"Hired Gun" for a day....

[Freightrain]

So a racer friend of mine called a few weeks ago and asked me a favor.  He has diminishing eye sight and is now legally blind.  He asked me to run his car since he just did some changes.  He has brothers but they aren't stick racers.  He knew I could jump in a go without assistance.

The car is a 65 Comet with a destroked 300 6 cylinder(272 CI) and a Doug Nash 5 spd.  The car is LIGHT at 2450#, though it has a 8.50 cert chromemoly cage it only runs low 11.10 @ 119 mph.

Myself, being 100# lighter then him will get it going faster, it needs some clutch tuning also.  My best pass was 10.89 @ 119 mph.  It still needs a bunch of clutch taken out as it is brutal at gear changes.  It jumps around on the track.  We ran out of time but we may try again this Saturday as the weather looks like 60* again.

It was a good day.  It definitely drives differently then my 3820# car with near 700 HP and 600+ lb/ft of torque.  It has that high winding, heavy flywheel sound.  Something I always wanted to have someday.

He will have some videos to post on his YouTube channel.

[mowerman]

My god that’s pretty good timing for a six banger. A buddy of mine was doing that with a 65 GTO 427 Chevy engine sounds like you had a ball Larry. Also our weather seems to be a lot like yours or lucky to see 60 now.

[Freightrain]

We keep getting south breezes the last few weeks and it has kept it mild.  The bottom will drop out before we know it.

I got my wagon put away yesterday for the winter.  Trailer is prepped and ready for deep freeze weather.

[other dog]

My Ford pickup has a 300 in it and a 4 speed. It runs great too, but it's not quite that fast. I don't think, I've never taken it to the track. When I was young, many years ago, I could run a quarter of a mile in under a minute, so the pickup could probably do it in less than half that time.🤣 

[tjc transport]

The 300 ford 6 cylinder is a powerhouse,, and with proper buld will outrun most V'8s..

There are a few guys experimenting with LS heads, custom intakes, and custom headers that are making very impressive power numbers.

I have heard 300 6 cylinders rumbling that would make a 427 chevy hang its head In shame.

[mowerman]

1 hour ago, Freightrain said:

We keep getting south breezes the last few weeks and it has kept it mild.  The bottom will drop out before we know it.

I got my wagon put away yesterday for the winter.  Trailer is prepped and ready for deep freeze weather.

It was 25° here this morning as I mentioned my fiberglass work is going to have to wait a while now

[mowerman]

I’ve got friends that have an 82 Ford F150 four-wheel-drive 8 foot bed has the 300 a three speed on a column. I’m tempted to sell my 06 which is starting to give me electrical issues and Beg my friends do sell me that 82 they used to use it to hunt Now, they are very old and do not hunt anymore 

[Freightrain]

Here is a video from a couple years ago.  He was still able to drive at that point.  

https://youtu.be/o-XE1HwD_6g?si=9LuEpn55yq_Wt5Wy

[mrsmackpaul]

6 cylinder power, now your talking my language

Thats a good time, faster than anything I have ever done

Inline 6 cylinders were all the go in Australia up until the end of Australian manufacturing 

The barra Ford 6 cylinder was probably the freatest 6 cylinder ever made

Anyway I do prefer the old 250 cross flow Ford 6 cylinders

Impressive car and time, no good about your mates eye site

 

Paul

[Mark T]

43 minutes ago, Freightrain said:

Here is a video from a couple years ago.  He was still able to drive at that point.  

https://youtu.be/o-XE1HwD_6g?si=9LuEpn55yq_Wt5Wy

That video reminds me a little of those guys racing the B trains.  Literally a scream'n six.    ty

[BOBWhite]

I've heard about the LS heads some people are making for these, impressive stuff! Every 300 I've been around sounds like a vacuum cleaner sucking through that tiny 1bbl carb

[Freightrain]

My friend had an 81 f100 300/4spd 30 yrs ago.  It was absolutely gutless.  65 mph on highway flat out on the floor in OD.  Downshift back to 3rd and it would crawl faster but barely.  I borrowed it a few times but couldn't bear to drive it on the highway.  He raved about them but I wasn't impressed.

