After speaking with Ken tonight I thought I would give a quick update. Tuesday ken is planning to pickup the 10 rods and pistons from Venolia:TU: .We will post a shot or two when we have them. Crower has the order and the weights can now be given to them for the piston and rods. I have one of the two induction systems here and the fuel system is ready to go. TA has our new custom solid heads and will be working on them soon:beer . I will be speaking with Peterson fluid systems in the next few days to set up the wet sump oiling system. Oil pan will be mocked up and sent out soon. The fuel and mag drive should be completed in the next week or so. We will post pictures of the parts and pieces as we have them. Remember that this project is to highlight the TA block and to get the attention going for new Buick parts so we can all go faster:beer . If you have a question just ask. We are hoping to achieve around 2000-2250 hp more would be nice, but we need to work with the heads we have for now. When better heads are available we will be ready for the upgrade.
If you know what cylinder head design you are looking for and have plans on them contact this guy and he can CNC a set out of billet aluminum to your spec's and have the valves and rocker arm geometry set as the old way, he works with T&D. Here is his name and number Tom Hempilly 1-724-639-9924, This guy works with Brodix and Profiler. Good Luck with your Project. Oh this guy can make Buick heads out of Hemi heads(Large ports):Brow::TU:. What I mean is, he can make the hemi heads have the same lay out as Buick but with Hemi Design on the inside.:TU:
Jesupercat, I was wondering what cam your going with?? no Buick has made this kind of power before how do you know what size to go with ? Trial and error ??
Maybe I can shed some light on this one. We all know that the sun doesn't rise or set on Buicks, but there will be a place in history for high performance Buicks! There are already cam cores available. We have one in the motor now. We will order 2 more tomorrow and probably have them ground in Calif. With head flow, valve size, bore, stroke, fuel type, RPM, Boost intake type, timing, etc. etc., all of which we know but cannot disclose for obvious reasons, the cam will be easy to pick out. The specs. are already known. Some things are going slower than what we expected, but that's racing. We are already developing the next two generation cylinder heads. One of which TA already has (oops, I hope that was OK) but have to be made solid for nitro-methane fuel. For all those skeptics who don't think 200MPH will be a piece of cake. Watch naturally aspirated pro stocks who carry 1000# more and you can hardly compare race fuel with nitro-methane, add the blower and "presto" 200MPH on your warm up passes. I know I made it sound easy, it's not, but very doable. Time will tell, reality doesn't lie. There are some of us who think the sun will set on this one! kenny betts:bglasses:
Hey Ken, woundnt it be a kick in the pants if you got the car beating the competition and the car gets outlawed..... LOL I think of the most Dumbest things...
Don't laugh, ask motorman how many times his Buick got bumped to the next highest class because he beat the pants off the competition!
Eric that is not a "dumb" thought it is a very serious issue. We have been in touch with the "Powers That Be" at NHRA. We are on track and as they say good to go:TU: . Everything that is being done is being checked against the rule book. We are trying to not even get into the grey areas:laugh: . We will be at several events long before we try to max out the combos. Through testing we will know what the car and I are capable of and will work in safe mode to have some fun. As for the cam set-up.... Once we have all the numbers of all the different components, we will give that to the cam grinder, who has been doing fuel cams since the early 60's. The cam is based on the numbers not the engine brand.Thankfully.......
I was actually told to not run the car at its capacity for the first few events so it would not start any issues. This was repeated by a few of the folks at Events, NHRA and a few tracks that I frequent:Brow: . When getting people to warm up to new ideas it is better to be diplomatic. We will be the only Buick running at this level as of now, so we get more laughs than issues. Once the events start to go by we will turn it up a bit gradually and watch the complaints come in. By that time we would have passed tech several times, and competed in several events, which will make it a difficult fight for anyone who complains:bla: . Hoping to post some more pictures later today of some new parts.
I would think that in that class that they only run Hemi's its kinda like hemi vs stage 1 feud all over again but on on a different level.Question are you guys running Dual magneto's ?
JESUPERCAT, You said the short block you are running now is for your twin turbo car rto No:? Are you going to make 2000+hp on that engine tooray:? I know you know pressuring a engine is the way to go today. I would figure you could hit that magical number using methanol like some of the fastest Turbo guy's out there:eek2:. I have know doubt The Tomahawk Block can handle that power, it's the Cylinder heads that Darin Morgan, Jon Kaase, and I have talked about. I can't wait untill I see this new heads T/A has. I hope you reach your goalray: and make a statement with the Buick engine......:eek2: Nitromethane is fun to play with if you are good at...:TU: Good Luck Gary McGruther
Ken was busy running after parts today. Here are some pictures that were taken today. More aluminum for the cause:TU: . 10 Pistons, Pins,and Ring sets 10 Rods I bet most of you thought we were building a V8:laugh: Yes we have some spare parts. If you have them maybe you won't need them o No: .
JESUPERCAT, I noticed no valve relieves in the pistons, Are this pistons being modified by youo No:? Those rods are for some serious business..
Royden neither can we. Many people put a lot of thought into the heads. This will be evident when they are done. As with the Tomahawk block a lot of thought was done in advance of even beginning the project. Anyone who has seen one of these blocks in person can see just a part of the potential it holds. The heads we are working on will be an intermediate head in the full scope of this project. If all goes well, we will go to the next step, using what we learn from these heads. Eric we are using a large single Mag. The fuel pump is capable of pushing about 18 gallons of fuel per minute:Brow:. As for Hemi -vs- Buick we were told it will never happen as the Buick is not capable of the power needed......This was said by a few people that have since seen what we are up to first hand. Lets just say they are looking forward to its first competition outing :laugh:
JESUPERCAT, Anything is possible in today's day in age. Mike Moran Has proven that, well over 2000 pony's on a BBC with twin turbos, If he would add Nitromethane to the mix it would be playing in the same ball park as any KB engine. He is now building a Mutte engine it has alittle of every engine in it and it's only 550 cubic inch, he is planning on having 3000 on methanol assisted. I know the tomahawk engine can and will compete with the hemi its lot to do with the cylinder head design, I wish any and all who is on this project the best of luck. Gary McGruther
The solid heads are almost done. We are waiting for the final machining and assembly. Valve sizes, springs, rockers, and spark plug hole placement have all been determined. Now just waiting our turn on the job roster:beer . We are planning to post updates as soon as we have info and more pictures. We are hoping that what we do has a positive effect on the R/D side of the Tomahawk parts. Off to have the new front tires mounted and balanced for the dragster. Mike if you are up towards Flagstaff give me a call.
