I Broke My Stick Shift 180 Degree Header Studebaker On The Very First Pass

Today we take the 1963 Studebaker Lark with 180 degree headers and L83 power to Beaver Springs Dragway to test out the new TKX Transmission. Things don't quite go to plan.
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[@chrisw5837]

Sounded violent and in slow motion it was very violent! Upgrades accomplished and hopefully you’re good to go.

[@herbiederby3394]

40 plus year wow....new found power has come a long way..... hilarious moment.....you broke my rearend....😆👍🙏

[@jord9308]

Good to see Andrew back in business

[@andrewnelson3733]

Thanks. I'm still limited to 3-1/2#. Working on range of motion. Soft process.

[@SloppyMechanics]

Ah yes. When you’re feeling good just head to the strip for some humble pie eh boi’s lol . Damnit lol

[@Calvin-Nelson]

Yep. One step forward, two steps back. Lol

[@robwigglezz944]

Those tires bounced like a basketball. Damn

[@bernardb8045]

AWESOME dump! I'm happy it wasn't the transmission also. 👍👍

[@Calvin-Nelson]

For real. We'll get it fixed.

[@fredbadgett7962]

It was 'murder the 10 bolts' at our track last night. Extra track prep for a big show resulted in 3 10 bolts towed back down the return going Ka-clunk-Ka-clunk-Ka-clunk.

[@russellbroadwell]

Clutch tamer is a great idea. I have one for the cable setup. You could also try slicks until you get the car sorted out. It takes time to go form zero to motion. Something has to spin or slip, otherwise something is going to break. Drag radials like to dead hook. If the clutch is not slipping something is twisting or breaking on a dead hook.

[@davebrown9725]

I really like how you have the welder mounted high on a wall, unique and out of the way. The quantity and quality of your welding is truley impressive. The 180 headers for the Stude def works of art for example.

[@Calvin-Nelson]

Thanks. We got the idea for the welder from NASCAR shops.

[@stuffandjunkandthings364]

Calvin done took up dentistry. lol That "Humble Bumble" is making a horrible rumble. In all seriousness, good job on the car, it sounds amazing, and I have no doubt you and your dad will get it ironed out. Keep up the good work.

[@stuffandjunkandthings364]

I am actually mid process of a diff swap myself, though my goals for my car are much... slower lol. Going from a 2.62 195mm rear to a 3.90 230mm on my Chrysler 300 V6 (trying to get it to run 14.0, aka fast enough for the slowest class at some of the drag and drives). Started pulling it apart last night, and after sitting and cooling off for 2hrs, the old diff was still too hot to touch (i'm guessing about 200 degrees, as i have blisters on my hands from where I tried)- I'm pretty sure that's a *bit* excessive.

[@Watchmedome3017]

You just two stepped and dumped the clutch like a mad man! 😂😂😂😂😂 you gotta slip the clutch some

[@Calvin-Nelson]

Yeah. A friend who has been stick shift racing for years told me that with the radials he normally just dumps the clutch at 5000 and lets the engine bog, and roar back to life. I thought I'd try 4000... Didn't go so well. Lol

[@Watchmedome3017]

@@Calvin-Nelson not trying to disrespect by the way I’m just poking fun. I drag race Hondas and I’ve destroyed axels and diffs left and right 😂 but that makes sense with an auto trans it’s done all the time to get that wheel speed up asap. But That track was TIGHT! That tire did not budge an inch!

[@AjGalloway95]

Oh no!!!

[@madmodsgarage1179]

After it broke, when U drove it slowly back, it sounded soooo much like a choo choo train, from the inside 😂 lol

[@ConemantheBarbarian]

Now that’s axle hop! Ouch! When you get that sorted that’ll be a beast

[@Dparsons116]

Maybe a clutch slipper is going to be in order sir .. try and slow up the clutch engagement on the take off

[@Calvin-Nelson]

That's what I teased at the end.

[@Dparsons116]

@Calvin-Nelson as a fwd car we use those to our advantage a lot your gonna love it dude

[@bradleypark1936]

You and your dad work well together. Best thing in the video. Cheers to both of you!

