Topics

Anytime this topic comes up there is a lot of debate over the use of them.  I'm tired and need to get to bed, but here.........



........ is what I've done about the safety issue.

There are more pictures and a description here........

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/techinfo/air-line-safety.html

c ya,

Sum

Well Ruth and I got back from our driving marathon first to LA and El Mirage and then to Conn. and back about a week and a half ago.  I've been very anxious to get back to work on the lakester, but first had to take care of a few loose ends.  Sparky and I both bought wrecked 98/99 chevy/gmc vans for their vortex engines, overdrive transmissions and other usable parts last year.  I had taken the engine and transmission out of Sparky's and down to him last year, but still had the body and frame.  Hooley wanted the front of the frame for a '47 or '48 COE chevy he is building to haul the stude on a ramp back.  I wanted the rear of the frame for another project.  I got the body off of that one one down to a friend's junk yard and then got the frame stuck in all the snow there.  Hooley and a friend came the other day and we got it out of the snow and back to my shop and cut it in half and he headed back to OK with his parts.  

Right before he got here I had to pull the engine transmission from the other one so that I could give the transmission (4L60E) to a friend in exchange for a 4L80E he had.  My shop was getting crowded with other engines and transmissions I had around, so I decided to make a stand to free up some room.



I built this stand that stores 4 engines and 2 transmission in the space of 2 engines for about $125 in two days and thought that it might be something someone else might want to do, so I put the build pictures on my site..............

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/techinfo/4%20Engine%202%20Trans%20Stand.html

I hope that these might help someone else that has the same problem.

Happy New Year,

Sum

My friend Mike who use to post here some years ago asked if I would post this link just in case any of you would be interested,

Sum

http://forums.aths.org/InstantForum414/Topic26762-4-1.aspx

Well I added some more pages of what I've been doing the past 45 days or so and still have more to add........maybe tonight.



I had to rework the stock air box or what ever you call it....

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bvillecar-3/construction%20page-112.html

=============================================



I got most of the rest of my safety equipment and tried it out.....

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bvillecar-3/construction%20page-113.html

=============================================



I got the firewall started on this page...............

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bvillecar-3/construction%20page-114.html

.......................... and finished most of it.................



................. on this page..............

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bvillecar-3/construction%20page-115.html

=============================================



This page starts the build of the Air Intake/Exhaust/Tail................

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bvillecar-3/construction%20page-116.html

and it continues..............



.............. on this page..............

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bvillecar-3/construction%20page-117.html


.............. and .............



............. more on this page ..............

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bvillecar-3/construction%20page-118.html

........... and that is all for now that I've gotten posted.  I'll try and see if I can finish posting about the Air Intake/Exhaust/Tail tonight if I have time.

Have to go get more steel and start on the body today.

I know this is really a street rod site, so maybe I shouldn't be posting this stuff here,

Sum

Clutch linkage stuff here...........

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bvillecar-3/construction%20page-107.html



Pedal brackets here...............

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bvillecar-3/construction%20page-108.html



Pedals here............

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bvillecar-3/construction%20page-109.html



Throttle linkage here.........

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bvillecar-3/construction%20page-110.html



and it all comes together here..........

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bvillecar-3/construction%20page-111.html

I've got lots more when I find time to post it,

Sum

I'm trying to figure out how many people might be coming by my place this year so I can plan where we will go on Friday.  I want to go someplace new with everyone.  I need to know how many people will be here with a high ground clearance vehicle, it doesn't need to be 4 wheel drive.

The plan is to take people out sightseeing on Friday the 15th and maybe before if anyone shows up.  If you want to go out on Friday you have to be here Thursday night.  The number for the Super 8 across the street is (435) 678-3880.  They haven't been filling up most nights, but it might not hurt to call them and make a reservation if you need a room.  If you have a camp trailer or such we can figure out something at my place.

Friday night we will have our barbecue as usual.

We will leave Sat. morning for the west of Salt Lake City area if you need a motel room and I'll probably go over to the "bend in the road" and camp.

They open the salt at 7 am on Sunday, so I'll go out and save a pit location and when Hooley and John and Patrick get there we will setup the pits and tech the car.  We could use help with this.

Monday morning racing begins after driver's meeting.

I think John, Hooley and Patrick are trying to get to my place Thursday evening with the race car.  There is at least one other race team out of Texas that plans on getting to my place on Friday for the barbecue that night.

So who is coming and what are you driving and when do you expect to get to Blanding?


Sum

.......... asking about, but I did finally get the build of the new motor for my truck up on my site at.........

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/turbo%20motor/TM-indexpage.html

......... if anyone is interested.

What this does mean is that now I'll be getting around to posting the progress I've made on the lakester over the months since the last up-date in March.  I've had people wondering if I was still doing anything.

As I get those pages up I'll mention them here.

c ya,

Sum

This past year I got a keyless chuck for my mill/drill.  I love it and would like to also get one for the tailstock of my lathe and for the new mill I just ordered.  The one thing that has been a problem with the new chuck and the old chuck is that occasionally when drilling with a bit in the 3/4 inch to 1 inch size the bit will grab the metal and the chuck will spin on the R8 tapered adapter.

I can get the new keyless chucks with either 6JT or 33JT mounts and I can get both a R8 to 6JT or R8 to 33JT adapter for the mill and a 3MT to 6JT or 3MT to 33JT for the lathe tailstock.  Is one of these tapers less prone to slipping than the other??

Thanks,

Sum

.............. the forums are back up   ,

Sum

I started to post this in KB's fan question, but didn't' want to muddy that up so I'll start a new thread:

You read places now where the elect. fans can be superior to a mechanical one and certainly car manufactures use them.  I still feel safer reliability wise with a mechanical one on a high mileage car.

The last few days I've been converting my truck over to an electric fuel pump for the new motor and don't like those either.  I'm using the same bosch pump on the truck as the lakester so I can carry a spare, of course being paranoid like I am I now carry a spare mech. fuel pump  :cry: .

Anyone have a view on this??

c ya,

Sum

Well if Sam, dragrcr50,  started his car on Halloween maybe Hooley's should make it's debut on Halloween.

 

Hooley got the body back from John, WZJUNK, recently and just got the motor/trans in.
 


I can't believe what a nice job John did on the body and Hooley says that he is afraid to touch the car it is that nice.  



John should have the one-piece front done in the next few days (maybe he will comment on that and more).



This is the view John said most of Hooley's competition will see and since he is running the non-blown injected alcohol motor he ran at B'ville that powered the car to about 219 mph he might be right.  

Sam had a hand in this J also as he built the cage in the car and of course did a great job!!  Since they are both going to be finished about the same time I think a race for bragging rights is in order.  They don't live that far from each other and wouldn't it be neat to see these two great cars line up next to each other.

I'll be holding the bets but will be staying neutral on that one,

Sum

   

.......... a project non the less.  This past couple months while I've been working on my lakester I've helped Shaun Begay put a 305 sbc in his '73 Datsun Z.  The 305 came from me and the 200R4 was the one that Hooley gave me when my transmission blew up in OK a few years ago and John (WZJUNK) helped me put it in the car then.

   

The rest of the pictures and what was involved is here..............

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/techinfo/73%20Datsun%20Z%20-%20Small%20Block%20Chevy.html

.......... Shaun has also recently bought a '51 Lincoln and a early 50's Chevy pickup, so I think we have a young rodder on our hands.

c ya,

Sum

Actually I'm looking for a used Weiand Tunnel Ram bottom for a sbc.  Just the part that goes from the heads up, but would consider a whole one.

Sum

   

I've gotten a fair amount done on the lakester since the last post..........

   

.......... just thought I would mention it.  The build menu is here:

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bvillecar/bvillecarindexpage.html

c ya,

Sum

 

I know a couple of you are following my progress with the lakester.  I finally finished the front of the car from the cage forward to the nose.

It has taken a while, but I'm working on it almost every day now and sure hope it is at least one of the events next year on the salt.

The work on the front starts on page 49 of the following link if anyone is interested:

 http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bvillecar/bvillecarindexpage.html

c ya,

Sum

Some of you have asked when Speed Week is next year;

Speed Week -----------------  August 18-24
Inspection Sunday ----------  Aug 17    

Hopefully this will help some with the motel room situation.

c ya,

Sum

Anyone know where I might locate just the engine out of a mid 20's Dodge..............4 cylinder flathead???