[mowerman]

It might’ve been just tired lotta miles 

[BOBWhite]

I wish we would have gotten a few of the 4.0 Liter Barra's over here instead of the Vulcan or Essex V6s. The V6s weren't terrible but I would take an inline 6 over a V6 in a truck any day.

Although Ford did have one awesome V6. Anyone remember the Yamaha/Ford 3.0 SHO engine? 

 

[other dog]

12 hours ago, Freightrain said:

My friend had an 81 f100 300/4spd 30 yrs ago.  It was absolutely gutless.  65 mph on highway flat out on the floor in OD.  Downshift back to 3rd and it would crawl faster but barely.  I borrowed it a few times but couldn't bear to drive it on the highway.  He raved about them but I wasn't impressed.

You should drive mines, it's a powerhouse!..

No, but seriously it does have plenty of power, goes when you mash the gas too! At least to me it does. I have no idea what rear is in it. Probably geared pretty low because it's a 4 wheel drive. I should sell it because I hardly ever use it anyway and we don't really need it. I do like that 8' bed though, the Nissan only has a 5 1/2' bed.

[mowerman]

2 hours ago, BOBWhite said:

I wish we would have gotten a few of the 4.0 Liter Barra's over here instead of the Vulcan or Essex V6s. The V6s weren't terrible but I would take an inline 6 over a V6 in a truck any day.

Although Ford did have one awesome V6. Anyone remember the Yamaha/Ford 3.0 SHO engine? 

 

My 2014 Mustang has the V6 it’s got 307 hp. I know for sure that thing would beat my Belair with the 327.

[mowerman]

And Tom is still have the impala, correct

[other dog]

2 hours ago, mowerman said:

And Tom is still have the impala, correct

yes indeed, it's a great car!

[other dog]

I remember going to the dragstrip in Suffolk, Va. in the 70's. The track was on an airport runway, and I think the dragstrip is closed now and the airport is open again. But then they had big time national events at Suffolk Dragway, unlike the track we usually went to in Richmond where it was mostly just locals and "run what you brung". Still a good time though, they had some fine cars at Richmond Dragway, great looking and fast too.

Suffolk was the first time I had seen really fast 6 cylinder cars. I always liked the '66 and '67 Chevy II Novas, it's one of my favorite body styles. And there was 2 of them in Suffolk running in the 11's with 6 cylinder engines.  I was blown away, as the saying goes. But the fastest 6 cylinder there was a black Corvette with the big GMC truck motor in it. Seems to me it ran low 10's, maybe high 9's. It was 50 years ago, so I don't remember exactly. I do remember the big tall snorkel scoop on the hood because it looked so odd sitting off to one side instead of being in the center.

[Freightrain]

20 hours ago, other dog said:

You should drive mines, it's a powerhouse!..

No, but seriously it does have plenty of power, goes when you mash the gas too! At least to me it does. I have no idea what rear is in it. Probably geared pretty low because it's a 4 wheel drive. I should sell it because I hardly ever use it anyway and we don't really need it. I do like that 8' bed though, the Nissan only has a 5 1/2' bed.

Ya, yours was fuel injected. His had a 1 bbl carb.   We bought a new 95 f250 here at work.  300/5 spd.  It ran well.

[mowerman]

I missed the retros … used to like to go out to Sonoma dragstrip every couple years but they seem to have squeezed out the older iron it’s mostly just big name racers out there now … bob

[other dog]

3 hours ago, mowerman said:

I missed the retros … used to like to go out to Sonoma dragstrip every couple years but they seem to have squeezed out the older iron it’s mostly just big name racers out there now … bob

And that's a shame. I used to go to Richmond Dragway a lot in the 70's and I said it many times- I could watch cars like this-

...all day long, but watching top fuel and funny cars just does not interest me at all.

[mowerman]

Well, I used to like the nitro funny cars and dragster but now they’re to the point they don’t even sound like car engines anymore. They sound like souped up trains and Tom. My mom bought a brand new 67 nova back in December 1966 I was with her when she picked it up, I can still remember how it smelled inside and the doors hinges were really stiff Nice little cars, but I still prefer the 64 Ford galaxy ha ha I could also settle for mid 60s Fairlane