[@Calvin-Nelson]

Thank you very much!

[@hackjobhotrodshop5075]

Ooof, watching that carnage is Deja Vu for me. Been there, done that. I've detonated 2 8.5 differential carriers, snapped a factory 30 spline axle, twisted a moser 30 spline, twisted an offshore slip yoke, and bent my wheel studs on my 3700lb blown LS t56 G body. Literally the only thing I haven't broke is the 1 part you did (the ring gear). I ended up in a very similar situation you are going down, I ditched every piece of poly in the suspension as it was causing the rear end to shudder back and forth under launch relative to the chassis, I had to brace the torque boxes as there was evidence it was flexing and screwing up the IC, and I had to design my own slipper valve to get it to roll out of the beams smoothly and not shock the tire. I fought for 3 years breaking parts and having super inconsistent 60ft (bog, spin, boom!) until I got my slipper valve tuned in. Interesting to see how that clutch tamer works, I thought about it but passed as I understood it slows the speed you can push the pedal down when activated, had more leak paths than I wanted and relied on the timer when I wanted more pressure based tuning. My lesson, a 10 second NA or blower stick car takes the chassis tuning effort of an 8 second turbo auto car. Also, turning the 2 step off when the clutch apply pressure goes below a threshold really helps modulate the power and not blitz the clutch while it's slipping.

[@Calvin-Nelson]

Ouch. Hopefully, I don't have that in my future.

[@Anarchy-Is-Liberty]

Yep, as soon as I heard that, I knew it was rear end! Done that a couple times myself, so that's a pretty familiar sound. ha ha

[@harrysatin5110]

Let’s go!!! Calvin rippin it👍🏻

[@ericbengtson3490]

The slow motion sure was wild.

[@rajcam80]

Nice fab work! This car is going to be a beast!

[@fatbubba2097]

I'm hoping to build a stick car in the future, however this is the kind of thing that would probably happen to me lol. I wish you luck on your next pass!

[@TheBrokenLife]

I can't offer a ton of insight here, but LubeLocker gaskets are _well_ worth what they cost. Just watching you hammer than RTV'd on cover off was making me angry. 😂 I'm glad it wasn't the transmission too!

[@adamlambert3892]

Glad to see dad is doing good

[@Calvin-Nelson]

Me too

[@BigMikesHooptyBarn]

Well at least you weren't struck halfway down the track! Little wins!😁

[@Calvin-Nelson]

Yep. I was thinking the whole drive back. "I just don't want to push it". Lol

[@slow4door278]

A lot of vibration.. shook to the core 😂

[@danhard8440]

i don't think that launch was aggressive enough🤣

[@chriscabe1736]

Sounds great .. all trial and error on a new set up

[@dlewis9760]

Sounds like a steam train. All you needed was a steam whistle.

[@Shop209]

That thing sounds mean. With wheel hop like that there’s it’s easy to break pretty much any rear.

[@jakeeddy7050]

Good luck gentlemen I’m really pulling for ya

[@RyTrapp0]

Love me some stick shift drag racing - but man it can be rough and unforgiving LOL. Looking forward to seeing the use of that hydro ClutchTamer, I only have experience with the mechanical(pedal acting) one which has been great. But that hydraulic one really gets the gears turning in my head, and I immediately start thinking about how I can replace the electronic transition timer with ECU control instead, and what we can potentially do with more solenoids and ECU-based clutch tuning lol. Pretty unnecessary complication, but I've always thought that would be something that could be fun to try and develop, some sort of DIY ECU tunable clutch slip control. Probably wouldn't be able to enter into a lot of races lol, clutch guys especially are pretty hardcore traditionalists(and I'm sitting here wondering why I can't buy an off the shelf clutch controller kit with a brain box yet with programmable clutch release curves and such lol; where you at MSD, could be another cheap crappy red box to add to the lineup). Can't wait to see this build develop - love the car, love the combo, just totally cool top to bottom!

