After a very hot but fun weekend art the Mopar madness at 42, my dad went on vacation as he does every year. He told me to come get his Roadrunner and take it to Quaker City Motorsports Park while he is away. So Sunday I went out. Not being in the car with the new motor, was a little nervous even though I knew the car is good. First pass was the new best for the car.
1.253 60’ 3.66 330’ and 5.727 at 118.83mph.
Wow that was fun. First round I snuck through with a bad light but something happened to the other guy so I got the win. Second round, launched, car came down and as soon as it landed I lost steering and it headed straight for the wall. I bailed and was able to keep car off the wall luckily. Limped it back to the trailer and it appeared the coupler on the steering shaft is busted. So I had to tell my dad not only did I get to go real fast in his tug boat, but I also busted it too. Luckily he didn’t care, he was just happy nothing worse happened.

We did weigh it at Dragway 42 the weekend prior. With about 4 gallons low on fuel, it weighed 3465 with my dad in it. With me it would likely be 3425-3430 as I’m little lighter than my dad. Was a little shocked at how heavy it was but hey what are ya gonna do.

Now hopefully he can get it fixed for Mopar race at Norwalk. His truck needs some work, trailer roof needs re-sealed, and now the Roadrunner needs fixed amongst just regular maintenance. I guess time will tell.

https://youtu.be/567dJvHBcMo?si=dRx6437rC3wkZELM

Here’s video from first round

https://youtu.be/aWqRz5exDoM?si=MGX00QjJo1WNNvGp

Here’s second round when I lost steering

https://youtube.com/shorts/qCcnSVxd8yU?si=cx_HSQF4IZi-vbL-

Here’s what I found when I got back to the trailer

https://youtu.be/XmGsOV3Tw3g?si=otuJHM-I_xJcnrOR

In car run of the 5.72 at 118.83mph

Love it! Sponsored by Zippy's auto and truck repair

Thanks Zip! And thanks for sponsoring the event. I love Quaker city, am thankful they are still open, and only 2 Hours from me.

That's a bad ride! Glad you kept it off the wall! Might be time for one of those more solid U joint couplers.

Thats a stout run at that track in that weather.
Doug

Thank you! And yes sir you’re absolutely right about the u-joint coupler. I don’t post much on here but I was hoping some people would have some recommendations for the coupler. Brand, part number, etc. My car has a rack and pinion so I’m not super familiar with the stock stuff. My dad and race team are real familiar with the stock stuff but it’s nice to see what others are running, what to avoid, etc.

Thanks Doug, we are very pleased thus far with the car. If I can get better at the 1-2 shift, it’ll be real consistent as the carb setup seems pretty good after cutting some plugs open after the first outing and making some adjustments.

Those hardened shoes inside the coupling that rides on the piin can crack and let the main pin ride on the channel for the shoes creating all that slop. Make sure that the shoes are not toward the bottom when installed they can bottom with movement (wheelstand) and break. P.S. I have always liked that car since I was a kid. That's a fast machine .

425-253 dorman, If you want to keep it easy DON'T go after the pin in the shaft leave it alone.[i][/i]

Thanks B1! Much appreciated and thanks for the suggestion on the coupler!

Nice run...I see when she lands it has a bit of bumpsteer but might just be the coupler. Hard to get that out with a stock front end Mopar for sure. Its taken some work to get mine "cleaned up" for sure.

Thanks Al. Yes it does got some bump steer/Chrysler wobble. In addition to fixing the steering coupler, we do intend to rebuild the entire front end. My dad has tubular upper control arms with rod ends, solid tie rod end sleeves, qa1 adjustable strut rods, new pitman arm, new idler arm. Hopefully that will make it bit more stable. I know “shimming” the idler arm helped some of the bump steer which we took care of in the past. Time will tell my friend.

Can be done for sure. We have all stock stuff in the front end and have it down to next to nothing. I just need to pony up for good shocks up front and I think it will be gone for good. Car looks like fun, nothing like a wheely running B body

flaming river makes a replacement coupler that is way nicer than the stock type

Yes sir she’s a fun ride that’s for sure!

N20 thank you. That is definitely one that I am looking at. Probably will end up getting it.

The wobble in my opinion is different from bump steer. Even if the suspension remains at zero or near zero toe change throughout suspension travel when checked in the shop. Wobble can still occur. As the the suspension droops tha track width become narrower. When the tires return to the ground something has to give to restablish static tack width. That flexs the steering box and idler arm and mounts along with the control arm bushings. The entire linkage goes thru a shorter-standard width-shorter dimension cycle until the static track width is restablished. You will notice that the steering wheel itself seldom, if ever has feedback. I have friends with GM products with the same issue. The greater the suspension travel and the quicker it comes down, the greater the wobble.
Doug

Good way to put it Doug. Thanks! I know I certainly don’t see it or feel the wobble in the car when it lands. Now my Demon when it had stock front end with a bunch of travel, you could see it on GoPro on the steering wheel and feel it in the car. Once we limited the travel, still wobbled, but not nearly as bad. The runner lands smooth in the car and I don’t feel that wobble at all. Til it broke the steering coupler, it was a very smooth ride.

It’s a shame that years ago we didn’t gear this car toward being legal at Mopar events for the Hemi class. And at this point, since all we do is bracket race the car anyway, it’s not worth the effort or money to make the car legal for 2-3 Mopar races per year. At least at this point in time it doesn’t seem worth it. Maybe down the road after my dad is done racing and I’m running the car primarily. But for now he just wants to have fun and enjoy the setup he worked for well over a decade to get to.