pickup was to the bottom of the pan(after being punched in) and I didn't want to chance harming my new motor.  I got a new pan and radiator.  I swapped everything around, made a new more secure way to mount the fan to the radiator.  My buddy and I also fab'd up a "bumpstop" on the frame crossmember to absorb the hits instead of motor parts.  I used a shorter pan, so that won't be an issue anymore, but when I build new front header pipes this winter I want to try to keep them around.  They are D shaped, plus up by the heads they are kinked pretty bad.

 

If you look closely at the headers, you'll notice a white block in the middle.  That's my nylon wear block. I also lowered the wheelie bars down about 5" so they hit much sooner, keeping the front end height down to a safer level.  I still need to do some chassis adjustments because I was hitting the bars so hard it was lifting the back end of the car up off the tires a bit too much.  The race was called before I could anything else.

Ah, the joy of drag racing!!!!

[j hancock]

What the hell FT!  Getting pretty greedy on the 60!!

That sucks though and a ton of work.  Time to go back and slow down the front shocks a little.

[Freightrain]

It doesn't 60 that great>  Not hateful for a 4000# caron 10.5" tires.  With the increased HP and torque I wanted to try to see if I could get it hooked on a "greasier" track.  Well, I proved it can hook on water!  My thought was to rely on the wheeliebars more to keep it under control and be able to hit the tires harder.  If it hadn't got all stupid and turning on me I'm sure it would have been a better outcome.

The whole jist is my original thoughts on how my chassis should work is backwards to what it really wanted and I just don't get many TnT days to just play like that.  Now I know what it likes, and I'll keep it in that range.

My other issue is I only have single adjustable shocks up front.   One knob controls either direction.  I need double adjustable so I can tighten the compression so when it comes down it slows down before it hits bottom but leave rebound alone.  Just more money I don't want to spend right now!!  

[j hancock]

I see some new shocks in your future!

Since it is easy to spend your money, what about a slightly higher rear gear for use with the new engine HP/TQ numbers?  Do you have a gear rule?  More time to test would be a big plus!

[hurstscrambler]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck Larry, in the world of drag racing it always seems that any improvements have there own setbacks.  I’m glad you got it put right back together.  I finally made it back up to NED for a nostalgia race on Sunday and had a good time.  Only got 3 passes in, but the car was hooking.  The 10.06 run was leaving at 4900 and the 10.53 run was leaving at 5400.  New best MPH of 136, so if it cools off a little I might be able to squeak a 9 second rip out of it.   Also, it is very unnatural to hold the throttle to the floor and not be able to see anything in front of you, but it sure was fun.  Andy

 

 

[Truck Shop]

          I remember a 69 issue of HOT ROD mag that pitted the Z28, Boss 302 and the AMX. The AMX killed the other two, Both the Z28 and the boss couldn't break 100 without slicks.

          I owned three of these at one time years ago, two GTA's one GT. One GTA had a 428 with a manual body C6 with a Side Winder intake and several other fast parts.

          

[Freightrain]

Looks like a fun ride Andy.  Yup, staring into the blue skies makes a fun ride!

Well, last Sunday was starting out good.  I went to Dragway 42 for their regular points meet.  I just wanted seat time.  I made it to the fourth round, which being the only stick car on the property was doing pretty well.

Then it all went awry.   Just as it got stood up in first gear.............first gear let loose and it let the car fall to earth....again.  Ugh.  Luckily my skid plate/bushing took the brunt of the hit instead of headers/oil pan.  I was able to limp it back to the trailer and load up.  I got it home, in the garage and pulled it apart.  Yup, first gear cluster is in pieces, which is the common one to loose because it is so small(only 17 teeth) and has such a large hole in the middle for the cluster shaft.  I made the call to G Force Monday morning and parts are on the way.  Should have it all back and ready for my stick points race at Thompson on Saturday.  It's been like 4 yrs since I broke that gear.  It is not "IF", but "WHEN".  Apparently G Force makes a different shaft/gear for first to help make it stronger but it is not available in a torsion bar shaft like I run.  It's kinda old school and they don't really offer it anymore.

 

 " I owned three of these at one time years ago, two GTA's one GT. One GTA had a 428 with a manual body C6 with a Side Winder intake and several other fast parts."

A friend of mine had a GTA way back in the day, he did swap a 4spd into it and 4.56 gears.  Was a real go getter then.  He also owned a Boss 302 in the early 70's.  He borrowed the motor for his altered wheelbase Comet he bought to race.  That Comet turned out to be Hayden Proffits car, which was bought and restored by another friend of ours.

[Truck Shop]

                  I use to see Van Cleve years ago at SIR. That car always had a nice launch.

                   

[mowerman]

On 7/27/2020 at 7:15 PM, Truck Shop said:

          I remember a 69 issue of HOT ROD mag that pitted the Z28, Boss 302 and the AMX. The AMX killed the other two, Both the Z28 and the boss couldn't break 100 without slicks.

          I owned three of these at one time years ago, two GTA's one GT. One GTA had a 428 with a manual body C6 with a Side Winder intake and several other fast parts.

          

wow,,,,what a good lookin SOB     ...bob