Don "Big Daddy" Garlits is comming to KC!!

[Tom Kochtanek]

Good suggestions

DonD:

Good set of recommendations. I rummaged around in the basement tonight and found a 4:56 ring and pinion and a set of 8 inch wheels but with the 14" diameter.

Was looking at a set of headers that had collectors and cutoffs, if those fit I might swap those out for the Tri-Y's. That way I can run 'em mufflered around the house and open when she's at the track.

Also found a good set of shocks and a candidate for a fourth link .

I need to decide whether to go with 14" wheels or 15" wheels. Plans are to use drag radials, I suspect. What would you fellas do?

Best,
TomK

 

[Dond409]

hog wild

Tom,

I wouldn't worry about 4.56 gears at this time. I would just do the basics, and see if the car responds to them. As far as drag radials, I have them on the wagon, but I don't really care for them. They don't seem any better then what I had on the car before. I can't seem to get a good burnout with them. They seem to want to hook in the water. I get to the line thinking they should sixty foot better and I get the same sixty foot as before. So, Tom I would just work on the basics. I know you want to go out and set the world on fire, but let's take smaller steps to get there. Ya dig!!!!

 

[chevytaylor]

Tom

I would run the lower gears, 15"wheel with 28x9 slick or 275/60 M/T drag radials.
Go with the tri-y headers open with extended collector length. Stiffen up right rear shock, disconnect front sway bar. Also try and get some fresh cold air to the carbs via some sort of ducting etc.

I could go on and on but with a few tweeks low thirteens or high twelve's should be a reality. bang

The most important thing is to have fun. Just my two cents.

chevytaylor

 

[wagon409]

My 2 cents

First off, it was great to see the 62 sitting back in the staging lanes once again. It looked right at home. Sorry to hear the car didn't run as well as you may have hoped right out of the box, but tuning is half the fun and I'm sure you will get it in the 13's in no time.

I feel the launch is your biggest area for improvement. Like others have said, get the R's up on the brakes to get the engine up against the converter and your 60' should drop some. Having driven the car before, I have a feeling that will start you in the right direction.

As you and I have spoken before, the history of the engine is sketchy and I wonder if a new set of valve springs is in order as well. I had a car run 14's then high 12's after a simple spring change...in my case they were old and the valves were floating and the R's wouldn't increase like we thought they should. Springs is a pretty quick (couple hours) modification that would get rid of at least one question mark regarding the combination.

Any thoughts to throwing that 400HP intake on? I know you have one....and got it at a great price as well.

Good luck with the car and keep us updated.

Marc

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

Making subtle changes

Lots of good suggestions to consider. Don's "baby steps" makes sense, that way you can determine the impact of each change.

I'm getting more consistent on the launches, but as has been noted the 60 foot times are pretty slow. Plenty of room for improvement with the driver as well, and I don't have much experience with automatic trannys, so the comments will sit well .

Marc, I did note that the springs had an aluminum retainer, not sure that's a good thing, so we may be looking into those springs after all. Got a set down the basement that I can substitute, but need to look into those retainers. I'm guessing aluminum is soft enough to be able to wear under duress?

I think I'm going to stick with the 2x4 setup for now. You would not believe how many folks came up to the car, both in the pits and while staging and asked me to open the hood just to get a peek at a 409! I met a lot of fellas who had stories from their past regarding the fabled "W". That's what it's all about! And I had a blast .

After seeing all those 409 guys tear up Norwalk I now have a better respect for the preaprations and tickering that they do with their cars. As Marc mentioned, that is the fun part, to make a change and see where that leads. I just need to make more Test-n-Tune runs and get things evaluated. Wouldn't be any fun to go out with minimal prep and runs some great times now, would it?

Cheers!
TomK

 

[wagon409]

You would not believe how many folks came up to the car, both in the pits and while staging and asked me to open the hood just to get a peek at a 409! I met a lot of fellas who had stories from their past regarding the fabled "W". That's what it's all about! And I had a blast .

That is the best part of an event like that, the people you visit with. Whenever we take the twin engine car to shows, I love to hear about people's stories and memories of the 60's.....its a blast!! All I have to do is stand there and listen to the great stories.

 

[dq409]

I`m getting great results with my Hoosier DOT slicks !!
They are as Don says though but thats not a problem.
28 # of air on the street and thay ride great and you can spin them if you want,lower to 12-15 # for the strip and it`s all traction !!!

The 2-4`s I would keep !!!

Change the springs and retainers, open the headers.
Play around with the tuning and you will see improvments.
Use race fuel and bump up the timing.

You also can heat up your converter just before racing to get it to stall higher.
It`s easy,, just power brake it a few times out back of the track and in the staging lanes til it`s good and hot.
Should give you 500 + stall,,,

Once you start to really have fun I`m sure you will go with deeper gears

 

[bubbletop1961]

I have 26x11.5 m/t et streets on 7"x 15 " wheels. I am not using a 4th arm in the rear. 4:10 gears. my car will 60' in the 1.75 to 1.78 very consistantly. I am using a trans brake with a 3800 convertor. Might be a little more agressive than your set up. I am still tring to make that 27th race. I would like to meet you and get to see tomo again. If I make it your more tham welcome to check out anything in the car you want. Also those times are with no mini tubs and all suspesion is direct bolt in pieces that can be done to the car you have with not one cut of a saw.

