"Fuel-air ratio for complete combustion is 1.6 to 1. Then, you learn how to trick it. Is it rich or lean?? You keep putting fuel in a rich cond. and it gets lean again, you take fuel away from a lean condition and it gets rich again??? I can't tell you haw many rich and lean conditions I have gone thru--It all comes down to how strong your parts are, and how much you can trick it into thinking its lean."

The quote above was posted by the late great Jim McClure....Nitro Harley guru.
The "problem" with NITROmethane is also the secret.....it's something like 53% oxygen !!!! It can run OK with a given volume of fuel....not torch stuff....make good power.....then add a little more and it runs leaner eats up everything in it's sight.

Nitro has a flash point of 110 deg F......pretty difficult to light with a match.
Add some heat and compression though and stand back.

A little Nitro is way more dangerous than a lot. That's why great efforts are made to clear a Nitro motor of all fuel before starting. Drain fuel lines....remove spark plugs and rotate motor thru......a little Nitro in a chamber makes a BIG uncontrolled explosion.

My fuel bike is supposed to be here sometime next week by Wednesday.
The big question at work is can we start it?..?..?.....yeah sure......if you got about an hour ......and a starter.....and some fuel.......NO.... Probably not that day.
I will be more than happy to fill the garage with acidic fumes once I'm ready....they probably won't soon forget.....especially the office staff upstairs !!!

NITRO HARLEYS BACK AT NED !!!!

Well...we finally had some Nitro Harley action back here at New England Dragway !! Four bikes showed up for some good old fashioned match racing. And as my wife put it I made a new friend. I was using my camera phone to snap a picture of Bob Malloy's "upright seat exit style exhaust"...pretty common place on the jap Nitro bikes but the only one I've seen on a harley. Bob used to run jap bikes, but we can forgive him, so the upright exhaust was the norm for him. We started talking collectors vs individual pipes and primary lengths next thing you know we were old friends. I helped him repair a broken chain drive on his starter cart and dug through the oil drain pan checking for metal fragments when we discovered a tight spot in the motor....turned out to be something easily remedied ...thank god.
We have a friend in common in Ken Crawford of KJ Crawford Fuel Systems. Ken is a really smart guy and has a way of setting up a fuel system that makes it work unlike anyone else. I used Ken's system on my first injected car and never did another fuel system any other way.
My blower cars always purred like a Ferrari..... never sooty or lazy.
With Ken's stuff there is no doubt about your tuning changes...if you think you added .004 to the main ... you did.... his stuff is tops !!!
My wife asked how many times I've talked to Bob before... "NEVER....we started talking after I took the picture of his exhaust."
She has assumed he was one of my regular Emails or 10pm phone calls...it's only 7pm on the west coast.
Bob is a really cool guy with his own abundance of grey matter. He does some stuff the other guys don't like the exhaust or the big inch, direct drive setup when everybody else runs tranny's. And it's not like he's running off the mark....he's right there with everybody else.
Plus it really impressed me when he took the time to get off the ground to sign autographs for a couple of kids while we were thrashing to repair our "rotational drag issue" before next round. That's what will make the Nitro bikes become a regular attraction back at NED !!

The McNuggets Theory

You heard the story about the Florida woman who called 911 when the local McDonalds couldn't give her the order of chicken McNuggets she wanted because they were out ??? The police came to settle the dispute she termed an EMERGENCY !!!
Is this the state of the country today ?? People call 911 for frivolous reasons ?? Our president runs from country to country apologizing for being American ??? We no longer commend children for doing well in school or use red pen to show errors on tests as it makes the kids feel bad ?? Everybody is equal no matter how hard they try or how little ??
This is not the America I grew up in !!!
We had Super Honor Roll. Not everybody got a trophy in sports just for showing up. You were taught to strive to do your best. There were rewards for achievement. Not just handouts !!!
I, for one, are not going to teach my son that he doesn't have to try because someone else will always be there to support him.
We really need to re-evaluate the lesson we are currently teaching our children.

