a question

Perhaps this should be in the technical questions thread, but does anybody else run a motor combination like Rob Achison (486x ? I think) , and further, are any NHRA funny cars using the combo, and if so, how are they doing with it?

thx,
Jay

[ October 11, 2004, 01:34 AM: Message edited by: Prospector ]

 

Doug Gordon uses one in nhra and Scott Wildgust also races ihra with the AJ481X . I have watched the Atchisons work on their car between rounds and the oil pan rarely comes off , they service the clutch every round and some times do not even take the valve covers off of it .

 

Not to take anything away for the Atchison group but if you are taking the pan off between rounds in IHRA your in trouble. They rarely give you more than 45 minutes to turn the car around and in some cases less than 30 so if you have to drop the pan and do more than recycle the oil your in trouble.

 

So what kind of numbers do these guys run ( the IHRA guys)

What I'm wondering is if Acheson can run .80's all weekend long with no appearant damage, and no valve train issues, has anybody put a screw on one of these and tried to do better?

 

Didnt the austin's run one of these with a screw for a while when they were first introduced?

 

Monaghan as well.

 

Dan Pomponio runs Monaghans former car in Div. 1 with a screw blower. Dan has run in the 80's possibly high 70's with it. I believe Fran ran in the .60's at 125% with this A.J. combo a few years back.

 

I saw Atchison run 5.80 flat at 242 saturday at norwalk but he has been in the 5.70's before . Doug Gordon has a psi on his car and has been in the 5.50's as did Pat Austin when he ran the combo . Austin actually held the e.t. record for a while with the 481X . As long as the IHRA cars run the roots blowers they will never catch up to the screw cars so it is not really fare to compare the two when it is a known fact the screw frees up several hundred horsepower .

 

thought I'd replied to this but it vanished.

Dques, I'm not compring the IHRA combo to the NHRA combo. But here is a pointed question:

If the 481x chevy style combo runs fast without hurting itself, why are not more teams in NHRA using it? Is it not competitive ( why?) or is it too expensive? or is it because it's diffrent.. and potentially hard to get parts for.. or is simply not a competitive combo for a screw blower, or is it not so manintance free/ Is it just that no one has really tried?


- Jay

 

Jay,it is a little more expensive and there is not as much data on it as far as tuning goes. The Fontana Hemi is possibly the best combination out there but it too is a little more expensive and there is less data. Doug Gordon's best with the 481x is a 5.56 with the PSI in NHRA trim. The best Fontana pass is in the same range and it MPH's very well.

Dean

 

Here's a weighted question. Is this combo going to be legal next year with the new bore spacing requirements?

 

Zone actually the 481 was a little cheaper than brads stuff but that was before the billet block was out so I am not sure now. I would put that motor up against any combination out there but there is the problem that not many people run it so if you break something stupid that you don't have in the trailer you are sol on finding it in the pits. Also heard that AJ is coming out with a new hemi head be interesting to see who is going to be using that

 

I would have to agree with some of the other post as to why it is not more popular , parts availability , cost , and knowledge of the tune up . I believe 3 of the last 4 pro mod champs (ihra) have used the 481x and many others in that class use it also . I like the fontana engine but it seems to have the same problems with parts and knowledge . The fontana seems to be the easiest to work on and they have run some very competitive #'s also . The cheapest I have seen a used 481x listed for is 26k manifold to pan and most others are over 30k . The class standard hemi is a proven combo and parts are readily available . Plus you can by a tune up from numerous people around the country and be close to a front runner right out of the box .

 

Fontana: It has run some good numbers. but it has problems. First is it's not a hemi. It's a big block chevy. Just not going to be as competitive and consistent as a hemi. As far as being easier to work on: I see the heads off Fontanas all the time, not on chryslers. And lastly, no one has parts for it.

 

About the only thing that combo has incommon with a BBC are some crank dimensions. Thats it's problem,not much incommon with anything else. Parts only available from one source,even cams, Minor Bros.

[ October 13, 2004, 09:19 AM: Message edited by: smoke ]

 

How is it not competitive and consistent as a hemi? What top team doesn't pull the heads after qualifying? Miner bros. have all the parts just like Brad, Veney or AJ

 

A lot of teams don't pull the heads off the entire weekend. Some of them do. I see the Fontana guys do it on a regular basis. As far as being consistent, they have shown they can run as fast as anyone else so as long as you have a spare everything in the trailer you can keep it consistent. If a new team was thinking about building an A/fuel car I'm sure they could buy Fontana stuff for pennies on the dollar. As far as I know there are about 4 guys running Fontana stuff,( Hirata, Stark, Brounkowski, and Bowen) Mike Bowen's stuff is for sale, Stark is doing the IHRA top fuel thing, that leaves 2 at the races. I think both would rather be running the Chrysler stuff but it means changing everything and that is exspensive, I mean absolutely nothing is interchangeable. Secondly, you can't sell your old stuff because nobody wants it unless your willing to take pennies on the dollar for it. No disrespect to Dave, Karl and others they are great racers and can beat anyone on any day. That is just the reality of it.

 

ch3no2

I think you have Afuel on the brain...

I believe that all the messages in here are speaking of Blown Alky, not Afuel...

 

I'm about to Blaspheme.. at least on this site: But how long before we see a Chevy patterned motor with an "automatic" transmition win a TA/FC race.....

heheh.
- Jay

 

Nick, we use to drop the pan off our roots car in that amount of turn around time with no problems.