The Official Hot Rod Thread - Part 4: Burnouts for Distance

[thunderchicken]

I would probably need to look for nostalgia races if there is such a thing.

Oh there's some cool nostalgia stuff out there. Look up nostalgia funny cars

 

[thunderchicken]

Mid Sept. In Michigan they have Pure Stock Muscle Car drag racing.
Only certain year cars are allowed I think like 1950-80 or somewhere around there.
I've always wanted to make it up there and just never have.

Never been but a coworker goes almost every year and I see his videos...no offense but to me it looks like a snooze fest. Some cool old cars until they look disappointing ob the track (to me)

 

[thunderchicken]

As far as just going to watch a drag race, I prefer going to a PDRA event

 

[churchmouse]

How much do I have? Heck I thought you were buying me some go fast goodies lol

700+ could be fun when you get that thing done

:
That is about the limit of the drive train components we are using. The ridiculous tires will not have much grip so O have little fear of popping anything launching a 4200 pound brick. My only fear is him wrapping it around something doing burn outs. Hence the line lock. I am considering a 2nd L-lock to do the rears in a simple launch control.

 

[thunderchicken]

:
That is about the limit of the drive train components we are using. The ridiculous tires will not have much grip so O have little fear of popping anything launching a 4200 pound brick. My only fear is him wrapping it around something doing burn outs. Hence the line lock. I am considering a 2nd L-lock to do the rears in a simple launch control.

Still sounds like it will be a cool ride when it's done. All you can do is try to prepare the owner for what he is getting into and hope he can use some common sense. With all the work you are doing, I'm sure it will handle the HP/torque pretty well.

 

[jeffsqartan]

Managed to get the transmission back together and in the car last night. I'm typing this from the pits so I'm not gonna go into full detail, but I found some weird stuff with the input shaft that I still can't explain.
Lots of cars out here today. 14 others in my class alone. I'm curious to see how it goes.

 

[jeffsqartan]

Managed to get the transmission back together and in the car last night. I'm typing this from the pits so I'm not gonna go into full detail, but I found some weird stuff with the input shaft that I still can't explain.
Lots of cars out here today. 14 others in my class alone. I'm curious to see how it goes.

OK, back at the hotel. Another event tomorrow. I'm so friggin tired - might actually go to sleep by 8 (that's literally unheard of for me).

That input shaft thing... I'm super confused on it.
Here's how input shafts are for Mustang T5s.
88-93: "short" input shaft and bellhousing
94-95: "long" input shaft and bellhousing. The input shaft is roughly 11/16 longer than the "short" 88-93 models. I'm assuming that the bellhousing is also that much longer, because everyone on the internet says "you can't use the long input shaft with the short bell housing, or vice versa."

This is where it gets weird. When I did the clutch a couple years back, the input shaft was buggered up near at the end that goes into the pilot bearing. Since I didn't have time to order another, we ground down the shaft and put in a new pilot bearing.
Before that time, and after, I had been having a vibration in the shifter that started around 3500 and went to 4500 and sometimes beyond. It would happen in all gears and even in neutral, clutch in or out. BUT, this was the weird part - sometimes it would be smooth as glass. I could shift into 3rd or 4th just right and it was smooooooth. Touch the clutch a little and it goes away instantly and vibrates.
I've replaced or rebuilt literally everything but the input shaft and the engine. Flywheel, clutch, pilot bearing, transmission was rebuilt, driveshaft rebuilt, rear end rebuilt, all of it.

Yesterday, I had a new input shaft that I'd bought a few years ago and never taken the time to install. I happened to set it next to the old shaft and realized - *they weren't the same.* The new one is, get this, 11/16ths longer than the old one.

You'd think that would mean it would not fit in the car - you're wrong. I took both input shafts, put a small amount of grease on, and shoved them into the clutch like an alignment tool. (I can leave the bellhousing on the engine when I pull the transmission, so all that stuff was still on the car).
The old input shaft was only getting about half of the nose into the pilot bearing. The new one was going all the way in.
I took the input shaft retainer housing, which holds the bearing race for the shaft (aka, if the shaft goes in and the retainer is flush with the bell housing, then it can't be too long, but if the housing sticks out, then it's too long and won't work). I put that into the clutch and wouldn't ya know it, the retainer was *flush* with the housing. My new input shaft is *not* too long.

