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8/16/01
The car did NOT get painted, although the gun was here, the plastic
up (twice), and the entire car masked off and ready. It just got too
darn late on Saturday night, and I was not about to start shooting
the primer on at 12:30 AM, then leave for Bonneville in the morning
at 7 AM. So we put it off, and given the extremely high temps right
now, we'll wait until a break in the heat.
Just returned from the Salt Flats, with the car looking like it's
been in snow. Amazing comraderie, amazing innovation....just amazingly
hot and bright on the salt. This is certainly the last bastion of
unbridled creativity in motor racing. Everyone has THEIR own version
of what works. 265 mph flatheads, sideways twin chevy streamliners,
turbine-powered 400 mph LSR cars of Don Vesco, etc. To the person
the mighty and humble were thrilled to talk about their game, and
help anyone in need. I heartily recommend a trip there at least once.
To convert our cars to run there requires some re-thinking. It's 5
MILES of WOT, not 7 seconds. Start heavy, don't just add weight. So
I'm already in!! For instance, roll bars must be minimum .125",
not our .080 wall stuff. I saw that rule in action when Earl Wooden
blew a right rear tire in his competition coupe (a STRETCHED Crosley
on alcohol) at 300 mph at the mile 4 marker and came to rest at the
5-mile cone. He walked away with three broken ribs. Yikes!!!! Maximum
tire size is realistically about 28", so we'd have to do some
downward relocating of the rear end (although nature is doing a pretty
good job of that already), MUCH beefier steering and rod ends, and
a MUCH bigger cam, plus about 30 gallons of water on board. The rear
wheel wells would need some enclosing, too. And the fierwall and bellypan
would need some serious detailing to prevent a ton of salt from being
blasted into the driver's compartment. I am way cool with the parker
Pumper and Cool Suit, so that's a leg up. It gets REAL hot in those
cars running 5 miles. Just something to think about if you're bored
with 2 g's in 7.50 seconds. Oh, you can fly right in and land on the
salt next to the pits in a private plane. Next time, I'm going that
route.
As it was, my good buddy Saul (only 85, and MUCH younger than I) and
I had a VERY near miss with major disaster. I had intended to get
the Tbird aligned and the 4 new Michelin MXV4 tires sitting in my
garage mounted before we left. I was also going to try some block
sealer to address the maddening and continuing water loss, despite
the new engine. The car had been riding rather choppily for a while,
pulling a little to the right. I had bumped up the pressure in the
tires thinking I had a soft one on the right side, only exacerbating
the jouncy ride. But, time ran out, and we just took off. We averaged
85-90 all the way to Vegas, getting there in under 5 hours. As it
was Sunday, a lot of auto stuff was closed. I tried several places
for a wheel alignment, and ended up after 4 attempts at Sears, who
said they could do it in about 90 minutes. As we checked the tires
before signing the work order, we found the right rear and left front
showing MUCHO steel cord on the inside edges. Sears of course declined
any work without new tires. I considered just having the tires turned
the other way, but then continued on a hunt for a used tire store
to get some get-me-theres. We found one, got 4 quite good tires for
a hundred bucks, and were out on the road within two hours of hitting
Vegas. What a difference! Back to SMOOOOOOTH. We cruised all the way
to Wendover, with a brief stop at the new "Strip" raceway.
What a nice facility. Can't wait to make some laps there. Did not
have an overheating problem on the way up.
Not so on the way back, however.
Bonneville was astounding. And HOT. The brutal heat and brutal reflection
were, well…brutal. I smeared every exposed square inch of skin
with 45 sun block, and it worked.
Saul and I were utterly exhausted after our first day there, doing
at LOT of walking. The second day we slept in and parked ourselves
in the Vesco and Walkey pits, getting up to watch a few cars zip by.
The info and friendliness were wonderful. Really the family feeling.
