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Next up for the driveline was the transmission choice. Without a doubt the powerglide is the "weapon of choice" in a dragster. There are literally dozens of builders out there that can build a quality piece. I decided to call Mike's Transmission in Lancaster, California. He is a tech editor with DRO and the reputation of his Ultimate 'Glide is beyond reproach. He told me he knew exactly what I needed and he would get on it right away. Because of the Dragstar 4-Link set-up and the amount of rear suspension movement I need a different style of shorty kit. Hughes Performance makes exactly what I needed. It is a 2-inch "extended shorty" with billet planetary, gears and output shaft. It isn't cheap, but how much would it cost to break a stock 1.76 gear set and over rev the race engine I just bought? A top quality gear set is "engine insurance" in its simplest form.
Now that I had my transmission I had to decide on a shifter. Again there are a lot of nice ones out there but I went with MRE's Quarter-Pro. All billet construction and it comes 100% ready. It has the CO-2 solenoid, cylinder and neutral safety switch included. The Quarter-Pro shifter also comes with a special "floor mount" for you door-slammer racers. The next issue will deal with fuel system choices, carburetors, torque converter choices and some photos of our finished car at the track for the first time. We will be updating about every two weeks from now on, so stay tuned as we "get going" for the 2001 season. Special thanks to our marketing partners who have helped get this dragster on the track so quickly: Indy Cylinder Head for MUCHO POWER, Mikes Transmissions, Hughes Perfomance, DragTarp (you'll see why I really appreciated their support in two weeks), Hoosier Tire, Bogart Racing Wheels, Flash Back Racing for the Synergyn Oils, F.A.S.T. for the Bell Helmet and fresh air system, Auto Meter, LO-KO Coatings, Dyna-Tech Exhaust Systems, Dragstar Chassis, Barry Grant Fuel Sytems, Demon Carburetors, Strange Engineering, RCI Safety Products, Moroso Products, DragRacingOnline.com for letting me into their magazine and my wife for letting me spend the time and money needed to complete a first class race car. See ya in two weeks or at the strip!
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I
received the transmission completely assembled with the J-W Ultra-Bell,
deep aluminum pan all sitting on a nice shipping crate. Mike even put
a case of his racing transmission fluid on the pallet (Thanks Mike!)