Thanks,

Sum

Anybody live near Grove City, OH???

I'm bidding on a couple turbos there today, but probably won't pay what the high bid or reserve is.

PM me if you live near there.

Thanks,

Sum

If any of you are interested in getting one of the 43430 HVLP guns I just got two under part # 43430-2AVB for $19.95 each.  It was a new catalog I think, but I can't find it now.

When I put that number in on their site it switches to # 43430-9VGA and lists $29.95 (still a good price) but the ones I ordered just showed up today and the invoice said $19.95.  Wouldn't hurt to call them and give them the first number above and see if it is still available.

For more about the gun go here:

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/techinfo/HVLPspraygun.html

happy painting,

Sum

If you are having problems getting the videos to load at the bottom of the story try these and see if they work:

Thurs qualifying run:

Friday aborted run:

let me know,

Sum

[----- CLICK HERE -----]

   

I finished the 2007 story about our (Hooley's 974 Stude) exploits both on and off the salt and there are two videos of the Thursday 243 mph run and Friday's .........well read the story and click on the video links at the end of the story (bottom of the page if you can't read or don't want to).

----- CLICK HERE -----  

c ya,

Sum

Though some of you would like a personal glimpse of some of our crew.  I didn't take these pictures and my lips or sealed on who did   .



Our leader.....Hooley.........



Megan giving lessons on proper eating etiquette.............



Never could figure out who was in the helmet...........



Not sure what was going on here.............



Still not sure...............care to tell us George.....



I'm sure most of you will recognize Denise from her world famous smile..........



One of Rob's (Mike S's brother) darling little girls, but not sure which one....



Yours truly.....notice how the photographer when out of his/her way to make sure that I must be totally bald.................



Darryl busy helping with the reassembly of the motor..........



George trying to follow Megan's etiquette lessons.......



........and you have all meet Patrick earlier.....

enjoy and I hope the rest of the crew doesn't feel left out (maybe there are some pictures of them also  :oops: ),

Sum

SCTA just posted this:

August 5th, 2007 3:59 PM MT - SCTA ADDITIONAL REPORT

The three courses we originally prepped for Speed Week are no longer available. Course # 1 is underwater with lots of potholes. Course # 2 is partially underwater, and course # 3 still looks somewhat usable.

Our advanced team of workers are very busy establishing 2 more courses on higher ground. We have found sufficient dry salt to accommodate our normal long and short courses.

Since we are basically starting over, we would appreciate your patience as there may be a need for changes to our original event schedule.

The weather forecast is promising, but there is always the possibility of more rain. Please check here for more updates as they become available.

------------------------------------

Hooley is in eastern New Mexico as of this report and will be at my place tomorrow morning,

Sum

   

I have some pictures of a comp coupe that Phil, Bill and Jake of CarWorks are building not too far from me in Colorado and how I made a frontend and scoop for it.  They won't set any records with this car, but I expect them to have a lot of fun with it.

They will be pitting with us and Hooley's Stude and will have one other car with them that I'll post about later.

The pictures and description of the hood/scoop build are here:

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/temp-pictures/temp-web-nc-1.html

c ya,

Sum

Man I had a great trip a week or so ago.  My sister's daughter was getting married in Bend, OR on June 2nd and they were racing at El Mirage the following weekend, so I decide to do both.  The following is pretty long winded and I don't expect too many of you to make it to the end, but here goes......

Thankfully I check the wheel bearings on the teardrop even though I had greased them 10,000 miles ago.  One was rusted up and not turning by hand.  Fixed that and got on the road with 1FATGMC and the FATTEAR late on a Tuesday night before the 2nd.  I went up to Price, UT and slept at a truck stop and it was cold.  The next day I went on into Salt Lake City to visit with Bill Jones who has been involved with different cars on the salt.  I spent 6 hours with him and it wasn't enough.  He builds motor, ports heads, o-rings blocks, etc..  He has a Super Flow he bought in '79 that is number 201 and uses it on the heads he flows.  He has also made a very sophisticate flow bench for flowing mechanical fuel injection.  He can machine about anything and has tons of tooling he has made.  I'll look forward to going back there if he will have me.

I left his place in heavy afternoon traffic and got into mid Idaho that night and slept at a nice Walmart   .

The next day I headed into Nampa and spent some time and had lunch with Nick and Ken Smith of Hot Rod Works.  Ken use to post on here and they run a neat roadster on the salt.  Another good visit.  Then I drove on over to Bend and got there just before dark.

The next two days were taken up with my nieces wedding.  I'm really glad I made it there for that.  She is a mid-wife with a new practice and has a great husband that does smaller contracting jobs.

Sunday afternoon it was a nice drive down to Redding, CA (the scenery was great about the whole trip) to Harv's house.  He is building a lakester also and I have the build on my site.  The next day he took me to see 4 different cars being built for the salt.  One of the neatest is this new comp coupe being built by Denton Hollifield.



Another picture here:

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bville-cars-1/204-2006.html

That took care of Monday.  Tuesday I headed south to Chico and visited John Beck's shop that is in a building with Davidson (sorry, don't know the first name).  The building is one of the nicest rod shops I've ever seen.  They sell parts and build cars.  John has built all kinds of record holding motors for cars and boats in a lot of different racing venues.  He has a dyno room and machine shop a lot of people would kill for.  From his place I motored down to San Jose and went to Mike Ackatiff's shop where he has his 340+ mph motorcycle streamliner that held the top speed record for one day last summer.  He is making changes and this might be the first 400 mph motorcycle. The story and liner are here:

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bvillecar/bonneville-Index.html

He then took me over to Jack Costella's place where he is working on his new motorcycle streamline that he hopes runs in the high 300's when done.  He built this streamliner...............



and 2 others that hold numerous records.  Jack is always a pleasure to talk to because he is a very original thinker and doesn't hold much back.  Then we had dinner and went and saw a 2 engine bike under construction next to Mike's that hope to break the speed record for a naked bike at b'ville.  Then it was off to the next Walmart  parking lot about 100 miles south of San Jose.

Wed. I drove into Santa Barbara and went to Seth Hammon's business to see his new lakester under construction.  Seth wasn't there, but Lee Gustafson was there working on their record holding modified roadster.....



.......... and he showed me the new underconstruction lakester that I feel will have the top lakester speed at some point in the future.  It is an awesome car.  Lee took me to lunch and I hit the road about 2 for Mike LeFever's place in LA.  Lee said "are you going there today"?  I said it is only about 100 miles, so 1-2 hours should get me there.  He looked at me like I was crazy and I found out why when I got into LA traffic about 45 minutes later and I was still a long ways from where I needed to be.  The worst traffic I ever saw in my life.  Phoenix is nothing now!!  I was going to be late to Mike's place, but thought at least I'll know where it is and will just sit there for a couple hours with the hope of the traffic going down.  I got there about 5:15 and he was working late.  Now John Beck who was so kind to spend time with me a day or so earlier is know for his fuel motors with big roots type blowers.  Mike's specialty is big HP turbo motors like the one in the Kugal car (first door slammer over 300).  He also has a dyno and a nice shop and all different kinds of engines under construction.  I was surprise with the number of Viper motors he had there.  He also took time out from working to give me ideas for the turbo motor I want to build for my truck.  Good ideas, thanks Mike and also thanks to John I think we are a little wiser about where we should be headed with the blower motor in Hooley's Stude.

I left Mike's a little after 7 and headed on down to the next Walmart in San Diego.  Got there in pretty good time and Shush (my dog) and I went to sleep only to be waken up at 1:30 and being told by security that we weren't welcome at Walmart's in San Diego.  And here I had bought a gallon of water earlier in the evening for 64 cents   .  See if I buy anymore water at Walmart   .  I move 100 feet to another parking lot and went back to sleep.

