7/21/07

The four-month gap since the ending date of the last update actually had some work in it. Roy and I reinstalled the Accusump, but we have not had success in getting it to refill. I added the electric valve feature to it, actuated from the steering wheel. So far, we're not getting the unit to refill. The valve SOUNDS like it's working, just no oil in there. I'll call Canton Products on Monday and see if they can talk me through another startup.

I FINALLY got my license renewal, after several lost data, etc. I had to go down and do the physical again, as I had gone over six months from the first physical without actually getting the license issued. More money and time, but done. I also got Pat Cvengros from NHRA to come out and re-certify the chassis, I asked him while here what it would take to cert it for a faster ET. He checked the Rulebook, said 6.00 ET was the next step quicker, and all I had to do was add two little bars at the front of the roll cage. On my promise to do so, he certified it to 6.0. My license is good to 6.50 ET, so the car and I are at least licensed to go fast. We started on the bars immediately. John secured a three foot section of 1-5/8” chromoly with ,083” wall, and Gary came back later in the day to make a template. We wrapped some heavy paper around the pipe, taped it up thoroughly, then slid the tube off the pipe and used it for the template. We have done all the notching on the paper, and we then slipped it back over the pipe, marked the steel, and I am about to start grinding on the two bars.

Gary is scheduled to come over later and TIG-weld then in.

LACR in Palmdale is due to close down forever after next weekend. So it looks like I'll get the car out for some final passes on that track next weekend. It would be nice if it cooled down, but it appears not likely. I have a Cool Shirt system, and I'll pull that out and see if I can get that functioning.

7/23/07

Gary spent quite some time yesterday. While prepping the area, I took a nice little chunk out of my left index finger with the flap disc grinder using a fresh coarse grit disc. Garu will return today to do some touchup on the welds to his perfectionist standards, then I'll prime and paint the pieces.

Here's some pix of the seemingly one-hour job that takes about a day of solid work.

It rained last night. I hope this signals a temp drop for later in the week for the FC outing at Palmdale. I may go out Wednesday night in the cooler temps to shake it down.

Gary came back and did a little touch up on the welds. I'll prime and paint the areas tomorrow, and shoot some final pix for your review. Here's the driver's right side:

And here's the left side bar:

We have an issue with the Accusump, and I'll be calling Canton Products in the morning to walk me through it once more. I'll then drain the oil after a short warm up on the motor and see just how much oil comes out. If 8 quarts, then we're good. If more, then the Accusump is not functioning as designed.

I still need to try out the Cool Shirt system.

7/24/07

I did not yet try out the Cool Shirt system.

We did make contact with Canton, and the short story is we had installed the electric valve backwards. We corrected that, fired the motor, and the Accusump showed pressure. However, this was with the valve OFF. I'll need to talk to Doug at Canton again tomorrow about this. I lifted the toggle switch on the steering wheel to the UP and OPEN position, and pressure started falling from the Accusump. I shut it off, retaining about 45# of pressure in it. So it appears to be functioning now, aside from the question of how it filled with the valve closed.

The batteries, two Optima Red Top 900 CCA (cold cranking amps) units, are just about three years old this month. I hit the starter after having them on the Battery Tender for days. CLICK. No start. I put the 20-amp charger on the batteries for about 10 minutes and it cranked over. The second time I hit it, just CLICK. More charging, and this time it started. I checked the battery condition and the charger read DEAD. We pulled the batteries and sent them with Roy over to an Optima dealer in Sun Valley.

The dealer claimed both batteries are GOOD. So now we get to review all the wiring in the starter and kill-switch and solenoid circuits, and see if perhaps we have a bad connection. We'll check for voltage drop from point to point. Perhaps the starter button itself has high resistance at this point. That will be tomorrow, and likely we will NOT be going racing tomorrow.

As it is now 6:04 PM, I'll have to check tomorrow on the schedules at Irwindale, Fontana, and Bakersfield (Famoso).

I would like to give Palmdale one last shot, but the track is not good there in any event. In high temps, it is VERY greasy. We shall see.

7/29/07

We did indeed solve the mystery of the CLICK. We did a lot of checking, but the short story is a crimped junction at the input lead on the starter button was loose, and apparently has been so for a dozen years. I do NOT crimp anything, only solder with heat shrink, so this must be a very old connection. I soldered it and the other side of the switch leg to the ends, and now all is good.

