Pro Mod Tutorial (1 Viewer)

Thanks Bob. Wow, this was great! While I was watching the video, I was thinking, what if I could go back thru time & show this to a funny car team? Say early 1980's, when they were running about the same speeds & ET's that Pro Mods run. I think they would be amazed at what you see inside the car. Carbon fiber everything, even steering wheel. All the chassis tubing. The electronics. Torque converter, on and on. And seeing what it's like to drive the car. A F/C driver from back then would have a hard time driving this car, altho I think they would figure it out. This is why I love Pro Mod. Watching these cars race just blows me away. So, I give this video 4 stars outta 4 stars. :)
 
That was great. Thanks.

Pretty sure those steering wheels are welded aluminum and hydrographic dipped .... you can spot the difference in a true carbon pattern. I'm sure I'll be corrected if wrong, but I'm pretty sure of that.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Bob. Wow, this was great! While I was watching the video, I was thinking, what if I could go back thru time & show this to a funny car team? Say early 1980's, when they were running about the same speeds & ET's that Pro Mods run. I think they would be amazed at what you see inside the car. Carbon fiber everything, even steering wheel. All the chassis tubing. The electronics. Torque converter, on and on. And seeing what it's like to drive the car. A F/C driver from back then would have a hard time driving this car, altho I think they would figure it out. This is why I love Pro Mod. Watching these cars race just blows me away. So, I give this video 4 stars outta 4 stars. :)

One correction.

The steering wheel is actually aluminum hydro dipped. RJ Race Cars sells them.


1552018737929.png


Buy one here: https://quartermax.com/12-rj-max-lightweight-steering-wheel-5-bolt-carbon-finish/

Here's a video showing how they do it.

 
Well, it kinda, sorta looked like carbon fiber to me. Thanks for the info Jeff & Randy. there is so much carbon fiber used in all kinds of cars. Waiting for carbon fiber engine.... heh heh
Randy, that video was interesting. They can do this process to anything. It reminded me a bit of years ago, when I worked in a place that did anodizing & cad plate. They would hang parts on a hook and lower into a tank. It took some time to do do the plating and it looked good when it came out. Anodizing was cool cuz you could do it in different colors. Wow, interesting process.
 
Last edited:
Outstanding video. I had the pleasure of seeing this young man race at Orlando Speed World this past weekend and I wish I had seen this video before then. The procedure is even more complicated than I imagined and I would have a better understanding of what it takes to drive one of these beast.
There is one question I have about Pro Mods. When they stage the car and rev up the engine, it sounds like the engine is only hitting on about 4 cylinders and running very rough. But, when they hit the throttle, the car is definitely hitting on all 8. Why is that?
 
Well, it kinda, sorta looked like carbon fiber to me. Thanks for the info Jeff & Randy. there is so much carbon fiber used in all kinds of cars. Waiting for carbon fiber engine.... heh heh
Randy, that video was interesting. They can do this process to anything. It reminded me a bit of years ago, when I worked in a place that did anodizing & cad plate. They would hang parts on a hook and lower into a tank. It took some time to do do the plating and it looked good when it came out. Anodizing was cool cuz you could do it in different colors. Wow, interesting process.
Cliff, My son and I have recently started an oil field tools machine shop. We make a bunch of components for the directional drilling industry. Most of what we make is stainless steel or duplex (2205/nitronic 50, etc.) but we make a number of parts out of aluminum that get hard anodized in a specialty coating shop in Houston. Hard anodizing happens at temperatures much closer to freezing, but the top surface of the aluminum comes out as hard as a steel file ..... the roughnecks are pretty hard on these huge pipe threads in aluminum and evidently the hard anodizing really makes em stand up to some abuse.
 
Hi Jeff. I remember hard anodizing. Does make the parts way stronger. I seem to recall that was the whole idea about anodizing & cad plating and all that, because it made the parts stronger. Been many years since I was involved in that, but it was interesting. They also had a business that did inspection of aluminum parts, using a penetrant inspection called zyglo. You'd dip the parts in this thick yellow fluid, let it dry, then take it into a dark room with a black light. Wash off the fluid with water and if there was a crack in the aluminum (or magnesium) it would show up as a yellow line. They did a lot of aircraft stuff, like bolts and what have you. This was in Glendale, Calif, where I grew up. Worked there after I got out of the Air Force, about a million years ago. Heh
 
Don't know if they still do or not but we used to hard anodize our blower cases. World of difference over standard.
 
Fire bottle safety pin was in place on that run, pretty hard to activate the bottles upside down & on fire at 200 mph.... :oops:
 
Pro Mod has reenergized me as a fan, and Stevie Fast is one fun and entertaining racer. Love it! Great video. He definitely has a passion for what he does!
 
Cool videos.

Though, I have to say, doing a burnout with all those people standing alongside the track is not smart. Just because the track says it is OK, does not make it right. Do the right thing as a racer and race team, and get all of the other racers together and tell the track you are not going to run with everyone up there. It is just a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt, and for no reason.
 
After watching these videos, I am amazed at how complicated these cars are. Wow.... Also am thinking that the lock up converter is kinda sorta doing the same thing a clutch management system is doing in the fuel cars. Have noticed that sometimes a Pro Mod car does a big wheelie going into 2nd gear, so am thinking the lock up is causing this. ??? I don't know that, but just guessing at it. Interesting stuff!
 

So, after watching that pass. which would be easier to drive? Pro Mod or AA/FA? HEH OK, some comments. When they first got ready to start the engine, crewman was doing something in the car on "passenger side". What was he doing? Watching the tach fluctuate, man that thing is so accurate! Noticed a little box to the right of the tach, w/ red numbers. What info is driver getting from that? Noticed that after he stopped, I could see a couple of unplugged cables on the floor of the "passenger side". Had never seen that before. Why leave them unplugged? OK, those are my comments, paired down. Bob, that was a great video! Man I love watching these cars run!
 
Ways To Support Nitromater

Users who are viewing this thread


Back
Top