 

[TomO]

TomK – I spent the first half of this week in Kentucky, so I had some time to ponder a suggestion for your project. Let’s cut the project into two parts: A) this season and B) next season. The two parts have totally different plans as I see it.

A) This Season – We do not have that much season left. You did out line some items that could possibly make the car go faster as is (carb linkage/timing/valve lash). Line those things out before your come back on the 27th and just run the car as is – it may not set the world on fire but it is not always the faster car that wins the race. You might throw on a tach. In total you have made maybe 10 passes. Concentrate on getting a feel for the process of racing starting with the burn out box thru the stripe. It sounds easy but I have learned there is SO much more to it then putting the pedal on the mat and hitting the brakes AFTER the stripe. Get comfortable with doing the burnout, lining your car up in the groove, positioning your car in the staging lights and reaction time. The placement of the car in the staging lights (roll out) and r/t wins a lot of races. I have a lot of work to do with my staging line placement of the car and have greatly improved r/t thru a portable Christmas tree box that is hooked to my master cylinder (I am foot braking). Most of all have fun the rest of this season.

B) Next Season – HOLY MOLY do you have some work to do if you follow thru with all of your plans. Figure out how fast you want to run and put together a drive train package that will on paper meet your wants. It is not much fun beating on the car to try it make run the magic number. Set it up so you can tune with weight per weather conditions and still run the magic number. You will then have the time to talk with the guys about that cool 2x4 409 under the hood!!!! I do not know if you intend on racing VAMP next year but you could set the car up to run in one of the classes. Suspension will be a challenge as several have already mentioned but you have options that range from mild to wild. I run stock upper and lower boxed rear control arms with poly bushings, stock shocks, airbags in the rear springs. Stock springs and shocks up front with the sway bar attached. BFG g-force drag radial on 14x6 steel wheels. The drag radial has helped to make my car consistent thru the 60’. Drag radials and drag slicks can be driven on the street, it just depends how legal you want to be. How about a cowl fed cold air box for the BA – like the Z-11? I just cannot bring myself to cut the fire wall on my car but dang I want the cowl fed cold air Z-11 style set up. Big choices have to be made for the rear diff, but again you have choices to run modified stock or the popular alternative. If you plan to run an automatic trans the correct converter for your set up and a Transbrake is a must. Weather stations win or loose races also and I have found weather info invaluable this season. Log book is also invaluable as it gives the driver confidence to drive to the stripe if running in a series with breakouts, due to the fact that you can look back on history. History is the best teacher or so I have been told.

All of the next season stuff is not as easy as it sounds but you can make it happen because you have the DRAG RAGING BUG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!bang

TomO

 

[Dond409]

Goals

TomO,

All good stuff. I couldn't of said it better myself. Especially the learning how to stage and drive the strip. Experience is the best teacher. Hanging around a very experienced racer helps too. One thing I always do is get the little things that need attention to the car before going to the track. Save track time for tuning changes. I hate wrenching on stuff that was better done before you got to the track.

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

Thanks again!

Boy, do I benefit from having all you experienced drag racers chime in an offer advise! Funny that I didn't start having this "problem" until I was over 55. Most problems at that age aren't usually this much fun!

So I'd say my "rookie year" was a good start, and now I get to refine my technique, the vehicle, and my aspirations all at the same time. And just before the Winter months, when I have the most time on my hands...

Thanks again for all your comments and suggestions. Sat around at the Shop the other night with several of the guys who were at KCIR over the past weekend. Had the '62 up on the lift, we were all milling about noting things that could be attended to at some future date, depending on the direction we went. I am thinking along the lines of N/SS, now that I know you don't really have to cut a car up to play in that sandbox . That brings a whole host of possibilities in terms of vehicles already in my possession, including the '62 BA two door sedan. I like the "sleeper" look of the post car almost as much as I like the roofline of a Sport Coupe .

A few more meetings like this one and we'll have a better picture of what lies ahead. Nothing too radical, I can tell you that. But it will involve the stroker engine that currently resides in the SS car . And it looks like it will be an automatic, a big switch for me. More later as things develop!

Cheers!

TomK

 

[wagon409]

Good plan

Sounds like you have a good idea of what you want to accomplish and have a good direction planned.

We raced two super comp cars in the 90's with automatics and transbrakes and I think that is a great plan although I realize sticks have some plusses as well. A transbrake is an amazing deal if you ask me. It is neat how they work.

I will second the comment about getting good weather readings and such. We prefered to take an air density reading rather than separate temp/humidity/bar pressure readings...worked really well. A good density guage is about $100. We got to where we could unload and be within a couple hundredths first pass if the track was in good shape. I also have some great graphing/charting sheets that can help show where your passes differ from one to the next. Personally, the enjoyment came from dialing the car in to the different conditions and using mathematics to predict the changes the car needs and the resulting ET.

Good luck and we are hoping you use the recent purchase as your platform of choice.....it would be fun to follow.

If you have any questions about putting a late-great through the quarter, give Dan a call. They ran a 1960 biscayne in the mid-60's and ran in the low 11's or high 10's. Solid times for a heavy car with the tires of the day.