The trip back was frustrating. It was well over a hundred all the
way back. While essentially downhill, the car, unbeknownst to us,
was losing water, even though we checked it several times. The AC
kept shutting off, and I thought it was icing up. So I would cycle
it between very hot vent air (thinking I was melting the ice) and
AC, about 5-10 minute cycles. This sucked big time. Oh, my driver
window wouldn't go down, either. It turned out that by the time we
got to Baker (ONLY 111 degrees), we had a heating problem, but didn't
see it until halfway to Victorville. We pulled in at Victorville with
the temp at about 3/4, not boiling over or anything. Why? Almost NO
water!! This car was running on air-to-air cooling! Seriously. We
filled the thing to the brim, and bingo! The air worked all the way
to LA. The air does another annoying thing: it starts blowing INSIDE
the dash after a while. I just spent over $300 thinking it was fixed.
NOT!
As I mentioned, I'm going to try some block sealer on the leak. If
that fails, the motor will likely have to come back out. Yukkkk!
All this continually sucks time and money away from the racecar. I
have a job right now which owes me $11K, and I'm doubtful I'll see
even half of it. This doesn't help get paint on, either.
8/18/01
I just re-read update #27. It continually depresses me how much does
NOT get done. Still have not gotten to IMI with the starters. The
primer is not yet on. Haven't found the wheelie bar net. Haven't remade
my bolt list. Haven't reinstalled the compressor and generator in
the trailer, etc. 'Course the compressor keeps getting taken out of
the trailer for job use. And Derek's plastic job is coming down in
one area again. There is some AC work to do on the garage unit. That's
right, the 5-ton AC unit for the office and guest room also was plumbed
to do the garage. I got the two electronically controlled dampers
to accomplish this, and have now to install them, and then find a
way to make the cascading thermostats' wiring scheme work. Perhaps
I'll snag Hector back here for another 30 minutes (that would be TWICE
within a year!) to polish off the functionality. Took the salt off
the car, and put a quart or so in a glass jar, which I will display
in the garage with a "Bonneville 2001" label. Tried reaching
Ken Walkey to get an update on Earl Wooden, but his machine is full
and he doesn't answer either line. Ken is VERY local to me, as I believe
is Earl. In an amazing coincidence, I read an article in Rod and Custom
about an asphalt LSR program in North Carolina, called the Maxton
monster mile. Sounds very cool. With Norton AFB closed, there exist
several 3-mile runways which are solid concrete about 2 feet thick.
That would be SOOOOO easy. After the harrowing trip to the Salt and
back on scuzzy tires, I will switch the chrome wheels and used Michelins
off the Condor tomorrow, and put the trip tires on the Condor as rollers.
I'll save the new ones for a little later, perhaps on the Condor itself
should things turn golden. On the work front, we are VERY busy, but
with that has come a few cash crunch situations. I will hopefully
get through them, and continue on, blissful as ever….
8/22/01
Resolved a VERY troublesome dispute with a client, so we're on our
way to the finish, and getting some cash in the interim. Nick came
by last night at 9 PM to shoot the first primer coats, but did NOT.
Is it not utterly amazing how close I keep getting to getting more
paint on the car without actually doing it. I had the car all wiped
down with degreaser, it's all masked, but Nick felt the primer was
too coagulated in the can, and needed to take it back to the shop
to put it on the paint shaker to mix it. So he again took back his
gun, and we're going to shoot, so to speak, for tonight. Yikes!!!!
Pete Mauriello, are you getting this….?
Finished Todd Armstrong's Vortech trade work, and he should be done
with the Gremlin next week. And we DID get the tires and wheels switched,
and the car realigned. It was quite off on camber, at about 1.5 degrees,
about triple what it should have been. Rides just fine now. Friend
and oft-companion Saul bashin is off to New York to care for his housesitter,
who is having eye surgery. He has been an extremely pleasant and informative
adjunct to many of my daily activities, and I know he is happy to
have the company as well. Hurry back young man (about 85 years young!!).
On the home front the steam room, which has waited a LONG time to
be fired up, does not function. The steam unit is apparently defective,
notwithstanding that it is brand new, although 4 or 5 years old. Milt
Zaslowsky, owner of Steam Whirl, just calmly said send it back, no
problem. Now that's a warranty!
