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Tuesday, September 22, 2009
THE GREAT DEBATE!There are many "debates" when it comes to
the wonderful world of "hotrodding". One of my favorite quotes is: "there is NO REPLACEMENT
for DISPLACEMENT".
On Monday 09-21-09 I was asked, by a friend, if I really believed that
quote. My response, "well hell yeah!". I was then told by my friend that he had seen many
a small block cars tear up big blocks. "This is very true", I replied.
Here is my understanding,
and feel free to comment on this blog to give me your feedback about my knowledge or lack of, in regards to displacement.
Cubic Inch is the main factor in "displacement" here! An example would be: fill two buckets
with water. In bucket number one, drop a 5 lb brick. In bucket number two, drop a 10 lb brick. Which brick
moved the greatest amount of water? Wow! My mind went back to the 'Wizard of Oz', "...if I only had
a brain...". The 10 lb brick wins every time!
Yes, it is true that many small block cars can
"smoke" big block cars! But I have yet to see a small block line up against someone like, oh... let's say...
John Force! Of course not!
Now, displacement is not the only issue here. Of course on a engine
dyno, the big block will produce the most horsepower. So that covers our first quote. The second quote is one
of my own. "If you can't put the power to the pavement, your ET will suck!"
I'm sure I could take
the 522 ci Reher Morrison big block out of our '69 Drag Camaro and somehow "jam" it into my poor little Mustang!
And here we go. I'm a "trailer racer". I have a 900 hp motor in a car that's gonna do "absolutely
nothing" at the track. I could guarantee that with no other suspension / traction work, a stock small block
would smoke my ass!
So, what have we learned? There is "no replacement for displacement",
is exactly right. But if I can't put the power to the pavement, I'm another one of the guys that has spent the proverbial
$90,000.00 on my 1000 hp engine and can't seem to get a better ET than the small block car that cost a grand total
of $25,000.00
"So, what we've got here...is a failure to communicate".
You must
have the whole car set up to handle whatever HP you have. Displacement (HP) alone will not give you the best ET!
This is why a lot of "street racers" want a "rolling start" when racing! They don't have
the car set up to correctly handle the HP from a "dead stop"!
And just for the record! I'm
a small block fan! Nothing like trying to run 'em down in the quarter! Take care, and thanks for visiting the
site!
Klein Sr.
2:32 pm cdt
Sunday, August 30, 2009
STREET LEGAL???STREET LEGAL???
The topic of conversation
we have with a lot of our fellow racing enthusiast is about "street legal" cars running unbelievable ET's.
There's always somebody in the conversation that claims "someone" drove a "street legal" car to the
track, and ran a 8 or 9 second ET. WOW! That's what we said! I also tend to ask the questions: where
can I buy one?, and how much does it cost?
Let's just get straight to the point. We have said it before
and we will say it again..."Street cars do not run 6 second quarter miles times or turn 11,000 RPM.
While
there are a lot of "bad ass" "streetable" cars that can be driven to the track and run really great ET's,
I would be willing to bet a large sum of money (that I don't have), that it's not "street legal"!
Here
in the Great State of Louisiana, we have something known as Louisiana Revised Statute "TITLE 32". I think
with very little reading, you would find that these cars ARE NOT street legal.
"But Klein, I have working
lights, wipers, insurance, and registration on my car", you reply. Great! But let's be real, some of the
best ET's on "street legal" cars right now are somewhere between 12.5 and 13.5 seconds.
The "moral
of the story" here is: If you buy it "as is" from the dealer, and make no changes, it is "street
legal". Once you change the gear ratio, add a supercharger, NOS, drag slicks, exhaust changes, and any other performance
enhancing "add on"... "IT'S NOT STREET LEGAL!"
Klein Sr.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
STATE CAPITAL RACEWAY 05-15-09On 05-15-09 Kendall and Kederick took the '65 Comet to State
Capital Raceway and put on a pretty good showing. Kederick ran the car through the traps at 10.945. Kederick also
received a runnerup award in the bracket race event that night. This was the first competition that this car has been
entered in. We still have a little bit of "tweeking" to do on suspension and other minor areas, but a few
more test and tunes and we should be able to get this car dialed in where we want it. Keep checking out the site to
see what's going on in the world of KJ Brothers Racing.
