Ram50

I know a triple disc is pretty heavy....I would say with the clutch the B&J will come in around the 47RH with converter, or maybe a bit lighter. I have a double flexplate (welded center and 2nd full flexplate) in my 89, and it has lasted a good amount of years with no issues.

If you can get your engine to live, on the bottle, you should be looking at low 5s in the 1/8th mile I would think. That would be quite the ride!
 
The last few triple disk converters I've mailed all boxed up weighed between 70 and 80 lbs, 74 lbs was the last billet triple disk from DPC as I recall.
 
OK, thanks Will. I am anxiously waiting on the new flywheel from Molinari. I have a whole new world to get tuned in with this clutch deal. I'd like to get some R&D on it before the Springfield, OH race.

If you can get your engine to live, on the bottle, you should be looking at low 5s in the 1/8th mile I would think. That would be quite the ride!
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Lol, yea it sure would. I'll be happy with a 5.99. Our old 468BBC Vega ran that time once. It was the smoothest pass I ever had in it.

I'm curious to see what happens with the chassis/suspension when we let go of the clutch at 6000RPM. I'd say it will jump all four wheels off the ground with the old set-up. I'm gonna get some double adjustable shocks and clamp down on the rebound to take some of the hit out of the tires. I'm hoping this will get rid of some of the hop.

I mounted up the B&J this evening and I think I'm gonna try running it without a cross member. I'm pretty sure the massive steel can will take it and I know my engine mounts will be fine. I hacked up the floorboard to get the reverser lever installed. I don't have the time right now to get to neat. lol
 
Hand Clutch Questions

Good news and bad news.

Good news, spoke with Bob Molinari yesterday. Looks like the flywheel should be ready to go in a week.

Bad news, it is steel. No where in my emails or conversations to Bob did I even come close to wanting a 'steel' flywheel. It will be about twice as heavy, but, I have no choice in the matter now. Honestly, with what we are doing, the steel won't hurt us that bad. I just can't believe chit like this happens????

More bad news, with the way work is right now, I can only get so much done in the hour or so before work and I just don't think I have it in me to be race ready for the Springfield dirt drags. Maybe next year????

I have been working on the hand clutch. There is no room for a peddle clutch and I was thinking a hand clutch would make staging and spooling a little easier. My question is, do I need to have a lock lever say like the old cat dozers with hand clutch???...or will it be OK just letting loose of the lever and hanging on??
 
B&J trans

I took some time while waiting on parts to pull the B&J apart. I mainly pulled it apart to see what gear ratios I have and I also wanted to check the condition of the trans.

All is good inside. She looks like a new one in there.

First gear will be 2.22, second will be 1.44 and third of course will be 1:1. Keep in mind, the glide we ran last season had a 1.56 first gear. We should see a dramatic increase in 60 ft times.

Molinari called yesterday for my card number so the flywheel should be here next week. (I'm hoping)

On the BMW's, Will sent my pistons back and they look just marvelous. I have an amazing story to tell about the pistons.

Your not gonna believe this chit, but, Pauter rods called yesterday and want a sample pin to fit the small end of my new rods. I looked all over in the garage and could not find my pistons!!!! My wife said the last time she seen them they were on the back of my son's welding truck. I asked my son if he noticed them and set them off some where? He said "no dad. You know I just get in and go and I went to my girlfriends house that night" We received the pistons on Monday and this is the same night the trash gets set out. I just had figured in my mind that the box full of pistons were taken by the trash men.

I didn't sleep well at all last night and woke up at 2:00AM this morning unable to go back to sleep. I jumped in the truck with a flashlight and began searching along the roadside tracing the route my son took to his girlfriends house. After a couple hours, I had given up and was on my way back home when I caught a glimpse of something shiny along side the road. This was in a turn, but, completely opposite of the side I figured the pistons fell off. I went back and sure enough, there were my pistons scattered for about a 100' in a wide spot beside the road. I found everything except three wrist pins this morning. I went back down after work with a large magnet and found the other three pins. Only one piston was damaged very slightly on the top which will sand right out.

I bought two lottery tickets on my way to work. lol
 
Made some progress. The flywheel from Molinari came and the BMW flywheel/clutch from Ram came this week.

Crower%20Clutch%20Weight_zpsawroxzh1.jpg


She's a heavy beast. This is the Molinari flywheel (steel) with the crower triple 10" clutch

BMW%20Clutch%20Weight_zpsjlrg3orb.jpg


This is the Ram 'Pro Stock' set-up I had made for the BMW's. The flywheel is aluminum and has a dual 8" clutch on it.

and the weight...

BMW%20Clutch%20Weight%202_zpsxaj3t73e.jpg


I hacked an access hole in the trans tunnel for clutch adjustments.

trans%20tunnel%20access%20hole_zpssfsbvt04.jpg


I fab'd up a rinky dink clutch hand clutch leaver. At this point, you can disengage the clutch with the leaver with little effort. I hung 32 Grams of flat washer flyweights on the clutch leavers so I'm not sure what will happen when the rev's come up. The clutch is something I've never fooled with and I'm hoping my learning curve will be steep.

I should get the chain drive mounted next week and drive shafts shortened/lengthened. Possibly fire the 'ol girl off next weekend?????
 
Sorry I haven't updated in a while. ...been extremely busy with work and getting this thing ready to go.

Big thanks go out to Chip Heckert at Spin-r-tight machine for the after hours machine work.

