Ok, I am planning to attend the Mopars @ The Strip drag races in Las Vegas in March. I've never drag raced before, so I'm looking for tips from the experts on car prep and driver prep

My car is a 1974 Duster, bone stock except for a Super Six setup that is running very sweetly. The engine is 50,000 into a rebuld, and runs very well. I have recently adjusted the valves and changed the timing chain. Other than that (oh yeah, electric fan installed) it's stock. 904 auto.

I'm currently in the process (as of today) of swapping the 7 1/4 rear end out because it is wasted. I want to put an 8 1/4 in, but I don't seem to have a narrow enough unit. I have 3 truck 8 1/4s, but they are about 8 inches too wide.

I am also installing some new SS rear srings, along with a new rear sway bar. The rear air shocks are new, along with the front shocks.

So, my questions are:

What's a good donor for an 8 1/4 for this?
What other setups do I need to think about for drag racing? (engine, trans, suspension)
And what tips do you have for me as a driver?

I do also have an 8 3/4 (3.21 open) under a 73 Challenger as well. Should I go that route instead?

I have raced circle track quite a bit. Just never gone that far in a straight line.

Thanks in advance for any insight anyone may have.


PS. I have read the racing tips page on this site.

EDIT: Here's the current work in progress pic as of an hour ago:

<img src="http://www.autoinsanity.com/Duster/duster.jpg"width=400>

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It's a Slant thing. Even I don't understand.

1974 Duster, EFI /6 soon to be turbo...

Get that Monkay! Get that nasty thing!!

Well, the 8.75 under the Challanger is a much stronger rear, and it's something like 3" wider than an A-body, (1.5" per side). I think that also applies to the spring mount, too. The 3.21 gear ratio would be quite nice for racing, though. You would have to have the drive shaft shortened for the swap, too. As for a direct bolt-in swap, you'll have to find one in another A-body, probably one that has/had a V-8, originally. Try to find one with a gear ratio in the mid-to-hi 3's.

What do you have available for rear tires? I might suggest you line up a set of narrow tires and rims for the front, too. At the track, raise the air pressure of the fronts to about 40psi, and drop the rears to about 20. That will get you less rolling resistance in front, and a bit more contact patch at the rear. Remove all unnecessary equipment from the trunk. (If you have another car that can go with you, use it's trunk to secure tools, spare, jack, etc).

Is your car a manual or auto trans? Your launch techniques will vary depending on what trans you have. If it's a manul trans, do you have a tach mounted in the car?

One of the best things you can do is to go to the track and watch (the first time) from the start line, the other racers and what they do for pre-stage and stage prep. A lot of the smart stock drivers won't warm up the tires, and will drive around the water box, but they know thier cars, too.

Remember this.....you DO NOT have to have a fast car. You do, (if you want to win), need a consistent car. One that will cover that 1,320 feet in the same elapsed time, every pass. Most cars will slow down or speed up as the day gets warmer. You might want to keep some kind of journal as to weather conditions, temp, ET, etc. This would give you a referance to look at in subsequent races so that you can change your dial-in time to match conditions.

Many moons ago, (before I got married), I raced a 19-second slant car, and made it to the semi-finals quite a bit, from the other driver's mistakes. There's many psychological and physical advantages to running a slow car. (As this string continues, those will probably get talked about).

Oh....when you go to the track, check with the officials to see what kind of mandatory gear is needed for the driver. Some tracks are requiring a helmet, no matter how fast your car is. You'll also have to have a working coolant overflow system.

Cheeze, I can ramble!

Roger

Thanks for rambling! The car does have a 904 in it, and no tach.

For tires in the rear, I have a set of 235/60 R15 ss20 Firehawks, or 255 SS20's.

For the front...those are some 205/60 R14s. I guess I could find some narrower ones.

I'll probably use the 8 3/4. I can relocate the sping perches and whatever else I need to do to get it in there. I'll get a shop to shorten the driveshaft for me.

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It's a Slant thing. Even I don't understand.

1974 Duster, EFI /6 soon to be turbo...

Get that Monkay! Get that nasty thing!!

Good post Gunpilot, looks like you are well underway with a rearend swap.
If you get an 8 3/4 under the car, gear swaps will be easy so see if you can find an extra "pumpkin" (center section) 3.91 or 4.30 would be nice for the drag strip.

Hopefully others can "chime-in" with car set-up and other first time racer tips.
I need to run but will post more later.
So far I have talked with 6 SL6 people planning to be at the Las Vages race so we got ourselfs a group building. I'm working to get some pit parking reserved so we can all park together, that will make it easy to take stuff out of the car and not worry about it.
Getting weight out of the car is an important thing to think about and do.
DD

I'm really looking forward to it, as is the spouse. Gaggling up as a group will be fun. I was looking at the event website - ouch! Little pricy for the event. Is there going to be anything worked out for parking haulers?

