hey pirate treasure is out there i have seen it on the tv

I wonder why Reaper doesn't take His car down to Thunder Valley south of Noble and get that car straightened out there? Legit NHRA tight track, no goofball goat rodeo crowd/audience,... focus on getting clean dry hard launches and then go back to that TV business after things are cleared up. Seems like much more trouble to do the 'figure it out' in front of Your competition/everyone action?

Reapers new engine looked good at PRI.

The plug incident was at Thunder Valley. Exploded trans...Thunder valley. He and all the others go there a lot. Lutz, Chief and Murder Nova testing last week..........Thunder Valley. They usually do it down past the finish line.

The car is a rocket when it makes a clean hit, as seen by him putting about 5 on Dave and losing to Chief by a nose, when he really wasn't setup to run Chief that night. These guys are ALL so fast now, that when it's your night, it's your night. If not you look dumb.

I know I don't usually talk about stuff that hasn't aired, but giving an example here. It's pretty obvious Doc's car is a beast and as fast as anything there. He made a tire change and a couple other things and dropped to 8th on the list before he could stop the bleeding recently

That's just how quickly it can go sideways. Something that looks as simple as a tire change can change anything and everything including IC and shock settings, launch RPM etc.

I've already posted I had a 1/2 inch wrench go through an engine. It happens.

When Doc had the car redone by a very well known chassis builder, I cautioned him to NOT let the guy move the motor back. A Monte Carlo already has a long wheelbase and good motor position. It needed to be built like a pro nitrous car, meaning about 54% nose weight. He(builder) did as he wanted because he had "street car" in his head and the car is 50/50. It's been a constant struggle to keep it from hammering the tire and shaking. On another racers advice, albeit one with a totally different combo, Doc tried a different tire that was actually a MORE aggressive tire. That didn't go well........LOL!!!! We really need to move the motor forward, but that's MAJOR surgery. Plus it really won't hold the tire we NEED because Doc didn't want to bubble the 1/4 panels. So would have to raise the car to fit them, which isn't good either

I would expect a car built to that level would be able to move some weight forward.

Then again, moving weight forward changes everything and requires everything else to be redone.

Then again, if you think the engine is too far back, it's hard to move that much weight forward without moving the engine. He is in a tough spot.

There is nothing to move. Nothing in the rear of car but tubing and body. The motor is just too far back. Next thing is to hang some weight in the front and give it a go.

This is what we got into with Pro Nitrous cars when split window Vettes were the popular body. They just inherently had too much bite because of engine position once they all went to the BIG motors. Just couldn't get enough nose weight. And if you notice now, you never see NEW Pro Nitrous split windows

care to point out any piece on Reaper's engine that will bolt onto a production chevy engine?

Sorry for going backward here but I can't resist as a nitrous small block guy that buys plugs by the 120 count case. I set my plugs on my carb, I've read montes posts, met him briefly on drag week for a hat and even have a plate kit he flowed I bought 2nd hand. That being said I just put my plugs in the carb my self period. It's very real to think Monte didn't tell those guys you have to do this, also if the guy was new to the reaper car, maybe he's never been around efi...I know my plugs cannot fit through my carb if I wanted them too but obviously efi is different. Anyone who has actually tried to race a fast n2o car knows it's a sweaty busy JOB to get it ready, easy to forget without enough help for other [censored]

Oh and I have also used Steve Johnson stuff, applied, speed tech and nitrous outlet, I'm not in love with Monte but I respect his time and his craft. Only reason for my post, it will fall on your deaf ears mainly cause moparts is to old and afraid of difference in opinions. Monte how much pph can a .590 purple shaft swallow?😭

I also put my plugs in my carb, always say I am going to get a tray for the carb and never do. It's easy to keep them in order in the carb, even do it on Brett's motor and Tory's too. I guess I am dumb.

Hated to see reaper hurt his motor, but it wasn't his fault. I know of another guy that had a helper spray carb cleaner on a spounge on the bottom of a lift off hood, to clean some grease off. Then set hood on roof of painted car. What can you do he was there helping you out. Sucks when it happens.

It sucks in a major way that someone's engine got destroyed due to a careless mistake. I've been wrenching professionally for more than 32 years now and have caused some damage and worked hard to learn from my mistakes and of those around me. I have worked at many different shops along the way and my co-workers have run the gamut from mouth breathers that shouldn't have ever been near anywhere anything mechanical, to dedicated type A professionals. I have NEVER HEARD of putting spark plugs in a carb before reading about it in this thread, no less having it advocated as a good practice. Frankly, it is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard of. Sounds more like Russian Roulette than anything. I've successful by NOT setting myself up to fail.

I also Appreciate Monte's reply and insight on the show.
I used to like Dave but it seems like he is playing games more then James is. I Thought it was Great that James did the 7 days to Dave. It was a payback in my opinion and I Loved it. With Dave Only wanting to race up the list isn't fair to anyone since they all have to race someone below them sometimes.
The call outs are getting crazy the way it's being done and I liked it better before this season started.
I also liked the new blood being brought it to keep the list fast plus we got to see more cool cars racing. I Like the show and always watch it Tuesday am since I work at night.
And last I am Happy that Monza is running fast and beating the promods. I like promods but not on the show.
AGAIN THANKS MONTE for all the info on here.
David

Back with THAT bs again. Where you put a bolt has nothing to do with what engine design it is. I guess Toyota builds top fuel engines now since there name is on the butterflies. With what you're saying we can't call a it 9 inch Ford rear anymore since nothing is used from Ford, Strange, MW makes the stuff now. Can't call it a power glide, Chevy don't make it. All aftermarket. New parts are made everyday but it still comes down to a core design. No amount of debating will change that.

....and a NHRA topic hasn't had 6 pages of anything here in 15 years.

Monza's car vs pro mod..... different frosting, same cupcake.

still waiting for the "they aint street cars" comment, or did we finally get beyond that!

As always the show is full of Drama. It keeps most of us watching. I take it with a grain of salt. Anybody has made mistakes that have cost us, not just in cars, but life in general. I got to give him credit for how calm he was when they discovered the issue. Maybe it was staged? That is a sign of someone with a real mind set to accomplish a goal. I wish I had half the knowledge these guys do about car set-up, no dummies.
Doug

I doubt that was staged. Maybe James realizes he isn't perfect. The guy was new.

Try finding someone under 35 to work on this stuff. It's almost impossible to find them.

What good would getting pissed off had done?

Oh it definitely wasn't staged, that motor was nearly brand new and it cost him over 10 grand to fix it. On camera James can come across as a hot head, but he is really not. Most would have come unglued when that happened, he didn't. As far as "new guy" Mike......he was with James when they brought car here and we were ribbing him about the plug deal. Mike still felt bad, but James was over it

Thanks again Monte for posting on this forum.

Absolutely nothing, the damage was already done.

I was chuckling when I grenaded my last nearly new engine. Not much you can do but laugh at this stuff sometimes. It was totally my fault too due to miscalculating the compression ratio, multiple times.