Projects rebuilding after the crash

Sounds like a plan, putting it on my calendar. I did it the same way, Working A LOT, I would take in xtra jobs in my Tool & Die shop, marking that money for the racing budget, I had one good sponsor (Pabst brewery) one year that Stan Fox brought along with him, one of two years in 21 years of fun that I broke even. Memories Priceless.

 

Count me in!

And brandy!

 

A quick update on the state of things. I'm back on my feet from a bout with covid.
The pistons and sleeves were ordered.
The blower is at Littlefield for servicing.
The block is out getting hot tanked.
The crank is getting magnufluxed and polished.
The oil pump is out getting serviced.
Two drums of nitro were ordered. One paid for by a fan of the car.
Another fan of the car gave me a new sunnen rigid hone. This is a very expensive tool. They are hard to come by. I had to borrow them in the past. I'm very grateful for the nitro and tool.
Pri starts later this week. It's always a good time with much to learn while there.

 

That’s very nice of those fans of yours to do that!

 

Yes it is. It's alot of small things that make such a big difference. A new t shirt design is in the works. The shirt sales add much needed funds. It's crazy how parts get worn out from all of the power. Staying on top of the maintenance costs real money but in the end saves money and keeps the fun going.

 

Hey, Brian;
I'm in for at *least* one shirt. Let me know when. .
Marcus...

 

Will do. It will be after the new year. Most likely march.

 

Where do you get an aluminum block hot tanked? Years ago, there used to be some places that did VW cases and could also do aluminum.

 

I had a Powerglide case hot tanked years ago. Most of my local shops had acid in the solvent. One diesel shop used just soap and water and it did a good job without ruining anything.

 

Most machine shops these days have a "jet washer" that pretty much replaced the old hot tanks. They use aluminum safe detergent. Since most modern engines have aluminum castings.

 

Please tell me Covid didn't spoil your chance at digging that old Pontiac out of the crumbling barn/garage.

 

What Squirrel said.
The Pontiac is still there. The land was sold but there is some delay getting the car out. It will happen just not right now. I see the farmers every week. They stop by the shop. In fact it was the farmer that gave me the sunnen hone.

 

Good to hear. Last I read, you had until the end of Nov to get it out then I just read you had a bout with Covid, put the two together and I figured there was a good chance you weren't able to do any excavation.

 

something with the county and the new owner are holding things up. alot of their possesions have been moved to the new farm. we had a big storm recently that knocked a huge tree down. it fell right in front of the garage that had the car in it. the tree was finally removed last week. a tractor will be needed to pull the car out. when the time comes i will video the event from a safe distance. i found a vintage camper on the south side of the property. they said i can have it. it has some water damage so i think its going to be a parts trailer for my other two campers.

 

I just got back from the pri show down in Indy. It's the best racing show on the planet. You can walk around for three days and not see it all. There were some surprises. Heid from Summit Midwest Drags gave me one of the two large vinyl banners that were Part of last year's Auto Rama. I already have it up in the shop. Flitz metal polish had a video playing with my car on it. That's cool stuff.
I bought a new Dan Olson oil pan for the car. Here's a little nitro tech for you. This is considered a funny car pan do to it being tapered and more shallow than a square dragster pan. A big feature of real deal nitro pans is the thick billet rail. These pans are on and off so many times the thick rail keeps them flat. The plain sheet metal rail looks like a wash board in no time and starts leaking. The thick rail combined with a special fel pro pan gasket no sealers are needed. The gasket can be re used many times saving time and money. The out let is a AN-20 going to the pump. The windage tray is removable. There are trap doors to keep the oil around the pick up while braking. The multiple crank scrapers and pick up are welded in. There are skid plates front and rear. The pan is made with .090 sheet aluminum. The welds are perfect. It holds up to 11 quarts.
News from the machine shop came while I was at the show. The block is ready for pickup. The crank magged fine. One journel after polishing is kind of wavey. It will get sent to Mile High Crankshaft for repair. The pistons will ship before Christmas a month early.

