We performed a mad thrash in an attempt to squeeze the car into the 9’s at the end of the season, with a 9.94 at 134 MPH. The mad thrash taught us a few things, so we went right back to our friend Dave Zimmerman and his group of craftsmen at Team Z Motorsports for a few additional chassis updates to Project 666.
Chassis & Safety
Project 666: Travel Limiter, Wing, and Radiator Support From Team Z
by Jason Reiss
on February 17, 2012
Project MaxStreet, our blown, big-block ’66 Chevy II, is full of cool stuff—850 ProCharged rear-wheel horsepower, all good parts that ensure this rig will be a fun ride down the quarter-mile. That ride could, however, be our last if not for some necessary safety gear, namely a 10-point roll cage.
Wild Rides S-Box Torque Box on Project 666 Fox Body Mustang
by Jefferson Bryant
on November 11, 2011
Launching on slicks or even drag radials puts an incredible amount of stress on the factory torque box, more than what it was designed for. Eventually, the cracks appear in the fatigued sheet metal and the mounting holes stretch out, which is why we turned to Wild Rides for our Project 666 Fox Body Mustang.
Project 666 Gets Lighter and Safer with Holcomb, Kirkey and Grant
by Shane McGlaun
on August 1, 2011
Project 666 gets fitted with new Kirkey racing seats, Holcomb seat brackets, a lightweight race steering column, and more in the latest round of upgrades to our ten-second quarter mile screamer.
Competition Eliminator class is easily the most diverse eliminator in NHRA. You can run pretty much anything, except nitromethane. Supercharged, turbocharged, gasoline, alcohol, dragsters, door cars, altereds, street roadsters, fast front wheel drive cars, front engine dragsters, Pro Modifieds and more.
Many people attending an NHRA or IHRA event may watch Class racing and wonder what all the letters and classes mean on a car, and how they get there. We’ll start with probably the simplest of the three main stock-type classes – NHRA Stock Eliminator.
When building a race car, one of the most misunderstood parts of the build can be the roll cage. Different frame designs and modifications made to that frame all require different attributes to the cage’s design. We break down the rules bar by bar using a Chris Alston’s Chassisworks pre-bent cage on a ’65 ‘Stang
It might have been awhile since you have seen an update on our 666. The Mustang is going to be used as a temporary race car for the 2011 PSCA racing season. The class we plan to run is Limited Street, though the Mustang will be there just to gain points while the real car is being built.
Our Project MaxStreet Chevy II needed a rear suspension that could handle the power from our Musi/Edelbrock 555-inch big block and really plant the tires effectively. The folks are Detroit Speed hooked us up with their new QUADRALink that will accomplish just that.
There is a lot of information written across the tread face and sidewalls of their tires, and to teach us how to read it, we turned to Mickey Thompson Tires Motorsports Manager Carl Robinson.“Ultimately it’s the measured performance that will tell the truth on your tires,” says Robinson.
Our MaxStreet Chevy II wasn’t designed to be a real performer out on any type of track. Even dumping all the money in the world attempting to revive the stock style suspension will only get you so far. Something had to be done to help this car be able to hold it’s own.. and Chassisworks got the call!
Depending on who you speak to, we lose 10- to 20-percent of our torque due to friction losses in the drivetrain. Naturally, no one likes losing torque after spending so much money and working so hard to create this rotating force. This is, after all, the force we use to move the car and no matter which class you run, the name of the game is to move the car. So if we’re going to be good racers, one of the many questions we must ask is, “What can I do to reduce torque loss due to friction in the drivetrain?”
Before you start thinking that I’m going to sneak a shop safety spill on you, let me assure you that’s not the case. This month’s article deals with how much skin we’ve left in engine bays and how much blood has been spilled on the garage floor. This is a universal fact in doing maintenance: THERE WILL BE BLOOD.
Our objective for this upgrade to our Project No Bucks third-gen Camaro was to increase traction and handling for both street driving and dragstrip duty. We wanted to put together a complete package from one supplier to make sure everything would work together, and that’s exactly what we found from Spohn Performance.
Project Swinger Nova Update: Room for Wider Tires, a Stiffer Frame, and a Patch Job
by Cody Norris
on March 31, 2010
The ’71 Nova looks far better with all of the rust off and the new panels on. While we took our time to do the job right, the mini-tub kit was not as difficult to install as we originally thought it would be. Detroit Speed really hit the nail on the head when it came to getting the correct dimensions for a perfect fit. The same goes for their connectors. You can’t cut corners or rush a job like this, but Detroit Speed helped the process by providing parts that fit like they should and clear, easy-to-follow instructions
We knew that dropping a big power plant into our car would be a simple fix for the “go juice” for Project Grandpa. However, the part that concerned us was the suspension. We knew that we wanted to go with Ridetech for their air springs, but what about the rest of the system? Thankfully, we got in touch with Spohn Performance who helped set us up with everything to make this car go from driving like a cloud to a lighting bolt!