So now it is Thursday morning and I'm to meet up with Jack Dolan for my San Diego tour.  Jack has been involved with all aspects of racing at B'ville for years.  He has run record holding bikes and cars there and put on different meets there, some on private time.  He has also been involved in other racing in the San Diego area putting on 1/16 and 1/8 mile drags on city property to get the street racers off the streets.  We started with breakfast with Dan Hostetler (hope that is spelled right).  Dan is the guy who had 2 32 Fords just alike with real looking flames on the side.  He drives one and races the other and at first flat towed the second to b'ville with the first.  His idea was to take the race one and modify it each year so that it would morph into a streamliner.  I got to see the latest rendition and it is now a streamliner.  How have pictures of it on my site one of these days.  Dan has a flathead in the living room mounted on a stand and a color TV from 1959 with get this, a remote!!  He also has many things from the 50's till now in big collages on the walls. Really neat and hard to describe.  His bed?? Never saw one like it and I'll have to let him explain it to you.  Dan is really a fascinating person to be around.  He digitizes the shape of his car each year to record the diminishing frontal area all by hand and It would take too long to explain the process here, but ask me if you remember.  Truely amazing!!

From Dan's we went to Crower's new plant where they now have all their manufacturing under one roof instead of 6.  Jack is friends with Terry Novak (hope I got that right) who is Bruce Crower's son-in-law and he took us on a tour of the plant.  I can't tell you how impressed I was.  There is brand new CNC machine centers next to probably 50-75 year old lathes and mills that have been modified for certain operations.  Thousands of roller lifters, cranks, rods, etc..  I always wondered how the rod journals are machined on a crank and now I know.  What an amazing operation they have there.  From the plant we went out into the country to Bruce Crower's ranch/house.  We thought we were lost as the area has changed so much since the last time Jack was there.  We would stop and start and finally made it there with no wrong turns.  The cell phone rang that Jack got from his wife, but neither he nor I could figure out how to work it so no calls got through.  I don't know how old Bruce is, older than me, but he is still a dyno and working a new projects in a shop that has everything you could need to build anything including a dyno.  He explained his lates project he is inventing/working on and gave us a tour of some of what he has there.  A neat time, and thanks Terry and Bruce.

Then Jack drove me by the ex-Navy boot camp where I went through boot camp in the 60's.  All gone and housing now.  After a drive by we went to the AutoPower facility.  Their specialty is roll cages for all types of cars.  Another impressive facility.  They were loading thery 5 second front engine dragster to go racing.  This is also home to the Nolan White record holding streamliner.  

Now it was late in the day and we got something to eat and headed the the SDRC (San Diego Roadster Club) meeting that was being held that night.  A great bunch of guys and gals.  It was my first SCTA club meeting and I enjoyed it a lot.  Thanks everyone for the warm welcome.

The next morning (Fri.) we headed up north of San Diego to Jim Lattin's  (new SCTA president) house to go through his private museum of motorcycles, race cars and other really neat stuff.  Another amazing stop, thanks Jack and Jim.  

Next it was further north to Kent Riches' AirTech business in Vista, CA.  Kent makes all kind of motorcyle body work for old and new bikes.  He also has made the bodies for different streamliners at b'ville such as the Ack Attack body and many others.  He was getting a couple bikes ready for El Mirage and we had lunch with him and his cousin who flew in to ride at El Mirage.  Kent I'll have to show you what "hot" Mexican food really is like someday!!

From Kent's I parted with Jack and Jack thanks so much for all the trouble you went through to show me around the San Diego Area.  I really appreciated it.

I headed next out into the sticks to Russ Eyres shop where he was getting his roadster ready for El Mirage.  Russ is helping 4 "half motored" cars also right now.  They are SBC's running on 4 cylinders.  He was good enough to explain to me a couple years ago that if you go this route use just one bank and not 2 cylinders on each side.

 



Russ is another one of the guys you always pick up something new from whenever you talk to him.

FromRuss's it was back into Vista or a town near it to Bob Moreland's shop.  Bob rides my favorite motorcycle of all time....

 

....it scares the crap out of me just looking at it.  He told me that he has learned that if it starts getting off course you can't turn it, so he aborts the run.  Way over 200 on this and you have to have a lot of respect for him.  They have also just built a rear engine modified roadster at the shop powered by a Suzuki 'busa motor and it ran 167 at El Mirage later in the weekend.  We left his place for El Mirge just before dark  I was following him with the GMC and teardrop and he was driving a bus with the bike/car trailer behind.  He told me the bus was a "flat land" bus and at the first hill when we slowed down to 35 I knew why.  The worst though was yet to come.  We were down to about 10 mph going up Cahone Hill climbing out of the LA valley to the high desert.  He though his water temp was climbing and kept slowing down.  There is a truck only slow lane and we were driving on the shoulder next to that lane.  I thought for sure we were going to get run over by trucks going 40 mph faster than us and all the rest of LA that was headed to Vegas for the weekend.  At the top of the hill he tapped the temp gauge and it dropped right down.  I though that only worked in the movies.  After a stop to get food for the weekend we enter the El Mirage lake bed from the east.  It was like the moon and I never would have know where to go if I wouldn't have been following him.  I let him get ahead because of the dust and almost lost him.  Then running 50 trying to catch up with him I wondered if I was going to run over someone sleeping out there in their pup  tent    .  It was about midnight when we turned in.

Sat. was tech inspections for the cars and bikes and pretty laid back, at least for me.  I had a great time seeing bikes and cars that don't always run at b'ville and meeting people I only knew from the internet.  I hung around with the Moreland/Noonan crew as I had a stake in the food supply   .  Later in the evening Richard who is with Bob kept me up half the night telling me lies and I might of told one or two back.  We both rode bikes in Missouri and he is a neat guy to talk about the "good old days" with.  I look forward to some more of that on the salt Richard.

Sunday, race day, and my first experience on the lake bed.  I think there were about 7-8 new records in the first hour or so.  I stayed around the starting line take car and bike pictures until about 11 am when my camera decided to go into "error mode"  :cry: .  Still I got some good pictures to put on the site later.  The lake bed wasn't like I pictured it at all.  Guys complained about the dust, but I can get that where I live any windy day.  They said the surface was as good as it gets and I've been on other dry lake beds and none had the surface that El Mirage has.  I can see why it became popular way back when.  The best I can describe it is if you are old enough to remember when they oiled the dirt roads and know what a good clay/oiled road was like it seem like that to me.  I don't know what the traction is, but until it was tore up I would think it is about 80% to 90% of what pavement is.  Push vehicles and race cars would leave twin 50 foot strips of rubber off the starting line.  Unlike b'ville where you can watch a car a couple miles down off the starting line at El Mirage they disappear into the "cloud of dust" about 1/4 mile from the start.  I'm hooked and will be back and hope to drive the lakester there at some point.  It is something between the drags and b'ville.  

Everyone that wanted to got 3 runs in before they closed things down around 3:30.  I said my goodbye's and headed over to Needles for my last night in the teardrop.  Got up late the next morning and headed east on 40 to Flagstaff, made a left turn and drove the last 250 miles northeast back to my little quiet part of the world.

3200 miles and lots of smiles.  Probably the best road trip I've taken.  Thanks to all of you that made it that way and it was great making new friends,

Sum

Man I had a great trip a week or so ago.  My sister's daughter was getting married in Bend, OR on June 2nd and they were racing at El Mirage the following weekend, so I decide to do both.  The following is pretty long winded and I don't expect too many of you to make it to the end, but here goes......

Thankfully I check the wheel bearings on the teardrop even though I had greased them 10,000 miles ago.  One was rusted up and not turning by hand.  Fixed that and got on the road with 1FATGMC and the FATTEAR late on a Tuesday night before the 2nd.  I went up to Price, UT and slept at a truck stop and it was cold.  The next day I went on into Salt Lake City to visit with Bill Jones who has been involved with different cars on the salt.  I spent 6 hours with him and it wasn't enough.  He builds motor, ports heads, o-rings blocks, etc..  He has a Super Flow he bought in '79 that is number 201 and uses it on the heads he flows.  He has also made a very sophisticate flow bench for flowing mechanical fuel injection.  He can machine about anything and has tons of tooling he has made.  I'll look forward to going back there if he will have me.

I left his place in heavy afternoon traffic and got into mid Idaho that night and slept at a nice Walmart   .

The next day I headed into Nampa and spent some time and had lunch with Nick and Ken Smith of Hot Rod Works.  Ken use to post on here and they run a neat roadster on the salt.  Another good visit.  Then I drove on over to Bend and got there just before dark.

