Thread: A blast of the Northwind.....

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I agree with the fact they know what they hqve Thats why you dont see many for sale

Got another installment in the email box tonight, so here it is, unedited again, just as I received it. I presume it's the same author, not sure about parts 2 & 3. BTW, this was written before Dave (Nitro) talked to Jack Coonrod who's doing the restoration, so there may be some historical perspective in the next installment based on Dave's experience with the car.

NORTHWIND PROJECT: Part 4

Since the last episode of the Northwind Project, Team Northwind has been continuing to gather the rare parts needed to bring this fuel dragster back to life. The chassis is all complete and refurbished, awaiting the completion of the rear and front axles. It’s time now to move on to the powerful Chrysler power plant. First a little history about the motor designer and builder, Jim Albrich.

Jim Albrich and Jack Coonrod hooked up together back in 1961 with a partnership on an
A/SR ’27 Ford T Touring. The beautiful yellow machine sported a 354 Chrysler with a
huge 5/8” stroker owned by Larry Nicholson. Jack was to drive the car and Jim was to tune this huge motor. The pair had quick success back then running a new NHRA National Record for street roadsters at 134.55 mph at the old McMinnville, Oregon
drag strip. It was quite apparent that Jim Albrich knew and understood these hemi motors
way back in the early 60’s.

After a year in top fuel with Jack Coonrod and the original Northwind in 1962 and then with Mike Grimm through 1964, Jim hooked up with Ed McCulloch as they assembled the beautiful gold-flaked magicar built by Kent Fuller. For this cutting edge race car,
Jim chose a 392 Chrysler bored .030 over to equal 396 cubic inches. He used a set of modified 426 hemi rods re-machined to accept the smaller 392 wrist pins.After he designed and built the original set of short rods, he had Mickey Thompson build
additional sets. One of the keys to the huge power of the Jim Albrich-tuned Chrysler was the needle bearing Crower DG205 camshaft. DG205 stood for Don Garlits 205 mph which was one of the fastest speeds of that time period. A secret, known to very few, was Jim Albrich installed the camshaft 13 degrees retarded which helped cool the combustion chambers and piston tops allowing for more power. In May of 1965, the Northwind ran
206.xx mph at Woodburn Drag Strip setting the stage for the “Sneaky” Pete Robinson
Showdown for the Drag News number one spot in the nation, later that summer. Jim utilized the Tony Cirello magneto running the motor between 32 and 40 degrees advance
depending on track conditions.

The steel cylinder heads were provided by Mondello with Earl Floyd doing the valve and porting work Two inch Donovan stainless valves and exhaust rockers completed the heads. Always concerned about being précised, Jim built his own fixture to correct the
intake and exhaust rocker arm pad center points so that all valves would open the same amount. The shorter rods caused additional loads on the pistons so Jim used 70w racing oil to assist with the extreme piston skirt load. Milodon had a main cap support that Jim used to keeping the bottom end together but over the years changed to the aluminum spread bolt main caps.

Back in those days, it took a smart motor man to run the big numbers of that day. It was trial and error and build your own parts as the engine builders fought for more horsepower to compete against the challengers. With each advancement in these high powered motors something would fail somewhere else and new stronger pieces would be needed. The sport required continual advancement, stretching all the parts to the limit. If you wanted to run with the best you had to continue experimenting with new items that you produce yourself. And of course, you would do it secretly. After all, it was all about beating the guy in the other lane at his own game…..and then continuing to do it over the years.

Jim Albrich, Earl Floyd and Jack Coonrod spend many afternoons at the shop putting together the Northwind motor. It was a time of bonding with old pals and not exactly
a 90 minute motor fix as you see on television with modern era drag racing. A couple of these guys have reached the 70 mark for age and so things move at a little slower pace
than in years previous. Nonetheless, the motor is complete and ready to slip between the
frame rails as the project continues forward. The powerful Chrysler motor built and tuned by Jim Albrich back in the 60’s will once again be cackling soon. We can all hardly wait!

No doubt, the biggest headache in this whole rebuild job is to replace the over-the-rollbar
tail section. As near as anyone can tell that part of the body never made it past the early 70’s. Full bodied dragsters weren’t the rage when the 70’s rolled around so a lot of those
beautiful tail sections were hauled off to the dump. But the plan has always been to return
this 1965 Northwind to its’ original condition. The handmade piece was one of a kind and
there was a completely different roll cage on the car when it was found in early 2006. How in the world do you begin this project and who has the skills to make it all look like it did way back then?

There is several fabricators around the Northwest. Finding the guy with a long background around hot rods and race cars and has the time to do this project and, of
course will take it easy on the price, isn’t exactly easy to come by. Jack interviewed a group of them as he attempted to find the right guy to fill the need. Bingo! Dale Withers
of Estacada, Oregon has been working on hot rods and race cars for over 42 years. He has won many awards for his fabricating and expert painting and all he works on is special
interest cars. Dale said that he would do the tail section and other tin work as a side job
so that he could charge a lesser amount. Of course that would take more time but it is in the middle of winter and Dale feels that he can get the job finished in the not too distant
future. Wow! It is people like this that are allowing this car to come back together again.
Dale understands going into this project the significance of this car returning so that Ed
McCulloch can fire it up at one of the National events sites and that this car has to be
right and original from one end to the other.

A few months ago Dale got started and it was flat amazing watching his approach to
duplicating the old tail section. He built a plywood “plug” with many pieces of ¾ inch
plywood as a template to wrap the aluminum around. Then the plug was mounted on a
motor stand with wheels so that the template could be moved around easily. Once again,
a craftsman has stepped forward to help launch the Northwind and support the cause.
With each hurdle Team Northwind goes over you can just about hear the cackle from that
Jim Albrich Chrysler,,,,,,,,,,it’s coming soon.

Part 5

In the next episode of the NORTHWIND PROJECT the tin work should be getting
finalized and the whole thing will be heading to the paint shop. An open trailer like those
back in the 60’s is in the works as this whole project heads towards the finish line.

Keep them coming Bob this is history in the making
Thanks Charlie

For those who have been keeping track here's the 5th edition of the story. The completion is in sight!
http://competitionplus.com/index.php...iew&id=2320&It