Way, way COOL!!!!!!! Thanks a bunch for the update on a fantastic endeavor.
I for one will be making it a point to see and hear it at SpeedWeek 2001. Joe
:) :)
ARDUNDOUG@aol.com wrote:
> LSR List, Friends and Crew,
> Today we fired-up the Dragmaster Dart for the first time with the blown
> Ardun installed. I' ve been collecting parts, having components fabricated,
> and dreaming since 1985 about having one of my Ardun engines with a blower
> sitting on top. When I was a kid the "big-boys" at the drags had blowers,
> thus my fantasy followed those lines.
> I started getting serious about assembling the engine a couple of years
> ago, putting the short block together at the same time I built the engines
> for the Bonneville Modified Roadster. After we escaped the "broken parts
> curse" at Speed Week 2000 I came home, checked the "vital-signs" of the Ardun
> in the Modified Roadster, determined that it should be OK for the November El
> Mirage 2 day meet, and started the finishing touches on the blower motor.
> The dragster hadn't run since the 1998 Palmdale, CA Antique Nationals
> when we spun a bearing and blew the motor in a loss to Mc Cain & Houtz with
> their blown Flatty. Luckily the chassis certification was renewed in late 99
> so I didn't have to deal with that in addition to finishing and firing the
> new engine combination.
> The engine is small by Flatty standards, 258 ci. The blower is a 4:71
> topped by a Hilborn "2-holer" injector and driven at between 15% and 30%
> overdrive. Static compression ratio is 8:1 with Ross forged pistons,
> Cunningham rods, and a SCAT billet chrome moly crank. Fuel is alky for the
> time being with some nitro a possibility at the drags and gas for the LSR
> classes that require it.
> Son Brian wanted to be here when I started (or attempted to start) it for
> the first time. I had warmed the oil yesterday and spun the engine with the
> starter to circulate it. With the spark plugs installed the engine only
> cranked about as fast as a good 6v Flatty starter with a stock engine so I
> was a little worried. I bought a couple of 1960's blower starters this past
> year but was going to start out with my trusty 6v Ford unit on 12v.
> I had set the barrel valve leakdown, secondary (idle) bypass popoff
> pressure, main bypass pill, and all the other parameters according to what
> Gene (Lean Gene) Adams suggested. I was still unprepared for what happened
> next.
> With Brian at the controls I gave the Hilborn a squirt of gas and
> signaled him to hit the starter. It started immediately and idled like a
> stocker (well, almost). It even has that slight RPM surging at idle, one of
> the things I always thought sounded so bitchin' about blower motors in the
> olden days.
> After setting the ignition timing and fiddling with the barrel valve
> adjustment the thing had quite a loud throttle response. After we went in for
> lunch I was amazed that the thing quickly started again with no priming after
> an hour or so of cooldown time.
> It has a couple of oil pan leaks (I use silicone rather than cutting out
> Velumoid gaskets every time I pull the pan) and the front motor plates are
> dripping water so it's back onto the Backyard Buddy hoist to remove the pan
> and re-seal it.
> Within the next couple of weeks I plan to take it to a Sears Point
> Raceway Wednesday night grudge/test-n-tune session and start the process of
> establishing a "base-line" where the tuneup is concerned. It sounded pretty
> ferocious in the driveway but that doesn't necessarily guarantee a good hard
> pass down the 1320.
> Anyway, just getting it assembled, installed in the dragster, and started
> was a major hurdle for me. With any luck we will have a baseline soon for the
> engine, run it for a while at the nostalgia drags, then put it into the
> Modified Roadster and go after the SCTA XXF/BF(G)MR records at Bonneville, El
> Mirage, and hopefully Muroc.
> Thanks for all your interest and support...........Ardun Doug King
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