The next two days were taken up with my nieces wedding.  I'm really glad I made it there for that.  She is a mid-wife with a new practice and has a great husband that does smaller contracting jobs.

Sunday afternoon it was a nice drive down to Redding, CA (the scenery was great about the whole trip) to Harv's house.  He is building a lakester also and I have the build on my site.  The next day he took me to see 4 different cars being built for the salt.  One of the neatest is this new comp coupe being built by Denton Hollifield.



Another picture here:

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bville-cars-1/204-2006.html

That took care of Monday.  Tuesday I headed south to Chico and visited John Beck's shop that is in a building with Davidson (sorry, don't know the first name).  The building is one of the nicest rod shops I've ever seen.  They sell parts and build cars.  John has built all kinds of record holding motors for cars and boats in a lot of different racing venues.  He has a dyno room and machine shop a lot of people would kill for.  From his place I motored down to San Jose and went to Mike Ackatiff's shop where he has his 340+ mph motorcycle streamliner that held the top speed record for one day last summer.  He is making changes and this might be the first 400 mph motorcycle. The story and liner are here:

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bvillecar/bonneville-Index.html

He then took me over to Jack Costella's place where he is working on his new motorcycle streamline that he hopes runs in the high 300's when done.  He built this streamliner...............



and 2 others that hold numerous records.  Jack is always a pleasure to talk to because he is a very original thinker and doesn't hold much back.  Then we had dinner and went and saw a 2 engine bike under construction next to Mike's that hope to break the speed record for a naked bike at b'ville.  Then it was off to the next Walmart  parking lot about 100 miles south of San Jose.

Wed. I drove into Santa Barbara and went to Seth Hammon's business to see his new lakester under construction.  Seth wasn't there, but Lee Gustafson was there working on their record holding modified roadster.....



.......... and he showed me the new underconstruction lakester that I feel will have the top lakester speed at some point in the future.  It is an awesome car.  Lee took me to lunch and I hit the road about 2 for Mike LeFever's place in LA.  Lee said "are you going there today"?  I said it is only about 100 miles, so 1-2 hours should get me there.  He looked at me like I was crazy and I found out why when I got into LA traffic about 45 minutes later and I was still a long ways from where I needed to be.  The worst traffic I ever saw in my life.  Phoenix is nothing now!!  I was going to be late to Mike's place, but thought at least I'll know where it is and will just sit there for a couple hours with the hope of the traffic going down.  I got there about 5:15 and he was working late.  Now John Beck who was so kind to spend time with me a day or so earlier is know for his fuel motors with big roots type blowers.  Mike's specialty is big HP turbo motors like the one in the Kugal car (first door slammer over 300).  He also has a dyno and a nice shop and all different kinds of engines under construction.  I was surprise with the number of Viper motors he had there.  He also took time out from working to give me ideas for the turbo motor I want to build for my truck.  Good ideas, thanks Mike and also thanks to John I think we are a little wiser about where we should be headed with the blower motor in Hooley's Stude.

I left Mike's a little after 7 and headed on down to the next Walmart in San Diego.  Got there in pretty good time and Shush (my dog) and I went to sleep only to be waken up at 1:30 and being told by security that we weren't welcome at Walmart's in San Diego.  And here I had bought a gallon of water earlier in the evening for 64 cents   .  See if I buy anymore water at Walmart   .  I move 100 feet to another parking lot and went back to sleep.

So now it is Thursday morning and I'm to meet up with Jack Dolan for my San Diego tour.  Jack has been involved with all aspects of racing at B'ville for years.  He has run record holding bikes and cars there and put on different meets there, some on private time.  He has also been involved in other racing in the San Diego area putting on 1/16 and 1/8 mile drags on city property to get the street racers off the streets.  We started with breakfast with Dan Hostetler (hope that is spelled right).  Dan is the guy who had 2 32 Fords just alike with real looking flames on the side.  He drives one and races the other and at first flat towed the second to b'ville with the first.  His idea was to take the race one and modify it each year so that it would morph into a streamliner.  I got to see the latest rendition and it is now a streamliner.  How have pictures of it on my site one of these days.  Dan has a flathead in the living room mounted on a stand and a color TV from 1959 with get this, a remote!!  He also has many things from the 50's till now in big collages on the walls. Really neat and hard to describe.  His bed?? Never saw one like it and I'll have to let him explain it to you.  Dan is really a fascinating person to be around.  He digitizes the shape of his car each year to record the diminishing frontal area all by hand and It would take too long to explain the process here, but ask me if you remember.  Truely amazing!!

From Dan's we went to Crower's new plant where they now have all their manufacturing under one roof instead of 6.  Jack is friends with Terry Novak (hope I got that right) who is Bruce Crower's son-in-law and he took us on a tour of the plant.  I can't tell you how impressed I was.  There is brand new CNC machine centers next to probably 50-75 year old lathes and mills that have been modified for certain operations.  Thousands of roller lifters, cranks, rods, etc..  I always wondered how the rod journals are machined on a crank and now I know.  What an amazing operation they have there.  From the plant we went out into the country to Bruce Crower's ranch/house.  We thought we were lost as the area has changed so much since the last time Jack was there.  We would stop and start and finally made it there with no wrong turns.  The cell phone rang that Jack got from his wife, but neither he nor I could figure out how to work it so no calls got through.  I don't know how old Bruce is, older than me, but he is still a dyno and working a new projects in a shop that has everything you could need to build anything including a dyno.  He explained his lates project he is inventing/working on and gave us a tour of some of what he has there.  A neat time, and thanks Terry and Bruce.

Then Jack drove me by the ex-Navy boot camp where I went through boot camp in the 60's.  All gone and housing now.  After a drive by we went to the AutoPower facility.  Their specialty is roll cages for all types of cars.  Another impressive facility.  They were loading thery 5 second front engine dragster to go racing.  This is also home to the Nolan White record holding streamliner.  

Now it was late in the day and we got something to eat and headed the the SDRC (San Diego Roadster Club) meeting that was being held that night.  A great bunch of guys and gals.  It was my first SCTA club meeting and I enjoyed it a lot.  Thanks everyone for the warm welcome.

The next morning (Fri.) we headed up north of San Diego to Jim Lattin's  (new SCTA president) house to go through his private museum of motorcycles, race cars and other really neat stuff.  Another amazing stop, thanks Jack and Jim.  

Next it was further north to Kent Riches' AirTech business in Vista, CA.  Kent makes all kind of motorcyle body work for old and new bikes.  He also has made the bodies for different streamliners at b'ville such as the Ack Attack body and many others.  He was getting a couple bikes ready for El Mirage and we had lunch with him and his cousin who flew in to ride at El Mirage.  Kent I'll have to show you what "hot" Mexican food really is like someday!!

From Kent's I parted with Jack and Jack thanks so much for all the trouble you went through to show me around the San Diego Area.  I really appreciated it.

I headed next out into the sticks to Russ Eyres shop where he was getting his roadster ready for El Mirage.  Russ is helping 4 "half motored" cars also right now.  They are SBC's running on 4 cylinders.  He was good enough to explain to me a couple years ago that if you go this route use just one bank and not 2 cylinders on each side.

 



Russ is another one of the guys you always pick up something new from whenever you talk to him.

FromRuss's it was back into Vista or a town near it to Bob Moreland's shop.  Bob rides my favorite motorcycle of all time....

 

....it scares the crap out of me just looking at it.  He told me that he has learned that if it starts getting off course you can't turn it, so he aborts the run.  Way over 200 on this and you have to have a lot of respect for him.  They have also just built a rear engine modified roadster at the shop powered by a Suzuki 'busa motor and it ran 167 at El Mirage later in the weekend.  We left his place for El Mirge just before dark  I was following him with the GMC and teardrop and he was driving a bus with the bike/car trailer behind.  He told me the bus was a "flat land" bus and at the first hill when we slowed down to 35 I knew why.  The worst though was yet to come.  We were down to about 10 mph going up Cahone Hill climbing out of the LA valley to the high desert.  He though his water temp was climbing and kept slowing down.  There is a truck only slow lane and we were driving on the shoulder next to that lane.  I thought for sure we were going to get run over by trucks going 40 mph faster than us and all the rest of LA that was headed to Vegas for the weekend.  At the top of the hill he tapped the temp gauge and it dropped right down.  I though that only worked in the movies.  After a stop to get food for the weekend we enter the El Mirage lake bed from the east.  It was like the moon and I never would have know where to go if I wouldn't have been following him.  I let him get ahead because of the dust and almost lost him.  Then running 50 trying to catch up with him I wondered if I was going to run over someone sleeping out there in their pup  tent    .  It was about midnight when we turned in.

