mikelbeck

So, I went to Atco on Saturday and Englishtown on Sunday...

Atco had a $5k footbrake race. My car was running good, ran a 12.38 1st time run and a 12.44 2nd time run. So I dialed a 12.40.

1st round I go up, do my burnout, throw it into neutral to clear out the motor and then put it in 1st gear. Nothing. Put it in 2nd gear, nothing. 3rd gear, reverse, the same. The starting line guy comes over, asks what's wrong, I tell him I have no gears. So they try to push the car back, it won't move. They put it up on rollers and roll it away. When I get back to my put I find that the shifter cable broke and slammed the tranny into park. Good thing there's a speed shop at Atco, they had a new cable. I spent an hour or so getting the old one out, then another hour getting the new one in. Fixed, good as new. But I didn't get to race.

So then it's off to Englishtown on Sunday. When we get to the track I ask my buddy to help me check my throttle linkage to make sure it was opening all the way. Of course, it wasn't... So we fixed that.

1st time run was a 12.34, 2nd was a 12.35. So I dialed a 12.35 since it was getting hotter. I was up against a guy in a VW bug that had a 12.70 on the window. He came out of the hole and fell on his face, so I just kinda eased out and paced him all the way down the track. At the end I slammed it and hit the brakes when I was sure I was ahead of him, ran a 13.50 something and won.

2nd round I dialed a 12.32... while I was sitting in the staging lanes the motor was getting hotter and hotter and the volts were staying around 12, I kept trying to cool it off but it wouldn't. So when I got to the line it was around 200. Bogged out of the hole (of course), and ran a 12.48. By the time I got to the end of the track it was around 230 with less than 12 volts. So up on the trailer it went, I haven't even thought about having a look to see what the problem is this time.

To top it all off, all the way home my trailer brakes didn't work. The tail lights worked, but the brakes didn't. I think I've got a short in the plug, or there's something wrong with the brake controller.

At least we got away for the weekend.

Here's some pics from the E-Town track photographer:

http://www.davemilcarek.com/091706/p...7-1D%20049.htm
http://www.davemilcarek.com/091706/p...7-1D%20105.htm

mikelbeck

Thanks!

It would've been nice to have run a few rounds at Atco, though...

I think I'm done for the season, I'm gonna take the car off the trailer and put it in the garage. I've got some big plans for the winter.

mikelbeck

Well what?

mikelbeck

Hmmm... Let's see what's on my list.

1. Replace the X heads with Edelbrocks or Indys. Gotta save some cash for this one.
2. Replace the stock radiator with the aluminum jammie that's been sitting on the floor of the garage for the last 3 years or so.
3. Replace the stock dizzy with the MSD unit that's been up on the shelf for longer than the radiator.
4. Remove all the decals from the outside of the car, sand it down and paint it. I'm thinking about running in Top Street next season, so I've gotta make it look a little more stock... Put in a 2nd seat, carpeting, etc. If I don't do that then I'm gonna come up with a name for the car and have it painted on the side with gold leaf lettering.

I think that's it... at least for now, I'm sure the list will get longer as it gets closer to the winter.

mikelbeck

Probably not... I'm thinking Plum Crazy. My wife hates the car, but loves anything purple, so that may change her mind. Probably not, though.

mikelbeck

I haven't even taken the car off the trailer yet, been way too busy.

It didn't look like it was burned at all, just broken. It broke right past when it goes through the floor from the shifter, I think the turn may have been too sharp and it just wore out over time.

mikelbeck

It's forward... There's a hole in the floor where the cable goes down to the tranny. I don't know if it's a stock hole or not, but that's what I use.