Drag Wagon!

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Commando66

Commando66

She's a beaut Clark!
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Last weekend I took my 66 Valiant wagon to the Goodguys nostalgia drags. A little about the car, it's a factory 273, 4 speed, 8 3/4 3.23 Suregrip. I was hoping for an E.T. in the 15's, but it wasn't meant to be. It was about 90° at the track and my first time racing a 4 speed. We only got one test pass which was a 16.15 @ 84mph. First round I launched with more RPM'S (no tach), it lit the tires pretty hard and ended my day with a 16.35. It was great fun, I had the only 4 speed Valiant wagon there and I came in second in the first round!


 
Commando66 said:
Last weekend I took my 66 Valiant wagon to the Goodguys nostalgia drags. A little about the car, it's a factory 273, 4 speed, 8 3/4 3.23 Suregrip. I was hoping for an E.T. in the 15's, but it wasn't meant to be. It was about 90° at the track and my first time racing a 4 speed. We only got one test pass which was a 16.15 @ 84mph. First round I launched with more RPM'S (no tach), it lit the tires pretty hard and ended my day with a 16.35. It was great fun, I had the only 4 speed Valiant wagon there and I came in second in the first round!


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Big block it!
 
My son is starting his drag racing adventure with a 4 speed small block. His first outing was disappointing to him, I thought it was great, he was to focused on time slips and had problems with his burnout, starting line and shifting. So we made an agreement that I am his crew chief and won't let him look at his time slips until we accomplish 4 goals.

#1- Safety. (car was a death trap when he got it and all has been corrected, we hope)

#2- Staging (getting comfortable with his procedures)

#3- Shifting (reps, reps, reps, muscle memory must be learned)

#4- No Breakage.

If all these are met then it is time to start Bangin'. His 60' time is encouraging, but he needs rowing reps. I just wanted to share this to show with time it will be natural and Fun,Fun,FUN!
 
That's cool that he's starting on a 4 speed. Does he drive a manual on the street? That would probably help. Kids learn fast, the more laps he gets, the better off he'll be. No breakage??? It's bound to happen in a 4 gear.
 
He drives a manual very well, part of the problem was linkage, shifter location and length of handle. I've corrected this by moving the shifter back, shortening the handle and making linkage with left and right heim joints from snowmobile steering linkage.

We were going to test this past weekend but he hurt his left foot at work. This coming Sunday will tell.
 
first, that little 273 needs gear. You'd be surprised what a set of 3.55s , 3.73s or 3.91s will do. Second, the key to getting good ETs with a small inch motor is to get into 4th gear as fast as you can. Work on your shift points between 4500 and 4900 RPM. Yes, it will rev higher however that motor is enemic.

If you want to get more air into that motor get a set of 920s, get a decent 3-5 angle valve and go with stainless valves. You can cut the 1.88 intake valves down to 1.84. That will take care of the shrouding problem

A good example is a guy that races Division 7 in Vegas, Paul Wong. Runs a little Valient with a 273, 2 barrel. Runs 13:50s all day long, very competitive and consistant
 
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