The newest drag racer gears up!

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Not much racing going on for us right now between school and soccer, so we did a little Jr Dragster crusading by taking Benjamin's Jr into school last Friday for his turn of show-n-tell! Benjamin has a super cool teacher who worked through the various permissions that were necessary.

It was good for Benjamin, as he's a bit on the shy side and any exercise in public speaking can be intimidating. The kids were very enthusiastic - especially when we strapped him in, started it up and did a few 30' blasts!

[Xplantdad]

Marlin...check your email! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img]

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

We struggled a bit with the first 12.90 engine we bought, but got back on track with a stroke of luck when we discovered that a long forgotten 5HP Briggs engine stashed in the basement was a perfect fit. We now run right where we want, 12.90's to 13.10's depending on the weather.

So, we decided to tear down the first engine since its best run was in the high 15's, and no matter what we did it only ran slower - eventually running in the 19's &amp; low 20's, (this is in the 1/8th!!)

This is what we found, [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/mad.gif[/img]









Lifters:



Bummer, looks like it held water for awhile and made the cam wear away.

To make matters worse, the rod bolts rounded off when we tried to remove them. So, we took the bolt heads off with a Dremel tool. The rod looks pretty good, especially for not having a rod bearing - it rides directly on the crank. The crank is done though, the rod surface is quite pitted.

We'll rebuild it over the winter so we have a backup engine!

[sYc]

Marlin, may have been water, but, if you run alky, or even gas can do it, if enough gets in there, and left to sit. These motors will always have a certain amount of blowby, the really good ones making power are “loose”, which means more blowby, which contaminates the oil. At the track the ones that smoked a tad uauslly were the ones making power. On the go karts, we changed the oil between races. I would think you could get by with a day of drag racing without changing the oil but I would definitely change after each day of running.

Per oil, do not run any more then you have to, as the dipper going through the oil costs HP. You want just enough for the dipper “slinger” to pick it up. I carried 6 pre-measured small drink bottles with the right amount of oil in each for a quick change at the track. Some use the low friction oil additives, coconut oil is good as an additive, as heat will not hurt it.

As you discovered, the Briggs does not use a bearing between the rod and crank, therefore clearance is very important. With rods being aluminum and cranks steel, the rods wear, actually get out of round, I found out the hard way (the rod breaks and goes through the block), the cranks get out of round as well. We would mike both during rebuilds, which we did quite often. Gaskets, rods, pistons, valves and valve springs, and rings are relative inexpensive, cranks and cams not so much. Also, I would say your crank bearing(s) a IC block has two, one on the side of the block and one on the side cover, are toast as well.

There are several cam choices, coupled with the headers, moves the power band around.

With the right tools, these motor can be rebuilt in a couple of hours. Really simple design.

[Chevy454]

M: too bad y'all didn't venture into Jr's a few years sooner, as the old man coulda hooked you up with all sorts of Briggs stuff...cam grinder, dyno, etc, I seem to remember dad &amp; Mo just about begging folks to take the stuff when they got out...!

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

It's the start of a new racing season! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

As soon as the soccer and baseball seasons wrap up, we'll be back at it again. Fired the car up the other weekend, should be ready to go pretty soon - Benjamin can't wait, [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]

[PeteLeathersac]

Best wishes for a safe and successful season Ben and Marlin!.
Is Ben's little bro scheduled for any runs this year?.

[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img]
~ Pete
[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/[/img]

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

No runs for Danny this year (that I know of!) as he is only 3.5 years old, but loves the racing stuff, [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img] Amanda is almost 6 y/o, but has no desire to race - even though I promised her an all pink princess oriented race car.... no dice, [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/frown.gif[/img] Not surprising, she rarely drove her Barbie 2 person jeep as she much preferred her older brother to chauffer her around in it. We'll see, there is still hope......

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

We finally made it to the track this past Sunday!

Apparently, we need to blow off the cobwebs a bit, [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/frown.gif[/img] the car was running a little rough, wouldn't idle well. Car was a few tenths off from last year on the first run, yielding a 13.33 vs last year's final run of 13.1X's. The temp was cool, humidity was high.

Next run was even slower with a 13.57 - Benjamin called for engine change! Dad said noway, [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]

Benjamin dials his own car with only minimal input from me. So, he dialed a 13.60, and then drew a 7.90 car in the first round. This is not surprising since of the 30-35 Jr's only 3-4 of them are running 12.90. Maple Grove does not classes within Jr's, so its a tough place to start out. I tried to explain to Benjamin that racing at the Grove is similar to playing up 3-4 years in soccer - its tough at first, but he'll become a better racer in less time. We will run at a few other tracks this year where they do run the 8-9 year olds together so he can experience running against other 12.90 cars.

Crazy car picks it back up, and runs a 13.29! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/dunno.gif[/img] We went out first round - I wish it was because we ran under, which we obviously were on track to do, but Benjamin was a little lazy on the tree that day and the 7.90 kid caught him at the stripe.

Apparently, I need to adjust the rollout in the practice tree. These 12.90 cars react pretty slow since they don't have a lot of power. We plan to hit the TnT tomorrow night, then another run at it on Sarurday. We will write DEEP on the car going forward.

What a blast, there is no better way to spend a day with your kid. Now, what did I do with that Yenko Deuce I used to take out once in a while?

[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

PS: I think a Kestrel 4250 is in the near future, [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/naughty.gif[/img]

[Salvatore]

Sounds like you guys are getting dialed in in this hot, humid weather. never easy but when the kid has interest and spirit, it makes it much easier. About that Gobi Beige car...........bring it down. I have a few real nice vintage parts that would look good on that car. Will look the part of a Yenko when I am done with it! Can I have it for the summer?