Sat. was tech inspections for the cars and bikes and pretty laid back, at least for me.  I had a great time seeing bikes and cars that don't always run at b'ville and meeting people I only knew from the internet.  I hung around with the Moreland/Noonan crew as I had a stake in the food supply   .  Later in the evening Richard who is with Bob kept me up half the night telling me lies and I might of told one or two back.  We both rode bikes in Missouri and he is a neat guy to talk about the "good old days" with.  I look forward to some more of that on the salt Richard.

Sunday, race day, and my first experience on the lake bed.  I think there were about 7-8 new records in the first hour or so.  I stayed around the starting line take car and bike pictures until about 11 am when my camera decided to go into "error mode"  :cry: .  Still I got some good pictures to put on the site later.  The lake bed wasn't like I pictured it at all.  Guys complained about the dust, but I can get that where I live any windy day.  They said the surface was as good as it gets and I've been on other dry lake beds and none had the surface that El Mirage has.  I can see why it became popular way back when.  The best I can describe it is if you are old enough to remember when they oiled the dirt roads and know what a good clay/oiled road was like it seem like that to me.  I don't know what the traction is, but until it was tore up I would think it is about 80% to 90% of what pavement is.  Push vehicles and race cars would leave twin 50 foot strips of rubber off the starting line.  Unlike b'ville where you can watch a car a couple miles down off the starting line at El Mirage they disappear into the "cloud of dust" about 1/4 mile from the start.  I'm hooked and will be back and hope to drive the lakester there at some point.  It is something between the drags and b'ville.  

Everyone that wanted to got 3 runs in before they closed things down around 3:30.  I said my goodbye's and headed over to Needles for my last night in the teardrop.  Got up late the next morning and headed east on 40 to Flagstaff, made a left turn and drove the last 250 miles northeast back to my little quiet part of the world.

3200 miles and lots of smiles.  Probably the best road trip I've taken.  Thanks to all of you that made it that way and it was great making new friends,

Sum

........ John (WZJUNK) and Larry did the following.  I'll let him explain,

Sum

 

Would a '72 Ford pickup have a ballast resistor??

I don't see one and when I check the voltage to the coil wire in the "on" position and in the "start" position the voltage stays the same.

Thanks,

Sum

If any of you or a friend of yours has the newest Goodguys Gazette I would sure like one.

I hear that in Landspeed Louise's "Fuel For Thought" article she mentions Hooley's car and might even have a picture of it.

I'd like to have the Gazette for my records or at least a copy of the article if anyone has one they would give up.  Of course I'd pay for the shipping and magazine.

Thanks,

Sum

[HERE]

   

I just modified another carb to hook a 700R4 TV cable to it with the proper geometry and also made a mount for the housing end of the TV cable.

It is all ( HERE ).  

This is vital if you are using a 700R4 and want it to live very long.

Hope it helps someone,

Sum

[HERE]

I'm sure this will have universal interest here.

How to hook up a 700R4 in a '72 Ford pickup to the column shift   .

   

For the maybe one of you that wants to see how to do this go HERE .

Next time I'll try and post something that maybe someone can actually use   .

c ya,

Sum

I got one of those levelers or whatever they are called to use on the end of the cherry picker when installing motors.  I really like it except it was a pain to hook the chains onto and to get them the right lenght.

   

I cut four links out of a chain and attached a hook to each and then........



..........put these back on to the leveler.  Now I can attach a chain/chains to the block and simply put a link on the hook at the length I want and it takes just a second to change chain lengths now.

-----------------------------------
This is a two for one post.
-----------------------------------

While building the lakester or about anything else I'm always using a tape and since it is a large one I really don't like to put it in the pocket in my tool pouch.



I bought a belt type hammer holder and cut the bottom of the loop off that holds your hammer.  Then I welded a piece of strap across where the loop was.  First I had ground the top edge of the strap a little so that the tape slides right on.



I then bolted it to the pouch where it would hang down right where my right hand hangs.  Easy to get off and on.  I'll make a second that I can use on a belt without the pouch for those times I only want the tape.

c ya,

Sum

Ok, I posted this a little while back, but will re-post it knowing that the award for best tech is getting to sit in Frank's backyard this summer drinking a cold one and watching him cut the grass ....


   

When I built my house I bought a '73 chevy pickup for $350 and used it. It had a good motor, so when I made the truck into a trailer (threw the cab away) I saved the motor. Since this motor ran I used it to build the stand around along with the radiator/shroud that I had saved. I held the motor up in the air with a cherry picker and leveled it off the carb mounting area on the manifold front to back and side to side. Next I built the stand around it.

   

The base is a piece of metal that was a protector piece around the top of the bed of a pickup I once bought. I cut it up and on the side pieces put three sets of 4 holes down each side for the front motor mount, a mid mount to be use if there is no transmission on the motor and a rear transmission mount. All of the mounts bolt to those holes, so if I ever put a motor other than a sbc one it I can just make new mounts and they are quick to make.

   

With the motor mounted I made the front radiator/shroud mounts and an instrument panel with water temp, oil pressure and voltage. I also mounted a throttle in this area. The top arrow is the throttle handle. The bottom right arrow is the linkage going to the carb. The left arrow is a "T" handle that when it is turned clamps a piece of strap that goes to the throttle handle. Using it lets me set the RPM. I can set the RPM with the throttle handle and then lock it with the "T" handle.

   

I used one of the open holes on the carb bellcrank and put a bolt thru it and attached the linkage from the throttle handle to it.

   

On the back side of the gauge panel is a main power switch (right arrow). Ignition switch (middle arrow). And a brake switch off of a Hodaka motorcycle that I use as the starter button (left arrow).

   

Here is the stand minus the motor and ready to mount the new 383 on. I triangulated the rad/shroud and the instruments with some 3/4 inch square tubing. I also ran a diagonal brace across the front motor mounts. Everything bolts to the base so it is easy to change anything. The arrow points to the middle motor mounts that I have yet to make at this point.

   

The transmission mount was made with some strap with square tubing welded to the undersides (arrows) to stiffen it up along with another plate across the top.

   

Here is a better view of the front motor mounts. With the motor suspended I just worked backwards off of it adding pieces and welding them together until I got down to the base. You can also see the battery and gas tank. The gas tank is a 2 gallon plastic gas can that I drilled a hole into (for a tight fit) and inserted the line that goes to the fuel pump.

   

I used the stock chevy rubber radiator mounts. I welded up some crude pockets for them in the bottom support for the rad/shroud. The rad. sits in these.

   

Here is a picture of the top stock rubber mounts with the shroud bolted to the top crossmember. This picture was taken with these laying on the floor and it is not mounted to the stand.

   

So after the stand proved itself with the old motor I mounted the new 383 to it here. I mounted the block hugger hedders so I could cut and fit the wires. Since I didn't have the short collector adapters yet that would mount the hedders to the rest of the exhaust I had to use the stock exhaust to break the motor in. I'm also using the q-jet carb off of the other motor at this point. I'll be rebuilding another to actually use on this motor.

   

Since I'm firing the new motor without the transmission I made the intermediate mounts at this point. I put the motor on the front mounts with the cherry picker and then held the back up where I wanted it while I made the mounts. I started by making the plates that bolt to the back of the motor. I drilled a hole for the locator dowel and for 2 bolts. Then I worked from there down to the base of the stand. I triangulate this area also.

   

Another view showing the mounts and the block huggers (arrow) that were on just to fit the plug wires. The motor was very stable while being run.

   

This shot was taken during the 30 minute cam break-in period. The tach will go into the pickup along with the motor and I have another set of these gauges to go in the truck also. The tach and gauges are Summits cheap ones. I varied the rpm between 2000 and 3000 during the break-in and the oil pressure was at 70 and the temp stayed between 185 and 190 right on the thermostat.