We made it to Parsons. Got in two pretty decent runs before the carnage began. The forward reverse shifter bolts loosened enough to keep the trans form completely engaging into forward gear. We ended up ripping the splines out of the shifting collar and the outer splines on the rear planetary shaft.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYOqEjx552w&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vygwQt-u2nk&feature=youtu.be


Some overnight parts and more thrashing and we got 'er ready for a little race over in Mineral Wells. I had installed a billet compressor wheel before Parsons knowing we would be into the nitrous this year. At the Mineral Wells race, I made a poor decision to turn on the big nitrous on the first pass. About a second into the pass, we either had a burp or some other reason for a major overpressure of the intake tract as it split the cross over tube and literally blew the outer part of the compressor housing off the turbo. We got home last evening and Craig tore it down. Looks like a new pan and head gasket along with another valve clean up will get it back together. We're gonna go ahead with the air to water intercooler. At least the turbo failures wont get into the engine any more!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttFr3Z2_XJQ&feature=youtu.be

Craig has some pics of the carnage. I'll see if I can get him to post them up.

I think we are going to go back with an S480 with the 87mm turbine. I'd like to try one of the 482's with the 93mm turbine, but, I don't think it will run as well. We still have the S475 with the 96mm turbine and the custom t4 housing for it. This turbo seemed a bit sluggish with the larger turbine. I have some weekend work to get done so I'd say we are next race will be Havoc in the Hills June 27th.
 
All of that looks fun! How do you like the clutch setup so far? I think you brought on the nitrous a little too quick and a little too much and overacellerated the turbo. It can be a problem on big singles with spray.
 
The clutch seems to fit our application better than the automatic. No nitrous is needed to get spooled up anymore. Craig is able to hold the clutch up to 5000RPMS before launch. Things are humming pretty good by then. lol

My theory on our latest turbo fail is that the cross over pipe going from the turbo straight into the intake failed first. It has a ripped open section about 5" long. Once this pipe failed, the turbo went into warp speed and so on and so forth.

The takeoff is more violent than the converter was. The dang go pro got bumped and I didn't get the gauges on vid but, I'd say the boost spiked way up to cause the cross over pipe failure. We may have to work on slipping the clutch just a tiny little bit on takeoff. Reduce the 'jerk factor'. I noticed while watching the schied dragster and Robinson's car, they leave very soft. I'm sure the soft leave is to give the monstrous turbos a chance to light while giving the chassis time to do its thing.
 
Bodacious said:
The clutch seems to fit our application better than the automatic. No nitrous is needed to get spooled up anymore. Craig is able to hold the clutch up to 5000RPMS before launch. Things are humming pretty good by then. lol

My theory on our latest turbo fail is that the cross over pipe going from the turbo straight into the intake failed first. It has a ripped open section about 5" long. Once this pipe failed, the turbo went into warp speed and so on and so forth.

The takeoff is more violent than the converter was. The dang go pro got bumped and I didn't get the gauges on vid but, I'd say the boost spiked way up to cause the cross over pipe failure. We may have to work on slipping the clutch just a tiny little bit on takeoff. Reduce the 'jerk factor'. I noticed while watching the schied dragster and Robinson's car, they leave very soft. I'm sure the soft leave is to give the monstrous turbos a chance to light while giving the chassis time to do its thing.
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I think both John and Scheid spun, or went into gnarly tire shake if they let out the clutch too quick, I don't know if you can actually have that problem on dirt. I've heard of sand drag cars going sub 1.00 on 60ft times, I think if you leave at 5000rpm on spray that thing will be rowdy. And now, you just need to change your clutch settings once in a while, not drop the trans every pass ;)
 
Out of curiosity, what were the times at the dirt/sand drags? 300ft? What's been the best ever?
 
JQmile said:
Out of curiosity, what were the times at the dirt/sand drags? 300ft? What's been the best ever?
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The quickest we've gone so far in the sand at 300' is a 4.40. Our best pass ever to date was at the Lee Hill dirt drags last year. We didn't get staged right so no time was given.

I'm pretty sure we can get the thing quicker... just need to keep it together. lol
 
Mother nature and I finally came to terms this weekend allowing for an afternoon of R&R with race truck and the boy.

Craig couldn't find the carnage pics so I took some and figured I'd share. We found the turbine in the exhaust just after the down pipe. lol

Here's the cross over pipe...

carnage%202_zpsforfsdu0.jpg


...whats left of the center cartridge...

carnage%201_zpsudxmil1e.jpg


...and the compressor housing.

carnage%203_zpsswhn01a5.jpg


As stated in an earlier post, the water to air is going on so no more engine tear downs when the turbo lets go.

It looks like Monday will be too wet to work so I should be able to get the plumbing fit up for Craig to weld.

After filing on the piston tops and using the die grinder to straighten the bowls back up, Craig and I assembled the engine with a new set of rod bearings. We fired her off last evening and let the engine warm up for a re-torque.

I noticed this before we installed the timing cover...

crank%20gear_zpsoyqur785.jpg


What in the world could be going on to cause this???????

Plans are to get the thing together and head to Kanawha Valley on Friday evening. Leave the drag strip Saturday morning and head up to the Vannest get together. Should make for a nice weekend if she will stay together. No nitrous for a while. lol
 
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Cam and crank gears should always be welded on a competition cummings IMO. Especially with a p-pump.
 
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