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Nitro Nostalgia

40K views 180 replies 32 participants last post by  frank spittle 
#1 ·
Right side of engine pod - built by Precision Metal Fab Racing (PMFR) - John Trutnau
 

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#163 ·
Donson, thanks for the "new" Ed Mabry 601 pictures. I had never seen the left side of the bike. Very interesting. You can definitely see the effects of salt on the ferrous parts.

I'm planning on taking my double dragbike (Six Pack) to the Mancup World Finals at Valdosta. Display only, I'm not ready for a full power run yet. I'll post more latter.

Thanks again.
 
#164 ·
Donson, thanks for the "new" Ed Mabry 601 pictures. I had never seen the left side of the bike. Very interesting. You can definitely see the effects of salt on the ferrous parts.

I'm planning on taking my double dragbike (Six Pack) to the Mancup World Finals at Valdosta. Display only, I'm not ready for a full power run yet. I'll post more latter.

Thanks again.
Glad I found them, so I could post.
That bike was built with Ed's Mantra, TLAR-That looks about right.
 
#168 ·
Here are some pictures of the Triumph double at the Mancup World finals at Valdosta, GA. MTC Engineering provided the display spot on the race midway. The picture of the extra engine on the table is the engine that exploded summer 2017. The dark areas seen on the engine are parts of missing case and cylinders. I answered a lot of questions and got some good advice to follow up on. Thanks for stopping by Frank Spittle.
 

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#171 ·
Calkins - The bike was just on display at the MTC Engineering booth at the Valdosta race. I'm not sure what 2019 holds for the double. I need to figure out safe fuel settings and make sure the bike is "ready" for launch. A lot of moving parts to possibly break. Ed
 
#173 ·
Hi Frank,
The double is sitting in the garage on the stand. I'm at a crossroads as to what to do with it. As time marches on I'm confronted with the reality that I may not be able to achieve my goal of being the "quickest and fastest double engine brit bike." I spoke with John Gregory at the Mancup World Finals last November and asked him what his quickest time was for the hogslayer bike (7.91 sec). He also said that the bike weighs 460 lbs, about half of what the Triumph double weighs.

In the mean time I've been "helping" Sam Wills and he has been gracious enough to allow me to participate in between rounds maintenance activities on his bike! I can't tell you how much I've learned about maintaining a current top fuel bike. The effort and costs are a real obstacle for anyone attempting TF racing. Sam has a talented and dedicated team and hopefully 2020 will be a good year to advance his limited race program.

Thanks for asking. Ed
 
#174 ·
Sam has been a friend a very long time and one of the nicest and smartest T/F racers the sport has had . He's been at it forever and helped many. The last time I spoke with him was the Mancup Finals 2018. He had lost in second round but had a smile on his face as I ran into him on his way over to Mitch Brown's pits. "I'm done but hope I can help Mitch". He WON! Mitch's first win in Top Fuel. Just another Sam Wills story. You have a very good OJT professor giving you instructions.


John Gregory is another brilliant nitro wizard. The proof is he and T.C. running the first 7 and I believe the only 7 on a British bike. It's true your bike weighs almost twice as much as "Hogslayer". But Larry's shop built 5 second bike weighs twice as much as the Danny Johnson built bike he ran in the low 7s with 35 years ago. Think about the technology developed since then to make it possible. It's very doable in my opinion but as you know nitro eats parts and wallets. I know you don't want to see your passion come to fruition and be on display in a museum remembered as the most powerful, state-of-art British bike ever built with spectators looking admirably and thinking "Can you imagine the times it could have turned".
 
#175 ·
Sad news to report, Bill Whisenant passed away yesterday after a long battle with cancer. Bill was an excellent fabricator and bike builder. He had many, many records (land speed and drag racing) from his modest shop. Bill was the owner of Motorcycle Performance in Madison, WI. Bill was not only instrumental in getting my bike built and running, but he eventually became my friend and close personal advisor on all things mechanical. Bill also helped crew and was a good friend to Sam Wills. He will be truly missed.

Bill is the person in the pictures with the white hair and beard. The other two gents are long time employees Fred Weege and Nick Moore. RIP Bill.
 

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#178 ·
I have a couple of nitro experts checking out my fuel system to see if it will flow what I need. Phil Baimbridge (UK billet triple) suggests that it is too lean to do what I want. I'm also checking will Spud Miller (Fuel Injection Ent., OR) and he is running my fuel numbers through his program. Phil thinks I'm running too much fuel into the blower where there is less control as to which cylinders get it and may have contributed to a hydraulic lock and engine explosion. We'll see what Spud has to report.

Sam Wills intents to race the Mancup Dragway 42 and Valdosta World Finals. He has also been invited to the Night of Fire at Norwalk Dragway on Aug 8. Sam is making some major changes to his fuel bike heads; high Inconel exhaust valves, hammered copper valve guides and seats. Mitch Brown ran that combination at Tulsa this month with great results. Only 4% leak-down after multiple 1000' test runs!
 
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