Our old grandma was a little weak in the in the hip, so it was decided to replace the body bushings. Something that would stand up to the abuse that this car is going to be receiving. Something like Energy Suspension’s Hyperflex Bushings
Today marked the first day toward the chassis fabrication of Project Grandma. We all have been longing to see our old gal come together, but there were a few things holding us back. Today, we ripped out the rear end, and now we are fully ready for our Chassis Engineering chrome moly roll cage, mini-tubs and chassis goodies.
Today we have an update on Project Grandma as Mike Ryan gets our ’78 Malibu ready for our Chassis Engineering Mini-tubs, and then the 25.5 Roll Cage. We’re starting with a Chassis Engineering chrome moly cage kit and then adding the bars necessary for the SFI 25.5 spec.
The next stage of the Mini-tub process on Project Grandma focuses on the frame rails. With the larger 295/65 M/T Drag Radial tires we would need to create more room in the wheel wells between the frame rail and quarter panel, so we did a little cutting and welding.
We left off last year with Grandma’s frame notching for tire clearance. The problem was that by notching and rewelding the frame rails narrower – we didn’t leave enough room for the 295/65 M/T ET Drag Radials to fit up into the wheel well. Thankfully our friends at Yellow Bullet were there to help us figure it out.
You’ve been following along with our quest to slam our Malibu with stock suspension and mini-tubs on a big Mickey Thompson ET Drag Radial 295/65 tire. Some people said “it can’t be done” and others gave us advice. As you’ll see, the ride height came out PERFECT. Thanks to everyone who gave us input. Here’s how we did it.
Mike Ryan has been plugging away on our 1978 Malibu, Project Grandma, with the goal of getting the Chassis Engineering mini tubs built this week. First though, we’ve got the TRZ front suspension, QA1 Shocks, and Aerospace brakes bolted up. Check out our daily progress.
This week, we finished up 90% of the mini-tubs which were supplied by Chassis Engineering. In our ’78 Malibu, we’ve already done segments on the narrowing of the frame rails, cutting out the stock wheel tubs, and boxing the frame rails back in. Now it was time to make sure we can fit the tire and wheel combination with our mini-tubs.
We give Grandma a performance racing suspension from TRZ Motorsports along with a premium shock package from QA1. To cap off our upgrade, we treat Grandma to a new set of brakes from Aerospace Brakes that won’t lead to a quack-up when we try to stop.
We have a lot in store for Project Grandma this week. With the mini tubs all in, our fabricator Mike Ryan got ready to start on the Chassis Engineering roll cage. However, first we would need to build the frame rails to comply with the 25.5 spec that would make the car legal to 7.50 e.t.’s.
We get rolling on the roll cage for Grandma with a 10-point chromoly setup from Chassis Engineering for our Malibu.
Warp-Stopping Ahead! – Installing Aerospace Components’ Front Brakes
by Paul Huizenga
on March 12, 2010
Drag racing is all about going as fast as you can, but what some people seem to forget is that at the end of the track you need to be able to stop the car. With that in mind, we set out to put as much attention into Grandma’s “whoa” as we did in her “go.”
Mike Ryan uses some clever tricks to ensure complete and safe welds as we weld the roll cage tubing to the frame of the Project Grandma Malibu.
We last left off with Mike bending the necessary bars for the funny car cage portion of our build. Since then he has finished the funny car cage required for the 25.5 SFI spec, and has moved on to the door “X” bars.
In order to fit the new tubes and supports in place for welding in our new cross-member on Project Grandma, the drive train needed to be mocked up, and we’ve just been dying to get the Edelbrock/Musi big block crate motor into the engine bay along with the TCI Pro-X Glide. Plus, we figured we’d show off a little bit of our new Lemon’s race headers.
We’ve been hearing a lot of buzz on the forums about air suspension systems in recent months due in no small part to suspension pioneers like Air Ride. But like many people, we had always thought air suspension was for semi-trucks or super slammed low riders. After seeing several events where iconic muscle cars were equipped with Air Ride Technologies’ air suspension systems, our view has change dramatically. So we decided to install Air Ride’s Street Challenge Pack.
Last week, Mike Ryan added some support to the soft underbelly of our 1978 Chevy Malibu we love to call – GRANDMA – with our frame rails required for the 25.5 cage. It’s time to move on the roll cage structure, so we laid out our Chassis Engineering 10-point roll cage and started to get busy
With the mini tubs all in, our fabricator Mike Ryan got ready to start on the Chassis Engineering roll cage. However, first we would need to build the frame rails to comply with the 25.5 spec that would make the car legal to 7.50 e.t.’s.