 

That pan is like jewelry, Olson makes top shelf stuff, I have one on my little Rodeck, a somewhat more garden variety version, also a pair of aluminum valve cover burndown castings that I machined threaded adapters to accept K&N breathers.

 

So much for slowing down during the off season. Today's fun was making new linkage for the injector. It was never right from the beginning but it worked. With it all apart I could get at it. The action is nice and smooth now and safer.
Next up new street zoomies. The old ones were too loud. They were 2 1/2 inch id with 2 1/4 inserts wrapped in fiberglass. The new ones are 3 inch outside diameter just like the double wall race zoomies. The insert is now 1 3/4 id with more fiberglass. They are basically glass packs x 8. I'm repurposing the flanges and turnouts. This should quiet it down.

 

Brian, I would also like to purchase a shirt. Just let me know, after all, us drag racers need all the help we can get now days.

 

x3 on t shirts. x-large please . Let us know, thanks

 

Will do. My friend Joel naperstek known as the race car artist here sent me some rough sketches. I was on the phone with him going over ideas. As we were talking he was drawing. A single image will be on the front. On the back the car will be pulling the trailer. Boxes with check marks will be under the image.
X 498 ci hemi
X nitro
X title registration
X 6-second street car
Or something like this. We will refine the images soon. Hats most likely will also be made.

 

Brian , Im also in for a T ( 3x I wear baggy), possibly hat if in a flexfit style

 

Thanks guys. I will make it real easy. Usps has a flat rate envelope that a shirt fits in. I have vend mo and pay pal if that works or a check by mail. Joel has to finish a few orders first. It will be a little bit.

 

Christmas came early. The pistons were supposed to show up late January. They showed up Saturday. All I'm waiting on is the sleeves. Given the supply chain issues I'm doing good.
My farmer friend stopped by again this time giving me another sunnen hone. This one its for smaller bores. He also gave me a special micrometer. It's for measuring a radius. The bearings get smashed. The thickness and width are measured. This tool measures them perfectly. The end can be removed becoming a depth mic.

 

Plans are already being made for next year's schedule. I'm planning on going nitro chaos in Eddyville Iowa at the end of may. The out of Site Drags in June at union Grove is going to happen. The fuel altered nationals and the Summit Midwest Drags in August will be fun. Its already shaping up to be a busy summer. I will attend swap meets and car shows between races. I hope to meet up with some of you along the way

 

Are you doing all the nitro chaos events?

 

Maybe a few. Tullsa is far away from me.

 

I just got word the crank will be back from mile high crankshaft in two weeks. The sleeves should arrive next week. Very soon it will be time to build another hemi. It will be fun to get back to doing nitro ####.

 

Brian, thanks for fighting the good fight. You are truly an inspiration! You're the drag racing equivelant to Wile E. Coyote. There is no quit. Good Luck Dude!

 

I really wish you wouldn’t use the Wile E. analogy for Brian,,,,,,LoL .
Wile E. Coyote always loses or is blown up in the end,,,,lol .

Tommy

 

Hey Brian, glad you're getting the ole' girl back together for some Nitro fun. I see that you're running EFI in the hat, I imagine you also have port injectors down in the runners? Are you running this setup for Nitro? Also, what ECU are you using? I'm doing a blown 392 with a Holley ECU and injectors in the hat as well as down below. I may "stage" them. Mine is a street application - so gas or E85 is about it. I would imagine you'd need some large injectors to bring alky and nitro into the mix - depending on what percentage. Also, whose block are you running - an older Milodon or something similar?

My injector is an old Crower mag 8-port. I'm going to rework the butterfly/linkage to initially run on 4 ports, then bring the second 4 in on a progressive curve (kind of like a mechanical 4-barrel). Have lots of work to do and won't get back to it until the Spring.

Best of luck on your rebirth!
B&S