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Brian1
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Apr 14, 2006, 10:46 PM
Post #1 of 15
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Hi guys.
I know this isn’t car related but if you guys on here are like me…… We like anything motorized!!!!
I started a project just after Christmas. It’s unique!!! It’s a long story so I have posted a link to another board that I belong to that shows the progress of my project. (with pictures)
I’m building a 3cylinder, turbo charged diesel, hydrostatic drive, single sided swing arm, air ride suspension, hand built motorcycle. As far as we know this is the second one like it ever built. I have a friend who is a hydraulic engineer and he built the first one. It works great, so now I need one too!!!!
I was making good progress for a few months and then I started to fall behind on my ambitious schedule that I set for myself. My full time job is seasonal so now that It’s spring (I live in Minnesota) I’m very busy with work. Thankfully the major fabrication is done (the swing arm alone took me several weeks) I just need to finish making a few mounting brackets for the radiator, battery box, front foot pegs and the rear suspension mounts. I’m still hopping to have it done in a month or two. We’re starting to have some really nice days here and I can’t wait to ride it!!!!
http://www.chopperweb.net/...=15&pagenumber=1
What do you guys think??
Brian.
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Apr 15, 2006, 6:57 AM
Post #2 of 15
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Re: My new project.
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Brian,
You may get a call from a TV station to compete with "Orange County Choppers" and that guy named "Jesse James" who tackles the impossible.  T
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Brian1
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Apr 16, 2006, 10:57 AM
Post #3 of 15
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Re: My new project.
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Thanks for the compliment Tom!!
I’m not sure that it’s TV worthy and I know I’m not near the fabricator those guys on TV are but it should turn out fairly nice……. I hope!.
You might have seen the little Yamaha scooter in the background of those pictures (the silver Yamaha in the 3rd picture, not the little red one on the shelf in the last picture). I normally use that scooter for a “pit bike” when I’m at the drag races but it IS street legal and insured. Both Friday and Saturday night of this past weekend, we (me and a bunch of friends who also own little bikes) rode them into St. Paul to a little drive-in on University Ave. called “Porky’s” (just like the movie) On both nights (Fri. and Sat.) of any given weekend in the spring, summer and fall there are about 50 (or more) classic, restored, hot rods and street rods that “cruise” the area. The parking lot at Porky’s is packed, it’s like taking a step back in time!!!!
After riding that little scooter this past weekend I really have the “itch” to get my diesel bike finished!!!!
I better get off my butt and get that thing done……. I don’t think it will finish itself!!!
Brian.
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carjunky
Enthusiast
Apr 26, 2006, 1:40 PM
Post #4 of 15
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Re: My new project.
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Hey Brian,
Thanks for your help here...
Hows the bike coming along? Seems like a great project to do and you'll have the reward for years... I couldn't help but notice the comment about the Scooter in the background being used at the drag races....
Do you drag race?, or do you help out a friend or someone else that drag races? I must admit I've never been up close to one except at a car show, but its awesome to think about the power that those cars can produce in a matter of just a short few seconds.
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Brian1
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Apr 26, 2006, 4:09 PM
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Re: My new project.
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Hi Carjunky!!
I haven’t touched the bike for the last few weeks because I’ve been really busy with work but fabrication should start again after this weekend. My cousin is getting married on Saturday so I’ll be busy Thursday night, Friday night and all day Saturday with wedding “stuff”. Once I get done with the wedding I plan to work on it nightly until it’s done, Hopefully I can have it done in a month or two.
You asked about drag racing…….
Yes and no!!! I personally don’t race myself but I have 3 close friends who race Super Gas in division 5 of the NHRA. We travel to several races throughout the season all over the country but usually try to say within a few states of Minnesota and now this season with the gas prices being so high we may eliminate a few races due to travel expenses.
I like the class my friends run in but my personal favorite is Top Fuel and Nitro Funny Car. You’re right…… the power is Unbelievable!!!! They claim a Top Fuel Nitro engine makes more horsepower than ANY engine dyno can handle. So, a few years ago Connie Kalitta put a strain gauge on the drive shaft of his nephew’s Top Fuel dragster. A strain gauge measures torque at any given rpm. Once you have a torque number you multiply it by RPM and then divide by 5252 which will give you horsepower. They came up with 7933HP at 2.6 seconds after the hit of the throttle in English Town New Jersey. His overall elapsed time on that run was 4.48 seconds in the quarter mile. They are now running 4.42 seconds (on a good run) so I’d say they make even more HP now than they did just a few years ago. The fastest MPH in the quarter mile is 336 MPH. Tony Schumacher in the United States Army Top Fuel dragster went 336 MPH last August right here in Minnesota at Brainerd International Raceway and I was standing right there to see it in person!!!! It was great!!!
Thanks,
Brian.
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carjunky
Enthusiast
Apr 27, 2006, 7:36 AM
Post #6 of 15
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Re: My new project.
