Pro Mod Tutorial

[DrRocket]

I watch that show all the time. There's another episode where they assemble Morgan Lucas' digger.

 

[stitcherbob]

Wings and wicker bills...spoilers and spill plates

 

[stockergtp]

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.

Saw this a couple of years ago https://www.enginelabs.com/engine-t...s-developing-ls-carbon-fiber-connecting-rods/ . They had a indiegogo page but did not get close to their goal. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ls-carbon-fiber-connecting-rods-naimo-composites#/

 

[Luke Nieuwhof]

Carbon fiber rods do exist - https://dragnews.com.au/news-all/local-news/4821-tech-are-carbon-fibre-top-fuel-rods-coming.html

 

[Cliff]

Luke thanks for the article. Wow.... carbon fiber rods. So why not a block or even an entire engine made out of this stuff?

 

[TD5023]

Luke thanks for the article. Wow.... carbon fiber rods. So why not a block or even an entire engine made out of this stuff?

For starters, $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[Luke Nieuwhof]

I guess it comes down to one step at a time. Six months has passed since I did that interview so I don't know if they have moved on to testing them in a motor yet, but the guys behind it seemed pretty switched on.

 

[stitcherbob]

Luke thanks for the article. Wow.... carbon fiber rods. So why not a block or even an entire engine made out of this stuff?

after watching this, I can imagine it's far easier to machine billets of aluminum than to build a carbon fiber block or head....

 

[Cliff]

I guess what I was wondering about was if a carbon fiber engine could actually run on nitro & take the stress that a billet block & head does. Interesting that someone would even think of carbon fiber rods, etc and that they would work. I know it would be $$$$$$$$$$$ But how much weight would be saved w/ carbon fiber engine?

 

[FABMAN]

Man to justify cost over glass would have to be weight issue, the Corvette in my avatar weigh 1750 w a small block Harry's Glass body. I was at 200 lbs and car had to weight 2150 so I had advantage of adding weight. I just dont see the advantage of using Carbon over Glass for bodies unless you have money to waste. Now Rods and Pistons I can see that. Now I will admit my thinking was because money hard to come by or maybe I was just tightwad.

 

[Cliff]

Jesse, you know that old drag racing saying. Drag racing will make you a millionaire when you started off as a billionaire. You're not a tightwad, just realistic.

 

[Luke Nieuwhof]

after watching this, I can imagine it's far easier to machine billets of aluminum than to build a carbon fiber block or head....

One thing I didn't know before I talked with those guys at PRI was that they make the rods out of billet carbon fiber. It's a different version of the material from what we are used to, from my own extremely limited understanding.

 

[Cliff]

Well, it will be interesting to see if they do use the rods in an engine. I think that engines now use carbon fiber injectors and valve covers, not to mention drive shafts, bodies, wheelie bars, etc etc etc. All this talk about weight made me think about Don Prudhomme's "yellow feather" T/F car from 1972. Was painted yellow & they had drilled holes in everything they could to get the car lighter. It was a quick car, but Snake ended up parking it because of safety concerns. Too many holes in too many places & I think they were afraid it would crack or come apart. I think racers have been weight consious ever since day one. Dick Kraft & The Bug dragster. He started off with a roadster & kept taking off parts until he had just the frame & the engine, went 110 in 1951.

 

[stitcherbob]

 

[Cliff]

When Dale Armstrong worked for Bernstein, he wanted to see how much fuel was actually coming thru the fuel line into the engine. So he added a piece of see thru pipe to the fuel line & they had a camera photograph it on a run. I saw footage of this once. Amazing amount of fuel came thru there & it was like watching a flood. I think it amazed Armstrong. I believe this was the dragster that they did this.

 

[none]

When Dale Armstrong worked for Bernstein, he wanted to see how much fuel was actually coming thru the fuel line into the engine. So he added a piece of see thru pipe to the fuel line & they had a camera photograph it on a run. I saw footage of this once. Amazing amount of fuel came thru there & it was like watching a flood. I think it amazed Armstrong. I believe this was the dragster that they did this.

Cliff,
Not arguing with what you are saying, but they knew exactly how much fuel was flowing to the engine. I know that Dale put the clear tubing and camera there (it was the 6" rubber coupling between the main fuel line and the pump at the front of the engine) looking for air in the line. He suspected that the tank was letting air get into the system and was looking to confirm that, which he did. That led to a redesign of the fuel outlet on the tank to solve the issue.

Alan

 

[flapjack]

When Dale Armstrong worked for Bernstein, he wanted to see how much fuel was actually coming thru the fuel line into the engine. So he added a piece of see thru pipe to the fuel line & they had a camera photograph it on a run. I saw footage of this once. Amazing amount of fuel came thru there & it was like watching a flood. I think it amazed Armstrong. I believe this was the dragster that they did this.

I would not be surprised if they have flow meters somewhere along the fuel lines, either pre or post pump to get a grip on what is coming in:going out.

 

[none]

I would not be surprised if they have flow meters somewhere along the fuel lines, either pre or post pump to get a grip on what is coming in:going out.

They have had those since the 80's. How else would they know how many GPM they are burning?

Alan

 

[stitcherbob]

This is about 10 years old....would like to see an updated version on an upcoming show

 

[Cliff]

Cliff,
Not arguing with what you are saying, but they knew exactly how much fuel was flowing to the engine. I know that Dale put the clear tubing and camera there (it was the 6" rubber coupling between the main fuel line and the pump at the front of the engine) looking for air in the line. He suspected that the tank was letting air get into the system and was looking to confirm that, which he did. That led to a redesign of the fuel outlet on the tank to solve the issue.

Alan

Thanks Alan. I didn't remember exactly why Armstrong did that, just that it hadn't been done before (as far as I know). He had such a great mind. They once ran 3 magnetos on the engine, said it burned all the fuel with no problem. There used to be an injected alky F/C circuit that ran at Lions, 1970-72 I think. Armstrong ran that, along with Ken Veney & others. After Lions they migrated to blown alky F/C and later nitro F/C. Armstrong migrated to genius crew chief....