Starting A Supercharged Engine

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Rapid Randy Baker
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Starting A Supercharged Engine

Postby Rapid Randy Baker » Thu Nov 23, 2006 1:52 am

Eric, WildDriver, and I have been discussing the dangers of starting a Supercharged Engine. There are a lot of new guys who are getting into the Supercharged cars, either with Alky or Nitro. We thought maybe would should discuss some ideas that might help others out.

Now what I am going to describe is the method we use. This doesn't mean our way is correct, or even best. It is just the way we do it. :D

We have 3-of us involved in starting the car. We each have a job to do, and we do it the same way each time. The first thing to do is make sure the car is in neutral. Double check this each time. I make sure it is in neutral, Scott always asks, and Pappy often times sticks his head into look also. I can't stress enough, this is one of the biggest things that go wrong is starting the car with it in gear. Someone WILL get hurt if this happens and the car leaps ahead.

The next thing is to make sure the driver has his foot, or hand if it is a hand brake car, holding the pedal/handle with plenty of brake pressure to hold the car if it does try to lunge forward or backward, due to being in gear. When I get into a car, the VERY FIRST thing I do is pump the brakes a couple of times, and hold the pressure tight so the car can not move.

The power is turned on, fire bottle pins pulled, chutes armed and ready. You want to have the car ready to make a run when you are ready to start it. You should always have a fire extinguisher near by when starting the car. No matter where you are starting it, in the pits, the raceshop, or on the starting line. Have your own, don't depend on the track as you may not know where theirs is.

In our method, 1-person is in charge of making sure everybody is in position and ready. I am that person. I make sure the car is in neutral, the fuel pump lever is pulled to full on. Pappy already has the starter attached to the car and plugged in. Scott has the ground wire connected to the coil. When this wire is pulled the mag can fire the engine. Most of the cars run a mag, so the starter is engaged to get it spinning, then a switch is thrown, or the wire pulled, to make it come to life.

When I have checked everything over, and Pappy and Scott are in place, I push harder on the brake, notice a trend here, and open the throttle blades. Now it is imperative that the starter trigger man not jump the gun with the throttle in any position by closed! Listen for the blades to "Snap Shut" that way you know they are closed and the car will start at an idle. Scott gives the engine a nice long drink. Some people use Alky, some use straight gas. We have good luck with Alky unless it is under 50-degrees or so. Then we switch to straight gas as it lights easier. You need to give it enough fuel to fire on, but not too much to flood it. It has to have plenty of fuel in there so it doesn't backfire the supercharger by being too lean. We make it a point to let Scott know if the main pill has been changed or the barrel valve was leaked in the pits. This tells him he will need to give it more fuel prime as the system lines will be empty. If you haven't had the fuel system apart, it takes less of a shot of fuel to start.

I check to make sure Scott is ready, then look directly at Pappy, and nod my OK to fire it up. He hits the starter, the engine spins quickly with no ignition lead against it.

Scott lets the engine spin freely for a few seconds also giving the fuel pump a head start on priming itself. When he jerks the wire off the coil, the car explodes into life. To keep it running, Scott uses the primer bottle and feeds the fuel to the car thru the injector butterflys. This keeps the engine running until it can suck the fuel from the main tank and run on its own fuel. You will hear the tone change and the idle drop when it is feeding itself.

After it fires up, Pappy removes the starter from the supercharger, and hands it off to be loaded in the back of the truck. Scott steps away from the car once it is running on its own. When the guys are clear, with my foot still on the brake, I put it into gear and head for the water-box.

I have been ready to start the car and found it in gear on 2-3 occasions.. You can not check for neutral enough times. You must have the brake applied. One time, even with all our checking, the car fired in forward gear. As I had my foot hard on the brake, the car didn't move 3-inches. It would have been a bad deal if not for the brakes being applied. This is a dangerous time to be in front of the car.

Always have 1-person be "The Guy/Girl" who makes the call it is time to fire it off. Nobody else can signal, just the 1-person. Always try to have the same people in the same place doing the same job when you are starting your car.

It is pretty late, so I know there is more ground to cover. I hope some of the others on the board will chime in with their experiences also.

I hope this helps keep someone from getting hurt! :shock:

Rapid
Last edited by Rapid Randy Baker on Thu Nov 23, 2006 10:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Barb
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Postby Barb » Thu Nov 23, 2006 3:19 am

Great post Randy. You can't ever turn your back on these beasts .. it'll bite ya.

Like you and your crew, we did the same procedures each and every time we went to the starting line. With some minor exceptions .. firing a fuel car is no different.

