Australian Nostalgia Nationals

[chevytaylor]

Gday from down under.

The Aussie nostalgia drag racing nationals are on next weekend at Willowbank International Dragway in Queensland. With over 200 cars racing at the one day meeting I was one of 40 lucky racers to be invited to the event. The invitation includes media coverage and tow money. I was so excited that I almost forgot the fact that my 1962 Bubbletop didn't have an engine!!!!!!!:eek:

It's a long story but in a nut shell I swapped my complete running high 12 second dual quad 409 engine for Dan Gurney's 1961 409 short block. The 61 409 short block now resides with the Dan Gurney 1961 409 race Bubbletop which my father owns :

Well my first thought and original plan was to fit one of our other running engines. The power plant for the short term was going to be the 1964 340HP motor then build another hipo 409 later on.......................That was until my Dad suggested we run our Curt Harvey 482 stroker. :eek:

The stroker was just a short block and in pieces. After a lot of blood, sweat and beers (money) it's in the car and running. After driving around for a while and putting about 500 miles on it and not exceeding 4000rpm it was time for a test run at our local drag strip.

Keep in mind that this is a full street registered car and weighs 3850 pounds with me in it. On the way to the track it was peak hour and bumper to bumper traffic for an hour and a half all the way there. The Chevy didn't get hot or upset at all.

All I can say is that it is an animal........... I only got two runs in as it was very busy at the track that night. I ran the Chevy through the mufflers, on pump gas and slicks. The first run was realy just a shake down to make sure everything was OK. 13.280 @ 109.17mph. The second run was conservative. With a soft launch at around 3000rpm and a mild 60 footer of 1.739 seconds the thing pulled a 12.269 @ 113.65 mph.

Here is a photo of the beast and my home made cold air induction. I can't wait for next weekend.

I'll keep you guys posted

chevytaylor

 

[409z28]

steering

Ho Hum---- dont know if I could drive a RH vehicle, specially with a 4-speed. Nice car though,very clean. Was it originally RH drine

 

[Ronnie Russell]

chevytaylor, Great story. Next weekend should be a blast. Take plenty of pictures for us. What type of rear-end and suspension are you using? Trans. is conventional B/W or Muncie ?? Nice , good looking car. Good luck next weekend .

 

[tripowerguy]

Well I hope it is the Norwalk of the southern hemisphere. Sounds like you can be in the 11's with a little more tuning. Do you have to run with mufflers or can you run with open headers? Great looking car for some that was a week long thrash. Roy

 

[oldskydog]

Gday from down under.

The Aussie nostalgia drag racing nationals are on next weekend at Willowbank International Dragway in Queensland. With over 200 cars racing at the one day meeting I was one of 40 lucky racers to be invited to the event. The invitation includes media coverage and tow money. I was so excited that I almost forgot the fact that my 1962 Bubbletop didn't have an engine!!!!!!!:eek:

It's a long story but in a nut shell I swapped my complete running high 12 second dual quad 409 engine for Dan Gurney's 1961 409 short block. The 61 409 short block now resides with the Dan Gurney 1961 409 race Bubbletop which my father owns :

Well my first thought and original plan was to fit one of our other running engines. The power plant for the short term was going to be the 1964 340HP motor then build another hipo 409 later on.......................That was until my Dad suggested we run our Curt Harvey 482 stroker. :eek:

The stroker was just a short block and in pieces. After a lot of blood, sweat and beers (money) it's in the car and running. After driving around for a while and putting about 500 miles on it and not exceeding 4000rpm it was time for a test run at our local drag strip.

Keep in mind that this is a full street registered car and weighs 3850 pounds with me in it. On the way to the track it was peak hour and bumper to bumper traffic for an hour and a half all the way there. The Chevy didn't get hot or upset at all.

All I can say is that it is an animal........... I only got two runs in as it was very busy at the track that night. I ran the Chevy through the mufflers, on pump gas and slicks. The first run was realy just a shake down to make sure everything was OK. 13.280 @ 109.17mph. The second run was conservative. With a soft launch at around 3000rpm and a mild 60 footer of 1.739 seconds the thing pulled a 12.269 @ 113.65 mph.

Here is a photo of the beast and my home made cold air induction. I can't wait for next weekend.

I'll keep you guys posted

chevytaylor

Chevytaylor,
Congratulations on reuniting the original engine with the Gurney car. Can you tell me the assembly date of the car from the trim tag? Your block was cast one day after mine and I'm trying to estimate the likely date that the car my engine came in was built. The engine assembly date would be of even more interest, but I understand from Ryan that the assembly date on the pad is not legible and mine has been decked off.

 

[No409]

sweet car! with that mph you should be in the 11`s

 

[chevytaylor]

Guys

My 62 09 Bubbletop was born as a left hand drive vehicle from the east coast of America.
Back in 1994 when I imported the car to Australia the laws here in NSW (my state) were a lot different to what they are now. Basically back then if I left the car left hook I would have to join a club (club rego) and run a log book and seek permission every time I drove the car. : I didn't like the idea of seeking permission just to go to a show or for a drive on a nice Sunday afternoon so my Dad and I converted it to right hand drive. This allowed me to run full NSW street rego and drive the car whenever I wanted. :

The Bubbletop runs an F@#d 9" rear end (the original has been moth balled) 31 spline Moser axles, Strange centre and Moser 3.89 ring and pinion. The whole chassis and suspension is basically stock except for boxed control arms, slightly lower rear springs and QA1 double adjustable shocks.
The gearbox is a stout Richmond 5 speed (Doug Nash). The headers are Doug's and I'm allowed to run them open at nostalgia meetings. Slicks are Hoosier 28x9x15.


Cecil
I hope you understand but the build date of the Dan Gurney car will remain confidential at this stage.
My friend Ryan here in Australia did mention he spoke to someone in the states who had a 1961 409 engine that had a cast date one day before the Gurney block. The gentleman he spoke to was obviously you. Wow that's cool.
Apparently there is an X-ray service available that can detect original numbers in cast iron engine blocks. We are looking into this. Maybe other members might be able to shed some light on the X-ray subject (no pun intended)???????


chevytaylor

 

[chevytaylor]

Rain + Drags = no joy

Hi guys

My computor has not wanted to play ball lately, otherwise I would have replied a lot earlier.

Unfortunately the Australian Nostalgia Nationals were rained out. :

On a good note the Chevy is showing great potential. I was the only 409 car there. Luckily on the Saturday night we managed to get one run in at the test and tune before it too was called off due to rain. Normally in the past I would run a mid 1.7 sixty footer (this was with my previous 409, 12.80's @ 107mph). The track prep wasn't fantastic, we ran a sleepy 0.599 reaction, 2.008 sec sixty footer but still managed a 12.334 @ 115.77 mph. :eek: elevens????????????????

The next Nostalgia drag meet for us is December 2nd 07 at www.wsid.com.au

chevytaylor

 

[tripowerguy]

Hey that is really a good pass. I would think that with a little tuning and sorting out high elevens will be a reality. Roy

 

[wc chevys]

December how do you drag race in Decembeeeerrrr? SNOW TIRES

 

[rwagon57]

December in Oz is Summer Time!