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My head is reeling from the all night drive from Tulsa to Indiana, so please forgive any misspellings or nonsensical gramar or sentence structure - I want to get this down before I forget it all, hopefully my observations will help someone prepare for next year.
These are my lessons learned from my first, and arguably the longest DW to date.
When analyzing your engine build budget - DO NOT skimp on the valve train!
When choosing a camshaft - keep all the roadside thrashing in mind - maybe one step down in lift and or spring pressure isn't such a bad idea.
Don't buy powerglides in Australia.
If you don't have overdrive, Take a sharp pencil to your gear ratio and tire rev/mile calculations. Look into how tall of a tire you can manage to fit with a loaded trunk (air shocks, adjustable coil overs, etc), while also looking at the shortest slick you can get that will send you through the traps near the top of your rpm range in top gear. You could go for swapping 9" center sections at the track if you don't mind the smell of hot gear oil and the time required.
Drive your car a few hundred miles on a hot day long before drag week - keep your AAA card handy - and pay attention to the temperature of the floors, as well as the engine, transmission, and fuel system. Then consider being in the car 4, 6 or more hours a day in the blazing sun or pounding rain.
Don't buy a cheap electric fuel pump - if you don't have to have an electric - a heavy duty mechanical sure makes a lot of sense for this torture test.
("race pumps" were being packed in ice to make the drives, fuel pump controllers were sending cars to the roadside with wiring cross talk / interference / shielding issues)
Don't run a fuse near the alternator - fuse it close to the battery away from vibration. We found this one on Carl's car a week before drag week, on the side of the road.
What to bring:
complete engine gasket set
spare rockers, pushrods, valve springs
atleast a quart of all fluids
tuning kit - carb/efi parts, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, spare ignition coil.
if you have an uncommon alternator - and it's older - bring a spare, same goes for the starter
drain the glycol - run water (some had good luck with additives)
Have a good fan shroud, if clutched - make sure the clutch is healthy - if electric - make sure the wiring and controller is up to the task.
Sunscreen, wide brimmed hat, and if one will fit - a canopy / tent / shade maker of some kind.
Files, magnet, JB weld, gasket sealer, and a couple of flashlights - the magnetic LED ones are sweet.
Spare fuel filters (plugged with bottom of the tank garbage from out of the way gas stations)
Oil filter - (smashed by a chunk of something flying up from the road)
Wire in Idiot lights! during long hot drives it's way too easy to loose focus and not look at gauges often -
brite idiot lights that turn on at low oil pressure(or ignition cut out oil pressure switch) or high coolant temp and trans temp could really save your bacon.
Aim your headlights!
Holy crap did we drive through the middle of nowhere and dark doesn't begin to describe the headlight sucking blackness we drove through on switch back indian reservation mountain back roads.
You meet the nicest people on drag week, and speaking of nice people, if you're in a scrape, the BS DW crew is a good team to have on your side, Slimbo, Jeff McK, MoparBilly, and Diginlif just to name a few. Some call me a big guy, these guys are mountains of men, and some of the nicest most knowledgable folks ever.
And to quote the tshirt (which I forgot to get damit)
"If you haven't survived Dragweek - shut up"
Now to finish the falcon for next year....
These are my lessons learned from my first, and arguably the longest DW to date.
When analyzing your engine build budget - DO NOT skimp on the valve train!
When choosing a camshaft - keep all the roadside thrashing in mind - maybe one step down in lift and or spring pressure isn't such a bad idea.
Don't buy powerglides in Australia.
If you don't have overdrive, Take a sharp pencil to your gear ratio and tire rev/mile calculations. Look into how tall of a tire you can manage to fit with a loaded trunk (air shocks, adjustable coil overs, etc), while also looking at the shortest slick you can get that will send you through the traps near the top of your rpm range in top gear. You could go for swapping 9" center sections at the track if you don't mind the smell of hot gear oil and the time required.
Drive your car a few hundred miles on a hot day long before drag week - keep your AAA card handy - and pay attention to the temperature of the floors, as well as the engine, transmission, and fuel system. Then consider being in the car 4, 6 or more hours a day in the blazing sun or pounding rain.
Don't buy a cheap electric fuel pump - if you don't have to have an electric - a heavy duty mechanical sure makes a lot of sense for this torture test.
("race pumps" were being packed in ice to make the drives, fuel pump controllers were sending cars to the roadside with wiring cross talk / interference / shielding issues)
Don't run a fuse near the alternator - fuse it close to the battery away from vibration. We found this one on Carl's car a week before drag week, on the side of the road.
What to bring:
complete engine gasket set
spare rockers, pushrods, valve springs
atleast a quart of all fluids
tuning kit - carb/efi parts, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, spare ignition coil.
if you have an uncommon alternator - and it's older - bring a spare, same goes for the starter
drain the glycol - run water (some had good luck with additives)
Have a good fan shroud, if clutched - make sure the clutch is healthy - if electric - make sure the wiring and controller is up to the task.
Sunscreen, wide brimmed hat, and if one will fit - a canopy / tent / shade maker of some kind.
Files, magnet, JB weld, gasket sealer, and a couple of flashlights - the magnetic LED ones are sweet.
Spare fuel filters (plugged with bottom of the tank garbage from out of the way gas stations)
Oil filter - (smashed by a chunk of something flying up from the road)
Wire in Idiot lights! during long hot drives it's way too easy to loose focus and not look at gauges often -
brite idiot lights that turn on at low oil pressure(or ignition cut out oil pressure switch) or high coolant temp and trans temp could really save your bacon.
Aim your headlights!
Holy crap did we drive through the middle of nowhere and dark doesn't begin to describe the headlight sucking blackness we drove through on switch back indian reservation mountain back roads.
You meet the nicest people on drag week, and speaking of nice people, if you're in a scrape, the BS DW crew is a good team to have on your side, Slimbo, Jeff McK, MoparBilly, and Diginlif just to name a few. Some call me a big guy, these guys are mountains of men, and some of the nicest most knowledgable folks ever.
And to quote the tshirt (which I forgot to get damit)
"If you haven't survived Dragweek - shut up"
Now to finish the falcon for next year....
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