After being prodded to do so in my other post - here is my latest build.
A 1973 AMX Javelin - was originally a 401 4spd car when it was born.
I bought it as a roller out of Quebec as a drag car.
Bought it sight unseen because it was so far away, and scarce to boot.
Got it home and just about everything needed to be redone in order to meet my OCD standards.
So - I stripped the old wanna be roll cage out of it, and the so so wiring harness, and the still present full interior for which I sold and made some good money on as it was Pierre Cardin and tik tok dash
Cleaning up the floor boards resulted in finding old patches for the toe boards and inner rockers - a weeks worth of panel fabrication and welding - looks fabulous now and rock solid.
Lots of steering issues - not the least of which was a broken idler arm mount - no idea why the previous owner isnt dead making 170 mph blasts with no real steering control - the slop in the steering was so bad.
Then a buddy of mine who is a very good tig welder, and I proceeded to build a 25.5 cert cage for it which entailed adding the funny car hoops as well so I can get down into the 7 second range if my wallet will stand it.
All new wiring is just about completed, and using the Holley Terminator X ecm and harness. 14 relays in total, and two fuse blocks - one constant live and one keyed.
The motor is a 6l LS van motor with all of the good internals like floating rods and pistons with factory valve reliefs.
Motor has a BTR Stage 4 cam in it now, melling high pressure high volume pump and a 7 qt pan that will be run 2 qts over so it doesnt empty the pan under a hard run.
Two billet mirror image turbos so as to have a really nice piping layout.
Dual pass LS rad, and a front mounted fuel cell.
Who knew that an 8 second car could be pulling almost 3 g's at launch, and you run out of fuel if the tank is rear mounted. This one has 3 x 525 lph pumps inside and 8an lines throughout.
At 25 lbs of boost the estimated hp is in the 1400 range.
Custom Coan TH400 trans with full reverse manual valve body, and soon to have custom Ultrabell added. 3200 stall and a new style dump valves that will allow for about 4k stall on the line.
Full aluminum 9" Ford with 3.89 gears , 35 spline axles and a scalloped spool.
Will be running on Race E85 fuel with full water meth injection on top
These three pics are as it looked when dragged home a year ago today.
Cut tranny for new Ultra bell - another cant get parts deal - the CSR Kevlar shield is on never never to be shipped, back order, at the moment, so had to go this route.
The main body shield - supposed to a bolt on and millions sold - had to have every bracket modified to fit, and new deeper wider lower bars made up and fitted.
Block stripped ready to go get hot tanked, decked and new cam bearings.
Firewall cleaned up, and painted - well not that it will ever be my kinda nice - but it is a race car after all
Parts parts everywhere parts - will i remember where they all fit
Working on a new dropped centre link bar out of 3/4" bar stock and 1" diameter bar - once tig welded together - will cut out the centre piece - the cobbled up mess that was on the car was dangerous - see second pic.
-- Edited by Seeker1056 on Tuesday 10th of January 2023 06:56:04 PM
-- Edited by Seeker1056 on Monday 16th of January 2023 10:45:00 PM
Wow, that's looking really good there Ken but I expect no less of you... The one thing I can say with confidence is the first paint job was way nicer than that yellow seaweed they sprayed everywhere, lol.. The body looks laser straight, its gonna be hella nice!
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Buying selling and trading garage toys and big kid stuff.
The body is nice, and straight enough, that next winter if I can afford it - it will get painted House of Color, Dark Candy Apple Green with real ghost flames, done old school - under the color, so sun light has to hit it, to see them - another bucket item
todays work - the 70mm full billet mirror image turbos got their custom made exhaust flanges with grade 8 hardware and extended oil drains needed to clear everything.
I understood so little of all the technical jargon but it all sure looks nice. The part about "next winter if I can afford it" was the only part of your build I could really relate to. I guess that aspect of this pastime is the same for everyone.
My neighbour two doors down has an old Javelin tucked away in his garage that he hopes to restore one day but I doubt it will be a nice as this.
Well - today was one of those three steps ahead and five back kinda deals - or as Homer would say - Doh!!!
I designed an in tank fuel pump mount for my fuel cell.
Cant take credit for the idea - they are out there - but like many parts today - unobtainium any time soon.
