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Back in the 70's when I was a kid, we used to make fun of the flathead guys that were stuck in the past. Fast forward to 2025, now i'm the stuck in the past guy with my sbc's!
Here's actual rotating weight data collected from my personal 2525lb driver/car. Sbc power, but exact same...
If I didn't want to bend to shorten, I would cut it in half, chuck the pieces in my lathe, and turn them down just before the bends with pilots to accept a piece of tubing of the appropriate thickness. Basically use the original bends and just replace the straight solid center with a shorter...
For a target of 11.50's on a 5k budget with what you have, i'd keep your engine as-is.
...gear the car for 115mph stripe @ whatever rpm limit works with your engine
...steel bellhousing, steel flywheel, Powergrip clutch, 'tamer
...ign box w/ rev limiter/2-step/retard
...caltracs
...remove...
I recommend starting with your 700hp capable street extreme clutch, which needs to be tamed for your application. Fix that, you will be able to hook the car consistently without breaking parts or bogging the engine. That will also give you the ability to launch on drag radials consistently, no...
I fab'd a lighter 3pc steel bellhousing for the car, bare bell is 16.3 lbs. Bell with steel block plate, steel mid plate and bolts is 26.2lbs. Made it 3pc so I could pull either the engine or transmission without need for any added support.
For comparison, McLeod aluminum bell with titanium...
My point for this thread is that for a stick shift car, a clutch hit controller can allow you to use lighter drivetrain components than would otherwise be possible.
Grant
2525lbs with me in it, but a clutch hit controller can flip conventional wisdom. Here's a copy/paste explanation from one of my webpages...
Is a Heavy Drag Car Really More Likely To Break a Transmission?-
Most stick shift drag racers subscribe to the conventional wisdom that says the heavier a...
For those with manual transmissions, a clutch hit control device can make it possible to get away with lighter, less robust driveline parts. My personal street/strip car has been 5.73 w/ 1.30 60' on 28spl axles, 2-1/2"od x .065" wall driveshaft, 1310 u-joints. A clutch hit control device also...
To eliminate the dipstick as a source of crankcase vacuum leaks, I install a sight tube in the pan. Also allows you to see how much oil is in the sump with the engine running..
Grant
Never tried it on a Mopar tach, but here's a link to my page about re-caling a Mazda tach for a V8. The deadly accurate 1800rpm signal source I use is just an old battery charger. Here's a copy/paste from the webpage.
PREFERRED SIGNAL SOURCE...an inexpensive 12v battery charger can be used as a...
I used to build/race Dirt Latemodels, so please forgive me if anyone thinks this is just plain wrong...
I just bought a set of these for one of my cars (15x12 w/ 5"bs), 275/60-15 M/T drag radials...
I also bought a set of wide 5 adapters to adapt them to a 5 on 4.5" pattern. Anybody here try...
Here's a simple balance checking fixture I made a few years ago, wanted something to verify flywheel and PP balance at home. My first pass at this was just proof of concept using materials I had on the rack, basically angle iron and some cold rolled shafting. The arbor in the pic below is single...
Thanks for the comments guys.
Here's where weedburner comes from...
I've been told it looks real cool with the front end up in the air at nite, almost like one of those cartoon t-shirts with flames shooting out. Sometimes i'll put a little extra retard in the box just to get good flames :)...
Back in the early '80's I decided to build a dirt latemodel car for our local dirt track. The class had an engine setback rule, basically the #1 spark plug could be a maximum of 10.5" behind the upper balljoint centerline. The iron 440 out of my '70 Challenger was going to make the car pretty...
Here's a link to a page that explains how my clutch control devices can make an adjustable slipper clutch work even better...
Stick Shift Adjustable Clutch Setup- Counterweight or No Counterweight???
Grant
I've got a customer that uses the 'tamer to control the hit of an adjustable Black Magic slipper clutch, used it to win A/S at NHRA's US Nationals on radials.
Grant