   

The rubber hose that was attached to the exhaust in the first picture at the top of the page didn't make it through the break in. It was fine for a few minutes, but then go too hot and I had to remove it. With the motor running I pushed it over to the garage door with the pipes sticking outside and that worked fine. I was so happy to hear this motor run. It is the first one I've built in years and I was NERVOUS. Just a note, it looks like the bottom of the stand is bent or curved, but it is straight. I was using the camera on wide angle.

The total cost minus the gauges was under $30 worth of new metal and castors.  The gauges added about another $75 to the cost.  After firing the new 383 I'm using the stand to store the older motor and it is easy to move around.  Hope to build some more motors in the future.

c ya,

Sum

Frank you mentioned they now had an english wheel on the chat.

   

$250 is mighty tempting.

   

You can also buy the top wheel for $40.00 and .....

   

The set of 6 bottoms for $80.00.

Has anyone on here bought this yet?? Or know of someone who has???

I'm thinking of at least picking up the top wheel and the bottom die set just in case this isn't a big mover for them and they discontinue it.  I don't think I could make them for $120 and get them right.  I'm not set up to do a radius on the lathe.

I'd like to make the rest of the frame so that it sat on the end of my press brake so that it would take up less shop space and I don't see $200 worth of metal in the frame anyway.

This link should get you to the item ( 95359-0VGA ):

http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=english+wheel&Submit=Go

Any comments???

Sum

   

I guess that must be Joe's car that he just sold.  I didn't know his last name and can't see the driver in the car on the cover very well, but it looks like him.

That is a really nice car.  Tell him from me congratulations :!:   He did good   .

C ya,

Sum

[HERE]

While building the 383 I also built a few other tools that helped with degreeing the cam in.



A spacer to move the degree wheel away from the end of the crank.    

   

A piece to put on the top of the lifter to extend it for the dial indicator.

   

A piston stop to find TDC.

There are a few more pictures and a better description ( HERE ).

c ya,

Sum

Hey Doug here is your car already to go:

 

I started with the picture you sent me.  

 

Chopped the top and stretched it a bit, but don't know how much.  

   

Then added the spoiler and spill plates.  Looks fast!!

A local kid brought his '73 Datsun Z car into my shop today, so we can try and get a '75 FI motor he put in it running.  From the side it looks a lot like the Saab.  I like the rear roof down into the truck on the Saab.  I'll bet you are right that it would make a good car.

Hope to see you on the salt with it one day   .  If you can't copy these pictures I could e-mail them to you.

c ya,

Sum

[HERE]

   

A few of you have been aware that I have been building a 383 sbc for what seems like forever :cry: .  Well I finally fired it yesterday and I'm a happy camper so far.  I ran it for 30 minutes to break the cam in and the oil pressure is good, the temp stayed between 185-190 and it sounded good especially with the straight pipes .

The motor has been almost done for a while, but I wanted to build a test stand to fire it on and something I can use in the future when I build a new motor for my pickup.  That took longer than expected.

If you want to see more pictures of the test stand they are ( HERE ).

 

The motor is a 383 small block with vortec heads and a mild Comp 256 cam, hedders by River1 (thanks Jim) and a q-jet with a 700R4 behind it.  I put the hedders on to cut and fit the plug wires, but used the stock exhaust to run it as I was set up for them.  According to my Dyno2000 program it should put out a peak 330 hp in the 4500-5000 range, but over 400 lb-ft torque from below 2000 to over 4000 rpm.  I want this to be a good pulling motor (pull the lakester to b'ville maybe   ) and get good fuel mileage.

It is going to replace the 390 in Julie's '72 Ford and hopefully get better gas mileage.  She was there for the break-in and was very happy to see it finally running.  I have here 390 and tranny sold, so this afternoon I have to start working on getting that out of the truck.

c ya,

Sum

 

Any of you guys used this stuff yet??  I just saw it in Hot Rod and it looks like it might be a good deal and the price doesn't look bad:

http://kirkerautomotive.com/html/hot_rod_black.html

c ya,

Sum

   

I got a plasma cutter the other day    and I needed a cart for it.  I designed, cut the metal and welded up the one above in about 4 hours with my trusty mig.

Ok Rex    as I was doing the welds on this one after another (I figure about 80+ inches worth) I got to thinking about a TIG and how long this simple project would have taken with one of those.

I still would like to have a TIG, but if I only had one welder you couldn't get the mig away from me.

c ya ,

Sum

[HERE]

Don't miss these shows this morning.

1:00 pm Eastern on Discovery they have a 1 hour show on the North American Eagle which is about a jet car hoping to break the British absolute land speed record, which broke the sound barrier.

3:00 pm Eastern on Speed is the 2nd hour of the Bub motorcycle meet on the salt this last summer.  I went to this meet and wrote about it ( HERE  ).  3 motorcycle streamliners all go faster than the old motorcycle record of 322 mph.  Last week part I was one of the best productions I have ever seen done on the salt.  Don't miss this one.

c ya,

Sum

I used Cermakrome made by Techline. It's a water based ceramic coating that has to be baked at 500 degrees for an hour, so unless it will fit in an oven it's not practical. It's a little fussy to apply too. I used an air brush to spray it since it has to be evenly applied, .001" to .0015" thick. But if you do it right it comes out just like the Hot Jet Coated headers since it's the same coating. I did 2 sets of block hugger headers from a 6 oz bottle that cost about $18 and had some left over. I'd do it again. I've used it to coat brackets and small parts too....cheap billet  

Here's a pic of the first one I did. I used it for a practice piece because it was all rusty and beat up. I sand blasted it first, then coated it and baked it.

The quote is from way back.  I can find the stuff from Techline (  http://www.techlinecoatings.com/Exhaust.htm ), but only in 4 oz and 12 oz..  Am I on the right site???  Also the 4 oz is $20.  Did you get it direct from them?? They might have changed their packaging.  I can't find where Summit has it.

Also is what you used the Aluminum color??

Thanks,

Sum

[HERE]

I've made some spreadsheets and put them on my site.  Most are related to Land Speed Racing, but the transmission gear ratio ones might be of some interest.

You can download the one that matches your transmission type (3 speed, 4 speed, etc.)  and put in the rearend ratio and tire diameter and see the rpm's at different speeds.  This way you can see what changing rear gears or tire sizes will do for you.

Even if you don't know the internal gear ratios of your transmission you can set up the final one for 1:1 or Overdrive and look at your speeds there.

You can find them all ( HERE ).

Let me know if you find any mistakes or if you have any questions.

c ya,

Sum

[HERE]

Someone asked (Tony??) if I had an update to Hooley's car for 2006.  I just posted a page ( HERE ).

The page doesn't show all that was done to the car during the off season, but documents some of the changes Hooley, John and others did.

c ya,

Sum

[HERE]

   

I've added pictures of the BUB meet (the "streamliner wars") and some more commentary on my site ( HERE ).

I took over 300 pictures at BUB and over 400 at Speed Week this year.  If there is any interest in them, plus pictures from other Speed Weeks I'll try and figure out a way to get them to people.  There are way too many and it would cost me too much to try and put all of this on my site.

Mike Akatiff also wrote up an excellent commentary of the "liner wars" and I have it on my site ( HERE ).

I don't really frequent the bike boards, so if some of you who do wouldn't mind, please put a link there to these photos (thanks Sum).

c ya,

Sum

Man I like the new user's age on our posts.

I'm only 27 again.

Tomslik is an even 100 .  No wonder he picks on Tony who is only 20 .

And Denise is N/A, I guess that is what women say now when you ask them how old they are .

Is this only on my computer?

c ya, Sum

Here is the report I posted on landracing.com:

Man what a meet as you all probably know from Jon's posts and other reports. I got there Sat. afternoon kind of hung around Ack's, Jon's and Larry's bikes as they were all together. First I was going to leave on Tuesday and then Wed., but with all the drama I stayed until the last minute on Thursday when I heard the official tell Dennis that the meet was officially over sometime after 12 noon down at the zero mile.

Since I wasn't really tied to any one vehicle at this meet I got to roam around some, so here is some of what I remembered for what it is worth.