On 05-16-09 Kendall and Rodney took the Comet to
Evadale Raceway where the Comet was the most popular car at the track. Many people remembered the car, prior to it being
purchased by Kendall. It seems that the nostalgia was not forgotten. Kendall also ran the car consistantly in
the 10.80's. It's gettin' there, just gotta keep moving forward.
Monday, February 2, 2009
BODY WORKBody work can be a very tedious task. You must
be patient to acheive that "slick as glass" finish. Our combined years of experience in body work, here at
KJ BROTHERS RACING, would probably scare the living daylights out of you. I would guestimate that it's somewhere
around 80 years of combined experience. Thats all three of us brothers. Now, that means we are old or we mutiplied
our figures by two. I would probably say were getting "experienced". That's a nice way of saying
old. But the key to making a "resto" job look good is "blocking". You can get the most "high
dollar" paint and clear in the world, but if your body work has 80 grit scratches in it... It's still gonna
look like crap. If you are using a 6 inch block on a four foot panel, you better expect that "ripple effect".
That's right, it's gonna look like the Atlantic Ocean in a Category 5 Hurricane. Use good, "blockable"
primers and the proper length sanding blocks and you should be able to avoid most of these problems. It may take lots
of time (i.e. the '67 Drag Camaro), but you'll be happier with the end result. So take your time and ask questions.
If we don't know the answers, we will do our best to get them for you. Not only to we have "decades and decades
and decades... of experience". We also have connections with ppl who can assist us with giving you the latest in
paint and body information. I still think "trial and error" are the best teachers. Just ask, I
have made a lot of errors in many, many tries.
Klein
Thursday, November 13, 2008
The Weakest LinkRacing can sometimes be a very expensive hobby! O.K., it's always expensive! You spend
your hard earned dollars to build a race car and you think that you have everything the way you want it. So, you take
it to the track. You make one pass, two passess or even race all day. However, somewhere in your "bullet
proof" drive train, something is wearing out and possible about to break. Yes, we have mentioned it on the News
and Views Page, but we broke an axle on the '65 Comet. We could blame it on Kederick, since he was driving! But
the truth is that the axle was the weakest link at that particular point. When you start cranking out over 500lb-ft
of torque, something has got to give at some point. If it doesn't give, you can bet your hard earned cash that it's wearing
on something. I guess the whole point of this blog post is to say that if you hotrod, you're gonna break it.
Somewhere, somehow, it's gonna break. So you suck it up, buy some "more better" and expensive parts, (Gotta
love the English!), fix the damn thing and work on breaking something else. Or you can blame it on the driver and say
that he excessively used the line-lock trying to heat already hot tires on dry concrete, causing undue stress on the
axles, that otherwise would not have been caused by a professional driver! And then you fire him! Unless
he's your brother, then you just cuss him because you drove all the way to Baton Rouge to make only three
passes.
Klein
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
"Screw Your Tires"Easy now, I wasn't being nasty! So
don't report me for tire abuse.
I learned a valuble lesson at Twin City Dragway in Monroe, La. If you
have M/T drag slicks, you need to screw the tire to the rim. I made one pass and did ok, running a 12.25 ET in the 2005
Mustang GT with about 10psi in each tire. I made a few more passes and the time continued to fall off. I was "PISSED"
to say the least, and had no idea what was happening.
While looking at still shot photo's the next day,
Kederick pointed out exactly what had happed. The rim was spinning inside of the tire. Thanks to the white letters
on the "M/T", and the 5 spoke design of the rims, we were able to see that the rim was clearly spinning inside the
tire. We believe that with each pass I made, the rubber continued to "glaze" the rim, causing the problem
to get worse.
So remember that good still shot photography and video at the races can be a big help in figuring
out what may be a "simple problem", that can't be solved on race day. However, if you take this out of
context and take pictures and video of you "screwing your tires", you might land in "JAIL!". LOL
Klein
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