Well I went to the track tonite. One of the LM guys dragged four used Hoosiers W30's along for me so I can get some rubber on the old girl that hold's air.
I spent about three hours asking questions and generally being a big PITA. But I learned a bunch. I now know the concern about the right frame rail is valid even if I don't set up the car exactly the way most modern cars are run. The driver who brought the tires runs an '08 Rocket so I took a lot of mental notes. I talked chassis with him and engines with his Dad who builds 'em for the team. Despite the rather liberal rules allowing several different combos most guys are running Brodix spec heads, 360 ci and around 650 HP. A couple open engines with restrictor plates… no crates or IMCA engines in sight AFAIK.
They broke a piston a few weeks ago in the 'good' engine so they put in their spare bullet and they were down 50 HP. Tough nite… handled good in the heat but no forward drive in the main. RR tire got a hole in the heat. New RR didn't seem to help.
Still doing homework. Looks like the cutting wheel and plasma torch will get a workout this fall.
I could run leafs and I would be comfortable fab'ing the brackets but I'm not sure I could get the corner speeds these newer car are getting especially in a big 1/2 mile like Shawano. My super is a leaf car and every car I've raced over the years was leaf except my IMCA mod. But it's been years ago...
I will say that these cars fly when you are watching from the pit wall… certainly more exciting than in the grandstand.
Here are some pics of my 02 Masters wide/combo car. May help for comparison.
Now that's a race car! I love those Masters Combo cars, they just work and last and last. I'd wager the Masters Combo cars won more races and championships than rocket has ever entered. Seems like I heard when they tried to change the design and offer the narrow cars and Millennium cars and even the early smack stuff that people kept ordering the combo design till they just refused to make anymore. They just work.
Left 4M and Dirt Late Model racing, 04/12/2016 @12:06AM.
Finally got her in the shop... now the fun begins. Looking forward to it.
BTW... I now know the car is a real Mastersbilt. I talked to the fella that was the local dealer in this area for many years. He remembers it as a car he had on display @ Cedar Lake Speedway for their big show. It went thru several owners...
And the concerns about rust was somewhat relevant as two of the inner control arm mounts were damaged by water freezing and breaking the weld seam on the tubing. No other evidence of rust anywhere...
I also found some evidence that the RF frame rail in front of the front crossmember had been repaired with new tubing. Nice repair job as you really have to look closely to see the weld.
And that same rail, behind the crossmember, has a bow in it of about 1/4". So I have an appt. with my local "racer friendly" frame shop in two weeks to get it on their frame rack and make it right. He pulled the frame on a metric car that I bought to flip a couple years ago and charged me $100.00.
So things will be moving right along...
Last edited by Krooser; 02-08-2016 at 10:04 PM.
Member of the Luxemburg Speedway Hall of Fame
Class of 2019
We had some discussion about the age of this chassis and possible rust problems with it.
I'm modifying the RR frame to provide more tire clearance (thanks Mastersbilt Racer) and I snapped a couple pix of the inside of the main frame rail and the tubing that supports the right shock mount, right upper four bar mount, etc. The tube with a significant amount of rust flaking was the downtube from the main hoop that goes to the main rail behind the hoop... lots of rust flakes but not a lot of damage from what I can see... and I repaired/replaced two of the front tubes that make up the upper a-arm mounts as there was some evidence of water getting inside and freezing thereby making the tubes bulge. All the rest were pretty darn good.
Seems to be a lot of .049 and .065 EWT in this car...
Member of the Luxemburg Speedway Hall of Fame
Class of 2019
It HAS been fun.... better than remodeling a bathroom anyway.
Not done but getting there... still have a couple bars to replace and a little final welding and grinding. I sure found out how important a CLEAN surface is when working on a powder coated chassis... any remaining paint seems to really contaminate a weld.
I'm going to replace the single shear 4 bar mount on the right side with a double shear set-up. Same number of holes and in the same place... got to keep it simple enough for an old man to understand.
Might install some buggy spring mounts just in case I can't figure out this space age technology 4 bar stuff...
Thought I might include a shot of my last pure stock... the rep from Miller came to my shop and ripped off the Miller stickers off my welder then left in a huff...
Member of the Luxemburg Speedway Hall of Fame
Class of 2019
It HAS been fun.... better than remodeling a bathroom anyway.
Not done but getting there... still have a couple bars to replace and a little final welding and grinding. I sure found out how important a CLEAN surface is when working on a powder coated chassis... any remaining paint seems to really contaminate a weld.
