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Stood it on the rear bumper!

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Ron454

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hey gang,

Never thought this would be possible for my street driven car on 9" slicks.
But it happened. Harold Sutton warned me.
Went out for our first decent weather heads up race.
It was cold.....maybe 65 degrees.
Ran the first time trial rolling into it.......I'm still new at this nitrous deal. 9.49 @ 143 with a weenie 1.46 60ft.
Well, that got me # 2 qualifier.
2nd and last qualifying pass, better go for it, 9.19 was low qualifier....I won't get there, but what the heck. Track looked a bit slick, so I lined up a bit left of the groove.
Nail it off the line, the nitrous is set up on a full throttle switch, 150 shot.
Holy sheet! Car dead hooks, goes up, and just keeps going up! And up, and up......well I did the no no and lifted because it felt like it was going to go over backwards. Wham it comes down....crushed the headers, tweaked the pan a bit, haven't checked for more damage yet.
Saw the video......I drug the rear bumper.......bent my license plate, hit the fuel cell outlet. It damn near went over....even though it wouldn't have.

I'll post the video in a day or so. Still shaking, and I guarantee you will be impressed. Not bragging here, I'm freaking impressed! Sad thing is, that ended my night....I really wanted to race. When I post this, watch for "The Wheelie"

Ron
 
#3 ·
:(

You know, my suspension needs some help, maybe you can give me some of your dead hook and we can offset the difference.

Sucks that it hit the headers and from what I saw of the pan, I think it's not that bad. Even though the end result really sucks, man you have to be proud to do that on a 9" tire. Time for that progressive controller so we can keep you in the game :yes:
 
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#5 ·
I was glad to see a picture of mine hanging the hoops a few inches last week.

Think I'll be happy it was only a few inches...

I can't say that if I ever put in on the bumper the first time I wouldn't let off too even though you know you shouldn't.
 
#6 ·
Sorry to hear about the damage Ron. It's definately an odd feeling when the front end comes up real high, higher than you ever have before. You also don't have much time to decide to ride it out or not. I try to look out the windows to see if I'm going straight or not. Pulling to one side or the other is the worst as you simply don't have any choice but to bring it down and usually it's a real hard hit.

Hope your able to fix the Nova up easily with minimal expense.
 
#7 ·
yanniz said:
why aren't you running any bars?
Click to expand...
Cuz it's a street car. :yes:

--------------------------------------

Awesome Ron!!

I don't know to say congrats or sorry for the loss, LOL.
I do want to see the video though :yes:

So an extra 150 off the line goes from a consistant runner to a wheelstander :eek:
 
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Discussion starter · #10 ·
Corey, heard you got loose in the final and Doug got the win. Bummer, but you got a plate just the same! Doug is a nice guy, and for the rest of you here, Doug drives a mid 90's Mustang, drives it in, and ran his first 9, a 9.90 I beleive, so I bet he was thrilled! 408 with AFR heads, NA. It's a cool car.

About my deal, the car wheelied pretty good a few weeks ago. But nothing like this. It all happens in 1.5 seconds or less, so when it's the first time, no time for the brain to do the right thing. I really should have pedaled the thing, but I was waiting for it to settle and it just kept going up. Never been there before. Wait for the video.

I don't have bars on the car because it has never done this before, and I'd never have guessed that it would. I suppose I could add some, but then it wouldn't fit in my garage! Corey knows.....we both have micro 1 car garages! Besides, it is a street car, and wheelie bars would look silly.

Time for the progressive controller.

Ron
 
#11 · (Edited)
Ron454 said:
Hey gang,

Never thought this would be possible for my street driven car on 9" slicks.
But it happened. Harold Sutton warned me.
Went out for our first decent weather heads up race.
It was cold.....maybe 65 degrees.
Ran the first time trial rolling into it.......I'm still new at this nitrous deal. 9.49 @ 143 with a weenie 1.46 60ft.
Well, that got me # 2 qualifier.
2nd and last qualifying pass, better go for it, 9.19 was low qualifier....I won't get there, but what the heck. Track looked a bit slick, so I lined up a bit left of the groove.
Nail it off the line, the nitrous is set up on a full throttle switch, 150 shot.
Holy sheet! Car dead hooks, goes up, and just keeps going up! And up, and up......well I did the no no and lifted because it felt like it was going to go over backwards. Wham it comes down....crushed the headers, tweaked the pan a bit, haven't checked for more damage yet.
Saw the video......I drug the rear bumper.......bent my license plate, hit the fuel cell outlet. It damn near went over....even though it wouldn't have.