[@jeffheins6624]

Don't feel too bad, you're still ironing out the car issues. Crap happens. Great to see you both out and about again

[@e.v.a.l.s]

i dare you to go into detail about the secret projects, in the members only section. man those headers sound good

[@Calvin-Nelson]

Will do.

[@e.v.a.l.s]

savage! savage! savage! savage! savage!@@Calvin-Nelson

[@watsisbuttndo829]

Engine sounds mint.

[@AustinRBa]

On the bright side, your launch control recreated the drums from Hot for Teacher!

[@rdanielbyrd]

😂😂😂

[@wilsondriver654]

Nah hot for tracher drums are a big lumpy cam

[@marktilley388]

wow just rewatched the slow mo that hit so hard the wheel bounced. I mean there is tire shake and then theres tire shake😮

[@Calvin-Nelson]

Yep! Funny thing is, it didn't really feel that violent in the car. Lol

[@douchedidit9222]

Better breaking testing than in a race

[@edmundnlemadim8480]

It’s not the trans, the TKX is fine. That’s twisted shaft or ring gear blew apart in the rear. Did the same shit almost identically in my 2003 cobra back in 2012. Thought I blew the T56; had ran a 11.88 @ 120.5 and my best was 11.6 @ 118.8… wanted to up the rpm and ended up doing what looked like a G body shuffle side to side on a 13.7 @ 111 pass, letting out at top of 3rd because it was STUPID sketchy. Dropped the pumpkin 1 week later to find it full of metal shavings and a 3.55 gear in 3 pieces. Spiders, ring bearing, front and rear pinion bearing were pitted too. 1300 bucks later, newly rebuilt IRS center section with carbon clutch Eaton diff lol. I don’t miss stick shift racing. Regular racing can be a money pit. Stick shift just guarantees that you’re gonna light money up in a blaze 🤣

[@edmundnlemadim8480]

Oops that’s what I get commenting 3:45 seconds into a 16 minute video. I see you found the problem 🤣

[@damianlindsey6177]

​@@edmundnlemadim8480I put a 400 with a transbrake in my termi before it got wadded up by a girl texting and running a stop sign. Took the drivetrain out and put into a 83 Ford ranger with a built explorer 8.8 and put 5 passes on it before going back to a stick. I have a slipper set up and it's been good for 3 seasons without so much as a broken u joint. It also helps the truck is only 2400 with me in it. Solid axle for the win. Everyone I know that still has a Cobra went solid axle for durability

[@MrBigR928]

Phew, just the rear end 👍🏿

[@JimBosGarage49]

I love this car. It is awesome no matter what engine you put in it.

[@Calvin-Nelson]

Thanks man!

[@ArthurSperotto]

Maaan you're crazy for dumping the clutch like that! Lol Gotta slip that thang! Only stick cars I see dumping like that and surviving have 6 figures worth of pro level drivetrain. In my experience you'll get a better 60' slipping it anyway. Magnus motorsports sells a killer adjustable slipper. Edit: just finished watching the video, glad you made the choices you made :)

[@Calvin-Nelson]

Yeah. I was given bad advice on the clutch dump. Lol. I already have a clutch tamer installed in the car. Should help a bit.

[@atsidis]

Need some IHOP pancakes for that hop

[@marktilley388]

Sorry but first thing I thought was drive shaft or rearend. Then when you pulled away after the timing shack I was sure it was rearend. Ask me how I know lol. Anyway sorry about the rear explosion. I can't wait to see you out there soon. Good seeing Andy back to working in the shop,

[@davebrown9725]

Yes, I recognized the blown diff sound from an ex's TR7.

[@fredbadgett7962]

Interested in the function of the clutch tamer.We raced a VW turbo nitrous car years ago.A home made clutch timer was rigged up, it was on a timer to bypass 2 seconds after the clutch was dumped, so it worked on launch and second gear. An old nitrous controller was the timer. It worked nice, improved 60 ft. times and was easy on the transaxle.

[@michaelblacktree]

You can google it. But it basically slips the clutch (to reduce shock loading).

[@fredbadgett7962]

@@michaelblacktree ?

