1962 Plymouth Sport Fury
OWNER/BUILDER: Tom Romundstad
BODY/CHASSIS: Original Sport Fury body and chassis from Texas. The car has been a drag car since the mid 60s. Bodywork and prep by Tom Romundstad (owner). Paint is PPG Big League Blue applied by Chris Pirkola of Duluth. Harwood 7.5" Pro-Stock hood scoop. Superstock rear springs, factory torsion bar front suspension.
ENGINE: Big block 413, stock forged steel crankand flat top pistons, 906 heads have been pocket and match ported, hardened Welltite valve seats, Engtech valve seals, and bronze guides. Solid lifters, Hughes Engine double springs on cut seats with 1.900" installed height 155# on seat 370# @ .600" lift. Steel .020" thick head gasket. Head work by John Peterson of Hermantown and PDQ Engine and Machine Shop of Duluth. March brand aluminum serpentine pulleys with flex fan, all spun with a Dayco Serpentine Polycog belt.
Cam by Hughes Engine Inc. Grind Number HTL5256BS, Lobe Lift Intake 0.381; Exhaust 0.386; Valve Lift w/1.6:1 ratio roller rockers: Intake 0.610; Exhaust 0.618. Duration @ .050" lift: Intake 252 degrees, Exhaust .256 degrees. Hughes also fabricated the custom cut push rods. Valve train driven by "Noisy" Pete Jackson Timing Gears.Lubrication provided by the stock Mopar oil pump and a Moroso 7 quart 7" sump pan, windage tray and a deep sump pickup suckin’ up 50wt Valvoline. Alterstart Systems new Mopar mini starter.
FUEL DELIVERY: Malory Competition Series 140 fuel pump. Dual Carter AFB 585 CFM quads mounted on ½" heat dissipaters. Mopar intake held w/12 point chromemoly ARP bolts.
IGNITION: MSD 6200 Series with Blaster II Coiland an MSD Pro-Billet Chrysler V8 Distributor. Autolite 85 spark plugs. MSD 8.5 MM Superconductor wires. Trunk mounted battery with Summit battery disconnect master switch.
INTERIOR: Autogage 5" tachometer by Auto Meter with shift light. Sun temp gauge, Sun oil pressure gauge. Grant Steering Wheel with extension. Five point roll bar.
EXHAUST: 1.75" tube headers with 3" collectors. When on the street, exhaust runs through Flowmaster Super 40 mufflers.
TRANSMISSION: GER built Full Competition Mopar 727 tranny with manual/automatic reverse pattern valve body, TCI deep aluminum pan, GER 4,000 rpm stall custom built torque converter bolted to an SFI approved zero balance flexplate, all dyno-tested. B&M reverse pattern Pro Ratchet Shifter. Aircraft type #6 stainless steel cooling lines with A/N fittings. B&M Super Cooler tranny cooler. Custom built driveshaft by Driveline Specialists of Duluth.
DIFFERENTIAL: Dana-60 w/4.88:1 gear ratio lubed with W75-90 Full Synthetic Valvoline Gear Lube.
I got the old original photos from the original owner down in Amarillo Texas. He raced the car since 1968 or so and it has been a race car ever since. It was called the "Protector" back then and was built to set, defend, and protect the national record in F/SA at the time. It had been set up to run in other classes as well and had broken other records at the time. It was shown in National Dragster back in the early 70's. I would love to get my hands on one of the old publications for my collection of memorobilia of this car. One of the records it set was in New Orleans on a track that apparently is about 6 feet below sea level so the air must have been excellent! It was written up in the New Orleans paper then too. Another item I would love to track down!
I am including a couple of photos of the car as I was stripping it down to bare steel as well. Hence the "PROTECTOR REBORN" photo, also included.
