Motor Freaks !!!

[26Reload]

At 16 I drove a 72 Vega....4 cylinder...4 speed manual..flat black with big wide full lenght body blue stripe with pin stripes alongside...
had it running so sweet I could spin in 3rd gear on dry pavement....
Another high schooler saw that...he offered Mom $1500....it was gone...
Then I saw they used that body for drag cars.....freaking awesome....just a little bigger motors though......

 

[Victor3Ranger1]

At 16 I drove a 72 Vega....4 cylinder...4 speed manual..flat black with big wide full lenght body blue stripe with pin stripes alongside...
had it running so sweet I could spin in 3rd gear on dry pavement....
Another high schooler saw that...he offered Mom $1500....it was gone...
Then I saw they used that body for drag cars.....freaking awesome....just a little bigger motors though......

I loved those, we would put 400sbc in them

 

[Bob Wright]

Was that the one they called a Whipple blower?
I remember that one being outlawed

Instead of a 2 or 3 lobe rotor like a a roots blower that pushed the air down it had a set of screw type rotors that forced the air axially (back). The Whipple is in that same family but with inter-cooling built in as a street type power adder. Very efficient.
The PSI blower was just brute force and didn't have a pressure bleed off like a waste gate on a turbo. Any back flow surge had nowhere to go so explosions could happen occasionally.

 

[Victor3Ranger1]

Instead of a 2 or 3 lobe rotor like a a roots blower that pushed the air down it had a set of screw type rotors that forced the air axially (back). The Whipple is in that same family but with inter-cooling built in as a street type power adder. Very efficient.
The PSI blower was just brute force and didn't have a pressure bleed off like a waste gate on a turbo. Any back flow surge had nowhere to go so explosions could happen occasionally.

Wow

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

Was that the one they called a Whipple blower?
I remember that one being outlawed

I don't believe so, this is a modern pro-mod motor...either nitrous, turbo or straight blower...

 

[L2land]

...being a 16 year old driver during the muscle car age I know some of you were also....also a huge fan of drag racing from brackets to NHRA door slammers...you'll get a kick out of this bottom end block..I believe it was a turbo pro mod @ 10'000 rpms...amazing amount of damage..
View attachment 585161

Might have hit 11000 rpm . That's impressive!

 

[K.E.C. Darkside]

Today's racing motors are Very Impressive. But Catastrophic Failure is part of it.
Today's Top Fuel Dragsters and Funny Cars have 13000Hp.
THAT IS AMAZING.

 

[cohunt]

Here are a few pieces I have left from when I worked for a race car team in the early 90's --- got hooked on drag racing back in the day and after working in the offshore oilfield industry for a while I went back to school for a bit to learn about aerodynamics and chassis building-- then went to work in the road racing racecar field for 10 years before having to move and find a new career for family.

1st Pic is from an over rev to almost 9000rpm from a driver downshift error that caused a valve head to break off in the cylinder , 2nd was another over rev that resulted in sending the rod/piston through the side of the block (parts have been lightly brazed back together and painted for fun) 3rd is a signed souvenir from Eddie Hill (early 90's) when he set a new record

I remember a buddy putting a "sneaky pete" NOS sprayer on a pinto, then revving it to the moon- dropping the clutch- and hitting the NOS all at the same time while in a dirt field--- most of the motor came out the oil pan and was left in the field that night

Those of you that don't remember the " sneaky pete" NOS kit--- it was a spray nozzle that fit over the air cleaner stud that was hidden under the air cleaner top cover--- it injected straight NOS with out adding fuel, you were supposed to richen up your carb jets so when used it wouldn't lean out your motor burn--- but my buddy put it straight on the carb and ran it without any extra fuel--- toasted that motor on the first shot

Got to see the inside of a Richard Petty nascar motor one time behind closed doors--- Nascar used to only pop the head over the #1 cylinder to check bore size--- was great to see " legal sized" pistons and bores on 1 bank and huge oversized pistons and bores on the other bank---- must have taken a miracle worker to balance that motor

 

[Victor3Ranger1]

Today's racing motors are Very Impressive. But Catastrophic Failure is part of it.
Today's Top Fuel Dragsters and Funny Cars have 13000Hp.
THAT IS AMAZING.

For a fact.
The new blocks can handle so much more horsepower it's insane

 

[cohunt]

In 1988 it took 4000hp to cover the quarter mile in 5 seconds, it took about 8000hp to get to the 4.5 second barrier in early 2000's --- i can see why they are running 11000 -13000 hp now as they are around 3.6 sec for the quarter mile iirc

I hear they hit about 6 G's of acceleration nowadays too

The saying in racing is "a good race motor is like a grenade--- pull the pin and run hard till it explodes"

 

[Victor3Ranger1]

I gathered all the parts 13 years ago gathering all parts and components to build my first 1000hp pump gas motor and it has all been on hold for the past 13 years.
After I got hurt the last time overseas and during my first few months of recovery I was given the opportunity to raise my two oldest grandchildren and all that stuff is still sitting in my shop waiting to be put together and into the car, motor, parts, rearend and transmission are just waiting to be finished

 

[WeiserBucks]

they are around 3.6 sec for the quarter mile iirc

Last time I payed attention top fuel races had been shortened to 1000' for safety reasons. The technology is amazing regardless.

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

Last time I payed attention top fuel races had been shortened to 1000' for safety reasons. The technology is amazing regardless.

...yep, the tires deform too much and they aren't recovering to round quick enough.. hard to believe the human body can handle those forces...pardon the pun but pray for Ole' John Force..

 

[Gary in MD]