WHAT'S NEW
in the world of drag racing
The latest update as of March 5, 1999
There's not really time to do an "update" today, other than to announce
that contrary to popular (at least some people were hoping so) misconception,
we aren't dead yet, we aren't giving up and going away quietly into cyberspace,
never to be seen or heard from again, but we are currently experiencing some
"technical difficulties". No, not with the website or the computer, but with
that never-ending construction job of a new race car. You know the one, the
car I've been talking and writing about for eighteen months now, the one that
never seems to be finished, always running into problems, no pictures of it,
etc. etc.
Well it really does exist, just in case you were wondering. And it
really will be finished, in fact, very soon, as our shipping date to Australia
is coming up quicker than we'd like. On the other hand though, it really can't
come soon enough, as after all the aggro and the sweat, toil, money, more
money and you guessed it, even more money, the construction phase is almost
over. Then we start the destruction phase, don't we? No, I'm pretty
sure we'll pass on that and just go straight to the head of the class in Top
Alcohol downunder. Yeah, and I'm waiting for the Easter Bunny to lay a golden
egg on my pillow one day soon too.
Seriously though, the only news today is a rather lengthy e-mail message
I sent to Ken Lowe earlier this week that pretty much explains what has been
happening (or not happening as the case may be) and where we go from here. Hang
in there and you should see some further updates over the weekend.
Ken:
Oh man, things just seem to keep going from bad to worse. If it wasn't for
all the positive energy flowing from people like you and Tom (Mohan).... I'd
be ready to say "the heck with it" and take a very long break. And after I made
a couple of phone calls today, I feel even dumber and more useless than ever.
Crower: The money has been sitting in the bank for nearly three months (to
pay for the clutch) and I've just been sitting back thinking all I have to do
is call them up and "bingo".. here's your clutch. WRONG! "Lemme take your name
and phone number and we'll call you when you get to the top of the backorder
list..... We're completely out of discs and floaters right now and it looks
like four weeks until we can throw something together...."
Then I try to order the blower belts (2000mm long X 8mm) and Terry Morrow
at Walt's (Austin) tells me that's a rubber belt and won't live at all and
that they only run a 1792mm long belt with their Whipplecharged "Chevy", so
we must have measured the length incorrectly. But the manifold won't even be
tacked together until next week and the block is still at the machine shop,
so we can't mock it up and check the length again.
Block at the machine shop??? A brand-new block at the machine shop??? Yeah,
I blew it there too; wrong bolt pattern for the B-1 heads, so we've had to fill
in the area where the top row of studs go down into the valley and then drill
and tap the area for 1/2" studs to fit the heads. Then we realize that the
other two rows of stud holes are tapped for 9/16" and we've already reamed
the B-1's out to 1/2" and are more than nervous about trying to enlarge them
another 60-thou or so.
And on and on it goes. Yeah I know, a wise man in a far-away land once
suggested to me: "Buy a (BAE) fathead and you can order everything off the
shelf and be a player right away...." Despite all of the problems we've encountered
and still have to discover and overcome with this wedge "idea" (aka: insanity?)
we still feel like we're going in the right direction, for a lot of reasons.
Some of which are the old "be a leader, not a follower" thinking and Tom's
comfort level with wedge's and the cost to buy and maintain all the stuff.
Plus I guess, our egoes that have convinced us that we can "re-invent" the
wheel. Eventually. Maybe.
Other "minor" problems: The gear drive doesn't fit properly; between 15
and 20 thou clearance between the gears. The "trick" PSI / MSD crank hub to
work with the MSD crank-trigger doesn't fit either; it's too loose and "Uncle"
Norm suggested we put it on with a ton of red loctite and that it'll be fine.
I'm not kidding, that's what he suggested. The hub fit .001" LOOSE, so we'll
just hone yours a little and use it instead. Of course the crank has double
keyways and your hub has one, but that's just another little wrinkle to iron
out. Oh yeah, did I mention that MSD scrapped all their crank-trigger stuff
and won't sell us the pickups until they work the bugs out of it. "Within the
next month, or two, or three...."
Positive news: Hey, you knew there had to be some sunlight among all these
dark clouds. The oil pump finally arrived -- eleven months after I paid for it.
(No, don't even ask....) The exchange gear set from Lenco arrived -- now we've
got a (censored) first gear ratio. The replacement cam from Isky arrived
and fits and works. The heads are almost finished and the manifolds (two of
'em) will be finished by the end of next week.
Almost forgot: The compression ratio -- before we milled the heads a "bunch"
worked out to..... 10.175.... Oh boy, big power, eh? Tom figures we can get
to about 11.25 after the milling. (LATE UPDATE: The final figure: 11.125)
Seems that Arias made the valve notches too deep... Geez, this merry-go-round
of "fun" is making me dizzy. I think I'd better get off now and sit down for
a while.
Just one more bit of (bad) news before I go bang my head against a wall.
The ship that we'd planned to put the container on (Hanjin Elizabeth) had a
small problem on its last voyage; kicked the rods out and almost crashed into
Vancouver Island, so they've put it in drydock and leased some Greek registered
piece of floating scrap metal to replace it temporarily. No f&@#ing way my
car is going on that ship, so we either have to ship a week earlier or a week
later.
And since the clutch won't be here until April 1st -- oh,oh, that's April
Fool's Day -- and we really want to have the whole assembly balanced by our
"sponsors" High-Performance Engines, we'll probably have to wait until April
4th to ship the container. That means it won't arrive before the May 8th meeting
and probably not be delivered to Oxenford until about the 15th. And that doesn't
leave much time before the Winternationals, does it?
Whew, enough noise for one message, eh? Not so silent today am I? Wish I
could join in on the chat session with Brewie (Mark Brew) tonight, but as the
scoreboard says: 38 consecutive graveyard shifts... and counting.
By the way, I've been working on the Ken Lowe Race Cars on-line catalogue
for a week or so now... and it should be finished in another year or two. Just
kidding, but man, you have a lot of stuff in it, and it's going to take a while
to put it all together. I've pretty much got the format worked out, but there's
so much information to input that I can't even see the whole picture yet. Speaking
of which, to really do it justice, I'm going to have to take a bunch of pics
of your products to add to the on-line version. Guess I'll just have to drop
in soon and take a look at everything, won't I?
Don't worry about me being silent lately, things are just so darn busy that
it's hard to find much time for writing, but we are still very much looking
forward to getting away from this bloody awful weather and enjoying ourselves
downunder... ASAP. More news as it happens. Let's see if the next installment
can be nothing but good news.
Bob "Still there" Wilson
Northern Thunder - Top Alcohol Dragster
(The "UN-hemi" - Why Be Normal?)
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