8/23/01
PLEASE SIT DOWN! Actual progress! Shot the primer coats tonight. 4
times around the car. My back is just gone now. But, the car has FINALLY
gotten its primer coat. Next step is to wet block it with 180-grit,
repair any defects we still see, spot prime it, and then re-shoot
the whole car again with another gallon and a half of primer, block
it again, and then spray it. I saw several things I need: MORE light,
and fluorescent instead of HOT halogen lights. Nick was very accommodating,
showed me what to do for two minutes, and split. There were some dirt
spits here and there (no big at this stage), and the hose was spitting
some water, which I solved with a paper towel wrap. But all in all,
verifiably a step forward, for sure, Friend Saul takes off in the
morning for a few weeks in New York baby-sitting his house baby-sitter
during her cataract recovery. Nick will show me how to guide coat
and block it properly, and we'll be off and grinding away. Saul called
tonight from NY to say hi, say he missed me already (sweet!), and
looked forward to getting back to do more fun things. Ditto.
8/24/01
Nick did not get the guide coat. I will got to Modern paint tomorrow
and get the 9" sanding blocks (3, one each for me, Mike, and
BB), a sleeve of 180 wet/dry, and a can of Transtar compatible guide
coat. After running around on some bids, I'll be ready for Sunday
with Mikey and perhaps BB. I'll ask Nick to drop by for a quick tutorial
on the proper technique. Wife Millie had a better offer this Friday
night, a dinner with a girl friend (a little payback for the nights
at Bob's with the Gremlin?). No matter, I went out, drained the Tbird
radiator and flushed it a few times to get clear water, drained it
again, and installed the Stop Leak block Sealer. I found the lower
radiator hose clamp not terribly tight. Who knows, maybe that was
it. For now, I'm doing the burn in portion, letting it find the leak(s).
I'll drain it in an hour, and let it sit until later tomorrow. Here's
hoping.
8/25/01
Well, it's tomorrow (actually now it's today), the SC sits, and the
truck rides just fine, now that the tires are aired up. I had bought
valve extenders for the inner wheels, but they have either been tossed
or lost. So it requires pulling the wheels off to air up the tires!!
I will correct that this week. Procured the sanding stuff from Modern
paint. However, Mikey is going to Singapore and Thailand for the next
two weeks, so, it'll have to be BB and me, or perhaps just me on the
blocking for now.
8/26/01
Had someone come over to detail the dually. Talk about going backwards.
He pulled the truck in, and I motioned for him to stop as the gate
was closing. He didn't hear me and scraped the entire left rear door.
Not his fault. All mine. Just a total *!&$#@ waste of hundreds
of dollars and all the care I've taken since I repainted the truck
3 years ago. Looks like more (expletives deleted…) body work,
priming and paint for me…..
Nick should be here momentarily, and I can run it by him then about
the dually door repair and the rest of the tune up on the dually paint
(again). We did talk about it, and it looks like just redoing what
I did three years ago: Pay him to do all the repairs, send it out
for paint by others, take it to Chinto's for color-sanding and polishing.
Yuk! Nick showed me a couple of things about blocking.
So I'm into MAJOR hand blocking. Oh what fun! Got about a 1/3 of the
car done already. Seriously aerobic activity, no kidding. Pete, are
you listening? You should know, having done it for yourself (as well
as BUILDING your Vega body). Hey! That Vega is just as heavy as mine!
And you don't have the lift system, etc, and you have a lot more aluminum.
8/30/01
Talked to BB, and she will be returning to the FC tasks next Wednesday,
9/5. She will start her labor again after Labor Day. On more mundane
levels, got the Dually rear window fixed. NOTHING wrong! Dirk took
it apart, got ready to pull the motor, checked it, and it worked.
That was easy and inexpensive. Talked with Todd Armstrong at Vortech
this afternoon, and he intends to run the Gremlin on the dyno tomorrow
to set the jetting. If that's good, he'll complete the fender panel
intake and filter and call it a done thing. The "whatsit"
(air box) looks quite cool bulging through the opening in the hood.
Capt Randy will be back at his FC labors next week, among his other
chores. He was mightily impressed with the progress (ANY progress
is mighty at this point). Found a problem with the welder: a kinked
liner in the wire feed hose. Apparently we have been winding the hoses
up too tight, and it kinks it right out of the welder case. There
IS a strain relief there, but it isn't enough. Of course, the welder
slid across the truck on the way back from having it replaced (the
rope wasn't properly set…..). I'm about to go out and test it.
