Let the 2012 racing season begin

[Just a Six?]

Just remember, this is supposed to be fun!  Cars are like women... some days they give you their best.  Other days, they give you their worst 

Exactly!!! 

[Pyro6]

We did have fun today even though Thomas was struggling at the tree: time trials one and two @ .106. It was just Thomas and me, no wives, friends, or girl friend (not that it's a bad thing). When he and I can chill at the track it just seems better. The car ran super. First time shot for some reason my settings didn't hold and went to default and ran a 12.339. Set em all back up again and went an 11.67. Dialed an 11.70 1st round against one of his Jr. rivals running a 65 Chevelle dialing an 11.50. Thomas went red .041 against Jake's red .017. Lousy 60', 1.72, came in at 11.76. Since I went to vacuum brakes, it's hard to hold the car back and Thomas is trying to deal with and/or adjust to it. I need a check valve in the vacuum feed line, just can't seems to find one.

[Steve Wood]

that's the downside to vacuum brakes.  start looking for a hydroboost system

[Pyro6]

I agree the hydroboost an option.  I'm just a little skeptical of the HB. I aligned the front end of my wife's Yukon last year. For non alignment people, you need to do a caster "Sweep". On most equipment today you need to lay on the brakes so the front wheels don't rotate on free floating turntables while turning the steering wheel (engine running) 10 degrees left/ 10 degrees right. It just so happens, on wifey's Yukon in the middle of the sweep I felt the loss of power assist. I suspected right away what happened. Un friggin fortunately I was right: PS pump gone. I took the belt off, pulled on the PS pulley and sure enough it came out with the pump shaft. It might be rare that it happens, but it does happen. And I figure when you're racing, you're pushin pretty aggressively, just like a caster sweep.  I would still like to maintain the simplicity of the vacuum setup. We are so close, he only needs to stage at 32k. It's hard to hold at 28K. So I'm thinking before I jump to hydro, upgrade the back brakes and give him time to adjust. After a couple weeks if it doesn't work, we'll give HB a go.

[Steve Wood]

when you increase the rears...watcho ut for lock up

[daveismissing]

Would a vacuum pump help?

[Pyro6]

Couldn't hurt, diesel's like em.

[daveismissing]

HB does seem to be h*ll on the pump, a friend's (yes do have some) gave out while he was bleeding lines on a fairly recent vehicle.

[Pyro6]

Just got back from the Grove. I feel we're making progress. Thomas is starting to get lower on the lights but not near good enough yet but I know he'll get it. The car is running very strong, so far no signs of hiccups. We didn't something rare this week: we didn't even get the car out of the trailer since last week, we were just to overwelmed at the shop. Most nights didn't get home til 8, we had an AC class Thurs Thomas and Matt went to, I was still working til 6:30 and needed to mow the grass, finished up at 8:30. Something stupid is happening every week: my SD chip goes to default after sitting for a week. Once I reprogram raceday it's good the rest of the day. 3 runs today, 11.76, 11.88, 11.67. I was zeroing in on the boost controller and I think it liked the last adjustment. The car was sideways after 60 on the 2nd run. 11.67 was too but not as bad. We never had hook problems before, gotta figure that out.

[nocooler]

Be a man and leave off the ebrake. 

Tie a piece of rope to it so you can pull it while sitting back.

I used to do my burnout - stage, set the ebrake, build boost on the foot brake and let it all go. I could get 20+psi on the ebrake - it would spin anything over 15 psi. I could cut .01x lights too

Just be careful - if your timing is off, you'll rip the backing plates apart.

[Pyro6]

We're winding down the season, the Grove had all kinds of special events June/July. He raced in the 50th Anniversary race and I did the fireworks display. Thomas won first round and broke out the second round.
We took off the one week and did Chrysler's at Carlisle. Everybody cancelled anyway due to the heat. We rolled the dice ET 8 thinking it was gonna rain but it never did.
This Saturday we had a big car show in Mount Joy, they close main St. down 9-2. I took the GN, the 442, 72 GMC and Thomas' Ramcharger. The GMC won a sponsor award, which was cool.
I'm not sure how the rest of the year is gonna go. Back in February I had a TIA event, also known as a mini stroke. During their testing they found a mass in my abdomen they thought was a pseudo cyst. More tests with an ultra sound scope down my throat into my stomach. The cyst was filled with dark fluid, not clear like they expected and a speckled nodule they consider pre- cancerous. So they are scheduling surgery, at this point no later than Sept 6. maybe within 2 weeks if they can. It'll be a 4-8 day stay in the hospital with 6-8 week recovery. They are telling me if I get it out now all should be good.
I was really holding out thinking I could make BPG again but it will have to wait til next year. Not really looking for any sympathy or anything, just wanted to vent a little. The Internet is good for something.

[Steve Wood]

that does not sound like much fun but I am glad they found it early.  Like I told my son, it will feel better when it quits hurtin'!

Let us know how everything goes    It's too damn hot for cars right now anyway

[$1987 GN$]

Sounds like you have been having fun racing, congrats.

Yup I hear the venting; August 1st I go under the knife, getting a colostomy done.
The docs will take care of you !


AJ___

[daveismissing]

Sorry to hear Gary, our thoughts are with you. Sad you can't make BPG.
It sux getting old (for various definitions of old) Knee scrape queued up after BPG.

[Pyro6]

Thanks for the thoughts.
Steve, I feel lucky I don't have any pain but like a "tightness" feeling. When I'm driving on a washboard road it has a jelly like feeling flopping around inside. If it weren't for the ultra sound test I probably would have just ignored it.
AJ, good luck with your test. I hear the cleaning out prior to the test is worse than the test itself. Like Steve said, let us know how it works out.
Dammit Dave I ain't old, just seasoned. Wished I could catch up with you at BPG.
Anyway, I'm trying to think about what is gonna happen to the business for the next three months. I've been steering Thomas toward the front desk and he's been doing o.k. I have a Tech working for me that's been my "hands and eyes" for awhile, so between the two we should be o.k.