[@CrazyQbin]

Holy shit man that thing did a bunny hop. What testing is for. Head up thanks for sharing

[@lowbornfabrication]

As a journeyman pipe smith, I cringed at no pipe wrap, no porta-band. Great build gentleman! Love garage fab-mechanics.🏁🇺🇸

[@Calvin-Nelson]

I can literally touch the master cylinder immediately after a long street drive in traffic with the hood on. Stainless has a quarter the thermal conductivity of mild steel. Header wrap is not needed.

[@lowbornfabrication]

@@Calvin-Nelson i was referring to the axle housing fab. Grinder on axle housing vs. pipe wrap( pipefitters friend) and portable bandsaw. Obviously you guys have done your method more than once and know the tolerances you need for axle build. Just never seen that…

[@michiganmotorsports]

I mean, at least you know you have enough traction.

[@J-Whit]

That is unfortunate, But the 8.8 is going to be better in the long run imo.

[@randy6350]

Ok great! I’m also very glad it wasn’t the TKX! As I’m using the same trans. in an LS swap I’m having done in Sunset TX. Sadly we been looking for a fabricator / welder to weld mandrel 304 SS exhaust system in a climate controlled garage w/ two post lift for the LS swap. If it looks half as good as yours I’ll be aesthetic‼

[@hondatech5000]

I like those valves for clutch cars maybe put loop a solenoid in there 🤔

[@Calvin-Nelson]

It has a solenoid. I'll explain more in a future video.

[@davidanderson2393]

A housing brace may be in order to try and limit ring gear deflection and rear cover support for main caps.

[@lonzeigler5432]

I sure do miss that view not your car being broken the driveway have to see it again someday

[@64Pete]

Burnout was on point though 💪✌🇦🇺

[@GrandPitoVic]

It looks like every time the tire hooked up snapped teeth. That was violent lol.

[@Calvin-Nelson]

That was my thought too. Lol. Bang!

[@GrandPitoVic]

I saw that almost touch the ground and started dry hopping, I was like that just broke lol. Bang bang bang pop click click click lol

[@GrandPitoVic]

Touch luck Niv.

[@normansanchez8730]

Nice tig skills 😎 4000 RPM clutch dump 😂

[@michaelblacktree]

On the plus side, the engine sounds great! I was going to suggest a clutch delay valve, but looks like you got it covered. The torque arm is a great idea, as well.

[@my357mags]

If the rear diff was as strong as the silicone holding the diff cover on you would of been just fine! 👍

[@davebrown9725]

I sure would have swapped places and pried the diff cover from the other side to keep from warping it. Strong RTV!

[@MJPilote]

I would have made a jig to hold the flanges and get them exactly like they where. But if it works then it works.

[@Calvin-Nelson]

Yeah. We just used our alignment jig for building rears.

[@douchedidit9222]

U gonna need a billy badass slipper clutch cause dumping like that with good prep is gonna break stuff

[@douchedidit9222]

That wheel hop didn’t help either

[@Calvin-Nelson]

It's coming very soon.

[@BEANS-O-MATICtransmissions]

Unless you cut the square lugs off the bottom of the housing, that's an 8.2" rear. Also, street gears aren't rated for shock loads as much as drag gears, they're softer and don't shatter as easily. You may want to consider that on the 8.8 This isn't "usually" a problem with auto's, even with a trans brake, although it can happen. I was gonna suggest the clutch tamer as well but you're already on it !👍

[@Calvin-Nelson]

We did cut the lugs off the bottom. Also they were brand new Richmond gears

[@BEANS-O-MATICtransmissions]

​@Calvin-Nelson but were they drag gears? There's a difference.

[@86boostdcapri]

Man the tire hop😂 next time you hear something like that you should definitely pull over to at least make sure your not puking oil everywhere..

[@Calvin-Nelson]

Yeah. I checked the rear view mirror. I could clearly see there wasn't anything leaking, so I kept going.

[@86boostdcapri]

@Calvin-Nelson Gotcha, good luck and have fun! Your car will thank you for the clutch tamer 😆

[@timothydurm4366]

Look into a bangshift billy. It will smooth out that launch.