I'm going to replace the single shear 4 bar mount on the right side with a double shear set-up. Same number of holes and in the same place... got to keep it simple enough for an old man to understand.
Might install some buggy spring mounts just in case I can't figure out this space age technology 4 bar stuff...
Thought I might include a shot of my last pure stock... the rep from Miller came to my shop and ripped off the Miller stickers off my welder then left in a huff...
Looks good Krooser! In case anyone hasn't mentioned it, the RF frame rail will most likely hit the track, under that first down bar. You wont have to totally move it, just cut out what hits and brace it back up!
I'm going to put an older set-up in it so maybe the car won't lean so much... or I'll bolt my old GF to the left rail... that should balance things out.
Racerx10... I just hope I don't wear out the wrecker!
Last edited by Krooser; 02-24-2016 at 07:04 PM.
Member of the Luxemburg Speedway Hall of Fame
Class of 2019
I'm going to put an older set-up in it so maybe the car won't lean so much... or I'll bolt my old GF to the left rail... that should balance things out.
Racerx10... I just hope I don't wear out the wrecker!
LOL....I thought that was reserved for the ex!.......or is that under the tire!
Had three shocks rebuilt/revalved @ Right Foot performance over in Appleton, WI... still need to pick up a few more. I have a line on some more $20.00 specials.
Also had the three springs that came on the car rated to use as spares. The rusty old Carerra came in @ 550 lbs. ... it was on the LF. The rear has a no-name 180# on the LR and a classic Bemco on the RR @ 220#'s.
Maybe I can sell these as collectors items...
And I got a nice Milwaukee grinder for $20.00 at the pawn shop... a guy really should have three ready to go with different abrasives already loaded and ready to work. Plus a couple new 4 bar brackets to replace the one I destroyed with my torch.
Last edited by Krooser; 02-27-2016 at 01:05 PM.
Member of the Luxemburg Speedway Hall of Fame
Class of 2019
Had three shocks rebuilt/revalved @ Right Foot performance over in Appleton, WI... still need to pick up a few more. I have a line on some more $20.00 specials.
Also had the three springs that came on the car rated to use as spares. The rusty old Carerra came in @ 550 lbs. ... it was on the LF. The rear has a no-name 180# on the LR and a classic Bemco on the RR @ 220#'s.
Maybe I can sell these as collectors items...
And I got a nice Milwaukee grinder for $20.00 at the pawn shop... a guy really should have three ready to go with different abrasives already loaded and ready to work. Plus a couple new 4 bar brackets to replace the one I destroyed with my torch.
You might want to think about getting the 4 link brackets with 1/2" holes.
I heard that you got Richards and Rumley....trembling! LOL
Trembling? I bet they pick up a Depends sponsor by mid season!
Those brackets have 5/8" holes... same as original. I'm just wondering how far apart I should space them since I don't have a reference point. Interference fit with the rods ends? Or use a spacer?
FYI... I'm keeping all the super secret mods to myself... let Kevin figure out for himself how to keep me off of the front page of DoD...
Last edited by Krooser; 02-27-2016 at 04:52 PM.
Member of the Luxemburg Speedway Hall of Fame
Class of 2019
I bought one of those sight unseen years ago.It was listed as a combo car,I'm thinking swingarm/4 bar not leaf/4bar.We used the brackets from southwest speed that has the upper and lower mounts in them.16" lower bar 18" upper.We mounted everything with a tape measure and "yeah that looks good"lol.The car was very good on bull rings and was always faster if you forgot about trying to make it hikeup and just made it drive good.
Spacing depends on lateral movement of rearend. Which depends on angle/length of j bar/panhard bar. You don't want rods/ends hitting the mount and causing binds. If you use 5/8 heims to go with the holes in those plates, the spacers are hard to hold altogether when moving bars. I use 3/4 rods/heims on my 3 link with 5/8 spacers stepped to fit ends.
Nice job.
A few years back I updated brackets on my 95 shaw late model. my favorite car. Hence my user name.
Senior Member
Now that's a race car! I love those Masters Combo cars, they just work and last and last. I'd wager the Masters Combo cars won more races and championships than rocket has ever entered. Seems like I heard when they tried to change the design and offer the narrow cars and Millennium cars and even the early smack stuff that people kept ordering the combo design till they just refused to make anymore. They just work.
Originally Posted by dfhotlm33c
Left 4M and Dirt Late Model racing, 04/12/2016 @12:06AM.
Member of the Luxemburg Speedway Hall of Fame
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