It sure did work great after the tune up. Here's hoping…..
9/3/01
It worked just fine….whew! However, I can not find the 2# roll
of bronze silicate wire for bracing the brass angle I've fabricated
for the steam room. Shit! I HATE looking endlessly for stuff I KNOW
is there. Undoubtedly Derek or someone has placed it somewhere other
than where I did. That's the MAJOR pain in the butt of having other
people screwing with your tools. I have EVERYTHING in a place, but
do the guys put it back? NO! I suppose I'll eventually just have to
erect a cage, but that will wait until the computer inventory and
bar code system is complete. After pre than 3 months of being put
off, THAT has been promised by Mr. Ed (after my $350 of investment)
for sometime soon. More jerk-around. But, oh, please pay us in the
meantime……
OK, enough whining. I spent two more sessions blocking the FC. I'm
down to just the left side of the car now. I've discovered another
cracking area, along the left side of the hood tunnel. It really doesn't
present itself unless I push down sternly on the left side of the
hood, and then just barely. I may just forget about it. I CAN do some
backing up on the underside with glass. I just hate to start digging
out more stuff now. I'll ask Nick's opinion. Nick was to have come
over last night, then today, then tonight to look at my handiwork.
He is extraordinarily uncomplimentary about my efforts. Just his nature.
But pissing nonetheless. He HAS donated quite a bit of time to the
project and the Gremlin. Speaking of which, Todd Armstrong says all
is complete, and he is repairing a pinhole leak in the radiator (which
soiled the freshly polished aluminum pieces). I asked that he set
the boost at 8-9#, not some puny 5# as mentioned a few days ago. Get
real!
BB is to return Wednesday to do some blocking. We are VERY busy, which
is good. Ultimately, this busy-ness will provide the funds to continue
with the racing interest. For now, it has been, as described some
time ago, too busy to spend much time on the project. My darling wife
made mention today that notwithstanding how little I spend on the
FC, it has been WAY too much, and all that time and money could have
gone into the house. Yes, that's true. But get outa show biz? NO way!
The reality of the house is that we still need to get rid of a lot
of stuff. There are some areas to be finished, like the steam room
trim (when I find the roll of wire), and some floor tile (whenever
I find a match for the granite we ran out of). Here still remains
the exterior trim around the doors and windows, and some kind of stone
veneer (these are the ULTIMATE finishes). If I bailed on that plan,
I could just do a stucco color coat and be finished, but I can't bring
myself to that right now. So I'm holding onto the stone house dream
for now. Sorta like the FC dream. Nick just called and is coming over
now.
9/5/01
BB has some personal school delays, and won't make it today. Nick
came by and was unusually complimentary of my blocking work. Go figure.
I will dig out the cracking and repair it as the other. I smushed
some glazing putty on a few areas and will buff that down and see
how it looks. Tried to do some welding with brass, using bronze wire.
The plan didn't work well, so I took both welders, the MIG and the
TIG over to AirGas for a test run, and they're both fine. I had tried
reversing polarity on the MIG at the suggestion of Mike Peery, but
it did no good. The problem was that the gas I was using is a CO-2
and Argon blend, and brass doesn't like the CO-2. Works WAY better
on straight argon, but takes a LOT of heat and a LOT of wire feed.
Not that I'll be doing much brass work on the racecar. I guess that's
why they make radiators out of brass and aluminum and not mild steel.
Man, that stuff REALLY spreads the heat. Checked out the TIG on some
aluminum and it works nicely. So, back to the primer blocking by myself.
Son Mikey just got back from Thailand and Singapore, but will be unavailable
as he is getting Lasix surgey this week. On the garage front I scored
some electronic crossovers for the garage hifi system. One step closer
on the 18" speaker project. This garage will ultimately be the
place to LIVE, forget working on the car! 19 x 56 x 12 high, vaulted
ceiling, all drywall and painted, maple cabinets, skylights, MONSTER
sound system, TV, electric winches, AC (got the dampers, ready to
install). Hey, I'll just rent the house and live with my racecar in
there! Some happy soul noted on the CIFCA chatboard that I should
now be only about two years away from making a lap. Actually, I'm
shooting for THIS year's Hangover Nationals. That means over 3 months
to get this baby happening. We're SO close. It should be doable.
