Innovations.....

Just a quick thought about innovations:

I have, on a couple of ocassions, said that Drag Pak #24 has more innovations than any other Drag Pak car. And I stand by that statement. But I thought it only fair to expalin what I mean.

Innovations are ways of doing something, that are different from the way others do them. And they provide some kind of convenience, performance, or appearance advantage. Or, at least that is my definition of it.

What motivates innovation? Innovation is often the answer to a gnawing problem, or it is simply something that nobody else has yet seen the need to do.

So, some of our innovations are the result of addressing problems, and some are simply a better way to do something, which we think gives us some kind of advantage.

Better, is only "better" if there is some kind of an advantage provided by it. Doing something just to be different, while it might stroke your ego, is no better if it doenst present an advantage.

After my last posting, I opened a spreadsheet and started tabulating (counting) the number of things that we did, either before anyone else, in spite of everyone else, or that others have not yet done.
My list of innovations totals around 40 individual items.

A few of these items are the result of decisions that we made to save weight, or because we couldn't get something within our timeframe, so we went a different direction. And some others have now made some of those same decisions, so they are no longer unique to us. But that doesn't mean that they still aren't innovations by us. And there are some items where our decisions solved a problem. And then, there are the Secret Squirrel innovations. And it seems that we have at least 10 of those.

Once I reorganize the innovation list,  I will also redact the Secret Squirrel entries, and then publish the entire list here.

God Bless and Race Safely
David

Happy Thanksgiving..

Today, I am going to hoodwink you...just kidding....

Actually, I am just going to go back into the past and explain our hood issues, and solutions..

First the problem with the dzus fasteners was obvious from the beginning. They were difficult to attach, tough to release, and you often slid the tool off of the fastener and scratched the hood. So they were a pain in the tail, from day one. When you needed a fuel check, or had other reason to pull the hood after a race, you had to make sure that the driver had help. Lining the hood back up after taking it off, often led to just attaching 3 o4 of the fasteners until you got the car back to the pit area. So Chris and I both hated those fasteners right from the start.

But sometimes you have enough to do, that you don't fix a problem, until you have no choice. And that was last year in Las Vegas. It is hard to believe that it has already been more than a year. But we were going through the traps at 135 mph, and it happened. Our hood left the car, went up into the air about 40 feet, fluttered around, and fell to the side of the track. I caught it on video, but unless you know what it was, it would be hard to know that is was our hood. And it was lucky indeed that the hood lifted clear of the windshield and really didn't strike the car.

Yes, it did tear out the Dzus fasteners that didn't release, and broke a couple of brackets. And when it hit the ground,  the scoop separated from the rest of the hood. But all in all, it could have been a lot worse. The only damage to the car came when we tried to push the inner fender back down, and dented the fender on top.

And we caught another break too. Because we had time, since we had the lousy Division 7 stock schedule of starting our first run at around 6:00 in the evening, but this time, we could use the extra time to try to get the hood back reattached.

First thing in the morning, we made a couple of stops. One was was at a body shop supply house to get epoxy to re glue the lousy glue job Rousch had done on the scoop. Their bead didn't even go all of the way around. So it is no wonder that another Drag Pak also lost his scoop. that day. Chrysler committed that we would get a new hood. But for now, we needed this one to work. We were in Vegas, still racing, and had Pomona the next week.And we went to Lowes for Pop rivets.

Then, we hustled, drilled, epoxied, and pop riveted the scoop in place, and we repaired the torn out Dzus fastener locations and pop riveted washers over all of the holes to reinforce them, and we installed traditional hood pins to replace the dzus fasteners. Here are Keith and Jim Marshall installing the washers.

And the hood went back on, and looked like this:

Not too bad. It was funtional, and for a little while, it was fun pulling pins, lifting the hood. Sitting it back down, and having it center easily on the pins.

But then it became an issue. Where are the pins? Do we have them all? What do you do with them while the hood is off?

In Indianapolis, a guy came though the pits, and showed me the Qwik-Latch connectors. I was impressed, but we had just put the hood pins in, so I thought we had a good solution. But in time, the Qwik -Latch pins looked better and better.

So I called them, got all of the info needed, springs for pins, 10 mini latches. So I ordered them, and they sat in the tool box.

