72' Drag Racing... Questions

[RyIce9]

Hey guys. I'm a 16 year old, so naturally I would love to take my truck to the drags. I recently got done with a 5 speed swap and a fair amount of ignition and electrical work, and now it's reliable and running great.
I have a 72 F100, long bed. It has a 302 with a 600cfm edelbrock carb, a weiand street warrior intake, and headers/free flow exhaust. I have done a Duraspark II ignition conversion, and with the extra spark my plugs are gapped at .50. 5 speed (M5R2 Mazda) swap. I'm running a 3.90 rear end gear, open face diff. I have big fat street tires, 275 Cooper Cobras.
I was wondering if any of you guys have had experience running these trucks, and what I could expect to get out of this thing.
Also... If anyone knows how to measure drag coefficient, that would be wonderful.
Tell me about your experiences at the drags! I'd love to hear about anyone racing an old Ford!

[guhfluh]

15's maybe? Just a wild guess. No clue really.

Post some pictures of what you've got. I'd like to see, especially the 5 speed conversion!

[Ranchero50]

Ditto, hard to say on speed, guessing low 16's, seriously.

Learn to launch it in a wet parking lot with a 1500 rpm idle. The strip is slippery and you will smoke the tires if you try and launch hard on the Coopers with an open dif. Go posi, with some lift bars and ET streets, then work on the hard launch.

For me trips to the track just confirmed the low end of what the car would do on the street. They are stressful, you will be anxious so it's really important to force yourself to relax.

Expect dumb stuff to happen. I ended up towing my cars there most of the time just so I didn't have to worry as much about breaking them and not being able to get home.

Best time was when everything went right and both me and the car performed well. Worst was blowing 2nd gear apart because I didn't warm the tranny up. Most embarrassing was backing over a plastic 55 gallon trash can and high centering the rear. Typically it was a hot, loud, and miserable day in the sun.

[eggman918]

Ditto, hard to say on speed, guessing low 16's, seriously.

Learn to launch it in a wet parking lot with a 1500 rpm idle. The strip is slippery and you will smoke the tires if you try and launch hard on the Coopers with an open dif. Go posi, with some lift bars and ET streets, then work on the hard launch.

For me trips to the track just confirmed the low end of what the car would do on the street. They are stressful, you will be anxious so it's really important to force yourself to relax.

Expect dumb stuff to happen. I ended up towing my cars there most of the time just so I didn't have to worry as much about breaking them and not being able to get home.

Best time was when everything went right and both me and the car performed well. Worst was blowing 2nd gear apart because I didn't warm the tranny up. Most embarrassing was backing over a plastic 55 gallon trash can and high centering the rear. Typically it was a hot, loud, and miserable day in the sun.

This sounds like the voice of experience..........you summed it up well!
My last trip to the strip me and my buddy were bent over the engine compartment of his '69 AMX doing a jet change on a hot 401 while the kid next to us was in the passenger seat of his "rice rocket" dressed like he was gonna go clubbing later that night tweaking his ECU with a lap top At that point I told my buddy that we were dinosaurs But it's still FUN..............now and then>

[rollercam1]

I am with the previous posts as well. It takes lots of practice. I have been drag racing these trucks for years. They are an absolute blast! Nothing better than beating on newer more exspensive stuff with an old bumpside! The drag coefficient? A ton! My 67' 1/8 mile times reflect a low 11 vehicle. It runs 12 flat at 114. The side mirrors fold in on there own if that gives you an idea...

[radioactivelarry]

I was wondering if any of you guys have had experience running these trucks, and what I could expect to get out of this thing.
Also... If anyone knows how to measure drag coefficient, that would be wonderful.
Tell me about your experiences at the drags! I'd love to hear about anyone racing an old Ford!

Here is how to measure your Drag coefficient: You need the following equipment:
1. Your truck.
2. A clock or stopwatch.
3. A pen and paper (and someone other than the driver to record data).
4. A flashlight (driving at night avoids traffic).
5. A long stretch of flat road with little traffic or wind.
6. Excel or another spreadsheet application.
Go here and download and save this spreadsheet: http://www.iwilltry.org/b/wp-content/up ... icient.xls

You can have a lot of fun with this one!
Good luck.............

[radioactivelarry]

Remember FORD stands for "Fast On Races & Drags"