9/7/01
Got the Gremlin back. YIKES!!! Now THIS is a fast street car! I test
drove it at Vortech at 5# of boost, and suggested they go to 9#, which
they did. It worked fine up there. On the way back, it was feeling
like it was running out of gas several times. I pulled off for fuel,
and it died at the top of the off ramp. A SERIOUS bit of pushing uphill
to the end of the ramp, then a downhill coast into a station. Apparently
REALLY out of gas. NO gas in the station! They were down with power
problems. So I call AAA, and a truck happens to pull in while I'm
on the phone. He has to go to another station to get gas!! Gotta love
it. Started OK, ran crappy, seems to be OK now. However, it AGAIN
blew out the left exhaust manifold donut. That's like the 4th time
in VERY short time periods. Quite driveable, quite noisy at idle (whistling
from the intake), QUITE fast.
Somebody buy this thing!!! Then I can finish the FC and the Condor.
Mikey's eye surgery went great, but no sanding for another week, can't
risk any dust near his eyes. Went to Bob's Big Boy for the Friday
night cruise, and the Gremlin got a lot of attention. LOTS….
9/9/01
Took the Gremlin over to Nick for an opinion on the hood, and he agreed
with my intended finish work idea, which is to create an inset piece
between the opening and the air box in a contrasting color and texture.
Short story, trim it out. He was most impressed with the super clean
install. Are you reading, Todd??
Took son Brian for a QUICK trip in the Gremlin. Man, it REALLY is
fast! One of the few impressive changes I've accomplished, performance-wise.
It has a strange "running-out-of-gas" syndrome occasionally,
and at minimum throttle. It will take some instrumentation back at
Vortech to solve this one, says Rob Anderson. Gonna get the exhaust
leak fixed in the morning at Bob Huth's. Got the low-down on his troubles
(not his, just those around him). All I'll say is:l wow! Or, "yeow!"
Did fix the leaking air shocks: a hose had a small break. Did not
do any more sanding on the FC, perhaps tomorrow, or whenever BB comes
over. Did quite a bit of fabrication on those brass trims (to be chromed).
Learning a lot as I go. One is: I ain't no welding wonder.
9/11/01
Checked with Bob Huth, and he concurs that touching up brass is a
touchy deal.
He fixed the Gremlin exhaust, and I thrilled him with a ride. However,
late in the day it shredded a belt. This is the second one is has
disassembled (actually the third I find out). So there must be something
awry there. Left a message for Todd at Vortech.
The horrible events in NY and Washington today have made the struggles
with the cars miniscule.
9/15/01
Todd confirmed that the first belt walked off the front, the second
walked off the back, and my belt did the same. There are no 10-rib
belts available right now, (not until next Tuesday at Vortech), so
I tracked down an 8-rib version, tossed it on, and rumpity-rumped
over to Bob's Big Boy. More gaping. I t was a nice occasion, as we
all lit candles at 7 PM and waved our flags. There was some real community
spirit out front with candles and crowds and horn-honking. The car
just gets BIG interest. Someone PLEASE buy it!! I've got it in two
more shows, one at SM Airport tomorrow, the other is the Van Nuys
Blvd Millennium Car Show on Oct 7-8. The Gremlin looks way better
than last year. Will be interesting to see the reactions this time.
I'm getting some striping work done on it later in the week. And,
I'm replacing the front end components (steering box, tie rod, and
pitman arm). I REALLY wish I could sell this little puppy and get
on with the FC and the Condor. Meanwhile, I've got an 11-second street
machine to thrill the fans (and me, too). If I take it to the track,
I'm going to need a roll bar if I want to make more than one strong
run. To that end Paradox Race Cars/Grant 714-520-4130 has been highly
recommended to me by Billy Record, one of my compatriots in the Rodfathers.
Billy has a NASTY red '32 roadster with a TWIN Vortech blown small
block. Ouch!! On the FC front, Mikey is coming over tomorrow at noon
to get on the blocking program.
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