I'm getting set to pull the rear out of the Chally (Don't fret, it's a parts car for my '72 ) There's a few 8.75 around here in JYs under trucks. Might investigate that for 3rd members.

Lighten the car....hmm...maybe I could dump out all the 8-track tapes the previous owner gave me with it. (Anybody need Iron Butterfly on 8-track?) LOL

Anyway, thanks for the encouragement and I'll be wrenching away the next couple days on it. I'll update the pic above as work progresses (as if anybody cares )

-GH

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It's a Slant thing. Even I don't understand.

1974 Duster, EFI /6 soon to be turbo...

Get that Monkay! Get that nasty thing!!

A 904........that's ok. I would suggest you let the trans do the shifting during each pass. At some later date, when you're relaxed and comfortable with racing, you can experiment with manual shifts, but you'd be well advised to get a tach so you'll have referance points to go by.

Doug's words about getting another "third member" for the 8.75 are right on. You could conceivably build it with a spool in it, set up for drags only. (In case you don't know what a spool is, it basically a solid chunk of steel or aluminum, locking both rear axles together, with the ring gear bolted to it. This gives you a hard-core posi, not a "limited slip" rear). BOTH rear tires diggin'....not just one.

A little something I neglected to mention in my first response. When you go to the track, either watching or driving, pay attention to the tree, particularly the timing between lights. With enough practice, you'll learn that you can leave at just about the time the last yellow goes off, but before the green actually lights up, (maybe even before). It's all dependant on your reactions, and how long the car actually takes to starts moving after you stomp the go pedal.

Roger

Well, I got the axle out of the Challenger. I'm kinda disappointed, because my 3.23 gear turned out to be a 2.76 gear. Sadness. At least the case is a 489.

So I'm on the hunt for a raceable gear.

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It's a Slant thing. Even I don't understand.

1974 Duster, EFI /6 soon to be turbo...

Get that Monkay! Get that nasty thing!!

I'm happy again. I got a 3.55 out of a 4x4 in a local used parts emporium, 489 case again. It's open, but for $40 I'm not complaining.

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It's a Slant thing. Even I don't understand.

1974 Duster, EFI /6 soon to be turbo...

Get that Monkay! Get that nasty thing!!

Good score. You won't need a SG diff right away, at least not until you've modified the motor quite a bit.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

<img src="http://www.autoinsanity.com/Duster/8-34.jpg"width=400>

Made quite a bit of progress today. Welded the spring perches back on, and cleaned and painted everything. All the bearings seem good in the axle and gear, so I'm leaving them alone. All I have to do is redo the brakes, then put it all back together, and get the driveline shortened.

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It's a Slant thing. Even I don't understand.

1974 Duster, EFI /6 soon to be turbo...

Get that Monkay! Get that nasty thing!!

Oooohhhh.......That's purty. Is that regular paint, or did you use, (maybe), POR-15? When you're done with yours, come on over to Iowa. I've got a '68 Dart that could use the same treatment.

BTW.......very good score on the 8.75/3.55 gears. Heck of a good price.....I wouldn't be able to get that kind of pricing around here.

Roger

Another first timer thinking about Las Vegas and I don't mind anyone rambleing on. What about tires for the rear again? I think what I have are too wide 295 /50s but I do have a couple of 235/70 snow tires on rims I could probably smooth out in time Iv'e got a wide ratio 4speed and a 3.50 posi rear end and I dont want to look silly but would settle for slighty ridiculus. I like the idea about the pit area I guess I could trust you guys with a set of tires/rims, my tool box, tail gate, front bumper, ect , It sure could fillup a motel room. really, I just want to run down the track and see what its like and drive back in one piece Bruce Johnson

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78b4ramSnortbed/6

You wouldn't be able to get that kind of pricing around here, either. It helps to know where the non-Mopar yards are...

I didn't know POR-15 came in colors... No, that's just some good old alkyd enamel paint. In my favorite shade of undercarriage brown.

I won't be able to work on it the rest of this week, but should be able to get it all back together this weekend. Does anybody know a reasonable way to repack those bearings without pressing them off the shafts?

After that, I'll start visializing my launch techniques For some reason I'm always in the right lane.

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It's a Slant thing. Even I don't understand.

1974 Duster, EFI /6 soon to be turbo...

Get that Monkay! Get that nasty thing!!

Yeah....last I knew, POR-15 was offered in clear, black, and silver. Could be that silver's been phased out since then, though.

Heck with all that rearend stuff. How much do you want for that 8 track tape. Iron Butterfly rules! HaHa