Depending on who you speak to, we lose 10- to 20-percent of our torque due to friction losses in the drivetrain. Naturally, no one likes losing torque after spending so much money and working so hard to create this rotating force. This is, after all, the force we use to move the car and no matter which class you run, the name of the game is to move the car. So if we’re going to be good racers, one of the many questions we must ask is, “What can I do to reduce torque loss due to friction in the drivetrain? In this article we show you a few ways.
Everybody that has tried to stuff a good sized tire under a Fox-body Mustang with a stock suspension knows it will rub. Oh yea, it will hit everything, make white smoke on the top end, and possibly even cut the tire. With Project 666, our ’86 Fox Body, we wanted to stuff a 275/60/15 Drag Radial on a 15 x 10 wheel and not have it look like a inner-city low rider with the wheels hanging out the wells. So we clearanced the wheel wells and show you step by step how we did it.
Our Project 666 had recently undergone an upgrade to a Wilwood brake kit. The new brakes, rotors and calipers made a huge difference in stopping power but still lacked that little something for outrageously quick, stop-on-a-dime performance. Looking for that extra edge, we went to the Mustang specialists at Maximum Motorsports for help and updating our braking system to include a TCI Roll Stop at the same time would prove to be a time-saver. Check out our highlights.
Project All Air has been under the scalpel undergoing a series of internal organ transplants. It is well on its way to becoming a nine second wheels up drag car. To help harness that power, we are installing the latest Moser M9 package, complete with Moser’s F-Body Torque Arm – and are capping it off with ChassisWorks shocks. Check out the steps and photos to installing this package.
Our project car that we lovingly call “Grandma” had a suspension that walked like a duck, and made noises that sounded like a duck. Not wanting to be “fowl” on the strip, we gave Grandma some help with a performance racing suspension from TRZ Motorsports and kicked in a premium shock package from QA1. To cap off our upgrade, we treated Grandma to a new set of brakes from Aerospace Brakes that wouldn’t lead to a quack-up when we tried to stop. Now that we’ve started our project build with components worthy of a 1,050 hp nitrous-breathing beast, Grandma is certainly not a sitting duck, but read the story and let us know what you think.
Our Casper white 2000 F-Body Camaro, dubbed project All-Air, will be powered by a naturally aspirated World Products LS7 Warhawk motor and needs stopping power to accommodate it. Wilwood supplied a set of their new drag racing brake system for F-body Camaros. Also while we were at it, we installed a set of Varishocks to provide proper valving for our Camaro when it is time to launch it. Check out the full installation article.
Our All-Air Camaro project has already come a long way from the pitiful V6 stocker it left the factory with. But the hard work has only just begun, and with plans as ambitious as ours to turn this mild-mannered muscle car into a 9-second all-motor track monster, we needed some serious drag suspension. Keep reading to see what we installed on our All Air Camaro.
We were out at US 131 in Martin Michigan for the ADRL race, waiting for a small clean up on track from some fluids. Extreme 10.5 racer Spiro Pappas and tuning guru Don Bailey walked out on the track with some contraption in hand. Spiro plops a device on the surface and then jumps on it with his knees. Is this some new workout machine for racers? When they pulled it off the surface I saw the rubber-like pad on the bottom mixed with the torque wrench on the top, it clicked – someone made a device that measures traction… Away with shoe stomping and in with the Track-Meter.
Today marked the first day toward the chassis fabrication of Project Grandma. We all have been longing to see our old gal come together, but there were a few things holding us back. Now the stars have aligned granting us permission move forward. This will be the first of many Project Updates that we will be doing to bring all of you daily work as the build progresses. Now, before we dive right into the first day, a quick recap on where we are so far.
Holiday’s are over, and it is time to get back in the saddle. We left off last year with Grandma’s frame notching for tire clearance. As Maxwell Smart was prone to say: “Missed it by that much”.. and it was time to do it again. Here’s our second shot.
Every day Project Grandma gets a little closer. This week, we finished up 90% of the mini-tubs which were supplied by Chassis Engineering. In our ’78 Malibu, we’ve already done segments on the narrowing of the frame rails, cutting out the stock wheel tubs, and boxing the frame rails back in. Now it was time to make sure we can fit the tire and wheel combination with our mini-tubs.
Progress. Slow and steady progress has been the theme since our last update. Mike Ryan has been plugging away on our 1978 Malibu, Project Grandma, with the goal of getting the Chassis Engineering mini tubs built this week. First though, there were a few loose ends to tie up before we could put Grandma in the tub – errr, I mean the tubs in Grandma.