Unfortunately, I have witnessed several accidents that could have been adverted. Think back a few years around this time and we lost Herb Parks in a freek accident at Bradenton. Same with Tony's incident at Indy.

One must always pay attention .. not only on the starting line but also the pits. SAFETY should always be first.

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Solid Rock
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Postby Solid Rock » Thu Nov 23, 2006 7:57 am

Good post Randy. We to have a certain procedure we follow, with the main objective being the safety of everyone concerned.

With the automatic trans there are always at least 2 people who ask to make sure it is in park.
I have seen these things leap forward too many times when starting with the injuries being anywhere between superficial to very, very serious.

BTW, Foot Brake???????? Does that thing have doors too?????????

Rocky [in Rockdale] Not able to resist a chance to bust Rapid's chops!!! :D

Happy turkey day Rapid and everyone else!!!

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Rapid Randy Baker
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Postby Rapid Randy Baker » Thu Nov 23, 2006 10:08 am

Thanks for the responses!! 8)

Well, would you look at that, the "OLD GUY" Rocky firing shots over the bow of the Good Ship Rapid :wink: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

If anyone has anything to add, please put it out there. Like it has been mentioned. When these things fire up, if not kept in check they leap forward or backward and good people can get hurt.

Another thing, in my opinion, the driver should be the one opening the throttle and closing the throttle before the car if fired. How many times have you watched the guy with the starter bottle, open the blades, squirt fuel in, then someone starts the engine with the guy's hand on the throttle linkage. Now if the car is in gear and makes a move, the guys hand is going to open the throttle as he pushes away from the car. :roll:

It is the little things that bite the hardest! :shock:

This isn't a lecture thread. I would like to hear any other teams ideas so we all end up with the best method possible. 8)
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Bob Kraemer
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Postby Bob Kraemer » Thu Nov 23, 2006 11:04 am

The way I had our car set up is 2 people to start. I would look around to make sure everyone was ready, I would then tell the driver clutch in, then I open the injector & squirt the fuel in then close it. Then another quick check around then I say OK here we go, I would squirt the fuel & hit the starter button & would say OK for the other person to pull the ground wire off. After the car was started I would walk around the car making sure everything was OK no leaks etc! only then would I wave the driver forward to begin the burnout. The reason I set the car up for only 2 people needed to start is because that way I had more control over the start up routine & if anything went wrong I had only myself to blame.
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SLICK VIC
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Postby SLICK VIC » Thu Nov 23, 2006 11:48 am

GOOD INFO ON THE STARTING OF A BLOWN CAR.
PRETTY STANDARD OPERATING PRECEDURE, BUT
WITH ONE EXCEPTION TO THE CAVE DWELLARS........
DONT FORGET TO PUT THE BODY DOWN,.... AND WHEN
LOWERING IT DOWN, BE VERY
CAREFULL AS IT PASSES BY THE INJECTER HAT
AND THROTTLE LINKAGE.
NO PREMATURE BLURPING NEEDED.
AND MAKE SURE THE BODY LATCHES SECURELY
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SMOLDERY SMOKEY BURNOUTS TO YOU ALL

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Rapid Randy Baker
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Postby Rapid Randy Baker » Thu Nov 23, 2006 1:58 pm

Hey Vic,

How about some stuff on starting a Nitro N/A engine like your A-fueler. I would like to know that.

Tell me about how you hook the Alky bottle up, and make it feed, until you switch over to the Yellow Cloud of Nector! :wink:
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jim sanders
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Postby jim sanders » Thu Nov 23, 2006 2:24 pm

8) GREAT THREAD !! yep safety first !! i've seen some stupid stuff happen to others and made a couple mistakes myself including starting my old heap in gear while it was on the trailer inside the shop... a few of us were having some tin1s and one dudes girlfriend wanted to hear it, so taking an oppertunity to impress his chick (and take her away :twisted: ) i gave it a squirt, hit the crank push button then flipped the mag kill and it fired and tried to move... lucky the body was off and the chassis was still strapped to the trailer as i wasn't even sitting in it.. just standing on the trailer along side :roll:
GOOD TO GO !!
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Wild Driver
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Postby Wild Driver » Thu Nov 23, 2006 7:37 pm

Great stuff guys, it has already got me to thinking about making some adjustments in what we do. Thanks! - Eric

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WildcatOne
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Postby WildcatOne » Thu Nov 23, 2006 9:19 pm

Excellent thread...Rapid's opening post is worthy of being published, in my opinion. It's as informative as it is conscientious. That was an accurate description in what I believe to be an inspired context. I was standing right there while it was happening. Great, man. WC1
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