In Sept. of 2010 I
decided it was time to build a LSR (Land Speed Racer) truck to
compete in D/PP class at El Mirage and Bonneville.
It had been suggested
that an early '60s Unibody F-100 would be a bit more aerodynamic
than the “Fridge cab” we had been using in E/PP class.
I asked Todd Jolliff
to see if he could find one for me in exchange for some engine
work I had done for him. In short order we were pulling a
relatively rust free 1962 model out of some guys tomato patch in
Stockton CA, where it had sat for the last 20 years.
We hauled “Jake”
(as the truck is now known)back
to Todd's house where the work began. Todd flipped the front axle
(moved it to the top of the springs) to lower it 6“, notched the
frame and moved the steering box up 6" to keep the steering
geometry correct and eliminate "bump steer".
He also
lowered the back a few inches with longer shackles. While Todd was
working on the chassis I had the front and rear axles to clean,
paint and rebuild with new bearings, bushings, king pins, ring
& pinion (4.11) and brakes all around.
It all came together in March 2011 at Todd's in Modesto, CA. Then
Charlie Burns and I brought the rolling chassis down to Visalia
for the rest of the work. I had a slightly better than stock +.060
292 Y-Block to run for testing with a T-5 trans behind it. With
the fuel tank, lines, battery and wires I had a runner ready for
the cage to be installed. The truck then went to Hanford to my
friend John Garner's for the cage work. John is the same man who
did such a fine job building "Elwood's" chassis (my
Y-Block powered FED).
Cage together and ready for paint, the truck went to Lewis Milinich Pant
& Body in Hanford where I was told that my prep work was not
quite good enough for his standards. I needed the truck back in a
week and just wanted color on it.Lewis stepped up to the plate and in a week he had redone
the whole truck with a very nice two-tone turquoise/white paint
job. Then it was back to my house for final assembly.I would like to add that all this moving around was done by
my friend Chris Hamilton of Hanford Towing, he and his truck were
a great help.
With the truck all together we took "Jake" out to a local
country airstrip for a little testing. The engine ran strong and
Jake ran straight and true. Good job on the suspension Todd!
2011 Bonneville Nationals "Speed Week" was a testing year for
"Jake" the LSR Unibody. We went to the salt with thebasically "Stock" 292 bottom end with some C1TE
truck heads (ported with 1.85" in and 1.6" ex) and a
special cam and made two back to back 120 mph runs. We then
changed out the modified cast iron "B" intake for an out
of the box Mummert intake and ran 120 again. All of this through
mufflers! Next we changed the truck heads for a set of ported and
polished ECZ-G heads with 2.02” in. and 1.6” ex. valves that
came off of Charlie Burn’s"Yellow
Brick" from last year.We
fed it through a ported "extrude honed" Blue Thunder
intake, on loan from Ted Eaton. We then went out for a best of 127
mph run. The best part is that the truck drives like a dream at
speed. All in all, a good year I went out looking for 130 with
this engine and got 127 with a 12 mph head wind and my
"D" license.This
winter will bring some changes to the engine that will hopefully
get us closer to 150.
Don't forget there are still meets at El Mirage before the year is
out.
Staging Lanes at El Mirage Photo by
Tony Huntmer
Jake In Motion Photo by Doug Hayes
Jake Video Part 1
Jake Video Part 2
Take a Ride in Jake
Bonneville 2012
El Mirage - Fastest Run to Date
- 142.5 mph
November 2012