Thanks to the Redline Rebuild team at Hagerty, we’ve got a detailed look inside a current Top Fuel engine in all its nitro-burning, 11,000 horsepower glory. Check this out.
We’re admirers of Hagerty, the collector car insurance people. They’ve got community engagement nailed, from their excellent car magazine Hagerty to their Redline Rebuild series, where they use time-lapse photography to chronicle overhauls of classic engines including the Ford V8 (we covered that here) and the early Chrysler 331 Hemi (and here). Now they’ve topped themselves, if you will, with a time-lapse rebuild of a nitro-burning, 11,000-hp Top Fuel engine from Don Schumacher Racing, one of the leading teams in drag racing. And for your viewing convenience, they’ve condensed the process down to an info-packed seven minutes. Wow.
While modern Top Fuel engines are loosely based on the Chrysler 426 Hemi, the hardware has since departed a far distance from the original 1964 production V8, and good looks inside these exotic beasts are rare. In the video, take note of
+ The custom cylinder block, a high-density aluminum forging machined over 100 percent of its exterior on a 5-axis CNC machine.
+ The billet cylinder heads with two built-in fuel injector nozzles per cylinder, part of a high-volume fuel delivery setup that includes dozens of injector nozzles located throughout the induction system. A Top Fuel engine consumes more than a gallon of nitromethane per second.
+ The mammoth 14-71 series Roots blower with twisted, three-lobe impellers and Teflon sealing strips for maximum efficiency.
+ The sorely abused forged aluminum pistons, coated all over, deck and skirts, with a special thermal and anti-friction barrier to help them survive their impossibly violent surroundings—for a few seconds at least.
+ The twin MSD electronic magnetos, which pump out 44 amperes of electrical current. Each.
Indeed, there’s a lot to see packed onto these seven minutes if you’re paying attention. Watch this.
Interesting that they have the top of the blower blurred out.
Good eye. Around ten years ago at Hot Rod I did a story on Top Fuel engines with another major team, and they asked me not to show the same area.
And for the ‘modern’ people it is a two valve pushrod engine. Based on a 1964 design engine. Which itself was based on a 1954 engine!
And just think how much more HP you could get with a DOHC variable valve timing “COMPOUND HEMI” they are using in production vehicles today. And why are they not??? Because the rules say they can’t!! Nothing to do with how good the old technology is.
Top fuel dragster engines , to me, represent the epitome of what can be done with a piston engine. Funny, a few years ago, hp ratings were 8,000hp, then, 8-10,000hp, then, 10,000, and now 11,000. Truth is, they don’t run long enough to give an accurate reading. A top fuel motor runs for a total of about 90 seconds, including warm up (in the pits), burnout, and run. They are rebuilt after every run.( rebuilt heads, pistons, rods, bearings, and rebuilt blower,,,EVERY RUN, if it doesn’t blow, that is) At night, you can see pieces of the motor as it disintegrates, called “sparklers”. And the flames you see coming out the exhaust, it’s so hot it’s actually the hydrogen in the air burning. It costs about $25,000 for every rebuild, if it doesn’t blow sky high, when it does, cost for a new engine is almost $100g’s. They start them on alcohol, and switch to nitro before the run. It they started it on nitro, it would blow the heads off. And I haven’t even mentioned the clutch to get that power to the ground. Incredible machines.If this post interested you, you simply must see them in action. You can watch them rebuild the motors, but be advised. You’ll need earplugs, the noise is shattering, when they warm them up, and blip the throttle, it blew the sunglasses off my head, and the fumes, I can stand them for about 15 seconds, then I have to run. Incredible machines. Thanks for featuring this.
the craziest, most exciting form of motorsports left.