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7933hp is crazy... funny thing I just added some oct booster to my gas tank and I thought it had some power lol (it's only about 185hp total) counld imagine the forces you would feel going from 0 - 300mph+ in 4 seconds
With the drag racing, do your friends run Hydrogen peroxide? I read that this is what some cars are running... And even heard that china has been looking into this as a fuel source to skip over oil. I guess they are learning by our mistakes....
Thanks, for the hp conversion....
Torque (X) RPM (/) 5252 = horsepower
Englishtown is right down the road from me.. and I'm planning to attend a few races this year should be a good time..
Let me know if your ever in the ny/nj/pa area, but like you said gas prices are on the move once again...
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Apr 27, 2006, 2:25 PM
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Laughing out loud - "0 to 300 in four seconds." I think most people's lips would be at the back of their head!
Hey - My Town Cars can go from 0 to 10 MPH in about that T
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Brian1
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Apr 27, 2006, 2:44 PM
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Carjunky and Tom,
7933 Hp is all they were able to “put to the ground”. If the track conditions were better and the tires had more traction, they would have been able to apply more clutch (use more engine power) and therefore the strain gauge numbers would have been even higher……Which means the HP number would also be higher. If a Top fuel car fitted with a strain gauge spins the tires (and they often do) the torque numbers drop way off to near zero. A good friend of mine was a crew member on a top fuel team years ago…… He said, “a Top Fuel engine makes more power as the engine load increases” what he means is… As load increases, the engine is able to burn more fuel, more fuel means more power especially with Nitromethane because “Nitro” carries it’s own oxygen, if you have more oxygen you can burn more fuel = more power. As a top fuel car is traveling down the track the onboard fuel system is constantly adjusting the amount of fuel being injected . When they leave the starting line, the fuel “setting” is low, as they apply more clutch the fuel system is preset to gradually increase fuel flow to “match” the load on the engine. It’s very had to explain (especially when typing) how a “Fuel” car works but what I was originally trying to say is, My friend who worked on a Top Fuel team said “I bet a Fuel engine is capable of somewhere in the neighborhood of 14,000 HP” We’ll never see it because they only use 2 rubber tires to propel the car and they don’t have enough traction for the engine to make that much power.
Here’s a few more interesting facts about a “Fuel” engine….. From the time they start the car at the starting line, do the burnout and make a full pass they have burnt about 18 to 21 gallons of Nitromethane to go ¼ of a mile!!!! That gives you and idea of how much fuel a 500 CI engine can burn when running on nitro.
They accelerate with at a positive 5G and when the parachutes come out at the finish line they decelerate with a negative 5G’s.
My friends just burn 116 octane racing gasoline. The newest engine we’re building is a 622CI big block Chevy (Chevy design, but nothing is actually GM brand) with Big Chief heads. It should be done hopefully in the next month or two and should make about 1200HP with a single 4 barrel carb. When we put fuel injection on it next year it should be around 1350 HP. I know it’s not 7933HP but 1200HP should get it done pretty good in the class my friends run in!!
You asked about Hydrogen peroxide…..
As I said, My friends burn gasoline in their race cars but my Avatar is a picture of Kitty O’Neil from back in the 70’s, the car she is standing next to (The Conklin Comet) used Hydrogen peroxide. It was a rocket car that Ky Michaelson www.the-rocketman.com/content12.html owned and she drove to a world record. (I cant remember exactly what record it was) Ky “The Rocket man” Michaelson only lives about 2 miles from me and has just recently restored that car to it’s original condition. He owned and built many Hydrogen Peroxide cars in the past and has broken and still hold many land speed and ¼ mile records today.
However, I think the fuel you are thinking of is just “hydrogen” (without the peroxide) I’ve also heard of vehicles running on this stuff…… Something about, instead of carbon monoxide for exhaust the only thing that comes out of the tail pipe after the burn process is just plain water.
Whew, That was a lot of typing for my 2 fingers!!!
Brian.
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carjunky
Enthusiast
May 1, 2006, 6:23 AM
Post #9 of 15
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Brian,
Thats some cool stuff. This past weekend we went to raceway park in englishtown, nj and took some pictures at this past weekends modified classic car show. It was pretty cool being able to walk on the 1/4 pavement. After reading what you have posted here.
We are planning to go back during one of the drag racing events later this summer.
One car was a modified 1940's studebaker with a huge engine.... one you would put in a 57 chevy... Really looked like a flying coffing. I'll post those pics later this week.
How long have you been around drag racing?
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
May 1, 2006, 12:26 PM
Post #10 of 15
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Brian and Carjunky,
This is a cool thread.!! There are only two places I know of in New England and that's Epping, NH and one in Thompson, CT.
One day it was funny cars in NH (not far from me) and a guy made an air cooled flat four VW do a 9 second 1/4 mile!! I don't know what he did to it but the car looked OEM and flew! It had OEM tires and all and still did that! I didn't meet the guy but the car was just a regular "bug" and some people would put a 427 Chev in them but this was the flat four and I was impressed! T
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Brian - you are great but work on the two finger typing. It's ASDF-JKL; and put your fingers there and stop looking. I was one of those who took typing in school and it does make it easier. Must say you do VERY well anyway, Hey - what works works. T
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carjunky
Enthusiast
May 1, 2006, 1:15 PM
Post #11 of 15
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In Brian's, Defense...
