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 complete and refurbished, awaiting the completion of the front and rear axles, so now it’s on to the powerful Chrysler power plant.

But first, a little history about the motor’s designer and builder, Jim Albrich.

Albrich and Jack Coonrod hooked up back in 1961 with a partnership on an

A/SR 1927 Ford T Touring. The beautiful yellow machine sported a 354-inch Chrysler with a huge 5/8” stroker. Jack was to drive the car and Jim was to tune the huge motor. The pair had immediate success, setting a new NHRA national record for street roadsters at 134.55 mph at the old McMinnville, Oregon, track.  It was quite apparent that Albrich knew and understood Hemi motors way back in the early 1960s.

 

 

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 complete and refurbished, awaiting the completion of the front and rear axles, so now it’s on to the powerful Chrysler power plant.

 

But first, a little history about the motor’s designer and builder, Jim Albrich.

Albrich and Jack Coonrod hooked up back in 1961 with a partnership on an

A/SR 1927 Ford T Touring. The beautiful yellow machine sported a 354-inch Chrysler with a huge 5/8” stroker. Jack was to drive the car and Jim was to tune the huge motor. The pair had immediate success, setting a new NHRA national record for street roadsters at 134.55 mph at the old McMinnville, Oregon, track.  It was quite apparent that Albrich knew and understood Hemi motors way back in the early 1960s.

After a year in Top Fuel with Coonrod and the original Northwind in 1962, and then with Mike Grimm through 1964, Jim hooked up with Ed McCulloch and the pair 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 the Albrich-tuned Chrysler generated 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 the fact that 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 206.88 mph at Woodburn Drag Strip, setting the stage for the showdown with “Sneaky” Pete Robinson 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.

 

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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 doing precise work, 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 for keeping the bottom end together, but over the years he changed to the aluminum spread bolt main caps.

Back in those days, it took a smart motor man to run big numbers. It was trial and error and build your own parts as the engine builders fought to find more horsepower. With each advancement came more stress and strain on the parts, and failures were common. 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 produced 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.

Albrich, Floyd, and Coonrod spent many afternoons at the shop putting the Northwind motor together. It was a time of bonding with old pals and not exactly

a ninety-minute motor fix as you see on television with modern era drag racing. A couple of these guys have reached the 70 mark, 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 moves forward. The powerful Chrysler motor built and tuned by Albrich in the 1960s will once again be cackling soon. We can all hardly wait!                                                                       

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No doubt the biggest headache in this whole rebuild job is to replace the over-the-roll-bar tail section. As near as anyone can tell that part of the body never made it past the early 1970s. Full-bodied dragsters weren’t the rage when the ‘70s rolled around, so a lot of those beautiful tail sections were hauled off to the dump. But the plan has always been to return the 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 are several fabricators around the Northwest, but finding the right person with the experience and time to do the job right was a challenge. Then of course this person also had to take it easy where the budget was concerned, too. Jack interviewed a group of them before finding Dale Withers of Estacada, Oregon. Withers 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 are special interest cars. He 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 who are allowing this car to come back together again.

Dale understands the significance of this car returning so that Ed McCulloch can fire it up at one of the national events. He knows the car has to be

right and original from one end to the other.

A few months ago Dale got started, and it was amazing watching his approach to duplicating the old tail section. He built a plywood “plug” out of many pieces of ¾-inch plywood, which will be used 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 finalized and the whole thing will be heading to the paint shop. An open trailer like those used back in the 1960s is in the works as this whole project heads towards the finish line.

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