In addition, I revamped the wiring system and battery connections. I added a #00 ground to the frame, eliminated the run from the plus side to the rear safety switch, deleting about 7' of cable, added another #00 jumper across the positive terminals, and took the old frame ground off and added that to the negative terminals jumper.

Further, I used the two runs of #00 cable to replace the old 24-volt small charger wires, and now the 300-amp fork lift charging plug on the right rear portion of the car has #00 going to the batteries.

I will do one final improvement, and that is to add a second larger main 12-volt feed from the batteries to the master kill switch and from there to the fuse block. You can see that red wire coming off the shutoff switch. The LARGE wires are the charging lines. The disconnect in the middle of that line is necessary to allow the body to come off.

We also put the zoomies back on. I started the car for a brief ten seconds to insure the Accusump works, and it, by design, fills with the switch in the OFF position.

OK then.

It is mounted directly behind the motor crossways, and is NOT upside down, just the label.

The police showed the next day with a stern warning that any more noise calls would result in a possible $3000 fine and a visit (AGAIN) from Building and Safety.

Of pertinence is that:

•  There is a VERY loud Harley across the street

•  The Latinos down the street play Mariachi music audible for BLOCKS, and until after midnight.

3-We have LOUD jets taking off right next to us at Van Nuys airport

Yet NONE of those are apparently issues to my neighbors, just MY VERY BRIEF startings of the car perhaps once in three months, always in mid-day.

I have spoken in depth with Rob Anderson at Vortech regarding a design for a 55-gallon drum muffler PER SIDE, and discussed at great length this concept with Gary Collier, my creative neighbor and welder.

I am going to look on Ebay for used or whatever large truck mufflers and see what is available there as well.

Turns out 51” truck mufflers with 5” inlets are relatively cheap, under $70. Rob asserts that putting them in parallel will reduce backpressure, and LOWER the velocity into the mufflers, accomplishing MORE noise reduction. So the approach now will be to gather up 4 such mufflers, make our flanges and Y-tubes into a pair of 5” connections, and see how it sounds. I will make the first test of this system in an industrial area just to be sure.

With the drums I was reinventing the wheel. The multi-muffler approach will be WAY quicker and cheaper.

I might even make use of the two Suburban mufflers I have on hand from my earlier attempt.

Regarding LACR/Palmdale, I have elected to pass on that whole affair. Too hot, too slick, too crowded. There was an announcement at LACR yesterday that a new San Pedro track by Big Willie will be opening soon, and that would be GREAT.

7/30/07

This picture almost looks sad in a way:

As the above photo shows, Gary and I cut the zoomies in the straight portion, and I'm having Miller Gaskets in Sun Valley (they make Hedman header gaskets and flanges) make 3 new flanges for each side. The first flange will be welded to the zoomie body, the second to the zoomie ends, and the third to the muffler system which will be bolted up to the zoomie bodies in place of the turned up ends. It was Gary's idea to cut them in the straight area, and that will work fine. Richard at Miller's says he'll have the new flanges ready in two days for $300, with two sets of gaskets, 10 bolt holes in each flange, and cut outs for the pipes themselves.

We'll weld bolts into the .380” holes (.005” oversize for 3/8” bolts) to act as studs, and we'll weld the exhaust pipes themselves INSIDE the approximately 2.25” holes. We will essentially add nothing to the overall length of the pipes, aside from the gasket thickness. That's good, as it is REAL TIGHT going into the trailer.

I also cleaned out the trailer, and we'll load the car back in perhaps Wednesday or Thursday once the flanges are done, and bring it out when we have procured the muffler array.

I had given the 24-volt charger to Acob for possible conversion to a higher-amp 12-votlsystem. Acob says no, that more than 20-amps will toast the unit, and I'd be better off using a larger charger. I have one already. So I'll sell off the Schauer mondo 24-volt unit, perhaps to some RV people or whatever, and use my Unocal blue charger.

Meanwhile, I have 2 Battery Tenders to keep the batteries top off in the FC, and the second unit for the two batterires in the trailer.

I need to acquire some quantities of oil, and a little more trans fluid, not to mention some starting fluid. I also need to replace the low-pressure primer pump with a high pressure unit, so I eliminate the need for ether altogether, and give myself some backup in case of a stall after the burnout.

BACK  NEXT  UPDATES  RACING