Cox Dragsters

One of the 5 fin heads and drop-in plug sets that Bernie and Matt sell might keep it slightly cooler. I'm pretty sure those are Merlin plugs and heads. About 4 or 5 shims out to be about right.

When making my Killer B'stard earlier this
Year Ken I had a crank let go.
I sourced the problem to the prop bolt and
Where it doesn't screw in far enough.
I remedied by putting a killer bee crank in
And a PT19 stud and nut on. I don't know
If you've ever tinkered with cars but when we
Used to mess around with our Cosworths etc
One of the first things we'd do was put ARP HT
Studs and nuts on instead of standard bolts on
The heads and rods.
Bottom line, I've since wrecked a few top ends
On the KB but the turny roundy part is
Still perfect.

PS
Before releasing my Old Timer that fateful day
I tached the engine at 21,5k.
When the bolt and end of crank failed causing
The prop to take on a career of its own the engine
Revs sounded like N2O, Helium and Steriods had
Been injected into it. I reckon the revs
Must've been about 30k for the 2 or 3 seconds
Before the piston cried 'enough' and let the
Rod pull itself away from most it.

Well, I don't want it to blow apart although it sounds like it's going to. I could always lower the nitro a bit and go back to the single ported cylinder and a low comp head. I just really would like to know if someone has the instructions which indicate line length. This is a straight tethered line dragster. I do have a 60's metal chassis tether car which runs in a circle which we also had running. That wants to commit suicide every time I release it spinning around and the line gets caught in the live rear axle. I was using 25' on the metal framed GT40 and it was really moving to the point I didn't want to be standing there if something flew off. Ken

.

My memory was fifty foot line with last three feet as two lines in a "Y" with three foot seperation

when car got to the end, the "Y" stopped it

I was a kid so my memory is streached...If I were you I would lay out one hundred feet of line with the "Y" ending

better to have too much drag strip then have the still running car pinched to a stop early

Ken Cook wrote: I have a question in regards to the Cox tethered dragsters. I've had mine for every bit of 30 years and I can't recall the line length used to run it. I recently rebuilt the engine and had it out yesterday for a test run. I noticed the engine was a single ported cylinder. I couldn't have that so I went with a old #1 cylinder. I think I'm really exceeding the limit this thing was designed to run. The other problem I noticed is that these have almost no cooling so the needling needs to be done quickly and the car needs to be moving for cooling. I was using 35% nitro with a high comp head as well. I have to say, I don't remember it ever sounding like it did yesterday. Any help on line length would greatly be appreciated. Ken

Hi Ken, send me your e-mail address in a PM and I'll e-mail you a copy of the instruction manual for the Cox Stinger that WingingIt74 sent to me. Also, does your car have a parachute?
If so, Your engine is supposed to have throttle sleeve as that is what is used to shut the engine off after the parachute is deployed. Also, when I used to run the drag cars, I used a 100ft piece Dacron string with 2 30ft pieces of Dacron string tied together to make 2 15ft loops at both ends pulled to a V with the 100ft drag line attached to each V at both ends of the drag strip and a knot about 25 feet from the end of the strip to trip the parachute and shut down the engine as well as an old rolled up blanket a few feet further down to stop the car in case the parachute didn't open.
At the starting line, anchor 2 nails 5 feet apart and parallel and slip one of 15ft loops over the nail heads and at the end of the drag strip and anchor 2 more nails 5 ft apart and parallel and slip the 15 ft loop over those nails and attach the 100 foot drag line to each loop giving yourself enough space so that both loops are pulled taught when the drag line is attached. If you have a car like the stinger, then just omit the knot in the drag line but lay down a towel or blanket to catch the car if it doesn't run out of fuel before the end of the strip. And it's a good idea to have someone at the end of the strip, to retrieve the car and shut the engine off if needed.
I hope every thing I said makes sense. Oh, and please post video of the run.

Shawn

Ken Cook wrote: I do have a 60's metal chassis tether car which runs in a circle which we also had running. That wants to commit suicide every time I release it spinning around and the line gets caught in the live rear axle. I was using 25' on the metal framed GT40 and it was really moving to the point I didn't want to be standing there if something flew off. Ken

Do you have the original tether bridle that came with the car? If not, and the line is not connected correctly it will cause the car to run wild. I'll post a pic of the Ford GT that I am restoring to show you where the tether bridle should be positioned.
Also, good rule of thumb when running those cars, is the apex of the bridle should be 1 inch behind the center line of the chassis. And when releasing the car, point the front end a little outside the circle. If the car still wants to go crazy, you can try reducing the line length down to 15 or 20ft.

Shawn

I would like to see a vídeo too if its running. Could you share a photo of the parachute mechanism ?

Mine didn't come with a chute. My cousin Mike had the Vega funnycar and If I recall, his did have a chute and he had the Christmas Tree as well for staging. Cox made some cool stuff. Ken