As mentioned the meet got off to a big start with Ack upping the FMI record by about 20 mph. This was a great achievement by Mike and his crew, but in retrospect Mike regretted his initial decission to not put much HP in the liner at that point. He left a lot on the table HP wise and later in an interview with Dave Despain wishes he would have put more boost into it to begin with. He felt that the 240's might have been the limit to traction and that more HP would have just resulted in more tire slip. But the salt was putting out lots of traction (if it is the same at the end of the month Tom Burkland could maybe lay down a really large number).

So Ack gets the record and things look good for them, until the next day when Manning brings the Bub liner to the line and Chris Carr lays down two runs that moves the record up to 250+mph. They ended up with rear tire problem after the runs that resulted in them needing to mount and balance a new tire. This didn't go well as they weren't able to get the tire mounted on the salt. I guess they finally mounted it by putting a tube in it and getting it up on the bead on one side and then pulling the tube and getting it to seat on the other side. Next was the balance problem. At this point it is a day or so later and Mike is trying everything they can do to get a good run in with Ack Attack, which has made a couple high speed runs but not good enough to attack the new 250 mph record and ending with various problems. So Mike is trying to make his liner better, but takes an hour out or so to try and balance the rear tire of Manning's liner his major competitor at this point. Mike had a tire balancer and tried hard to balance the tire, but the last I looked something strange was happening with the balancer that was related to being hooked up to a generator for supply voltage. The tire went back to Dennis and I don't know if it ever was successfully balanced.

Just a couple notes here and I might not have this all straight as it is confusing and you get lots of different stories. Running FIM (and only a few at the meet had paid and submitted to run FIM) is different that what most of us that run SCTA are use to. First you don't have to qualify on an existing record to make the second run. The two runs are averaged and that average has to be 1% over the old record (about 3.5 mph on a 350 mph record). So you could make a down run at 100 mph and a return run at 600 mph and have a 350 average and maybe a record. Not likely, but you have to decide if you want to use the run or throw it away. Mike threw some away. One last thing is that the course was 11 miles long. You ran from the 0 to the 5 and then were timed between the 5 and the 6 with the kilo in the middle of the 5 and 6. Then there was a 5 mile shut down, which became the 0 to the 5 going the other way. They also had a short course withing the long course. The return road was the long course at Speed Week and the BUB course was parallel to it and a few hundred yards to the east. Going down (to the north) at the 3 mile they had a station setup between the return road and the course where the "short course" bikes would stage. When they ran a short course bike it would run east from the stage area over to the track and make a left and then pickup speed and run 2 miles to the 5 mile and get timed from the 5 to the 6. The same type staging was used coming back if the bike was running back for an AMA or FIM record and had to return. So this all resulted in bikes running "long" and "short" courses on the same course and if one qualified FIM it had to do the return in 2 hours time, so you had "long" and "short" course bikes running back the other way also all on the same course. All of this resulted in not very many runs per hour, especially the first couple days. I'm also happy to report that they never once screwed up and had bikes coming down the course from opposite directions or the same direction at the same time. I'm sure they did their best, but after being at SCTA events it was pretty slow and this event would have made you appreciate Glen and the rest of the SCTA guys and how organized they are even more. From what I could tell most of the bikes only got in about 1 run per day the first couple days. Manning did notify everyone that streamlines were going to get special treatment and would not have to stay in the staging lanes and could go right down course and prepare to run and then the other runs would halt when they were ready. The same with them coming back.

The flagging on the course was very confusing and more than one bike didn't know where the measured mile was and would run hard before it or way after it, but not in it. Also there was suppose to be communication for the crews and such via an FM radio station. Something happened that didn't let that happen. Finally they set-up on channel 1 on the CB, but the radio they were using wasn't very good and they had different announcers, but failed to get a lot of the times out, so often you didn't know what was going on. It also appeared at least the first couple days there was no time slips printed out anywhere, so you would have to ask one of the workers that had an event radio to call and get your time if you were running. I do want to thank the crew that did manage the CB radio for the info they did get out and at the end of the week they did report the majority of the runs.

So I was at the point where Ack had set the record only to be broken by the Bub liner, which had a new rear tire installed, but didn't run. It seemed they were happy with their record speed and only planned on running if it was broken.

So about Tuesday Sam arrives with his 1150 cc liner and starts setting up his pits in no real hurry. I soon find out there is no real hurry as they have one front tire mounted and only expect it to make 2 runs before it is ruined. So Sam's effort is going to be a "go for broke" effort right from the beginning. As I understand it his front tire was designed for Shirley Muldowney's dragsters and is no longer available. It is very narrow and seemed to work good up to 300 mph, but over 325 seems to come apart very quickly, even shaved. It also takes over 12 hours to get the front wheel/tire out of the liner and get a new one mounted and aligned. They did have what appeared to be one last new one with them that had not been shaved yet. So if the tire went then so went their attempt. Personally after seen this liner before I felt 340 was probably the limit of the little motor they were using. I was proved wrong. When they finally made their run it was an amazing 355 mph one way for the fast time of the meet, but and a big but, the front tire blew on the first run, not the second, so they were done. Sam feels the tire blew at speed, but didn't really know it until he was going fairly slow with the chute out and then the liner when over on it's side without really hurting it or Sam. This liner might have a little more in it as it is now. One of the crew mentioned to me that he felt if "all the stars were in proper alignment" there might be a 360 mph in the car. The problem is the front tire and that isn't an easy problem to fix. Even if someone started to build 300 mph tires they probably wouldn't fit in the car. The only solution I see and it isn't an easy one is a redesign of the car. It that was to take place it might be time to also make the car longer to also accommodate an intercooler. These are just my view though and I have no idea what Sam has planned for the liner.

If these three liners would have been running SCTA they would have all been running in different classes. Ack is in the 3000 cc running blown gas with an intercooler (although at this meet he didn't seal the tank and was considered fuel). Bub running a completly one off (he has a couple) designed V-4 was running blown fuel (alcohol) without an intercooler. The EZ-Hook liner is running 1350 cc blown fuel (alcohol) and no intercooler. Under FIM I'm pretty sure Ack and Bub were running the same class -- streamliner and maybe EZ-Hook was also in the same class. The only thing that really mattered is they all wanted the fastest FIM motorcycle absolute record and only one ended up with it. I'm sure you have seen a game where you wanted both sides to win and no one to loose. At the end of the week this was my feelings and in the end they all were winners and will have memories that will be with them and those of us that watched forever.

I was ready to leave Wed. night (the "closed" sign had already been out on our store door back at home for one day) when Mike told me they were going to turn the boost up Thursday morning and put about 200 more HP in the liner. I decided to stay one more night at the "bend in the road" in my teardrop. It was lonely out there with only 2 other campers, but at least quiet and I got way more sleep that during Speed Week.

So Thursday morning Ack tows up early to the zero mile marker around 8 am and prepares to run. There is one problem at this point. On a previous run the Ack was hurt. One of the intermediate shafts that transmits the power from the rear motor's output shaft to the common jack-shaft with chains on both sides going to the rear wheel/tire is broke in such a fashion that it is only being supported by a bearing on one side. So how much HP can it handle and when is it going to let go is the big question??? The liner stages with the BUB liner staged right behind it and goes only a short way down the course before Rocky is blown off course. Bub doesn't elect to run and Ack pushes push back to the line and restages. Rocky takes off again with the BUB liner still waiting on the results and at about the 3 mile there is problems. Rocky coasts off to the return road and they bring the liner back to the pits and for a while call it a day thinking the output shaft has finally gone south. Finally they decide to pull the case and look at the damage. What they find is the the chain drive's sprocket's nut had backed off and the chain went out of alignment and was destroyed. Actually it looked like metal mush. The two sprockets where still ok, but still had the damaged shaft problem. Now it is twenty to eleven and you had to run by 12 noon before the FIM part of the meet was ended Mike says lets do it and the Ack team hustled and got a new chain installed, the intercooler loaded with ice, the liner to the starting line 6 miles away, and got Rocky belted into the car and ready to run by 12 noon with a few minutes to spare. Bub again lined up behind them. The run didn't go well with Rocky exiting the course after the final Kilo timer, but before the final mile clock, so they were ineligible to make a return run in the 2 hour time limit and with the slow 100 mph speed in the kilo it would have been pretty futile to try and attempt it. I didn't find out what the final problem with Ack was, but they sure gave it their best effort all week until the last moment and Mike was wishing in the end that he would have turned the boost up for the first couple runs, but hindsight is easy. I'm sure they aren't done yet and we will probably be seeing them again. As the Bub liner never ran again who knows what it's limits might be.

