In this video by our dude Les Mayhew, Nostalgia Top Fuel Veteran and Champion Jim Murphy shows the world his ingenious and simple cure for Nostalgia Top Fuel oil downs. He explains that as a Nostalgia Top Fuel engine, or any boosted engine for that matter, burns a piston or “nicks” a ring land it pressurizes the crankcase of the engine to a level it is not designed to handle. That pressure tries to find a way out, and usually does by blowing the valve cover gaskets and/or breather system apart as it escapes. This high pressure, and high velocity, air takes a bunch of oil with it. Hence the oil down.

Jim Murphy’s solution is to evacuate crankcase pressure through the lifter valley of the engine with a much larger orifice than is normally available. This not only relieves the pressure before it ever reaches the valve covers, but also slows the air down that is leaving the system which therefore results in it taking much less oil with it. When combined with a much larger puke tank, the result is a dramatic decrease in the likelihood of an oil down. Sure the thing could kick the rods out and still oil the track, but the truth is the current diaper and tray systems that are used by all Fuel Categories have helped to dramatically reduce the likelihood that this kind of catastrophic failure will oil the track as well. Most oil downs in the Nostalgia Top Fuel class come from burning pistons at around 1100-1300 feet which causes the insufficient, and incorrectly designed, overflow systems to fail.

Check out the video below, by Les Mayhew of NitroAmerica, to see how Jim’s doing it. Notice that Jim has shown every detail of his system so that anyone can copy this and therefore help the Nostalgia Top Fuel class put on a better, safer, and cleaner show.

Click this link to Subscribe to Les Mayhew’s Nitro America channel on YouTube.

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