Until, we had to rebuild the engine on the car. And I drove down to Dayton to help on the engine. Once we got the engine back together, I turned to the hood. I only had to remake a couple of brackets, and before we knew it, we had the new latches in, and they worked like a charm. We didn't need to leave the large washers in place, but it was just easier that way.

Just push the buttons, and the springs under them push the hood up, and off comes the hood. It can even be done by just one person.

But then, what do you do with the hood?

We added dense foam blocks to the underside of the hood, so you can sit it on the top of the car, and it sits nicely without scratching the top...

Innovations upon innovations. Once again, I will say it unapologetically. Drag Pak #24  is the most innovative Drag Pak in existence. We have done more things to make this car faster, easier to drive, and more convenient to race than anyone else has done. And we have won awards to prove it, from the Best Appearing Car, to Class wins, to Stock Eliminator Winner, to Stock Automatic Champion, to holding the National A/SA record.

Do I have a lot to be thankful for? Yes, I do. I got tospend more quality time with Chris because of this car, than I would ever have been able to spend previously. And we have accomplished everything we set out to accomplish.

So I thank God for absolutely everything!

OK, now back to turkey day football....

God Bless, and Race Safely

David

A bit more about the teardown...

I just happened across some pictures from our teardown in Chicago that added some things that I didn't capture in Las Vegas..

I talked about the fact that they cc'ed the heads, etc. But unless you see it done, it is a little abstract. So here are pictures and some explanations.

To measure the combustion chamber, they put a piece of plexiglas, with a small opening in it, over the combustion chamber in the head.  They put some substance around the opening (not sure what to call it it) to be sure the plexiglas seals.

Then they take a graduated tube filled with alcohol, and with a spigot to dispense it, mounted on a metal stand, and open the spigot until they fill the combustion chamber with liquid through the aforementioned hole in the plastic, measuring how much liquid leaves the tube.

And they also do a similar procedure on both the intake runner, (that is the part between the intake valve and intake manifold),

 and the exhaust runner........

And that is how they measure these things.....

As mentioned before, they also check how big our piston is, total bore, and how high it goes from the bottom of stroke to top of stroke, for total stroke. But that is pretty easy, and done with a simple dial caliper.

The real interesting, and often most problematic, measurement is the cam lift on both the intake valve and exhaust valve.

First, you need to install a solid lifter in the intake side of a cylinder, and one in the exhaust side of that same cylinder. Oh, you don't have any solid lifters? Of course not! Our car uses hydraulic lifters. So how are we expected to come up with a solid lifter, when they aren't even made for our car?

Simple, take one of your spare hydraulic lifters, dissasemble it, and fill it with washers, that bring it up to height you need, put the top back on, and you have it. So make sure you carry a variety of different thickness washers to use for this purpose. If you don't have spares, you can use on of your running lifters, and then return it a hydraulic when done. But these lifters aren't expensive, and once you get one lifter together, you won't want to take it apart again. So pick up some spares, and have two ready for use in teardown.

As an alternative, you can cop an attitude, and tell the techs that don't have onem and there is nothing you can do. But in my opinion, throwing down a gauntlet is not a good idea. These guys have no agenda, and just want to make sure that you are legal. But if you get snarky with them, or they think you do, at best, they will be just a little more thorough in all of their tests. And one time through is quite enough, thank you.

What makes this measurement interesting is the necessity to get everything exactly perpendiular to valve, and to do this a steel plate (small) is bolted to the head. Then a magnetic mount for a dial indicator is secured on the steel plate. Then the dial pointer is placed on the top of the spring retainer. And this is all done while the head is on the block, and bolted down.

But, this is place where if the dial indicator is not perpendicualr to the valve, an error in the reading can be introduced. And frankly, it is hard to get it all lined up properly. If you have been cooperative and haven't upset the techs, you can gently help them see if they aren't lined up right.

As you can, there is an awful lot to getting torn down, and there are specifications for all of these things, and more. Like the wheelbase of the car. And the height of the front end of the car, and making sure that the drive shaft is steel, and the center section of the rear end is steel. (except in the case of the 2011 V10 Challenger which can be aluminum.)

And I never mentioned that when we are getting "teched in" at any track, they check the brand,  the SFI rating,  and the expiration date on the seat belt harness, and the racing suit (pants, and jacket) and the helmut.

