I thought maybe anything Ford sold in a vehicle would be legal. Since it's not you may as well use the slickest truck available, and that's most likely that Jimmy.

http://www.tbirdsbygil.com/Battle%20Bird.htm

http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z15200/Ford-Battlebird.aspx

BTW, how is your Comet progressing?

Harry in Mesquite, TX

     say charlie, are you alowed to run a bed cover that goes from the roof of the cab down to the tail gate since you GMC is modified?

 good luck to all, and happy new year.

They were limited to 1/4 mile, let them loose on a mile or more and I am sure some new milestones will be made by the Y.

And went slower??????? ha,ha.

That is fast, but I believe there were probably even faster cars.  I talked to a youngster last year who was building a 32 roadster with a 671 blown Y and his goal was 200.  His father has landspeed experience and I don't doubt they will give it a good try.

Of course, there are no engine designations on the records set at landspeed events, so it would be hard to verify.  At any rate, it would be great to hear if anyone out there has reliable info on previously fast Y-Blocks (don't forget Australia).

I have to tell you, even with Jyrki's links, I had a hard time believing that a Y in a T-Bird could go 200 mph+ in 1957.  So, a little research was in order.

As a general rule of thumb, it takes about 700 to 800 hp to make 200 mph with a door slammer.  Aerodynamics of course makes a big difference.  With the small frontal plane of the BattleBird, I still felt like it would take at least 600 hp to generate that kind of speed.  Oh, me of little faith.

After a little google help, I found out that there were four T-Birds prepped for the 1957 Daytona SpeedWeek.  Two were in pretty much stock trim and factory power with no mention of "E or "F" code engines.  One went 135 and the other went 138.  Pretty good I'd say.

The third was a BattleBird and had 430 Lincoln power with no mention of induction.  It was driven by Danny Eames and set a record in B Modified Sports at 160.356.

The fourth bird was BattleBird #98 driven by Church Daigh.  The Y was stroked to 348 cu. in. and fed by Hilborn fuel injection.  There were no speed numbers given with an attempt to run naturally aspirated, but it is said that they added a supercharger and did just what you said.

According to the book "Thunderbird Milestones", by Mike Mueller and a report from the "Classic Thunderbird Club of Chicagoland", the #98 BattleBird did 205 mph on a down leg and broke on the return run and therefore no record was set.  As it is at Bonneville, the average of two passes were required within a period of time at Daytona to set a record.  And so the speed just became a footnote.

The report said that the addition of the supercharger while staying with the high compression just destroyed the engine.  No mention of changing the Hilborn unit or whether it was a blow thru or draw thru system.  There was no mention of the brand or type of supercharger either.

Well, that got my thinking up.  Let's keep looking (and trying), who knows, perhaps there is or will be even faster Ys.

I am slowly, but steadily working on the Comet, I just haven't reached a point that is worthy of pictures to post, hopefully I will have something for you soon (keep an eye on the BonnevilleComet thread).

As for a fund raiser, nothing promotional wise is planned, but I have been selling quite a bit of the Y-Block stash (thanks to a lot of you.....and Tim) and that has helped me purchase new Goodyear landspeed tires, custom wheels, Moon wheel disks and a 14 point roll cage kit (yep....14 point) from Alston's Chassisworks.  I am currently finishing the front and rear suspension which includes front and rear anti-roll (sway) bars, and a rear watts link.

Thanks for asking..............Charlie

I was visiting the Hilborn Fuel Injection office Friday and in the lobby were some great examples of older FI manifolds.  No Y-Block units, but there was a framed picture on the wall of a 56 Merc from the October 1956 Hot Rod Magazine.  It claimed 152 mph with a famed Hilborn FI setup.  If anyone has the issue, perhaps you can shed some light on the car.

John, I was catching up on a back issue of Y-Block Magazine (July-August 1999, #33) and Jerry Christenson reported that he read in the July 1960 issue of Hot Rod Magazine that Farrington's '56 T-Bird went 173.41 at Bonneville.  The HR magazine article said he had a 342 cu. in. Y-Block with a McCulloch supercharger fed by 3x2s.  Farrington's Y-Block was estimated at 400 hp. (Jerry thought that was conservative).

I still think there could have been faster speeds out there.  I'll keep looking..........By the way, you were quite the contributor your self back then.  I have enjoyed a number of your articles.

Thanks for asking about the Merc.  I haven't been posting anything for a few months because of some technical problems logging in.  Jim Culver fixed that today.

Actually, the Comet is on hold.  I have every intention to finish it, but currently I have switched horses in the middle of the stream.  The new project is still Y-Block powered, but the truck (can't get away from trucks) is surely going to raise a few eyebrows.  I started it from scratch, but it is now much farther along than the Merc and I will post some pictures when I get brave enough to show it.

Charlie

Tim is correct about the Y in a Falcon Ranchero not qualifying for the production class.  I didn't explain it well enough earlier when I stated that the production class required an engine available from the factory in the year of the body.  I should have added "available in that body style".  The rule book says that Rancheros and El Caminos can run in either pickup or car classes, but the car classes are much faster.