[@Calvin-Nelson]

The clutch tamer that I teased at the end of the video is better.

[@thatdudeinorange5269]

Aint nothing like the safety squint @10:37 😅

[@thomasward4505]

I was pretty sure it was the rear end by the speed at which it made the noise, about equal with one tire Revolution

[@hemibreath]

At least it sounds COOL 😎

[@tptrsn]

Watching that pass made me want to never have another manual transmission car (and sell the one I have, Lol).

[@Calvin-Nelson]

They're hard on stuff and a lot more expensive, but I'm sure it will be rewarding when it is all said and done.

[@tptrsn]

@@Calvin-Nelson If you persevere enough to really get it ironed out with the clutch delay valve and/or slipper clutch, I believe you're right! But man, that's beyond my wanting to work and spend level. Lol...

[@CapablePimento]

Calvin, would you mind giving a brief description of what method you used to sleeve the axle tubes and keep them straight? I need to do this soon and I don’t know yet how to pull it off. Thanks.

[@Calvin-Nelson]

We used a heavy steel bar to keep it all aligned with pucks on the housing ends and the bearings.

[@nspadoni1]

Nothing sounds the same as an exploded rear axle

[@bigfoot355]

Your dad looks a lot better!

[@user-rq5kv7xz6i]

Just an unsolicited suggestion.....lose the earplugs when you're cutting stuff and use good earmuffs. I didn't when building my car. Now I have as much invested in my ears as you have in your transmission......love the new setup BTW.........regards, Warren.

[@icetech6]

Found the weak point :) BTW.. if you ever do another car you should do a video on how you do your front end alignments..

[@BadAttitudeC-10]

Dang Calvin, I bet that rattled your teeth.

[@Calvin-Nelson]

Actually it didn't feel so bad in the driver's seat. Lol.

[@dmdhl7]

Hey Calvin, I was wondering where you got that jig to keep the axle housing in line with the axle for shortening. I'm looking at shortening an 8.75 here soon and am worried about the axle tube warping with the heat.

[@Calvin-Nelson]

I think my Dad made it. Main thing is a solid steel bar. The pucks are pretty easy to machine from that point.

[@tptrsn]

Two questions Calvin: 1) How do you like the view out of that Jackson welding face shield setup? (and anything else about it that you feel merits a comment) 2) Why did you decide to run radials on a manual trans setup?

[@Calvin-Nelson]

1) I like it a lot. I've pretty much stopped using my regular welding mask. 2) I chose radials because that is what the car was setup with.

[@tptrsn]

@@Calvin-Nelson Thanks for the review on the welding mask! And with the torque arm/anti-wrap bar, do you think you can switch over to slicks since it should have a bit less anti-squat?

[@jimbailey7997]

👍

[@randy6350]

Just an FYI, Rob Dahm was showing a part that slowly or should I let’s out the clutch just a little slower on the initial drop of the clutch. (As it’s supposed to be able to launch vehicles) He was doing a Hellcat swap into his girlfriend new old car. It looked really interesting…

[@Calvin-Nelson]

Yeah. Not a huge fan of the system he is running. Really hard to cut a light with that.

[@randy6350]

@@Calvin-Nelson Ok, just thought you might want to check it out. Didn’t know you knew about it. Could launch on the last yellow? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@Calvin-Nelson]

@@randy6350 I'm a big fan of Rob. I watch every video. His solution is just not as good as mine (in my opinion). I'll explain more in a future video.

[@shadowopsairman1583]

Tire hop

[@geniferteal4178]

I'm surprised you drove it back to the pits without looking underneath first. Then you put it right on the trailer and didn't look at it. Till you got home kinda surprising too but I get it. What could you really do at the track?

[@Calvin-Nelson]

I made sure it wasn't putting fluid down or making smoke, otherwise I would have stopped. I knew it was broken bad. No need to roll around in the grass to see what was wrong. We did jack it up in the trailer to do minor inspection, but much easier on the lift.