Rules, rules, and more rules. All intended to promote safety, and to assure a level playing field.

God Bless, and Race Safely

And mostly, have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and tell everyone you love, that you love them!

David

After the transmission...

Well, actually, before the transimission...here is a copy of the Record for A/SA that we won in Las Vegas..

That was for all of those out there ,who have never seen one, and don't own one.

Now, back to the car. What comes after the transmission? The drive shaft. But ours is nothing special.

When we got the transmission, the rear end was already in the car. So to connect the two, we needed a  drive shaft. So we called Mike P, and said "Help!!!"  Mike told us how to measure for the drive shaft, and we measured it about 11 times, each time wondering if we had gotten it right. So then, we pretty much just averaged the numbers. And that is how long our drive shaft is!

But next to the rear end, or differential. Once again, conventional wisdom said Dana 60. Tough as nails, and downright bulletproof.

But by now, we were pretty sure that bulletproof wasn't necessary at the cost, in terms of dollars, and weight, and inconvenience of the Dana 60.  So once again, we go against conventional wisdom, and instead of the Dana 60, we went for a Mopar 8 3/4" rear end.

And so far, we have not regretted that decision one bit.

The 8 3/4 is a Moser aftermarket assembly approved by the NHRA, and yes, there is one small issue that exists with it, rather than the Dana 60.

The rear end ratios available for the 8 3/4  is not as broad as for the Dana 60. For example, the steepest gear we have found so far for the 8 3/4 is 4.86 while there is a 4.88, and even a 5.00 available.

I know of at least one other Drag Pak that has run the 5.00, but it isn't necessary for us, because we already have a better 60 ft time than most other Drag Paks..

And, on the same note, changing a rear end ratio on a 8 3/4 is much easier than a Dana 60. So, if we ever need to change it, we can change it quickly.

God Bless, and Race Safely

David

Recognition...

It is always nice to be recognized for your performance, and it is no different with our accomplishments with Drag Pak #24.

I have recently received a number of congratulations from many Drag Pak owners, and other friends of our racing endeavors. To all of you who have been so kind and gracious and such good friends through all our efforts, I say, from the bottom of my heart; THANK YOU!

A recent article about our latest accomplishments just appeared at http:.www.mopar.com/speed

And when we accept our rewards in Indianapolis on December 10 at the Division 3 Banquet, I expect that there will  even more public recognition.

But the best recognition, is to me, the vindication I feel in my heart for Christopher "Drooze" Wertman, and me. We knew that we could do it. And we knew that it wouldn't be easy. And while we had the encouragement of some, (we appreciate every bit of it) we also had the condemnation of many others. And for that, I also, say "thanks".

Nothing drives me, and nothing could drive Chris more than having someone tell us that we can't do it.

Well, it certainly wasn't easy, but as you can now see, we sure as heck did it.

I have been asked by a number of people, what is the difference between us, our performance, and the other Drag Paks? 

First, let me say that they are some Drag Pak yet to hit the track, that will indeed be very successful. So our performance so far, is just that, it is only up until now.

But there definitely are quite a few differences between a lot of Drag Paks, and Number 24.

As I said previously, I will talk about a lot of the things that we have done to make Drag Pak #24 a consistent and exceptional performer. Once again, I caution you though, there are some things that Chris and I considered to "Secret Squirrel Information". And that information is available only to members of the Drag Pak #24 Secret Squirrel Association which boasts a limited, but enthusiastic membership.

Going back to the beginning. Our goal was to have the lightest Drag Pak. And we largely accomplished that even though some cars that were not put together by Mike Pustelney at MPR Race Cars, used lighter weight frame and cage components, giving them a distinct over most other Drag Paks.

But not ours. No decision that was made early in the process, ignored the weight component of that decision. Chris and I spent a lot of time just brainstorming about where we lose some weight. I remember them like it was yesterday, even though it was now over two years ago.

Transmission: Everyone we knew was recommending, and installing a 727 Pro Trans in their Drag Pak. 

We knew two things that helped make this decision easier. First we knew that we couldn't get a 727 Pro Trans by the time that we thought that we needed have one. And we knew that a 727 was 40-60 heavier than a 904.