Although it would be cool to run a Falcon, if you wanted to be competitive it would be difficult without going to the newer supercharger classes.  The naturally aspirated classes have some impressive speeds.  In E/Production mini pickup (sbf 260 carb or injection) the record is 184 set in 1989.  This is the same Banks truck we saw in Charlie's earlier post.  I'm not sure, but I think the reason it went over 200 in a car class was because he used some kind of fuel and fuel would require it to be moved to a car class.  In D/Production mini pickup (perhaps a sbf 302) the record is 173 set in 2010. (there's a possibility) 

With a naturally aspirated Y in the falcon, it would be in the modified mini pickup class.  Current records there for E/MMP (a 258 cu. in. like ours) is 187 set in 1999, D/MMP (perhaps a .060 over 292 or some other configuration) is 204 set in 2006.  Both of these records were set by Bob Jucewic and he is the one who told me it would take about 650hp to go 200 in a mini pickup.  By the way his race car was a LUV long wheel base.  I think it would be fun in a Falcon (wheel base about 105") up to about 150, but after that the fun would disappear until you successfully finished.  This Jimmy I'm building has 123" WB. (still not sure what north of 150 will feel like!)  

It is in the newer modified and supercharged mini pickup class (no fuel allowed in any pickup class) that a mini pickup could be competitive at this time.  As I have mentioned earlier the E/blown modified mini pickup (E/BMMP) record is still open, no matter what speed you ran, it would be a record.  The same with D/BMMP.  However, the C/BMMP record is currently 177 set in 2008 (C is 306 to 373 cu. in.).  So this is where I am headed with the Y-Block.  I'm hoping to set or better any new records set in E or D and try to make it all the way to a record of 200+ in the C/BMMP class. (hence, a red hat)

By the way, our internet was down most of yesterday and we hope you had a great birthday. 

The Gale Banks S-15 Sonoma was an interesting first link.  I talked to Gale at the 2007 SEMA show and we talked about the wind tunnel testing he did for the tail gate and bed cover research.  We talked about the 57 and he gave me some ideas to try.

This was a first generation S-10/S-15 and it was a little "boxy".  They were actually running it in a car class which is available to pickups, but not usually the best choice.

I say all that to say this.  The new land speed race car I am building is a 1998 GMC S-15 extended cab pickup.  I wouldn't say Gale was an inspiration for this, but I am hoping this second generation model will be quite a bit more aerodynamic.  You might ask why I am not using a Ranger, and the answer is this pickup was given to me by a friend and the budget just wouldn't allow the purchase of another car.

I will start a new thread to show the progress soon.............

John, the sedans and pickups have two basic divisions. 

Production (along with many other requirements) needs to have an engine block that was available from the factory during the model year of the body.  Aftermarket heads are OK if they have the same configuration.

Modified can have any engine and head configuration you want as long as it wasn't available during the model year of the body.

These are very simple and incomplete distinctions between production and modified, but I hope it answers the questions about the engine.   

If I am successful in putting together a turbo Y (Tim/Reed) the truck will run in three different classes.  First will be E/BMMP.  E motor (under 260 cu. in.) blown modified mini pickup.  The second will be D/BMMP.  D motors are 261-305 cu. in.  The last class will be C/BMMP.  C motors are 306-373 cu. in.  A "C" motor is the largest they will allow in mini pickups.  I guess they are trying to keep the speed down (good luck).

These blown pickup classes are so new there are a number of "open" classes, meaning no one has attempted a record in that class to date.  Both E and D classes have no record yet, but I expect someone to set them during the 2011 season.  The C/BMMP has a current record of 177 mph.  I believe the Y can be very competitive in all three classes and if all the stars line up just right, with about 600 + hp I can reach my goal of a red hat.

The Torino Ranchero was a good thought.  I have considered them, but I didn't believe they would get me where I want to go.  My brother has one and if I twisted his arm I think he would donate it.

They didn't have Y-blocks available, so it would be in the modified class with a Y.  It can run in either the car or pickup classes.  However, it would be classified as a full size pickup and with a turbo motor that I would like to run, it would have some steep competition.  The three class records for E, D, and C blown, full size trucks are all owned by Wayne Jesel from your coast.  He runs a new four door full size Dodge Ram pickup with a turbocharger on basically NASCAR MOPAR motors.  The records he holds in E, D, and C are; 225, 262, and 248 mph respectively.  By the way, the car classes are all faster than that.

I talked to Wayne at Bonneville and told him to stay away from the mini-pickup classes, he just smiled.

I don't think a Falcon came from the factory with a Y.  You could use a SBF (260) or a 250 six and run in the E class though.  I'm guessing that the early Falcon/Ranchero could run in car or truck?  Charlie?  I know they have been at Bonneville since they were introduced.

You mean like this?

bla bla bla

http://fordtruk.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19250

Do the rules permit engine swaps such as this, or are you shooting for a class other than Production Pickup?