One of the guys in my local Mopar club has built a replica 1962 Nascar racing Hyper Pac slant 6 cylinder Valiant. Nascar proposed adding a 6 cylinder compact car class in 62 but when Chrysler fielded the four barrel header quipped slant
6 that blew away the Fords and Chevy’s, they quickly cancelled the series. Anyways my friend was drag racing his car at the track when at high RPM the vibration dampers outer steel ring separated from the elastomeric ring, and then somehow the steel ring
moved forward onto the belt drive pulley. It resulted in an instant unbalanced condition and removed the lower drive pulley from the engine along with the drive belts. The engine never missed a beat, he felt a vibration, heard a bang, and the vibration disappeared.
When he glanced down after the run he noticed the alternator was no longer charging. He then drove to the timing tower, collected his time slip, and proceed to the pits, it was then he noticed that his engine temperature had started to climb slightly. Upon
further inspection in the pit he found the belt and pulley gone off the engine. The pulleys metal was ripped right off the mounting bolts, which stayed on the engine along with a bit of the pulley metal. It did not do any other damage to the car and they never
found the ring or pulley bits when they walked the track. I mentioned this to George and he stated that it is one reason NHRA requires approved dampers on modified engines. He told me he had made a run of brand new NOS style replacement dampers. I ordered
one for my 65 300L right then from him and he delivered to me at the next club meet, in hind sight I should have bought two, as I have the J now.
Jamie Hyde
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