I'm a two finger typer.... well actutally I just noticed I really use four fingers and a pinky once in a while. lol (but consider myself two fingers)
And I'll say I can hold my own typing away with two fingers on a computer... the funnest thing about typing is try and remember where the keys are without looking at a keyboard... Well I know I can't yet when I go to spell a word it just magically appears....
Amasing how our brains just know...
Tom you well love this little drag car.... It's about 60% motor 40% car... really looks like a mario cart...
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
May 1, 2006, 1:34 PM
Post #12 of 15
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Funny story: I was on a two week vacation when a company I worked at layed off a couple thousand people and they forgot me! I had NO job when I got back and the department head didn't know what to do?? He hired me as the secretary for the department because I could type away.
That's way before spell check and we actually answerd phone call and took paper messages for call back if needed.
My problem now is eyesight and I don't even catch my own typos sometimes. T
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Brian1
User
May 1, 2006, 2:53 PM
Post #13 of 15
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Hi guys,
Carjunky,
You asked how long I’ve been involved with drag racing…. It’s been about 15 or 16 years. When I first started going to the races it was with a friend who’s cars wasn’t the fastest thing in the world but it got progressively faster as we got older (I’m 32 now) It also helped that we got better paying jobs as we got older to be able to buy better, faster parts. Going fast isn’t cheap!!!
Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown New Jersey has always been a record setting track and one of the favorite’s of the pro racers. I’ve never been there but I’ve watched many races from there on TV and have heard the stories about that track. The track itself is a legend!!!! You mentioned you were there this weekend for a car show….. I wish I would have been there!!!! I know you mentioned going back for the races this summer, did you mean your going to the K&N Filters Supernationals June 15th - 18th??? Have you ever been to a Pro drag race and seen a Nitro car in person?? If not, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Just make sure you get a good whiff of the Nitro fumes form the header pipes when they warm up the cars in the pits. You’ll see why the pro teams use gas masks when running the car in the pits…..hahaha!!!!!
Did you guys hear about the crash this past weekend in Bristol Tennessee?? Cory Mac, (McClenathan) driver of the Fram Filters Top Fuel dragster had his chassis break in half with no warning at 300MPH!! This sort of this has happened in the past with other teams and is becoming more and more regular in fact, this was the second time it happened to Cory this season, the first time was 3 races ago in Gainesville Florida about a month ago. They claim it’s because the current Top Fuel dragster chassis design can’t handle the stress cycles (load and unload). It’s like a paper clip….. You can only bend it so many times before it breaks. When a dragster chassis is sitting, parked it’s only a few inches off the ground. When it’s going down the track at 300MPH the center of the car is at least a foot off the ground (arched up in the middle) They have a giant rear wing keeping to rear of the car down and a smaller wing on the front keeping to front of the car down but the middle of the car is way up in the air. Like I said, It’s just like a paper clip, it‘s only time before it breaks!!!!
Here is a link to a few pictures. You may have to scroll down to get to it. The title is..... Cory McClenathan: "I just grabbed my belts and held on."
http://competitionplus.com/2006_04/news_dirt.html
I’ve gotten better on my typing. I was REALLY slow but I have noticed in the last year I’ve gotten much faster using my two fingers. I don’t seem to search for keys anymore, I always seem to hit the right one but like you said….. I don’t know where they are but when I hit them I always get it right. It is “Amazing how our brains just know” And by the way….. I just noticed I use an occasional pinky too.
Tom,
That was a good story, It’s very similar to what happened to my dad when he was in the Navy. My dad was stationed on an Air Craft carrier during the Viet Nam war. When he first got on the ship his job was in the engine room…. He hated it!!! They were in port for a weekend and he decided to go into a bar, a guy sat down next to him and asked what he did, dad told him “I’m in the engine room and hate it” the guy said “let me see what I can do for you” A few days later he was called into an office to talk to a officer. They asked him if he could type, he said YES (he couldn’t at the time) they gave him a typing test and he somehow passed. (with his 2 fingers) They offered him the job of “Editor of the ships newspaper“, He took the job of course!!!! To this day….. He still claims to be the FASTEST 2 finger typer in the world. The rest is history.
Brian.
(This post was edited by Brian1 on May 1, 2006, 3:28 PM)
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
May 1, 2006, 5:04 PM
Post #14 of 15
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Can't argue with what works. T
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carjunky
Enthusiast
May 1, 2006, 9:30 PM
Post #15 of 15
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Lol... Brian, I thought you where going to say they handed him a Broom... That would have been bad, but editor must have been a nice change, you always know the news of what's going on board before everyone else.
As with those pictures, its nuts to think he's done it before... You can clearly see that the nose is scrapping and then up he goes....
Can't believe he walked away. I guess that shows how much engineering goes into these cars today... If they can design a frame to be able to break apart and to give the drive a good shot of living yet walking away from getting launched at over 300 mph..
As with the K&N Racing I'm going to try and go I'll let you know.
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