Here's where I don't understand things: the part number for my bellhousing matches up with a bellhousing for an 88-93 Mustang. That means this new input shaft *should* be 11/16ths too long for this bell housing. But here we are, a day and full race event later, and it still works. Sealed up and all.

I'm thoroughly confused as to how in the world this all adds up.

My vibration has shifted from 3500-redline to 4500 maybe-redline. It's soooo much better.
I did NOT replace the pilot bearing last night, so I may yank the trans out and put a new one in. The old one didn't look roughed up, but I figure it's worth a shot. My only other wonder - the 4 cylinder pilot bearings have a larger ID than the V8 bearings. So if the one in there is too large, then it could be keeping the input shaft from properly seating and causing my vibration. Now that this new shaft seats all the way in the bearing, it has less chance/room to get wonky. EDIT - I was wrong, the 4 cylinder pilot bearing is smaller than the v8, so that's most likely not the issue. I still will end up putting in a new bearing because why not.

I did not mean for that to get SO in depth lol. Well, if you made it to the end, congrats, have a cookie! Now I'm gonna have a quick talk about racing (lol, quick, yeah right).

I didn't win today. There were only 5 other cars. But I did place third, and when the competition is two old guys that literally bought their cars brand new and have been modding them ever since, I have to still be proud that my hunk of rust is even close to competing with them.
And what's nice, is today is the happiest I've been while racing in quite some time. It was a good day over all. I was trading times with the 2nd place holder and we were chatting it up after every pass. I was trying to do better each run, but I wasn't beating myself up if I didn't find the time I wanted. Hell, my last pass I sent it too hard on the first turn. I literally started laughing and continued on, pushing the car as hard as I could for the rest of the course just to see what it could do. I actually had *fun* while racing and man, did that feel good.

 

[Jaybird1980]

OK, back at the hotel. Another event tomorrow. I'm so friggin tired - might actually go to sleep by 8 (that's literally unheard of for me).

That input shaft thing... I'm super confused on it.
Here's how input shafts are for Mustang T5s.
88-93: "short" input shaft and bellhousing
94-95: "long" input shaft and bellhousing. The input shaft is roughly 11/16 longer than the "short" 88-93 models. I'm assuming that the bellhousing is also that much longer, because everyone on the internet says "you can't use the long input shaft with the short bell housing, or vice versa."

This is where it gets weird. When I did the clutch a couple years back, the input shaft was buggered up near at the end that goes into the pilot bearing. Since I didn't have time to order another, we ground down the shaft and put in a new pilot bearing.
Before that time, and after, I had been having a vibration in the shifter that started around 3500 and went to 4500 and sometimes beyond. It would happen in all gears and even in neutral, clutch in or out. BUT, this was the weird part - sometimes it would be smooth as glass. I could shift into 3rd or 4th just right and it was smooooooth. Touch the clutch a little and it goes away instantly and vibrates.
I've replaced or rebuilt literally everything but the input shaft and the engine. Flywheel, clutch, pilot bearing, transmission was rebuilt, driveshaft rebuilt, rear end rebuilt, all of it.

Yesterday, I had a new input shaft that I'd bought a few years ago and never taken the time to install. I happened to set it next to the old shaft and realized - *they weren't the same.* The new one is, get this, 11/16ths longer than the old one.

You'd think that would mean it would not fit in the car - you're wrong. I took both input shafts, put a small amount of grease on, and shoved them into the clutch like an alignment tool. (I can leave the bellhousing on the engine when I pull the transmission, so all that stuff was still on the car).
The old input shaft was only getting about half of the nose into the pilot bearing. The new one was going all the way in.
I took the input shaft retainer housing, which holds the bearing race for the shaft (aka, if the shaft goes in and the retainer is flush with the bell housing, then it can't be too long, but if the housing sticks out, then it's too long and won't work). I put that into the clutch and wouldn't ya know it, the retainer was *flush* with the housing. My new input shaft is *not* too long.

Here's where I don't understand things: the part number for my bellhousing matches up with a bellhousing for an 88-93 Mustang. That means this new input shaft *should* be 11/16ths too long for this bell housing. But here we are, a day and full race event later, and it still works. Sealed up and all.

