Hi guys, Guy here from the
UK, I am 38 years old, and have been into cars and Drag Racing for 31 years
now, since my Dad to me to Santa Pod (UK drag strip)....
I live with my partner Lise, and our three kids Shae (9) Tris (5) and Cerys
(20months) in Leicester UK.
I have had the Zodiac now for 4 years I think (doesn't time fly...???), I
bought it with a 302/C4/9' on a 4 bar combo, but it started to show signs of
wear and tear, and rust, (well it is a 50's Ford!!), so it was taken off the
road in the winter of 2006/07 for a full going through...
It had plenty of bodywork
done, and a full respray (colour unknown...), and I decided to actually make it
go a bit quicker....
So, I was on the phone to Summit in the US, and I bought one of their GT40 spec
302's, with SVO ali heads/roller rockers/hydraulic roller cam/Edelbrock
Performer RPM manifold/Holley 670cfm Street Avenger/BBK 'shorty' headers/MSD
billet distributer+6AL ignition system+ Blaster coil....
This was all put in and the
car rebuilt in a week, as it was booked to go the Xtreme Wheels, an indoor car
show at Alexandria Palace in London, unfortunately I didn't have time to get it
running, so it was trailered there....
After another big thrash it
was ready for the road, I was using it at the time as my 'daily driver'...!!!
A trip to Shakespeare County Raceway for some Drag Racing action was in order,
and I got myself a 14.01 @ 100 mph, which I was slightly upset at, I was hoping
for more....
So, last year I purchased a
Sniper nitrous oxide kit, which was duly fitted, along with a new fabricated
ali fuel tank (deeper for more capacity) with two outlets, just in case I want
to put a lot of nitrous through...
I also fitted a new Holley Bluetop fuel pump, and 10mm bore steel tube solid
lines from the pump, up to the regulator, which is mounted on the bulkhead....
The Sniper kit went on fairly smoothly, the only problem I had, was I used an
MSD retard unit, to drop some timing out of the motor when the nitrous was
'on', this meant I had to remove the distributor, and remove all of the advance
weights, and reassemble it 'pinned', the retard box now does all of the
advance/retarding.
With this all done, and a load of jets in my toolbox, we went back to Shakey,
and started to play!!!
We basically went from a
base of 14.2 with no nitrous, to a best of 12.9001 @ 116 mph, this was with a
150bhp 'tune' in the nitrous system, once we had ran the first 12.9, it stayed
there all weekend, it would be fine for a 'bracket' car....!!!
For this year I am going to upgrade the gearbox, either by sending it away for
a good going through and a shift kit, or I am going to get the Credit Card out
again, and buy a new TCI unit form Summit...
I also need a new torque converter, as it
is running the standard one at the moment, and I cannot hold any revs on the
start line, so a B&M Holeshot, with a stall speed of around 2500rpm will be
going in, this should hopefully liven up the start, and enable me to get onto
the nitrous quicker....
It really could do with a session on a dyno, just to fine tune/tweak
everything, but I haven't found one that I feel comfortable with yet....
Righto, that’s enough from me, full spec list to follow...
Cheers
Guy
Spec:
1955 Ford Zodiac
GT40 spec 302ci Ford V8, SVO ali heads with roller rockers, hydraulic roller
cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM inlet manifold, Holley 670 cfm Street Avenger
Carb, with MSD Pro Billet Distributor, Blaster Coil, 6AL ignition system, with
a 'retard' unit, BBK shorty headers into a home built exhaust system, using a
'turbo' silencer on each side...
C4 gearbox, internals unknown, standard torque converter TCI flexplate.
9' Ford rear axle, on a 4 bar with panhard rod, slightly narrowed, with Leda
adjustable coilovers.
Front suspension is MK11 Zodiac, up rated by Leda to adjustable coilovers, MK11
discs and callipers, soon to be upgraded to bigger vented discs, and billet
callipers...
Wheels/tyres ARE Salt Flat Specials 3.5 x 15 and 8.5 x 15 with 145/15 and
235/60/15
Interior is original rear seat, and Peugeot 405 front seats, all reupholstered
in a grey marble/black vinyl, with matching door cards, and a grey carpet (to
be redone this year)
Autometer Pro Comp gauges, Speedo, Rev counter, oil pressure, water temp, fuel,
and ammeter.
Fabricated ali fuel tank, Holley bluetop fuel pump, steel lines to regulator
and a Sniper nitrous kit, bottle mounted in the boot...