I'll post the video in a day or so. Still shaking, and I guarantee you will be impressed. Not bragging here, I'm freaking impressed! Sad thing is, that ended my night....I really wanted to race. When I post this, watch for "The Wheelie"

Ron
Click to expand...
What rpm did it engage at? My son's get out of hand with more than about 1/2 of 225 H.P. Your Nova is going to be more prone to standing up than the larger Chevelle, which has more weight on the nose too. That 150 shot probably increases the torque by about 300 ft. lbs. so if your hooked up good when it hits, up you go. The best cure is an Edelbrock progressive controller which can bring the juice in much softer. If you lift immediately as it starts to rise sometimes you can hang the wheels for about 100' at about 5" of the ground but it really takes a special touch to not go on up. Sure happens in a hurry doesn't it? I'm very sorry for your damage, that is part of the painful side of nitrous. Gets real expensive, real quick. Lemons headers tuck up under the frame real nice on the driver side of my son's car and one real bad, but not quite a bumper dragging wheelie, even dinged those, it also bent the oil pan and knocked the radiator support brace loose. People in the stands think it's cool when it wheelies big, mostly what i see is the couple thousand dollars damage that was just done. It also hurts the driver's back, a lot. P.S...... I guess now we can call you "cleared for takeoff Ron". P.S. 2....... I saw one late model Firebird fold a license plate over at Mo-Kan a couple years ago on Drag Radials. Those cars have a real short rear deck too. It was at least 8' in the air and on the rear bumper and he finished the race. His saving the car was the best example of not crashing i've ever seen. He did a complete 360 degree slide at about the 330' mark and didn't hit anything.
 
#12 ·
Man, that is pretty cool !!! I think it would just about be worth ruining a set of headers to be able to say " This thing will stand on the bumper!" :beers: Can't wait to see the video. Hope someone got some still shots of it too!
 
#15 ·
winmon said:
Man, that is pretty cool !!! I think it would just about be worth ruining a set of headers to be able to say " This thing will stand on the bumper!" :beers: Can't wait to see the video. Hope someone got some still shots of it too!
Click to expand...
Those Lemons cost 1100 + 300 for coating, so no it's not worth it. I really like the carry the wheels about 4-5 inches off the ground for a couple hundred feet though. One race my son's did that twice in a row. Didn't chop the throttle quick enough on the third run when the track got a little stickier, got a four foot header tweeker on that run.
 
Discussion starter · #16 ·
Harold Sutton said:
What rpm did it engage at? My son's get out of hand with more than about 1/2 of 225 H.P. Your Nova is going to be more prone to standing up than the larger Chevelle, which has more weight on the nose too. That 150 shot probably increases the torque by about 300 ft. lbs. so if your hooked up good when it hits, up you go. The best cure is an Edelbrock progressive controller which can bring the juice in much softer. If you lift immediately as it starts to rise sometimes you can hang the wheels for about 100' at about 5" of the ground but it really takes a special touch to not go on up. Sure happens in a hurry doesn't it? I'm very sorry for your damage, that is part of the painful side of nitrous. Gets real expensive, real quick. Lemons headers tuck up under the frame real nice on the driver side of my son's car and one real bad, but not quite a bumper dragging wheelie, even dinged those, it also bent the oil pan and knocked the radiator support brace loose. People in the stands think it's cool when it wheelies big, mostly what i see is the couple thousand dollars damage that was just done. It also hurts the driver's back, a lot. P.S...... I guess now we can call you "cleared for takeoff Ron". P.S. 2....... I saw one late model Firebird fold a license plate over at Mo-Kan a couple years ago on Drag Radials. Those cars have a real short rear deck too. It was at least 8' in the air and on the rear bumper and he finished the race. His saving the car was the best example of not crashing i've ever seen. He did a complete 360 degree slide at about the 330' mark and didn't hit anything.
Click to expand...

