Bucket list project

[Wayne Shea]

Not much on this car is vintage except for the builder/owner.Started this life long dream back when Pearlman resurrected the vintage race known as the NORRA. Thought I finely had a chance to live a dream to start the Baja,in a sprint car looking Off-road vehicle .I grew up in El Centro CA the biggest thing ever was the sprint cars at the Mid Winter Fair. Trips to Ascot speedway in the 60's. Then when off-road racing got going in the 70's seeing mickey Thompson and his Challenger 4,Johnny Jonson from Lemon Grove built a sprint car looking off-road car.I think it had a VW bus front end and no suspension in the rear. The original chenwth 1000 in the early 70's had the same look. Just thought I would but some pictures up. Not sure what class they would put me in at NORRA? I am to the stage in the build were it gets expensive Shocks,tires,plumbing wont see 2016 NORRA maybe 2017 Not giving Up! See pictures Below

 

[Mark Newhan]

Nice! Live the dream...

 

[pwerwagn]

Looks really cool!!

 

[Rory]

Modern day Challenger IV, very cool. Might want to put an AC unit in that thing.....trust me.....hahahahha.

 

[Sheaco]

keep up the good work Dad, love you.

 

[Bro_Gill]

Modern day Challenger IV, very cool. Might want to put an AC unit in that thing.....trust me.....hahahahha.

Point it at the radiator! Right?

 

[Wayne Shea]

Cooling is A big thing with these car, motor,trans,driver.I have a large oil cooler hopefully 10% cooling.Headers hang outside the body could get some heat disapetion there.I have 13/4 .82" alum tube runs front to back lower part of body outside for coolant could help alittle ?. Thanks for your comments and help.

 

[Rory]

Cooling is A big thing with these car, motor,trans,driver. This will be your biggest concern. I have a large oil cooler hopefully 10% cooling.Headers hang outside the body could get some heat disapetion there. It will absolutely get a lot of heat coming off the headers heating the side panels....gold reflective tape on the panels or shields around the exhaust will help. I have 13/4 .82" alum tube runs front to back lower part of body outside for coolant could help alittle ?. Thanks for your comments and help. Challenger IV's problem is the radiator is behind the oil cooler and 2 transmission coolers located in the nose of the racer. Radiator located behind the driver would be a plus as it looks like you have already done. Good luck with the project, I will be following it!

 

[alwaysracin]

I use this tube from COLEMAN Racing Supl. and it lowers water temp by 30-35 deg. before it gets to radiator.

 

[LantanaTX]

Probably a good idea having the radiator in the back and the cooling tubes. By the time the water goes all the way back there it will forget it was ever hot!

 

[Wayne Shea]

Yea! that's like how does a thermos know when to keep something cold and others hot ?? haha! I really think by cooling all fluids to the max, cool transmission will help to cool a hot motor. Un obstructed air intake,headers that can wick heat away from motor.

 

[retroblazer]

My guess is that you won't have any problems keeping the car cool. I have a rear mounted radiator as well, and looking at yours, it looks pretty close to mine. A big factor that hasn't been mentioned, is how much horsepower the engine is making, a 700 hp engine takes a lot more cooling than 500 hp engine.

 

[retroblazer]

I use this tube from COLEMAN Racing Supl. and it lowers water temp by 30-35 deg. before it gets to radiator.

The finned aluminum tubing is great stuff. I know it's a small deal, but even as cheap as I am, I prefer to use t-bolt clamps as opposed to cheap radiator hose clamps.

 

[Wayne Shea]

Absolutely you make horsepower you make heat.The motor is 355 sbc good alum heads roller cam I'll be lucky to get 450 hp 10 to 1 compression my pit crew is the Mexican guy at the Pemex station "llena el Tanque" fill it up. The cell is 22 gal. Small cubic inch helps on mileage,heat,Anyway that's my story HaHa!!

 

[Rory]

If you can go lower on your 10 to 1 compression I would do it, especially on this type of designed car. All the heat gets trapped in a small space and even with vents and what have you located around the body work to help, the slow moving sand washes build up heat fast. I think the downfall to my 2014 NORRA run was the compression ratio and the Pemex mix. Even with an octane booster it still wanted to run warm. If you run race gas it would help a lot but no one running NORRA wants to do that, not me anyways. Good luck on the project, love to see the end result when you're finished.

 

[retroblazer]

Wayne,
How long has it taken you to get to this stage?

 

[Wayne Shea]

Rory Great pic. I'll take what you said to the engine builder. Oh that's wright I'm building motor LoL.The pistons have 100/ thou. dome less than 1/8" 3.48 stroke 4.060 bore 64cc heads. I'm going to do the math again, Not to late parts all over the garage. Question? is there A powerglide in your car? I'm running a glide I had a lot of good parts from other race car laying around,trans real small more room for legs. If you believe what you hear good for 1200 hp We will see?

 

[Rory]

Wayne, Yes, I have a 2 speed power glide built by Gearworks. Nothing crazy really just a custom tailshaft, not expensive at all if you can believe that. The trans ran cool the entire time so you should be fine there. I think my motor is at 500hp and it's not really needed but who's going to complain about too much horsepower right?

 

[Bro_Gill]

" I think my motor is at 500hp and it's not really needed but who's going to complain about too much horsepower right?"


Jeff will complain about your horsepower.

 

[Wayne Shea]

Retroblazer, Not just thinking about it, Drawing to scale on the floor of garage, but grinding notching bending 2 1/2 years.thanks for asking.