engine placement in altereds / funnycars

Guys,

How far out have you got the motor , from the diff...??
I see alot that are 64-65 inchs.
i've been having problems ,trying to keep the front wheels down, and able to steer mine.

After scearching around the net, most blown altereds have the fuel / oil tank up front to, forward of the centre line of front wheels.

We have a sbc engine, but the fuel tank is behind the centre line of the front axle, by 16 inchs....

Over the weekend, i moved the fuel tank out front, and cut out the fibreglass nose to allow the tank to poke through.

My engine is only 61 inchs out too.....


Will this moving forward of weight help the car laurnching, and keep wheels down more ?
this is a 6.6 - 6.7 1/4 mile , and 4.2's @ 169 1/8th mile

Thanks
Ash

 

Ash,
Send me an email, gkc7@bigpond.com and I ll send one back. I have the info for you. Yes it needs to go out.

Greg.

 

Ta mate,
sorry for nearly driving in your lane too the other nite...

Ash

 

one of the biggest factors you need to take in account for is the types of tracks you will be on. the tighter the track , the farther forward you can have the motor. I think you will notice a big difference since you moved the fuel tank forward. how about the fire bottles? are they on the nose of the chassis? do you have a weight bar on the front of the chassis?

 

no fire bottles, no weight bars ( as im already 300 lbs over weight for cubes )
thanks

 

weight in front of spindle (wheel center line) will help as more weight on the nose thats where mine is 11 gallon fuel tank should help keeping the front end lower

 

PM Sent, Ash.

 

Move the Motor down if possible!!!! Mike

 

thanks jim,
we only run 5-5.5 gals in the fuel tank at best.
moving the tank forward 1.25 meters, should help to hold the nose down


ash

 

do you have adjustable spindles that will allow you to lower the front end a little

 

no jim,
the car is at minium height, for the stage beams already...

 

Ash.....
we had the same problem with our car when we first started trying to run fast. it would carry the front wheels to almost the 1/8th quite a bit. we added weight to the front, it ended up needing 90 pounds in front of the front axle. we also had to add 40 pounds under the gas tank which is about 16" behind the front axle. the car started going right down the track and the 60' was in the .990 range.
then, one day i started to think.....i don't really want to carry all this extra weight. talked to several people and they all said to leave it, the car needs it to work right. i still wasn't convinced and decided to take all the weight out of it and build a longer wheelie bar. i put an 8' bar on the car and stepped on the clutch a little and the 1st 60' was a .960. it carried the wheels about 25' and set them down and i barely felt it. since then we have played with starting line rpm's and gear ratios and found what the car likes......no weight in the car at all, and it leaves very well.
the moral to the story is to think outside the box a little. play with rpm's, tire pressure, wheelie bars, gear ratios, etc
i think you can work it out without adding weight to the car.
Darren

 

Darren,
Cheers for the input mate...
the wheelie bar is 2 metres long ( 6.5 ft) , it then bolts to a sub frame that is .9 metre ( 2.95 ft )behind the centre line of the diff ., so the wheelie bar wheel is about 3 metres behind the centre line of the diff...

we have a converter car, with only 358 cubes , and its twin turboed, soo the large engine /blower / clutch deal might be alittle different in power application ?? i have no blower car experience.

we changed the low gear ratio from 1.8 back to 1.65 to settle it down, which was really good, and made it much more consistant.
now i have added power back in, to get the car back to 1.03- 1.04 60ft times, and in fact made the car quicker over all.

any time we try and get after the 60ft, the car drives right or left , with the front wheels in the air, so i have been leaving it soft on the hit, and ramping power in approx 1 - 1.1 seconds.
Currently the front left wheel can stay in the air till 330ft , so if the wheels are on the deck, i can steer the big girl... ( lol )

rest of the run seems ok, with 2.8- 2.81 330fts, and mid 4.2's @ 169 1/8th mile...???
I think once i test the car, with more weight up front, i'll let the chassie tell me which way to go . That sound right thing to do ?

just trying to change 1 thing at a time.
the car was fine, when we ran DYO bracket racing, but now racing grp 2 index's , we are trying to go quicker.

this is a clean ish run, front wheels relitively low... and you can see where i have ramped the power back it, as it just accelerates from about 1 second from trans release

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZsoHj_l0-U


this is what happened , when i get after the 60ft, and cannot steer the big girl.... clayto was in the other lane...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSWOWo95NyE&feature=related

thanks for the input,
ash