So, even though I was already familiar with the 727, and had one apart in the shop, we went to Paul at Turbo Action, and told him what we wanted, and when we wanted it. When he got done telling us he couldn't do all of that, he did tell us what he could do, and it was still very good, and he did it.

And whenever we called, Paul was always patient and ready to answer questions of any kind, even stupid ones. That 904 which was built on a 904 Truck case that has extra ribbing to strengthen the case where 904 are believed to be weak. So our decision to use the 904 was a good one. And our case is as strong is as good as we need it to be be. We have replaced clutches, and added a lightweight sun shell, having rebuilt the transmission twice. But when you have hundreds (approximately 190 by our count) of runs on it, and are pulling 1.28 sixty ft times, some maintenance is indeed necessary from time to ttime. And this transmission, before being rebuilt, was run behind six different engines. There were two 6.1's, and a total of four 5.7's. We  are now on 5.7 engine number five. This engine is still in the car, and still sealed from our record run, and unless we discover something requiring it, will remain sealed until after we run a few more times.

More to talk about next time.

God Bless and Race Safely

David

What happens in a tear down...

Here, I will try to give you a sense of what happens in an NHRA tear down. We have now been "torn down" three times in total, and it appears pretty obvious that there is no typical tear down.

 

First off, the name implies that someone tears you down. That couldn't be any more wrong, as they tell what they want, and you tear it down. So, you either take teh car to them, along with your tools, or they come to you. This depends on the Race Schedule, the Division, and the Event itself.

 

In Charlotte, they selected the Class winners, and told us to bring our cars to the tech area, and the only thing that we had to take off of the car, was the Throttle Body. They also measured our wheelbase, and body height.

 

In Chicago, they came to our pit area, had us pull a head, measured bore, stoke, piston dome height, combustion chamber size,  cam lift, valve sizes, intake and exhaust plenum sizes, wheelbase, and car height.

 

In Las Vegas, it was very similar to Chicago, excpt for two things; One, they invited us to to bring the car to the Tech area for tear down. And, it ws our decision to go to tear down, as we had done nothing yet to warrant a tear down. But we did want to go for a Record, and that would result in a tear down, if we were sussessful. But the schedule was not all conducive to normal orderof things, make a record run, tear down, then run again and back up the run. We were to run late evening, and would have only a few hours in dimming light at best, and probably in the dark, to tear down , and get it all back together for the next run. So we went to the Division Tech Director and asked how he saw it happening. He said, would you like to tear it down now before the first round? We had about 6-7 hours before the run, so we said :yes". It really wasn't a matter of whether or not we could set a record. We knew we could so, we went back to our pit area, loaded up all tools that we thought we would need, and put them into the back of the Ram 3500 we use to tow the car. Then Keith drove the truck, and I drove the car, and took it to the Tech area. Then I started the car, (yes, I do know how to drive the car) and moved it into position for the tear down.

 

This first picture is what the motor looks like before tear down.

 

The first thing to come off the car, is obviously the hood.

Next is the black bar that you see at the top rear of engine on body (4 bolts).

Two things happen at once next. The exhaust header on driver's side is removed (5 bolts)

But did I mention that you also need to jack up the car, and set set jack stands for safety?

The next thing was to drain the water out of the block, so it doent fill teh cylinders when teh head is removed. We put a petcock in the block so opening that, and opening the drain at the radiator, pretty much empties it all out. The header comes off first, so they we don't have to lay in the drained water while removing it.

 

And then, the "hat" the seals the throttle body to the hood comes off (4 bolts)

Since the car is jacked up, I stand on my tool box so that I can reach the bolts.

The throttle body is removed for measurement. (4 bolts)

Next are the fuel rails fule line connections (2 fittings)

Throttle cable is disconnected, along with two return springs. (3 connection and 1 bolt.)

Intake manifold is removed, (6 additional bolts)

Coil Packs are removed on driver side headand passenger side head. (16 bolts)

Valve cover removed on Driver side. (10 bolts)

 

Although we used a folding table from the trailer to hold working tools and parts,

We used the bed of the truck to hold parts when they were neither involved in tear down or assumbly.

 

Rocker arm assemblies are removed from driver side head. (8 bolts)

Next the head bolts are removed (5 small ones,, 10 big ones) and Head is removed. 