Looking at what they did, and why people keep complaining about running out of fuel - I figured out that the problem is that they combine 2 or 3 pumps into one outlet.
I don't care how much fuel a pump puts out - you neck it down into a combined fitting you only get the flow that one fitting can supply.
So - my design will allow for up to three pumps - I used two for now as it should be lots. These are the Hellcat 525lph pumps rated at 800hp each
My design has separate outlets for each pump - one to go to each fuel rail - no combination ****.
I also ordered the new custom stainless prefilters - with about 300 times the inlet flow over the cloth types - from Australia no less
Anyways - got it all together - walked into the other bay of my shop and there sits the slosh foam on the bench - now I have to take the tank all apart again - which is a pita at best - and install the foam blocks
Last pic is the blue DOH!!
Last but not least - a big shout out to my friend Tyler for bringing my drafted drawings to life - he is a very talented machinist.
-- Edited by Seeker1056 on Friday 27th of January 2023 04:29:40 PM
-- Edited by Seeker1056 on Friday 27th of January 2023 10:03:47 PM
-- Edited by Seeker1056 on Friday 27th of January 2023 10:04:49 PM
The old centre link was downright scary in its lack of strength at the joints - maybe an inch of but weld that had a small corner brace added to.
Tried to straighten a bend that was in it - and the shaft broke - turns out there was a weld about 75% of the way across the lower bar.
If you look closely you can see the break in the pic.
No fixing this disaster, or betting my life on it.
New one is solid 3/4 steel flat bar and 1" round bar and 1.5" corner braces
The factory piece is only 13/16" bar across the centre and now 1"
Hard to tell from the pics but the lower bar is notched along the ends for 2 3/4" for stability, plus the corner bracing. The cardboard template shows it better.
And the heavy parts were spray welded - a term I had never heard before.
Well - back again after going down the rabbit hole completely.
Tore the motor down to get the block honed, cleaned, and new cam bearings installed, and had an accident wherein one of the pistons and rods got damaged - I tripped over a cord, and knocked it off the bench.
So I take the block to my engine guy and he proceeds to tell me the error of my ways for the abuse I plan to put to said motor, and convinced me that I need good rods and pistons rather than just a replacement piston and rod.
So now - instead of wondering when the stock bottom end will fail - I now have a 1500 hp capable bottom end that affords me some insurance over my 1200 or so hp goals. Wiseco forged 9.75:1 Pistons and K1 rods and plus 1 thou King racing bearings.
custom 3" alternator pulley to slow things down at 8k rpm, my usual John Deere racing green paint job, custom made crank scraper, reverse mounted alternator because there was no where else to mount it that didn't hit something else that mattered
ARP studs everywhere, and roller rockers on tie bar stands for rigidity
Well - its been another month and a half of 3 steps forward and more than a few back
Had to revamp the down pipes to clear the new centre link for the steering, and redo the heat wrap.
Reworking of my previously made hoses to accomodate some additions to the mix.
Custom made air screens, for the intake piping that is fed from the air scoop on the hood instead of out front collecting bugs and debris , and the finshed dual throttle body linkages so I could rotate the throttle bodies 90 degrees for mechanical linkages, as drive by wire isnt allowed. Took three tries to get those arms shaped properly so that they moved in unison, and didnt over centre, or come up short or hit anything in the travel arc.
Not much wonder engineers get paid so much to make everything fit in its place and not interefere with other systems
Motor and trans are finally back in the car and ready to fire.
Just waiting on my new driveshaft, and to finish changing the gears from 4.56 to a more turbo friendly 3.89 set
I hope to be on the dyno and tuned by mid May in Sarnia, with Trevor Couture.
Race fuel - with the new carbon taxes - it is now $40 per gallon ($32 US)
This thing may be too expensive to run for very long
-- Edited by Seeker1056 on Saturday 22nd of April 2023 02:15:15 PM
-- Edited by Seeker1056 on Saturday 22nd of April 2023 02:15:48 PM
Well - its been a while - but I am finally as done with this project as its going to get for the time being.
Was out Saturday at Shannonville for some trial licencing runs and everything but the driver was in good to go condition lol
Lots to learn.
With lots of issues on my end I still managed a 7.4 second run which is way off the mark of whats possible in this car as we were not allowed to use the transbrake yet, and we limited the boost to 8# instead of the 20# it is tuned for.