Harold, I'm on a throttle switch, foot braking the car. I just barely purged it so it wouldn't hit too hard. Bottle was only at 850psi but was full. There was a slight delay in the hit, but my car works really well and when the nitrous came on the car just kept going up. In hind sight I bet shifting it would have been the right choice. But as you know, it all happens real fast.

I looked more closely at the headers, and they really aren't that bad. I can fix them with a torch and a mandrel. Just need to take them off, which is easy on this car, they fall onto the ground when you unbolt them. The pan is fine.
I need to take the front wheels off and inspect the spindles and all that. Seems like I have a bit more camber in the right front. But it drove home fine.

I actually got it up high enough that it just touched the lines coming out of the fuel cell. And they are now dripping just a bit. If I would have stayed in it, I would have torn those off, and might have had a fire. And I wouldn't have been driving it home eh?

I have a Cometics progressive controller. Does what the Edelbrock does plus more. And yes, Cometics makes head gaskets. I haven't installed it because of my tiny garage. And it's been raining here in the great wet Northwest, so I haven't been able to pull the car out in the driveway. Besides, at 53, I HATE lying upside down under the dash doing wiring!

I must have landed it reasonably well. No back pain.....and I've already had back surgery! Sure seemed hard though.

Fun stuff! I guess I'm just amazed at what the CalTracs and 9" Hoosier Radials will do....

One other thing that got damaged? The headlight buckets! Knocked the adjusters off, and the headlights are pointing at the ground!

Ron
 
#18 ·
Ron454 said:
Harold, I'm on a throttle switch, foot braking the car. I just barely purged it so it wouldn't hit too hard. Bottle was only at 850psi but was full. There was a slight delay in the hit, but my car works really well and when the nitrous came on the car just kept going up. In hind sight I bet shifting it would have been the right choice. But as you know, it all happens real fast.

I looked more closely at the headers, and they really aren't that bad. I can fix them with a torch and a mandrel. Just need to take them off, which is easy on this car, they fall onto the ground when you unbolt them. The pan is fine.
I need to take the front wheels off and inspect the spindles and all that. Seems like I have a bit more camber in the right front. But it drove home fine.

I actually got it up high enough that it just touched the lines coming out of the fuel cell. And they are now dripping just a bit. If I would have stayed in it, I would have torn those off, and might have had a fire. And I wouldn't have been driving it home eh?

I have a Cometics progressive controller. Does what the Edelbrock does plus more. And yes, Cometics makes head gaskets. I haven't installed it because of my tiny garage. And it's been raining here in the great wet Northwest, so I haven't been able to pull the car out in the driveway. Besides, at 53, I HATE lying upside down under the dash doing wiring!

I must have landed it reasonably well. No back pain.....and I've already had back surgery! Sure seemed hard though.

Fun stuff! I guess I'm just amazed at what the CalTracs and 9" Hoosier Radials will do....

One other thing that got damaged? The headlight buckets! Knocked the adjusters off, and the headlights are pointing at the ground!

Ron
Click to expand...
I've never seen anyone with a Cometics progressive controller. The Edelbrock can tailor the rate for the whole run. My son started with a NOS controller and it was two staged. If you had to lift it would drop back to the first stage and the car would slow dramatically. The Edelbrock can be ramped up or down to control the hit any way you want, basically you control the whole run. There is a company called Davis technologies that makes a electronic device called "Wheelie Control" that might be a good item but it is about 1K. I just got my son a RPM Data Logger to see if we can find some more in the Chevelle, i think it's going to help a lot.
 
#20 ·
It's all fun and games until you stand it on the bumper :bow:

I hope the video it up today, thats going to be something to see. I just need some of your mojo to make my car leave.
 
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