At about 12:30 one of the officials declared the FIM part of the meet over down at the zero mile where I was still hanging afraid to miss something. With his announcement I headed 1FATGMC and the teardrop towards the interstate and the 450 mile ride home. Lots of rain on the way home helped get most of the salt off and I was home about 8:00 pm tired, but very glad I had gone.

c ya,

Sum

Ok so the picture above was of two RRT heroes of the day, Jim (River1) and George (PurplePickUp) at an Anasazi ruin somewhere west of Blanding on the first day of the adventure and not Hooley running 241 mph, but the rest of the story is below.  

I have the week and a half adventure now posted on my site.  Go to the following link and then down the page to "The 2006 "236.921 Record" Story":

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bvillecar/bonneville-Index.html  

I don't have the construction changes to the car for 2006 up on the site yet.  I might get it done tomorrow, but it might be a week or so as I'm going back to B'ville Sat. for the BUB motorcycle meet as it looks like there might be at least 3 motorcycle streamliners that will set a new world motor cycle record over 330 mph.  When I add the new construction pages I'll post.

c ya, Sum

P.S.  George/Jim I'll try and get that picture and one more e-mailed to you soon.

Hi eveyone, I got back yesterday and John and Hooley ought to be home about now.  I'll try and get the whole story with some pictures on my site the beginning of the week, but for now here is the quick version.

First one very happy crew left the salt late Friday night.  Some had to leave earlier and we want to thank all of you .  It was quite a team effort this year.

So here is basically what happened.

Friday --  Went through tech inspection with no problems and set up the pits (thanks guys for the help).

Sat -- Drivers meeting in the morning and Hooley was one of the first cars down the course.  We wanted to take things easy this year as the last two years we were broke by Sunday night.

1st Run --  Wanted to get some readings and also a RPM reading against the clocked speed between the 2 and the 2 1/4 mile.  Hooley ran a 194 mph at the 2 1/4 and exited the 3 mile with a 191 average.  The EGT was climbing so he shut off.  A lot of this run was partial throttle and we were a little lean.  We richened up the idle of idle circuit on the mech. fuel injection (running an 8-71 Blower on a 400 sbc. -- 40 cu. in. under what we could be for the class).

2nd Run -- We were able to get back in line and make a 2nd pass on Sat.  The lines got longer the rest of the days.  We felt it might run richer WOT when he was all the way on the pill so that is what he did -- ran WOT in 2nd, 3rd and 4th.  It worked pretty good as he a 210 in the 2 1/4 mile traps.  He got up to about 223 in the second mile (from our data logged RPM) when he spun the tires and the car went around.  Almost 180 one way and then 270 the other and they another 270 back and then back the other way and finally back towards the timing tower!!  It looked like he spun all the way around, but didn't.  I'll try and figure out how to get the video posted.  Jim (River1) brought 2 helmet cams and they worked great.  We got lots of different video this year with the 2 on-board video cameras and the two helmet cams (thanks Jim and Benny/Lillie).

The  EGT was still higher than we wanted so we went richer with a "pill" change for the next run.  I mean real rich compared to what you would run for max. hp on the strip (about 10 to 1 on the air/fuel).  

In the near spin the car ran over the chute leads and bent the push bar/chute attament bar around at about a 45 deg. angle.  Frank did a good job of getting it straightened out.  At this point we also added 600 lbs more weight to the car and that made a big difference the rest of the week.  Hooley had already added about 250 lbs. to the car over the winter and reworked the suspension on both ends, so now the car was about 1000 lbs heavier than last year.

Sunday -- On our only run this day Hooley said he wasn't even going to look at the EGT gauge and was just going to go for it.  I talked him out of that course of action.  We had two EGT probes.  One in #4 for him to look at and one in #7 that we were data logging.  #7 was usually about 50=100 degs higher than #4 (probably normal on a sbc).  He ran a 200 at the 2 1/4 -- 210 in the third mile  and 227.847 in the 4th mile.  The EGT was a little high so he shut if off.  After looking at the data the EGT was getting to it's max so he probably could have run through the 5 mile and qualified, but he had no way of knowing that looking at the gauge at almost 230 mph.

Monday -- The first shot to the foot!!  After Sunday's run we knew we had a good shot at the 231 record.  We changed oil and plugs.  We made a run, but the car sounded terrible and ran a 183 at the 2 1/4 and at the end of the 5 mile was only running 209.  We finally found that the 1 & 3 plug wires had been reversed as one was marked 1 & 3.  We did some checking with a compression gauge and felt the motor wasn't hurt just our feelings :cry: .

Tuesday -- We shoot the other foot!!  After waiting in line most of the day ( the lines were really long a slow with over 500 entries) we got to run.  The car was even worst off the line and acted like it was real rich and wouldn't clean out.  He ran 195 at the 2 1/4 then ran out of gas.  We had filled the 8 gal tank a couple days earlier and had failed to check it thinking we had plenty.  We had never run this much before.  Looking at the data the car was really running lean off the line and running out of gas there.  Under throttle it put a little gas in the pickup and ran for a bit until it ran out.  Now we were really getting down some and wondering if we could run one good run much less the two that were needed for a record.

Wed --  Another day in line, but with much better results!!  The car didn't sound too good off the line and it took Hooley a little to clean it out.  I would push him up to about 40 to 50 with my truck and he would pull away.  This run it was easy for me to go past him if I wanted after he pulled away from me, so it didn't look good at first.  The car cleaned out and he ran a 204 in the 2 1/4, 212 in the 3rd mile, 228 in the 4th mile and 234 in the 5th mile with a 237 exit speed.  WE QUALIFIED FOR A RECORD   !!  We had an hour to get to "impound" and up to 4 hours to work on the car.  After the two previous days we decided to do not much work and left the "foot shooting gun" in it's holster.  We did go one pill change leaner as we were running 9.6 air to fuel and wanted to help it off the line.

Thurs -- After not too much sleep by any of us even though we went to bed early (the guys at the motel and me in my teardrop at the "bend in the road") we were at the end of the road at 6 am when they let us go to the pits to get the car ready for the second run of the record attempt.  We fired the car and just kind of looked at it and wondered if the car and Hooley would run as good as the day before.  They led all the cars in impound to the starting line at 7 and I think we were second in line on the long course starting line.

Hooley got on it pulling away from me way better than the Wed. run.  You could tell he was determined!!  His best speeds ever -- 211 in the 2 1/4, 219 in the 3 mile, 233 in the 4th mile and 239.740 in the 5th mile with a 241.179 exit speed!!!!!!  He drove the car hard and looking at the RPM and Throttle position data you could tell he was driving it right on the edge of the available traction.  When we meet up to push him back to impond there was a lot of hugs and a few tears.

His two runs gave him a 236.921 average for a new record for B/BGCC.

We went to tech where they "pumped" the motor to check the displacement.  Once the car passed inspection Hooley was awarded with the "Red Hat" and his 200 MPH Member T-shirt.

It was early in the day for us and we decided to take Patrick (21 years old and the 2nd trip to B'ville with us) over to the short course and do a lic. run for him.  He ran about 140+ for his first run (have to run between 125 and 150).  The line got shorter so we put him back in line and he ran 169 for his second lic. run (150 to 175).  He was pumped!!.

We went back and finished packing up and headed for home about 7 pm.  We got to Price Utah and couldn't find a motel room, so the guys slept sitting up in the suburban and I slept in the tear.  Hooley said it was the best nights sleep he had gotten in a couple weeks.  The next morning we went on to my place and took the weight out of the car (Friday) and they headed home happy campers!!!

I'll post when I get pictures up.

c ya, Sum

Anyone have Charlie's or Ken's cell phone numbers?  If so could you PM them to me.  I'd like to see where they are in relation to Utah at the moment.

Thanks,

Sum