Drag Racing Tech - After crash rebuild by Midwest Chassis!

After a bad wreck at the end of last season I stripped the car down. Then took it to a collision shop to have the front frame rails pulled back straight. After that was completed I knew the car could be rebuilt. Since the cage and floor were not damaged. With the help of my crew guy and his dad who is a body man. The quarter panels and doors were fixed. The roof of the car was cut off and a donor roof was welded back in place.
Now it was ready to go to Midwest Chassis to have them work there magic. And have even more weight taken out of the car. Here is a link to the rebuild pics.
http://www.midwestchassis.com/current-projects.html
Midwest will be updating pics as there is a bit more completed. I want to give a big thanks to these guys as the work is looking great! :cheers: My car won't make the 1st LSX Race. But it will be at the rest of them. :engarde:

Here is a vid of the crash if you haven't seen it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LglCSRrnSrA

:eek2:

There was alot of smoke before you crashed and it looks like you lost traction from fluid spillage. Did your motor pop before the collision?

Good thing you're ok.. Cars can be replaced, lives can't. I've been there..

I tourched a piston and it pushed oil out of the breather tank.

I never watched the footage from all the crashes that night. That was one bad crash! glad that you're alright.

Thank you monkey bars your alive. I hate seeing peoples hard work trashed. Towards the end did your car flip?

good luck with the build mike

That looked like a wild ride for sure. Props on rebuilding it!

Glad you're ok and the car is repairable. I posted up about this yesterday on lsxracers.

thanks for the thread Mike! We just updated the site tonight with more pictures and builds.

http://midwestchassis.com/mike-brown-build.html

http://midwestchassis.com/current-projects.html

thanks for the thread Mike! We just updated the site tonight with more pictures and builds.

http://midwestchassis.com/mike-brown-build.html

http://midwestchassis.com/current-projects.html


I see pictures of mine in there :drive:

Your car is looking good too Mike.

Wow glad your Ok and the car can be fixed!!!. Run looks like my last pass but in fast forward and minus the role.

Im glad to see this monster will be back out there!

6 second passes coming soon....

nice!

I got a few more pics while out in the shop tonite & added to the site...
http://midwestchassis.com/mike-brown-build.html

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z262/Lil_Miss_Mustang/Heads/100_0323.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z262/Lil_Miss_Mustang/Heads/100_0300.jpg

Looking good again.

the hell? it looks like the wall launched you over? glad youre ok and that the car will be back

the hell? it looks like the wall launched you over? glad youre ok and that the car will be back
I actually didn't hit the right side wall. I will try to find the other video from farther down track. Thanks... Considering what the car looked like after the wreck. I'm very happy to have it out racing again early this year.

The car is nearing completion at Midwest Chassis. After fighting with the hood and front end alignment with parts from two different companies. One made for a pro car and one for a street car. :eek2: The front end looks awesome!:hail:
Next step will be working on the firewall to accept the sheetmetal intake being put on backwards.:devil:

Lookin good mike, best of luck with the new setup. How big was your old puke tank?

Glad to see it coming back to together, Mike. And that video is the reason I put a 4 quart overflow tank on my car, and a pump to keep it dry and all times... You just never know.

Thanks!
It was a 2.5qt puke tank. When the crankcase went to the same boost level as the intake. It wasn't enough...
I hope other people have seen what can happen and make changes to make there cars safer. But you just never know what can happen.
We did also add another safety measure to keep this from happening. We installed a hobbs switch on the valley cover. That is connected to ground and the ignition. So if pressure happens in the crankcase it kills the ignition.

Nice safety system with the Hobbs switch. Simple and effective.

Here's what I did. I have my turbo and all my breathers draining to this tank and the pump puts eveything back into the dry-sump tank. Testing everything next week.

http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss259/Dragzilla/Turbo%20LS%20Coupe/002-8.jpg

http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss259/Dragzilla/Turbo%20LS%20Coupe/001-10.jpg

Any idea what caused the piston damage?
I thought us nitrous guys were the only ones who burn up pistons?

Crazy wreck, good luck with the rebuild and racing this year.

LSmonster, Very nice setup. If you don't have a splitter in your Wilson elbow. You may want to have one added. This will help with cylinder equalization.

ATVracr, We had a bunch of correction in that cylinder and it looks like it wasn't enough. From what we can tell it got hot and a piece broke off. Then it just torched down the side of it.
Thanks. Well be back at MIR this year if all goes as planned. Keepn the sunny side up. :drive:

Quick note and a thanks to Kurt Urban. Incase anyone else tries the hobbs switch idea. You need to run a one way valve in front of the hobbs switch. So the motor can't refire once the crankcase pressure has dropped.

LSmonster, Very nice setup. If you don't have a splitter in your Wilson elbow. You may want to have one added. This will help with cylinder equalization.

ATVracr, We had a bunch of correction in that cylinder and it looks like it wasn't enough. From what we can tell it got hot and a piece broke off. Then it just torched down the side of it.
Thanks. Well be back at MIR this year if all goes as planned. Keepn the sunny side up. :drive:

Quick note and a thanks to Kurt Urban. Incase anyone else tries the hobbs switch idea. You need to run a one way valve in front of the hobbs switch. So the motor can't refire once the crankcase pressure has dropped.

The new manifold should help a bunch.

do you know about how many runs on those pistons before it did that?

are you staying the same exterior color?

i think i would have retired after that one,good luck with everything & the best of luck to you!

Look forward to seeing your car in Atlanta in June!

Was it #7 or a different cylinder that had issues?

LSmonster, Very nice setup. If you don't have a splitter in your Wilson elbow. You may want to have one added. This will help with cylinder equalization.

Yep, took care of that. Sent everything to Wilson and they hooked me up. And again, it is good to seeing you get everything going back together... I'm sure it will be better than ever.

http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss259/Dragzilla/Turbo%20LS%20Coupe/Elbow3.jpg

do you know about how many runs on those pistons before it did that?

are you staying the same exterior color?

i think i would have retired after that one,good luck with everything & the best of luck to you!
From the slips I could find. Near 30 1/4 mile and 25 1/8th mile passes. It only takes 1 to melt a piston tho.
The car will be the same color next year. With racing starting and the little time I have to get it done. It will be flat black and ugly all this year.
If I would have listened to my checkbook I would have retired. But racing and goin fast is worse then crack.
Pro Stock John
Was it #7 or a different cylinder that had issues?It was #5. My elbow came in from the passenger side of motor.
LSmonster
Yep, took care of that. Sent everything to Wilson and they hooked me up. And again, it is good to seeing you get everything going back together... I'm sure it will be better than ever.
That will help a ton. I didn't have that it in my elbow. Probably would have saved the piston and the car.
Thanks... It's gona be ugly this year. But it's already lighter and looking to be faster. I pick the car up on Monday. So there should be some new pics added soon.

Glad to see things are coming back together for you! Lets see some pictures sitting down on the ground again! Good luck and see you guys soon!