Plans for our import fuel funny
car were laid out on 11/03/99.
Knowing that there were no standard engines available to withstand HP
created by burning nitro methane, we began to proceed with our project. The possibility of building a fuel motor
that did not self-destruct on a regular basis was also something for
consideration. Following this train
of thought, we felt that an import style engine (4-cylinder with twin turbos)
should be a dry airflow motor.
Hence, the rule we feel must be followed to achieve our concept: Fuel must
be introduced to the intake track less than 3” from the intake valve.
The
primary reason that AA cars blow up is due to the fuel in the hat, blower &
intake being ignited all at the same time, which produces a lot of
expansion. By eliminating
this major explosion, we could also eliminate the large fire extinguishers (10
lbs instead of 20 lbs), the blowout panels and the re-enforcement of the body,
which are all heavy components.
Running turbo's presents
the problem of having enough boost at the starting line. Over the past few years, we have very
successfully used NOS to make the turbo's spool up faster. It works great!
With all of these things to be considered, we decided to build a 5-liter / 4 cylinder block of solid aluminum using TFX top fuel main caps. This gives the same bottom end strength as the top fuel cars with the added bonus of one rod on each throw.
STATUS
Most of
the details have been completed. We
still have open issues, though. The
pistons are not in yet, the crankshaft is being ground now (second one will
begin after the first is finished), and the cams should be ready in about three
weeks. The motor will go together
and we will do basic testing on the dyno.
Then the fun will really start, getting it to leave and go down the
track.
Next, we
plan to run exhibition with the car. Later we will add an injected fuel
non-supercharged funny car. We are
going to offer body and motor packages for $50K. The other components are readily
available from additional manufacturers.
This will allow competitors to build a $100K to $150K car that is
economical to run with only a three-member pit crew. The pistons and clutch should not have
to be replaced after every run, and the car should be easy to maintain with only
clutch adjustments and minor check-over from run to run. (Unless we get stupid and burn it
down).
We
currently have eight cylinder heads, two blocks, six cams and two cranks in the
works. Please call for more
information. Your comments are all
appreciated. Let us know what you
think (good or bad), send us your input on this subject.
Thank
You!
Bob Norwood