Anything new from the straight 8 hot rodders?

[rotus7]

Ray...half way through my response my brain finally dropped into gear and I figured that you were talking about the mods required to a)prep the end of the crank to accept a pilot bearing and b)a flywheel
No matter what 320 I get my hands on a teardown/rebuild will be in order and fitting the Schaefer aluminum flywheel,a high speed 12V starter and T5 will require machine work on the end of the crank either way.
Bobby...141 @ Maxton in what I suspect is a 2 ton piece is fast in anyone's book.
As to the brakes being a 1 shot proposition I see that as a challenge more than an impediment.
When all is said-and-done I'm planning to take it to Mosport to have some fun on 1 of the many playdays that happen there. Aluminum drums,big air scoops and lightened backing plates would be the order of the day. That and being satisfied running no more than 120MPH up Andretti's into turn 8.

[jc]

Fellows,

I just thought I'd toss up this project for your consideration. I'm building a 1932 custom-bodied speedster for vintage rally work, specifically for the 2012 Great Race. It's based on the short WB (114 inch) 50 series. I'm not doing anything to the internals of the engine, but for looks and breathing, I'm fitting it with headers and 4 sidedraft SU carbs. The carbs are from Triumph spitifres, with 1-1/4 throats, so the flow work out perfectly when I put 4 on this 8-cylinder unit, vs 2 for those 1200CC 4-bangers (that spun to 5,000 rpm, not 3200 here). The look WAY cool, as well. Here's an image of just ONE such carb!SUwHorn.jpg

Those interested enough to invest some minutes can follow the project at www.greatrace.com/blogging/john-corey. In my next post, I'll put up some details and pix about these manifolds and carbs.

jc

[Buick Guy]

Well, we just returned from the Bonneville Salt Flats Speed Week where the Salt Cat ll lakester set two new records. We bumped last year's XXO/BGL of 204.? up to 221.351, and then switched to the fuel class[still running gas] and took that record from 185.? up to 216.950. We had a best pass of 222.8 . We came back with the engine intact after 7 runs. We are going back for World of Speed after next week. We have enclosed the rear wheels and will compete in the streamliner class to see if the aero effect of enclosing the wheels helps with the drag . You can get results on FaceBook, Salt Cat Racing. The old Buicks really can live in the modern world.
Doug

[raycow]

We had a best pass of 222.8

Congratulations. What RPM are you turning at that speed?

Ray

[bob k. mando]

We bumped last year's XXO/BGL of 204.? up to 221.351, and then switched to the fuel class[still running gas] and took that record from 185.? up to 216.950. We had a best pass of 222.8


don't you get a mention/award every time you reset a record?

cuz, dude, you're SLAUGHTERING the old records. you probably could have racked up a half dozen records out of each of those classes.

[Buick Guy]

It's turning about 4900 on top. I run it to 5000 in each gear. Since we push it to about 60 MPH, and I leave in 3 rd gear. Run 3-4-5th.

[raycow]

It's turning about 4900 on top. I run it to 5000 in each gear. Since we push it to about 60 MPH, and I leave in 3 rd gear. Run 3-4-5th.

That's impressive. I was expecting you would have to turn more revs than that to get enough HP for 220+ mph. You did a great job on that engine.

Ray

[Jenz38]

Congratulation .. And nice to hear that the Engine still runnin'

[PolarRoller]

for looks and breathing, I'm fitting it with headers and 4 sidedraft SU carbs. The carbs are from Triumph spitifres, with 1-1/4 throats, so the flow work out perfectly when I put 4 on this 8-cylinder unit, vs 2 for those 1200CC 4-bangers (that spun to 5,000 rpm, not 3200 here).
jc

Hi John...I am trying to exactly the same thing with my straight eight...can we establish some communication so I can see what you did (or were going to do?) I didn't see anything on the Great Race blog, maybe I missed it. Here or
bill@wmspear.com

Thanks

[48buickkid]

Are alley cat,duke, or any of the heavy hitters with solid info still around? I would really like to hear more from these guys. Sad to see that we had some serious bench racing and other important projects just vanish before ever materializing. I've been watching for a while now and the only serious efforts seem to be salt cat racings stuff and I like where this SU carb deal is going as I work on occasion for Ted Schumacher of TSI imported automotive and have access to Spit Fire SU carbs,rebuild kits, and ted himself is a wealth of info on modifying them. Seriously contemplating a four carb SU setup. Anyone out there make it happen yet and have pics to show? If I went this route how long would the runners need to be for optimum atomization?