[FWDLK] Free powerflite
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[FWDLK] Free powerflite




I had a powerlite behind the 6cyl in my 56 Savoy. Trans was fine except the first shift of the morning was late. After that it was fine. Always been this way since 1989.
anyway changed drivetrain and don't need out anymore. Anyone who wants to pick it up in Glen Gardner NJ can have it.

Nick
Sent from my Verizon Wireless Droid


-----Original message-----
From: Dan Reitz <DAN300F@xxxxxxx>
To:
L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent:
Sun, Sep 23, 2012 19:34:23 GMT+00:00
Subject:
Re: [FWDLK] interesting POWERFLITE VS TORQUEFLITE

Hi all:
 
I've related this story to my good friend Dave Homstad and will repeat it here.
 
Back in 1956, I purchased a '56 Dodge Coronet 2-dr. D500 with a 3/4 race cam (That's what they called it back then.) and a 3:55 rear end.  My cousin managed the Dodge dealership so I got a good deal.  When the '57 Dodges came out, they received a Coronet 2-dr. D500.  One of his salesmen challenged me to a drag race.  In the countryside of western Pennsylvania, there were lots of places to drag,  just like a toilet behind every tree or bush.  We selected a stretch of highway and off we went.  I got a bit of a jump on him and then started to pull away.  When he shifted into 2nd, I pulled away even faster.  As I recall, at the end of about a half mile, I was several car lengths ahead of him.  Never asked me for a drag again.
 
Came out to California in September of 1961 to go to college.  With over 100K on the odometer, one night I ran the car at Lion's Drag Strip in Long Beach.  As I recall, I ran the 1/4 at about 85 mph and a tad over 15 seconds.  This on one badly missing plug and the car burning oil.
 
I will say, with my head hung low, that the only drag race I ever lost was to a new '57 Pontiac tri-power fresh off the truck.  This was on the same stretch of road I raced the '57 D500.  The Pontiac beat me by a couple of car lengths.  If I had had the 2nd 4 barrel he would have been toast.
 
Foolish me, the car got to running so bad and getting about 12 mpg and I could not afford an engine rebuild so I traded it in for a '59 Hillman that got nearly 30 mpg.  Saved me lots of money but I wish I still had that D500.  Never could find it later.
 
Dan Reitz
Bell Canyon, CA
1960 300F
1966 300 vert.
1956 Dodge Custom Royal
__________________________________________________________
In a message dated 9/23/2012 9:12:15 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, Archangel1390@xxxxxxx writes:
In a message dated 9/22/2012 5:53:06 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, dhomstad@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
http://webpages.charter.net/dhomstad/TransmissionFrame1Source1.htm
Dave,
 
     All due respect to you. You are one of the most  knowledgeable guys on Mopars especially 56 & 57 Dodges.
However you can have a mountain of paper, facts, directions, photos of parts, specifications, etc, etc, etc. but the guy with the car that crosses the finish line is the winner.
 
     Nothing has been invented that can close the gap in experience of doing the job extremely well. The time clocks at the drag strips do not know how to read books, papers or specs. They just record the elapse time and speed between two points on the strip.
     The experienced drag racer has tried things that are not in the books and he knows what works for his car and what does not work for his car, because he has seen the quarter mile time cards each time he made a change . He is interested in only one thing--------it is called his ET, that means elapse time in that measured quarter mile space. That trumps all papers, books, specs, etc, etc,
      The experienced guy usually knows the strip like his own backyard, he know not only what lane is best for a quick start off the line but he also know what part of the same lane to stay away from for a good start.
       He know that the right tires with the best traction is good for almost a quarter of a second, he knows if his tires are 15 inch and his rear drag tires are wider and 14 inch that can make his 3.73 rear end about a 3.91. He know when to hit the gas right before the green light instead of after the green light goes on. He very well is probably running special oil or additive that give him an extra 5 to 600 RPM's before he floats the valves. He probably has his transmission pressure  jacked up on the high side to give him a harder and little more powershift,  he probably knows the difference in staging deep in the starting lights and staging shallow in the starting beam.
 
    I could go on and on and on and on, but you get the idea.  I do not even want to touch on modifying carburetors counterweights in secondaries , carburetor re-jetting or advance curves of springs and weights in distributors for maxium performance, or even getting extra high octane gas, etc, etc, etc.The guy who is a regular at the drag strip is close to a pro and  has experimented enough to know exactly what he has done to his car is the things that made it as quick as it can be in the 1320 feet of drag strip. With 5000 to 8000 people in the grandstands he is not nervous so he probably will make no mistakes---it is just another day in his backyard.
 
   BOTTOM LINE IS: The drag strip electronic clocks do not lie, they tell you to the hundreds of a second how quick you went through the quarter mile and who is the winner and who is the loser.
 
  My own personal opinion is I could not sleep nights if I put hours and hours of time and large amounts of money into any car ------------------------and did not know for a fact that it was quicker than it used to be, and how much quicker!!!!!!!!!
Of course that is just me, some may think I am right and some may disagree. But done that, and been there!!!!
 
  I would love to see how quick your car is in the quarter mile, I really feel it would be really quick, and I really really look forward to seeing some very impressive 56 Dodge D-500 drag strip time cards on your  super great website.
 
   Ron Swartley

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