the last two races indy and rockingham I had to borrow cars...my block just came in from brodix

quote:

Originally posted by Bucky:
Any rule of thumb for weight loss vs et loss for faster dragsters?

On my first blower car for every 10 lbs I ADDED to the nose I could go about .01 faster to 60’

I was going to go flyweight in my second car. Talked to someone that had built one right at min weight. He Had to add 100 lbs to make the car work. Cancelled that plan.

I’ve never heard of a roots blown car under 1900 lbs that was any good.

With a pro charger it’s probably easier.

There’s a d screw outlaw dragster down here thats flyweight and fast. It leaves like it’s got 40 degrees of timing out at the hit but seems to work pretty good.

I bet Bender has a lot more wheel speed than any T/D. I could just barely make enough wheelspeed on my last car to keep the nose down and take weight out. If the air got bad or the track got great, the nose would get light in a hurry.

isn't that what the wheelie bar is for?

quote:

Originally posted by jenavet:
isn't that what the wheelie bar is for?

Not in my experience.

Wheelie bars do two things.

1. Make fine adjustments to wheel speed on an otherwise well balanced car

2. Give you an extra few tenths of a second to abort a run when you miss the setup.

Did someone say The Bender?

quote:

Originally posted by "The Bender":
Did someone say The Bender?

Beetle juice!

quote:

Originally posted by BJs Wild Ride:

quote:

Originally posted by jenavet:
isn't that what the wheelie bar is for?

Not in my experience.

Wheelie bars do two things.

1. Make fine adjustments to wheel speed on an otherwise well balanced car

2. Give you an extra few tenths of a second to abort a run when you miss the setup.

When I switched my car over to TD I spent around $600 getting a wheelie bar built and mounted on my car. I have made around 100 runs since and the wheelie bar wheel has never touched the track, I consider that a good thing It does make a great place for the push bar mount lol

quote:

Originally posted by Big Steve:

quote:

Originally posted by BJs Wild Ride:

quote:

Originally posted by jenavet:
isn't that what the wheelie bar is for?

Not in my experience.

Wheelie bars do two things.

1. Make fine adjustments to wheel speed on an otherwise well balanced car

2. Give you an extra few tenths of a second to abort a run when you miss the setup.

When I switched my car over to TD I spent around $600 getting a wheelie bar built and mounted on my car. I have made around 100 runs since and the wheelie bar wheel has never touched the track, I consider that a good thing It does make a great place for the push bar mount lol

They run on money. It had to be spent regardless. LOL.
No TD for me, but hoping to run my first in the 6's next year after learning a lot on my small block this year. At least should keep me in the local quick races.

In my house we discussed taking weight of the dragster. The deal is that we will spend what is right for removing 3x the weight that I personally lose over the winter. I'm 235 now, and 6'3....and getting old. But I think 220 is attainable. I usually get stuck at 223 or so.So I ought to be able to take 30 to 45 lbs off the car plus 10-15 off of me.

Where would you start for best bang for the buck on a suspended car? The only one I am kinda taking off the table is the batteries. I have two small Brailie's in the nose that have worked really well both as batteries and as ballast in the nose.

And.....I already know I need to upgrade brakes as the ones I currently use cup the crap out of the rotors every year bad enough that I can't get them off the axle unless I take them off the hat first. So if I can combine this area with weight loss, all the better.

Nothing is particularly "trick" on the car currently. I did try a set of 15"x10.5" mt's this year...borrowed. And they were nice at 7.teens. Not sure how they will be as I get a little faster. Just a little sketchy on the big end on a so so track during the trial.

My car doesn’t touch the wheelie bar either, just there to give me a place to sit when I’m packing the parachutes. Goal is to loose 15 lbs this offseason, usually I can do that but by the end of the race season I’m back

quote:

Originally posted by Bucky:

And.....I already know I need to upgrade brakes as the ones I currently use cup the crap out of the rotors every year bad enough that I can't get them off the axle unless I take them off the hat first.

I changed to the "old" version of these and have never had a problem since!

http://www.competitionplus.com...-strange-engineering

quote:

Originally posted by David Gerard:

quote:

Originally posted by Bucky:

And.....I already know I need to upgrade brakes as the ones I currently use cup the crap out of the rotors every year bad enough that I can't get them off the axle unless I take them off the hat first.

I changed to the "old" version of these and have never had a problem since!

http://www.competitionplus.com...-strange-engineering

It seems like those designs that allow the rotor to float somewhat on the hat is the cure for the cupping. Those will be my go-to this winter.

Anyone here use much carbon fiber in their dragsters? Any big hitters for weight loss there? Wonder how a cf seat would be to fabricate? It looks interesting to work with.

The only thing CF on my car is the front and rear wings. I have got some weight off the car this year, 7.5lbs lighter torque converter, 12lbs lighter battery but biggest reduction so far is 36lbs off the driver and counting

quote:

Originally posted by Big Steve:
The only thing CF on my car is the front and rear wings. I have got some weight off the car this year, 7.5lbs lighter torque converter, 12lbs lighter battery but biggest reduction so far is 36lbs off the driver and counting

I’m at only 5 so far. I think I ought to have 10-15 left in me.

While they are more nostalgia than modern TD stuff.Hayden wheels has wire wheel and tire combos that weigh 7 lbs.My welds weight closer to 14.Cost wise its about 1000 bucks for 14 lbs.Now if you have added weight on front end I do not see it as best way to got.

Want lite call Frank Parks at Neil and Parks,if it can be made lite he has it. At least check their site.

Chutes? Have you looked at cgutes for weight savings. I know some guys that have swapped two smaller because they did not need top fuel chute on slower car and about 3 to 4 pounds less.

If running dual chutes(not sure what rule is) you can run one smaller for 3 or both for 6 lb. off car. Hey its cheap weight. I know on our funny car we ran about 100 bucks a pound and at a point that climbs pretty quick.

As for Carbon Fiber Rieggels Composites has a few different options he has a bunch of things in carbon

I know Dan Page is making a bunch of things out of titanium for weight savings

Carbon Fiber is to men as diamonds are to women.