Long Wheelie Bar

This is just a note to Thank all of the guys who responded to our wheelie problem last fall. We built a 92" Wheelie bar over the Winter. Our first 2 runs were straight and true {For an AA/FA} LOL. Both were new time and speed records for our team. 1/8 mile runs 4.34 @ 165 MPH. Thanks again for all the help on this site.

Rapid

Nitro Madness Racing

[ May 03, 2004, 09:32 AM: Message edited by: Rapid Randy AA/FA ]

 

Randy, thats a really long wheelie bar. Interested to know the reasoning behind it. Thanks

 

We had a very short, 36" range bar that came on the car when it was new. We got sick of the car being driven around by the short bar. Since we were building our own, we used the 8 foot section the tube came. The bar mounts 6 inches ahead of the rear end, and we mounted the rear wheel a few inches from the other end. So the actual length is a little shorter than that. It worked perfectly this past weekend. Was very nice to be able to drive the car instead of vice versa.

 

Yes, It is. For those reading this and have a memory like mine. We posted here last fall after the car finally didn't qualify for an event we went to. With the blown small block, I would just drive thru the wheelies, just kinda fig it was part of the deal. When we put Blown big block,went to a taller rear gear, and also went to bigger rear tires. The car would leave, with big wheelie, but with new tires it would go straight. So again, just drive thru it. When we hopped the motor up, it would just hit the bar so hard all 4 tires would leave the ground. Since it is a P/glide with a brake, the theory, here on this site was that we were climbing the pinion with a 3500 rpm leave compounding the trouble. Without a clutch, there was no way to raise rpm and hit the tires harder to get up on them sooner. Long story, but now with new long wheelie bar, the car drove great.

Rapid
Nitro Madness Racing
www.nitromadness.com

 

Do you suppose they were having a problem unloading the chassis with the violent hit of a normal wheelie bar? My next guess would be they didn't want to {or couldn't} add weight to the nose to slow down the hit. Please keep us posted here on what they say. Thanks for the interest Will.

Randy Baker

 

Randy,
After folding up a 6ft dual wheel bar on my blown alcohol small block Chevy altered and killing the car;I built a 96in single wheel tripod for the new chassis which smoothed out the launch and stopped the tendency of the bar to drive the car. The old setup carried the wheels through 1st gear, but drifted out of the groove so that you had to let off and correct before shifting. Slight tire pressure difference seemed to work somewhat when nothing else we tried would. The longer single wheel bar lets the car leave with the wheels up and go straight,even shifting with the front off the ground. Works for me!
CMD

 

Boy, does that all sound too familiar. It seems like we have got a handle on ours, hope yours keeps working out as well.