Screw & Roots Top Dragster engine combinations available. Go 6.00 at 240+

If you are looking to ditch the nitrous motor or BBC, or even looking to get into Top Dragster, I can help you build a very affordable and dependable engine for a lot less than you think.

I put together an engine/car combination over the winter for Dee Kruse to run in Top Dragster. We built the car out of 'hand me down' used alcohol parts. It is a 522 CID BAE 5 motor with a screw blower. It runs 6.00 at 241 in the Top Dragster category. Sure it's way more power than you need to run 6.00, but the motor is hardly breaking a sweat, which makes for a very happy motor. We can run 6.00 with 1.00 60 ft's so it is a very forgiving tune-up, and we have the ability to turn the wick up to stay in the low 6's in any conditions.

We built the motor hat to pan under $45,000. That was including new Manton Rocker arms and getting the fuel system flowed by Randy Anderson.

Prices may vary because we built it primarily from used parts. There are still plenty of deals on parts, especially BAE 5 style heads.

Whether it's for a Top Dragster, Pro Mod, Top Alcohol car or ??, I can help you find and assemble a motor to suit your needs, screw or roots blown. I can assemble the motor and ship it to your door ready drop in your car.

If interested, drop me a line to will.hanna@insidetopalcohol.com or call 979.415.4959

 

bump

I would like to add I come from a bracket racing background...this combination is not some 'show off' go fast combo.

Advantages:
-Faster car always has an advantage in bracket racing - give the other guy the shot to redlight first.
-Faster top speed makes it harder for your opponent to judge you on the big end. This directly results in more break outs by your opponents, especially if they normally rely on 'tightening it up' at the stripe.
-Being faster car will put the race in front of you, making it an easier call on if you are going to catch them or not.
-The screw blower allows for a surplus of horsepower. You can back it down to 1.00 60' times that really make track conditions relatively irrelevant.
-The screw blower is a fairly maintenance free blower. Sure it has to be certified every three years, but unless you are equipped to strip your own blowers, the cost of ownership will be lower. Plus pumping cooler air in is easier on parts.
-While some components may have shorter life spans than lower horsepower combinations, the combo isn't really 'working' hard. A hemi is barely breaking a sweat below 9000.
-The beefier hemi components are designed for life 10,000 rpm and beyond. This will make for a tough, reliable engine.
-These motors are designed to be worked on. It's pretty easy to tear one down, and there are plenty of specialty tools on the market to make common jobs easy.

The fuel system I use for Top Dragster/Bracket combos is very simple. Punch the weather in the Jetsize program and it will tell you what jet to screw in. No lean outs, high speeds, timers, etc.

Good used parts are available. If you want new, it's usually on the shelf, or available in a short amount of time. No waiting for custom one-off parts.

If you ever want to make the jump to Top Alcohol, this is a great stepping stone. You can accumulate the building blocks to make the jump.

Oh, and you will never have to worry about what the bump will be!

 

testimonial

Here's a testimonial from Dee Kruse:

"I am the customer of Will’s whom he has helped with the Top Dragster. Let me start out with the statement that I told Will when we first started discussing this project: What I know about alcohol is “you pour one kind on a cut and the other kind in a cup”. So not only did I know nothing about blown alcohol racing, I knew nothing about aftermarket hemi’s. I have been a diehard Ford guy for 30 years, and raced a nitrous Ford prior to this setup.

Will and I discussed this for quite a while before we did it, my biggest concern being making this combination consistent and predictable and low maintenance between passes, and frankly, I am extremely pleased with what we have accomplished so far. We have had zero engine issues and the only parts broken have been transmission parts, primarily reversers, caused by me while learning how to do a burnout and back up a blown engine. The consistency and predictability is there, just look at our runs at Ennis or Norwalk (broke trans in Belle Rose), we stay around the 6.03 to 6.04 window once we get the car dialed (went quick at Norwalk due to great air and new weather station that read 6-900’ different than old one on first pass). We are still doing “R&D” on the best way (widest tuning window) to run the car (rich and more timing vs leaner and less timing), we will never (I hope) quit learning things to make it more consistent.

Biggest issue has been the driver (me) trying to learn how to be consistent on burnouts and staging (no burnout stop), and shut down on time (not drive to far past the finish line) to help keep the engine and transmission temps consistent and get the engine dead before it runs out of oil. The racepak don’t lie.

I did not (deliberately; who keeps up with the cost of fun to the penny?) tally up the costs, but this much I do know. I got a perfectly good block, set of heads (with valves), two sets of pistons and a cam for less than what one of my aftermarket Ford blocks costs by the time we finished machining it. Only “issue” with the engine so far is a leaky rear main cap that requires some diapering to prevent drips, and hopefully that will get addressed over the winter. And replacement parts are on the shelf, nothing is exotic or special order like on my Ford (six weeks to get a crank) stuff. Got a great used alky dragster cheap and we got a combination that just goes. We have even scienced out the proper starter setup, and it works extremely well now (and we did tear up some stuff getting there).

Will has put a lot of thought and effort into this and I am about as happy as I can be; have not lost in the first round yet and no serious parts breakage that was not self-induced (in fairness, we have and are fighting some electrical gremlins now, but they will be gone by next race)."

 

bump

bump to the top

 

runner -up

I have made some refinements to this combination and is has shown with a runner-up finish for Dee Kruse during this past weekend's O'Reilly Spring Nationals in Houston.

If you are interested in making the switch to a hemi, or building a complete car, give me a call or email. I can help you build something from used parts, build from a used roller, or start with new parts/car.

You don't need a hemi to go 6.0, but when you have a combination built to go 5.20's, they are very, very reliable at 6.0.

 

bump

I have a line on a few fathead hemi engines.

 

front row

make the change to a hemi and go to the front of the pack!

 

front row

bump to the top

 

bump to top

bump to the top