Funny Car Updates #12

THE STRUCTURE
It would be hard to upstage the last update which included engines being built, transmissions being rebuilt, a garage being built, and my wallet being demolished.
To recap, the garage was framed and starting be roofed, and thankfully we'd had very little rain during that vulnerable time. The roof went on the house portion just in time for the next El Ninio arrival. Of course, a portion of carefully stored and protected goods were totally trashed during the process. As I've joked (actually, not really a joke), I've spent tens of thousands of dollars storing tens of dollars of parts. George Carlin really has it right with his routine about "stuff."
Anyway, at this point the rough framing, electrical, and plumbing have been completed and are approved by our structural engineer and ALMOST by our VERY cheerful inspector Bob Kellerhouse. What a pleasure this man is. He NEVER seems to have a bad day! The air-conditioning ducting looks like the Metro tunnel! We have two 16" ducts running along the roof of the garage to feed and return air to the main house. The electrical portion of the project escalated into a new 400-amp main panel, 200-amp sub-panel in the garage, circuits up the ga-zing for steam generator, welder, 6 HP compressor, trailer hookup, etc. My roofer laid a LARGE freebie on me: an 8x8 skylight. It went in perfectly over the race car work area. Night lighting has been given to 3 metal halide fixtures (same light source as tennis courts), with about 1050 watts of perfect white light (and cheap, too).

The current project is to install a winch to hoist the body into the rafters for easier work access on the chassis. Dirty Dave McDannel used a marine pulley and hoist system (manual) to lift his lightweight body. Mine will require just short of a crane.

THE BODY
At this point (late January), Nick Johns reports that the heavily bondoed car is cracking under stress. Probably from its own weight! Actually, the body has been made thicker and heavier than original, by about twice. A virgin fiberglass body is about 87 pounds before windows, paint, fillers, and body stands, and under 200 ready to race. Mine is likely over 300 pounds. Think about it: a gallon of paint weighs about 10 pounds. And yet to come there will be several gallons of paint alone, let alone primers, paint on the underside of the body, not to mention a couple of cases of bondo already applied and partially sanded off.

ENGINES
Ratican called today and said #1 is ready! He will take a couple of weeks break to work on his own projects, and get going on #2.

TRANSMISSIONS
I've not pushed Gene Christianson as I have no room to put anything here right now. 

SPACE
Kinda funny: I've just created an 1100 SF garage, and I have no room yet! Hopefully next week much of the construction debris and parts will be cleared (as the electrical and plumbing are about to complete). We also demolished the former master bedroom and framed the new closet, cut the drain for spa tub, and tore down a lot of plaster.

2/3/99
TRANS
Gene Christianson went into the shop on a Saturday to finish the two race transmissions, but the supplier closed early that day, so the trans are not yet done. Good thing at this point, as the HUGE garage is still jammed with stuff (remember that Carlin routine). 
 

ELECTRICAL
The 200-amp sub-panel is getting filled daily with more circuits. I've elected to clean up the 50 years of wiring, which includes all the changes I've made in the last 9 years, and basically start from scratch, putting in isolated grounds for the electronics and computer, proper allocation of circutis for the guest quarters, etc. This upgrade (happily for electrician Tony Long) is running over 15 grand. And, it was totally unexpected! Funny how little things like this can stress the overall momentum.

BODY
The body has been re-primered and blocked a couple of times, and is VERY smooth. It still awaits a half dozen strong bodies to be at the shop at the same time to flip the body over on a bed of foam in order to have the underside supports beefed up with some wood. It appears that making the body so strong (and rigid) has stressed the mountings to the point of stress cracks. 

RANDY TRUCK
A happy update: buddy Randy Laur scored a killer deal on an essentially brand new Ford Powerstroke Diesel truck, with all the goodies, AND great mileage (about TRIPLE). I'm SO jealous.

TRAILER
Did some measurements on the trailer for the purpose of installing a TUFF-TOW. This device by Shogun is a double sprung wheel system to basically carry the enormous tongue weight. It's nice to know I'm not alone in this dilemma. In measuring the trailer, I realize it is NOT a 32' unit, rather a 26' box with a smaller tongue, netting about 30' overall. I wondered why I had extra room in the garage! The trailer is doing its job, but the tongue design needs to be redone to accommodate the Tuff Tow. I'm going to be pricing this shortly. More challenges.
The 2 young rad white boys int he back (Dan and Clyde) have been overwhelmed with the amount of work in this remodel, as well as our day-to-day contracting. As the money has run out (again), I can move them back to cleaning up the trailer, hopefully finding stuff, maybe even washing the thing. There are some electrical changes left to made in the trailer: upgrading the land line plug to 30 amp capacity, completing the 220-volt transformer install and wiring into the panel, finding out why the rear light doesn't function, and why almost all my 12-volt bulbs are dead. Yet more challenges, and the thing hasn't even moved.

MISC THOUGHTS
It will be most interesting come the summer to send out newsletters about racing, and not the preparation for racing. As John Force so intimately knows, the money end of this sport is key. Right now, the ideas are plentiful, the bucks are not. I had a wonderful winter due mainly to a wonderful client. That project was cancelled, with another larger one to replace it. At this moment, nothing is coming in from that source, and some other (thankless) projects are offering little in the way of racing sustenance. One project has taken 6 months, produced ZERO cash flow (well, $120K and out to date, but nothing stuck to me), and gave me only paper burns on my fingers. It's tough when I get boned for $28K at one shot, sorta takes the wind out of the racing sail. This situation is in litigation, but so what? That just means it's eons away from settlement.

3/7/99 UPDATE
Well, the bulbs were easy, they were all turned off!
The #1 engine is HERE! Hurray! Ratican did a beautiful job on it. He is now at work on #2, and will drop by tomorrow on his way to Childs and Albert to say hi.
The transmissions were about to be ready, but Christianson discovered that the #1 unit (the COan), was actually not quite in the shape it was promised by the seller. It had a seized planetary gear bearing (basicaly a bronze washer welded itself to the gear), and the clutches were a bit fried. He also noted that the trans brake in #1 was way better than the Dave's glide unit. So I said switch them out, and get the hottest, newest unit available for the #1 unit. Translation: more money. Gene noted that there is a large difference in reaction time with the newer units, even suggesting that my RT's could drop from 5.20 to the 4.40's based on his experience of the newer units. That would be lovely!
They are apparently ready now, and I'll load them in here next week.
We have passed rough inspection (plumbing, electrical, framing) and are starting the drywall phase. I'm using the 2 rad white boys on this as their learning experience.
The dually has had its motor and transmission transplant, and runs much smoother and quieter. The annoying vibration of the prior engine is gone, whatever it was. We put a fresh 400, Continental converter, and the fresh motor in last week. One problem, the hydraulic lifter sound like noisy solid units, despite being adjusted twice. They might be Rhodes units, which means I'm destined to hear them forever.
I bought a work only truck to relieve the destructive use load on the dually, and I've been pouring money and energy into bringing it up to par. Next item is a hifi (hey, gotta have sounds!), and then an interior. It runs quiet, and since the windows were restripping, nearly rattle-free, particularly impressive for a 1980 truck. A set of Eagle wheels and new tires really helped the look. I just got a rack last night, so we're stylin'.
We still have not found the missing Cold Fire bottles. This is REALLY annoying (and expensive).
The body is still waiting for its flip over an installation of the stiffening ribs underneath. Meanwhile, Randy has had his body smoothed and primered, and is now taking the shell bakc home to mock up his engine, headers, etc. prior to actual paint. And he's getting the body work and paint FREE! Like I said, I'm SOOO jealous!