[@oldsguy49]

I know you get a lot of suggestion but you need to find a way to get your 2 step and line lock hooked directly to clutch. It can be done I know because I did it. I ran stick shift cars for years. You' gonna break a lot of stuff so get used to that. There ain't notthin better though.

[@Calvin-Nelson]

Well the two step is tied to the clutch pedal. The line lock is tied to a button on the shifter.

[@Skwisgar2322]

So, you busted your rear-end in beaver.

[@xozindustries7451]

I noticed the leaf spring pads on the rear end are taller than normal, isn’t that going to put more leverage on the rear springs and making wheel hop much worse? I realize that you are probably doing it to lower the car, but can’t you take some arch out of the springs to lower it down?

[@Calvin-Nelson]

Yeah. Probably so. Torque arm will solve it

[@creeksidegarage852]

I believe I was there the same day and tore out 2nd in my C4. I was in the grey fox body mustang parked across from you I believe.

[@Calvin-Nelson]

Ok. Nice. Can't say I remember, but you'll have to come say hi next time.

[@creeksidegarage852]

@@Calvin-Nelson Told my wife I had to speak with you guys when I saw the stude in the trailer..but just never got there. I did make my best pass ever on my first run..but like you it was an early day for me also. Subscribed and hope to bump into you guys...although it doesn't look like I'm going to pull it together before the end of the season.

[@Calvin-Nelson]

@@creeksidegarage852 That stinks... Congrats on the PB though

[@cunderthunt]

How’s Beaver Springs T&T?? Can you still run round Robin as much as you want??

[@Calvin-Nelson]

Yep. It's awesome up there. Obviously you can see the prep is on point. Lol

[@-_____-]

Is the TKX a dogleg trans? It looks like you're launching from 2nd gear

[@Calvin-Nelson]

I did my burnout in 2nd. It's just a regular TKX with synchros.

[@young11984]

Im here to say, when i heard that 2 step i said….damn that sounds good for now… then it broke lol. You are correct about a manual transmission though, i broke more parts in 15 days with a manual in my car than i did in the 12yrs of an auto plus the auto was faster but didnt have that OD lol

[@Calvin-Nelson]

Yeah. A friend of ours says he leaves at 5000 with a radial and just dumps the clutch. So I thought I'd try 4000. Lol. Hindsight is 20/20

[@young11984]

@@Calvin-Nelson was that a 12bolt? All my gear jammer buddies either leave below 4k or above 7k so its well out of the torque range, only 1 has a slipper set up on the peddle. Its called a bang something

[@Calvin-Nelson]

@@young11984 it was a 8.5 inch 10 bolt that was fully built. He probably has a Bangshift Billy. I'm planning on something similar

[@young11984]

@@Calvin-Nelson yep Bangshift Billy is it, i broke an 8.8 housing from left axle tube to the pinion with a T5 leaving at 4k without a 2 step but it moved about 10’ then shook the tires. Even shook the mirror puck out the windshield sending it into the back window tray, i was just glad that was all that broke….it was violent as hell and couldnt see kind of like being in a paint shaker 😂

[@Calvin-Nelson]

@@young11984 When not breaking absolutely everything in the car makes you happy, you might be a stick shift guy... See, I'm learning!

[@mbenjamin9248]

How do you like having the spool on the street?

[@Calvin-Nelson]

It's not bad at all.

[@bloatedgoatfpv]

So how are you not getting cooked TIG welding in short sleeves? I was always told that's a no no.

[@600wheel]

Ford 8.8 Edit: 30 seconds later your old man says 8.8😂

[@stevec5280]

"Design a point of failure. If you don't, the system will assign one for you." Unknown Just sayin 😜

[@chadanderson2086]

I install a bunch of 5.3 motors I have been wanting to do a 4.2 but I can't seem to find the harness for it I've tried to use the stock harness but it seems to be different than the way the 53 harness works can you please give me any tips

[@Calvin-Nelson]

You should be able to do it just like a 5.3 harness. Only minor trouble will be the E-throttle. Pink wires go to ignition. Lol