Gas bike gone....NITRO on the way.

Well....almost. The gas bike sold...finally. When there were over 2000 hits on the first Ebay auction I thought she was gone for sure....nope.
Went to a good home to a guy who knows Ironheads....VERY IMPORTANT !!
In my opinion, in the day of aluminum motors and fuel injection an Ironhead can be a humbling first bike. An iron sporty needs an understanding owner..... not for everyone.
So...gas bike is gone...my Nitro parts are on the way from California.
A deposit is on the way to the current owner of the fuel ironhead pictured in another post. LIFE IS GOOD.
I'm hoping to have the blue bike paid in full by August and back here by the end of the same month.
In the meantime I may take my 05' Glide to track and see what she will run. It's had the normal external mods....pipes...tuner...etc....but no motor work to speak of. I'm thinking with my big butt on it a 13 second pass would be doing well.
We will see....

Nitro Ironhead !!!!

I had planned on building a Nitro Harley for some time now. Actually had a Truett frame roller not too long ago. I sold it on Ebay in a moment of weakness.
Recently I started collecting parts....10" wide beadlock rim....narrow glide frontend, ironhead cases and heads. Then I came upon a deal on some Nitro heads, barrels, cams and a clutch. Beautiful.... the stuff was a deal and the guy I bought them from is a wealth of Nitro racing info.
My plan was a mix of old and new. Nitro Ironhead.....single stage slipper clutch....S&S B fuel carb.....10" tire..... new single tube backbone chassis....80"+......... kind of nostalgia with a new age Pro Drag twist.
I put ads all over the net looking for cases to stockpile. THEN... I get this email...."maybe you could buy my ironhead and save time and money."
I'm expecting an old school ironhead racer with a setback motor and a long backbone sporting a 5" wide tire. Not what I want to ride. Instead I get a picture of this......a shiny example of old and new. A 10" tire, 80"WB, slick looking ride. Kind of 70's and 90's all in one. This will put me way ahead of schedule. Hopefully I'll have this deal sewn up and this bike in my shop very soon.

Got Motorhome Parts Hauler Painted !!

I used to say "god hates me." It seemed every time I made a plan he made one against me. I stopped saying that once my son came along. He has to atleast like me to give me such a gift. Now I think he just likes to see me swear.
I bought a short school bus to convert into a simple air conditioned camper and give my family a place to cool off at the swap meets, races, etc. Well it came the standard school bus yellow. By law it needs to be atleast covered over by another color.....I like blue. I've painted cars for a living some years ago and can lay down some color. But this is a bus and I believe even if I could get it in a booth with some expensive two part enamel paint it wouldn't look much better due to the wavy panels and ribbing.....again bus.....not Porsche.
So last weekend I started to paint the roof with some Ace hardware oil based safety blue paint. IT STARTED TO RAIN !!!! Luckily it had been hot and sunny for most of the application so it "flashed off" pretty fast and the showers stopped my progress but didn't ruin the finish.
This Sunday, some afternoon showers are forecasted but it's morning and the roof is already done. I decide to head out to the driveway and paint me some bus. I mask the important stuff and have at it. I rolled the roof but decided to spray the rest...... I'm not total redneck.
Well I get 99% of it done before the "showers" start. I hear an alert on the radio as I'm spraying blue that there is a severe thunderstorm with hail on the way......COOL !!!!
Well I got most of the bus blue with the exception of the front top section. I need to remove the stoplights from the front and rear anyway so it still need work in that area. Atleast most of it's blue. I'm sure God laughed as it poured on my fresh paint but he didn't see fit to ruin it. WHEW !!!!

Wanted....busted cases...

I'm building an old school / new school NITRO Ironhead and I'm collecting normally un-useable cases with busted out tranny sections. I need cases that are 73-76 with the larger spigot pattern and smaller pinion shaft.
I'm running a high gear only jackshaft set-up with custom motorplates so I cut the tranny section right off. The bigger the break....the better....that way I'm not wrecking a repairable case.