Pros an cons of dripplers on a psi screw fuel system

I have been running dripplers for a few years now an it is now time to replace all my lines. I notice most guys have switched over to a single line deal. What are the advantages of that over the old way of doing it with dripplers. This is on a BAE screw blown combo thanks!

 

Dripplers

Thanks will an mike for the info def helps in my decision! Have been wanting to switch but my tuner has been against it.. I have been told I might have to run difrent size rods on a few cyndlers with a single nozzle is there any truth to that?

 

Ok that makes sence.. Do you guys see nozzles larger then that often? An will do you have a single lines in stock?

 

I'm going to go ahead and spill the beans...

Mike Canter is refering to the 16 nozzle fuel system I put together on Dan Nickelson's Viper. I was introduced to the 16 nozzle concept 12 years ago while spending several quality days on the knee of Fred Mandolini watching him pull the lever connected to our engine on the dyno. Glad to see it's still on there and running great. After I put it on Dan felt out of the box it was close enough and was happy with how it ran, didn't want to fool with fine tune balancing of the system, and I think the day he ran 5.70 there was at least a tenth left on the table. The engine combination I had on it took a LOT of fuel, was very easy on parts and ran strong even though Dan ran an older set of Brad 6 heads and always kept it safe on the main jet and timing.

Until I went with Dan a few times I never got a chance to see basically the same engine we ran in TA/FC stuffed in a Pro Mod car locked up against a torque converter idling...attempting to move back and forth and pulling up to the starting line. From the cars I saw it looked pretty screwed up to me. Engines idling too fast, cars jerking and bogging down when dropped into forward and reverse gear, etc. Looking back, I used to run an 8" converter in a fast bracket car in the 1970's-1980's and heat was the big killer in the tranny/converter. I think the cooler the fluid/converter coming into stage the better. I felt that at least one way to reduce heat is to control the engine at idle.

When setting Dan's system up, after careful consideration, I decided against trying to get the car to idle at 2200-2300+ RPM on 8 nozzles like everyone else, who were hoping to avoid hot and cold cylinders and the motor trying to load up while dropping it in gear with a Bruno Drive. Then with the motor screwed up expect it to launch consistantly off a two step hoping it doesn't bend a rod due to the already loaded up supercharger and engine.

I decided to go 16 nozzles and let it idle under load on the primary side. I can taylor the primary nozzles to allow each cyilinder to use only the amount of fuel it needs to idle smoothly without heating up or not firing, in or out of gear. This allowed me to set the idle at 1,850 RPM with a "C" screw out of gear on a BAE big bore 522 and it purred like a kitten. Dan would drop it in gear against the converter and the RPM would hardly drop. The cylinder temps at idle were all clean, the converter didn't try to build heat as fast because of the lower RPM while manuevering the starting line area and when he hit the two step the motor wasn't full of raw fuel. Plus the car wasn't jerking back and forth and bogging. At full throttle the secondary nozzle side comes on, is adjusted to compliment the fuel already provided by the primary side, making each cylinder infinitely adjustable from start up at idle to full throttle at the finish line.

I can't understand how anyone with a basic knowledge of fuel systems wouldn't have already figured this out and done this to a converter equipped car. Yea, I ran a 16 nozzle on my funny car and I am a big fan of them just like Norm Grimes, Demke and others. I like the "no limit to what I can do" approach to running my stuff. Why would you think the nozzles required in high gear at the finish line would be anywhere close to the same nozzles you'd want to try to cleanly idle on against a converter for at least a minute on the starting line?

Even carburetors have an idle circuit!

Flame on.

Mike, does Flamholc Racing have a web site to follow them?

 

Great post.

I have been wondering how adams car was able to idle so low compeared to all the others in the class. All the other cars in TD series seem to idle at 2000+ rpm

 

psi

RandyG and I discussed this issue at length and I've played with my 2 fuel systems several times trying to get them happier at idle.

Both my systems were single nozzle with my current one running higher fuel pressure.

I may be totally lost here but I thought they both idled on the hat nozzles?
The typical screw scenario is where #2 loads up and blows fuel everywhere when you clean it out. Like a lot of guys, I disconnected the hose from #2 and ran the car and it still blew fuel everywhere.
This proved to me that the problem is not nozzles it's poor distribution through the blower/plate/manifold.
I've modified the plate several times and it can make a HUGE difference in distribution. A lot of guys like Grimes run the plate completely open.
My current setup has a modified plate and I run the BV as lean as I can without heating the rear of the blower. At 129% on a C rotor it still demands a lot of fuel.
It will idle at 1800-2000 but not for long periods and my magnesium hat ices horribly in the Kansas summers.
As far as tugging down with the converter, the 1/8th mile setups we run are so loose that you can't tell it's in gear.
I run a air throttle so my engine has a small blade opening and little opportunity to clear itself when the tree comes down. With a chevy I couldn't make it work and had to launch wide open but the BAE rips every time with a couple cold cylinders that come alive around 60ft.

I would like to have a clean smooth idle but i'm not sure the engine can eat the GPM required to cool the blower at high OD without an exotic distribution setup under the blower.

Also keep in mind some guys run a lot more static compression than others. I added 1 pt to my BAE and the idle improved dramatically.

I've heard stories of modified plates and rtv piled inside the PSI case to improve the distribution on a TAFC. When the operator switched to outlaw promod it was useless chasing cold cylinders because the engine is detuned for the first 1.8 seconds or so anyway.As long as the cylinders light at the same point of each run you can just tune around it.

 

All I can say is Dan's car will idle all day long in or out of gear without any problems with ANY cylinders until it runs out of fuel if you chose to run it that long, except normal engine heat build up like anything else without a radiator. The oil stays pretty clean, too. If it had a radiator I think you could drive it home from the races.

Dan always got comments on how his engine sounded good, different, controllable, etc., from other racers watching him on the starting line.

As far as where the fuel goes and what gets what when, and how much it gets in the area you chose and/or at the time you chose, it's all in how you set it up. If you are having issues then you need to look your system over and decide how to approach the problem. Most of the store bought systems I've seen are all based on someone else's set up from years ago with literally no changes in the last 15 years. Kinda the "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" scenario.

RG

 

Great info Randy....That makes a ton of sense on a automatic car.

Scott Hall