You can see the pistons, and the coil packs form the passenger side. The reason that the passenger coils packs are out, is that we need to remove one spark plug from each odd cylinder so that the engine is easier to turn over manually when checking stroke, and valve lifts. (4 spark plugs removed)

  

Her you see the head with valve springs and gasket on work table.

Next the head goes into the trailer to have things checked.

The gasket is measured on the table.

In the tech trailer we were told to remove one intake and one exhaust valve from the head. 

This turned out to be the biggest pain in the whole process.  The valve compressor, which squeezes the valve spring, so the retainers can be removed is almost right, but not perfect.

The tech guys said their valve compressor was even worse. So we struggled on, and finally,

after a good 30 minutes of hard work, the valves were both out,  and measured. 

Getting the valves back in and getting retainers and clips back in place took about the same time as removing them (ouch, and I say that quite literally as Keith smashed his thumb doing it). Compressing two springs, removing two retainer and four valve stem half clips sounds easy enough,

but trust me and Keith, it really isn't!

The head is replaced on the motor, solid lifters installed in place of hydraulic lifters which would require engine to actually run while being measured, and that isn't at all practical. So here are the Divisional Tech Director, and Tech measuring things. You dont see us in this picture, but considering how difficult it is to properly measure the lift, getting measurement tools properly horizontal and vertical at time, we watched intently to make sure the measurements were right. And they were.

So, once again, all measures OK,  and we hear the magic words. Looks good, put it back together.

The first thing to do, is to remove the head and remove the solid lifters, replacing the hydraulic lifters.  

We heard the call for stock to the lanes as we were putting it together again, and we were pretty confident that we could have it back together in time to make the run.We also heard that it was possible that there would be a make up run available in case we didnt finish it.

To consider how long it took to get things back together, factor in time to find the right bolts, and right tools. Also include the extra time to get at some bolts, that were not tighened, as Keith did the big head bolts, tightening and torquing, and I assumed that he had done the small head bolts too. He had not, so once the intake manifold was on, we realized it, and worked around teh intake to tighten the five small head bolts. Then, we also realized that we misplaced, one bolt. It was a common metric bolt and we knew we could pick one up at Lowes, and if necessary run without it. And for teh total time, you can also factor in the extra time required in about 6 trips back to the trailer for "something" we forget or simply didn't anticapte being needed. Tonya, Keith's wife, made several trips, and I made a few more. In some cases it was simple, like a few more rags and carb/brake cleaner for cleaning up the heads for measurement. And in other cases it was in a desparate search of an elusive socket, or a wrench that had somehow been missed.

So, here we were almost back together, and I felt a drop of rain. Then another.. and another...and we decided to just put the hood back on theh car without the brace at the back, and get back to the pits before the rain really comes. So Tonya drove the truck, Keith drove the race car, and I drove the gold cart/pit vehicle and we all scurried back to the our pit.

The rain was starting to really come down now, so I jumped off of the golf cart, and I directed Keith into the trailer with the car. The rains really started now, and it was immedially obvious that there wouldnt be any more racing tonight. So we went to Lowes, got our exhaust manifold bolt, went back to the Hotel, got a bite to eat, and waited for the morning racing. We didnt know what time we would race, but it made sense that it would be early, and it was. Our first run was around 8:30 am, and our second run went at around 11:30 am.

We ran a relatively slow, but "safe" time on the first run, And for the second run, we needed to run within a 10th of second over it,  to back it up, or a 10th under it to be the new record with the slower run backing it up. But any other number under it, would back up the slower number. So we ran a 10.02 which was much faster and backed up the record run of 10.23+ in Las Vegas,  which when converted to sea level came out to be 10.05.

So that is what tear down looks like...

God Bless and Safe Racing my Friends.

David

 

 

Finally Home...

Just arrived home from Las Vegas...

Time to look at all of the trophies (not exactly all of them as we have one class trophy and one really Big  trophy yet to be received, and to grace my mantle) and reflect......

After all of the anticipation, hard work, blood (Yes, real blood, from Chris, from me, and some from Keith), and the ultimate resulting victory, it is all finally ours...

We won the NHRA Class Stock Automatic Performance Championship. And we have a NHRA National record in A/SA..

Drag Pak #24

Driving home from Las Vegas at a roadside stop...

