Grey Motor Drag Car Build

Includes fuel system, cooling system and exhaust.

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BS
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Re: Grey Motor Drag Car Build

Post by BS »

Yes there were one or 2 cars that left the tarmac over the weekend...

I wanted to come down. I’ve stopped doing fifo for the time being due to the uncertainty with the WA border and having a young family so it was on the cards but I’ve still got a bit of homework to do with the car before I head down to Sydney.

Not sure if spanners is racing as he has moved and is a few hours away now. I know a couple of other cars are running there though plus a couple of fuel altereds which would be awesome to see. If I wasn’t in Brisbane I’d definitely be spectating.


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BS
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Re: Grey Motor Drag Car Build

Post by BS »

Finally got around to having a bit of a look at what’s the damage is after Carralbyn

Manual:
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Thing was all over the place idle wise but here are the readings from the test gauge compared to dash gauge:
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Compression test manual:
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Compression test dry and wet results:
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Blacky
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Re: Grey Motor Drag Car Build

Post by Blacky »

gotta be happy with that :thumbsup:
When you're faced with an unpleasant task that you really don't want to do, sometimes you just have to dig deep down inside and somehow find the patience to wait for someone else to do it for you.


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BS
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Re: Grey Motor Drag Car Build

Post by BS »

Yep pretty relieved nothing too sinister except now the EWP which has 4 1/8 mile runs on it is now leaking...

Plan now is:
Sort alternator alignment
Sort leaking EWP
Replace the gauges to something a bit more accurate
Play around testing and tuning


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Blacky
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Re: Grey Motor Drag Car Build

Post by Blacky »

..... and install rev limiter :thumbsup:
When you're faced with an unpleasant task that you really don't want to do, sometimes you just have to dig deep down inside and somehow find the patience to wait for someone else to do it for you.


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BS
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Re: Grey Motor Drag Car Build

Post by BS »

Blacky wrote:..... and install rev limiter :thumbsup:
And that


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BS
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Re: Grey Motor Drag Car Build

Post by BS »

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/thr ... 966/page-7

New updates for anyone interested in the thread above.

Massive thanks to Harv for lending of the strommie tuning kit and his patience while I buttoned this thing back down.

Also a massive shoutout to Paul Beerens from the Qld club for working with me and folding up the fan shroud for me.

Time to sort the tune out on this thing and get some testing done.

The Nostalgia drags are coming up in September so my goal is to try and get it running better prior…


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Harv
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Re: Grey Motor Drag Car Build

Post by Harv »

Very neat job on the water pump plate 😎

Cheers,
Harv
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Errol62
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Re: Grey Motor Drag Car Build

Post by Errol62 »

And the shroud and catch can mount. Good luck on the next run.

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BS
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Re: Grey Motor Drag Car Build

Post by BS »

Update time.

All steps in the right direction I think… Time to try get it on the dyno and sort the tune out now all the other issues seem to be sorted.

Massive thanks to Harv for the loan of his tuning kit and the stromberg guide which has been of massive help. You are a legend sir.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/thr ... 966/page-7

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Errol62
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Re: Grey Motor Drag Car Build

Post by Errol62 »

I love the exhaust set up Brendon. Hope the tune works out ok mate.

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FbSTDwagon
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Re: Grey Motor Drag Car Build

Post by FbSTDwagon »

Brendon I really enjoyed reading this thread of yours, great links to the you tube videos too.

I must check out the Corralbyne Drags one day.

What did you find was the major issues with the tune of the engine mate?
Drew
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Re: Grey Motor Drag Car Build

Post by BS »

FbSTDwagon wrote:Brendon I really enjoyed reading this thread of yours, great links to the you tube videos too.

I must check out the Corralbyne Drags one day.

What did you find was the major issues with the tune of the engine mate?
It’s a great event. Bloody hot, but worth the heat stroke.

Still working through the tune but 55 power valves and 53 mains in a triple setup is not a good start. 70 mains and a 46 power valve seems to be a better starting point from my research.

I’ll keep the updates coming as I work though it and hopefully figure it out.


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Grey Motor Drag Car Build

Post by BS »

Long post alert…

Wow. What a weekend at the nostalgia drags. This event is what inspired me to build my own car after coming as a spectator years ago. My goal of building a car to run at this event is now complete and I can’t wait to get back to the track and continue to make progress with it. Friday night I started the weekend getting myself and the car through licensing. My first full track pass was a nervous 18.6 @ 72.6mph and first time in the car at the track and at night was a pretty intense experience.

The car still wasn’t running right despite having it on the dyno the week prior to work through the tune. It still had a bit of a stutter down low but once it hit 4K the thing cleared itself out and took off pulling hard all the way to 6k when I thought it best be time to bang (aka miss) gears.

A call to David Andrews to talk me through checking the ignition system put me at ease that it wasn’t breaking down in the spark department which I didn’t believe was the problem anyway as the car pulled hard from 4K on no dramas.

The only thing left to do was look at the fuel system that had just been “tuned”. Harv being kind enough to lend me his tuning kit I asked the dyno tuner to write down what power valves and jets he used so that I could replace them. Sure enough this didn’t happen so upon inspecting what he used there were 61 power valves and three different main jets. #56 front #55 mid and #54 rear. This all seemed still quite fat to me from Harv’s guide and a bit of research.

The carbs were also out of synch and the exhaust runner temps were all over the place so it’s still not right. I’m pretty much done with running this thing on the dyno and my next move is to fit some bungs in my exhaust runners and hook an afr gauge into the mix.

Anyway, reading the plugs after each run the front 2 cylinders always had pretty sooty plugs. We decided to experiment and flipped the front air scoop forwards to force some air in to the lazy carb with the big jets in and while it didnt fix the problem completely it certainly helped and picked me up a second form my previously quickest run.

So once back to the pits we dropped the front carb down to a #54 main to match the rear and spun the air scoop back rearward. I still think this is too rich but I didn’t want to go making massive changes and only wanted to change one thing each run so i didn’t loose whatever baseline I had. Once again still didn’t totally fix the problem but it was better again and the car ran its best time of 16.1 @ 85.6mph.

Overall I got 9 runs in over the weekend through the heat of the day and into the night and apart from the tune the car behaved brilliantly.

There is still so much more left in the tune up and driver skills department but I have no doubt I’ll continue to progress this car to run a decent number for the ha/gr class and build on my consistency as a driver.

Steve and Jeff danglmair ended up making the final and Steve took the win running a 14.092 on a 13.90 dial in and cut a .023 light so pretty competitive! Funnily enough back at the pits when were bench racing he told me his first pass in his car in 2007 was a 21sec pass so there is hope for me and the grey ghost yet!
Last edited by BS on Mon Oct 11, 2021 9:42 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Grey Motor Drag Car Build

Post by BS »

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