I'm thoroughly confused as to how in the world this all adds up.

My vibration has shifted from 3500-redline to 4500 maybe-redline. It's soooo much better.
I did NOT replace the pilot bearing last night, so I may yank the trans out and put a new one in. The old one didn't look roughed up, but I figure it's worth a shot. My only other wonder - the 4 cylinder pilot bearings have a larger ID than the V8 bearings. So if the one in there is too large, then it could be keeping the input shaft from properly seating and causing my vibration. Now that this new shaft seats all the way in the bearing, it has less chance/room to get wonky. EDIT - I was wrong, the 4 cylinder pilot bearing is smaller than the v8, so that's most likely not the issue. I still will end up putting in a new bearing because why not.

I did not mean for that to get SO in depth lol. Well, if you made it to the end, congrats, have a cookie! Now I'm gonna have a quick talk about racing (lol, quick, yeah right).

I didn't win today. There were only 5 other cars. But I did place third, and when the competition is two old guys that literally bought their cars brand new and have been modding them ever since, I have to still be proud that my hunk of rust is even close to competing with them.
And what's nice, is today is the happiest I've been while racing in quite some time. It was a good day over all. I was trading times with the 2nd place holder and we were chatting it up after every pass. I was trying to do better each run, but I wasn't beating myself up if I didn't find the time I wanted. Hell, my last pass I sent it too hard on the first turn. I literally started laughing and continued on, pushing the car as hard as I could for the rest of the course just to see what it could do. I actually had *fun* while racing and man, did that feel good.

Awesome and interesting, I'm gonna go have a cookie now.

 

[d.kaufman]

Awesome and interesting, I'm gonna go have a cookie now.

No cookies but I'll have some strawberry shortcake

 

[Jaybird1980]

No cookies but I'll have some strawberry shortcake

View attachment 144511

No cookie for me either, but the daughter made me cheesecake.

 

[d.kaufman]

No cookie for me either, but the daughter made me cheesecake.
View attachment 144515

That looks nummy! Will probably do that when I pick raspberries in the next few days

 

[femurphy77]

 

[femurphy77]

FOR CAR LOVERS ONLY: Supercharged SRT/ 1984 Ford T Bird - cars &... (craigslist.org)

My first thought was

Then it was

 

[Brad69]

My first thought is why?

Second thought is good luck getting anything close to $75k.

 

[femurphy77]

My first thought is why?

Second thought is good luck getting anything close to $75k.

I don't know the value of SRT drivelines but I'm thinking 10k? Honestly that's all the buyer would be after. I'm not ANTI cross breeding but with all of the great driveline options out there nowadays by every manufacturer why WOULD you cross breed? And why a charger interior in a 40 year old T-Bird?

Nah this is too taste specific for there to be any market as it sits.

 

[ChristianPatriot]

My first thought is why?

Second thought is good luck getting anything close to $75k.

He should consider himself lucky if he gets anywhere close to $20k

 

[Jaybird1980]

FOR CAR LOVERS ONLY: Supercharged SRT/ 1984 Ford T Bird - cars &... (craigslist.org)

My first thought was

Then it was

Them poor fellas would have been way ahead to just drive the wheels off of that charger.

You would have to have a really horrible fetish to pay for this thing.

 

[ChristianPatriot]

I’ve been going to too many car shows. Feeling the itch for a pre-72 something again.

 

[Brad69]

I had a 1986 Cougar XR 7 with turbo 4 and 5 speed. Great car back in 1986.

That t bird would be cool with a full tilt turbo 4 or a Coyote swap even nice big windsor or cleveland.

To each there own I remember the Van craze in the 70’s people we’re putting 6-71 blowers on vans.

I think CM had one!

 

[Bigtanker]

I had a 1986 Cougar XR 7 with turbo 4 and 5 speed. Great car back in 1986.

That t bird would be cool with a full tilt turbo 4 or a Coyote swap even nice big windsor or cleveland.

To each there own I remember the Van craze in the 70’s people we’re putting 6-71 blowers on vans.

I think CM had one!

I've been thinking about a new 2.3 Ecoboost w/ a 6 speed swap into an early Ranger. Probably the first year they ditched the twin I-beam front suspension, and maybe an extended cab so I'd have some room.