Inside Drag Pak #24,

Special Aluminum Steering wheel,

one of many enhancements that make this car a winner.

Not only is the Wheel lightweight,

It comes off for easy driver entry and exit.

In time, I will recap the changes that we made to Drag Pak #24 that either made the car lighter, easier to race, or gave us some other benefit that allowed us to win all that we have won. Still won't give away a few secret squirrel secrets though, as they are saved for those special people who really deserve them.

God Bless and Race Safely

David

Well, we did it!!!

Just as Chris and I had planned, predicted and expected, the Mega Maniac now holds a National Hot Rod Assocation record.

We are now the A/SA National record holder at 10.05 seconds, and 130.55 MPH.

We could have run faster, but were somewhat cautious about running too fast, and getting horsepower.

More later, right now I am just happy that I have been able to continue and reach all of Chris' and my goals for the car that we both worked so hard to build and all of what he ever said about it has now come true.

God Bless, and Race Safely

David

What a day at the Divisional in Las Vegas

We took a couple of test and tune runs on Thursday, and the car ran OK. Not great, but the air here in Vegas is not really conducive to running great. So we were only a little dissapointed with the run.

Today, Friday, we  were scheduled for a run about 5-6 PM.

Then the schedule changed to about 4 PM, and we met the Divisional Tech Director, who said we should tear down this morning. Tear downs are usually reserved for cars who go really fast, and either win a big National Race, or those who go for a record... We have not even gotten in a run yet, so what is the deal?

I guess word had gotten out that we might run for a record. And the way the schedule exists for the next couple of days, getting a tear down accomplished would be next to impossible. There was just no good time to do one, except for this morning.

So, we started around 11:00AM and off came the throttle body and intake manifold. Next were the headers, then the coil packs, valve cover, rocker assemblies, and the head.

Then we got the head tested to make sure our combustion chamber was the right size. Next the intake runner was measured, and then the exhaust runner measured, then we had to remove an intake valve which means removing valve spring keeps, retainer, and spring. Next was the exhaust valve. All was measured, and all was found to be well within required limits. The head casting number was also checked and found to be good.

The throttle body bores were measured, and the intake manifold number checked. Again, all good.

Then cylinder bore checked, and piston dome checked, and stroke checked, and all were good.

The we had to put solid lifters in one intake and one exhaust and check cam lift. That meant putting the head back on the engine, and measuring the lift on intake and exhaust, and then taking he head back off, putting our hydraulic lifters back in to replace the solid lifters used for testing, and putting the head back on.  All measured, and as we knew was the case, all measured to be completely legal.

Just as we were starting to put things back to gether, we got word that Stock would run earlier than the modified schedule. We would now run at 3:00PM which was less than two hours from now. It will be close, but Keith and I have put this engine together, and ones like it, enough times to know that we could do it.

We started to put it all back together, and there are plenty of things that two people can work on at the same time that we went after it big time.

Stock was called to the staging lanes. We were still a ways from finished, but Super stock has about 80 cars, and they were before Stock and hadn't started yet, so we had a cushion. And we just continued, no need for panic, it wouldn't help, and might cause a problem. So we just kept at it.

Close now, still need to put the header back on, but everything on top is good, so the motor was sealed. We got the header on, and it began to sprinkle. We didn't put the cowl support on the car yet, and the rain started coming down, so we tossed the support in the truck, and all of the tools, threw the  hood back on the car, and drove back to our pit space.

We only lost one one exhaust header bolt, and if necessary could have run without it. We did pick up one later at Lowe's. And it will only take a few minutes in he morning to get it tighten up.

What I didn't mention was the number of trips we made from the Tech teardown area back to our pit, for a variety of items from, tools, to water, to a funnel. I would guess there were about seven of these trips total in the golf cart, the our Drooze Mobile pit vehicle by either Tonya, Keith's wife, or me.

The rains came hard now, and the whole day of racing was canceled. So, although we would have been ready, we now race tomorrow.

Our first run tomorrow will be about 8:00 am and next run will be about 12 noon.

More information on our runs tomorrow, tomorrow.

Anything we do tomorrow, and no matter how fast we go, we won't have to tear down, because the motor is legal, and sealed.

God Bless and Race Safely!

David