Messages

...Poor Hooley. At least I didn't pull a trailer to Utah. I guess he had to go retrieve the 974 anyway.

That plan sure didn't work out.

He is on his way home right now with an empty trailer.  We put the motor/trans back in and some other stuff.  I'll finish up and will keep the car here.  It was a sad deal not going, but we are still in good spirits,

Sum

An update on what is going on.

As I mentioned before, I think, after the high oil temp on the last run and the decision to go home and check the motor we took the car to my place and pulled the motor and Hooley took it home and checked the bearings.  They looked fine so we might of been able to go on but....he did a leak down test on the motor and one cylinder was low, around 25%.  He could hear air in the adjacent cylinder's intake or exhaust.  He pulled the head and the head gasket was about ready to let go so good thing we stopped.

He installed new gaskets with a sealer and torqued them higher and also had time to run the motor to operating temp and let it set a couple days and retorqued again.  Something he didn't have time for before.  He feels good about it but the block might get O-Ringed over the winter.

I've cleaned the car but still find salt all of the time.  Re-fiberglassed one part of the belly pan that got hurt going on or off the trailer.  Also the same for the bottom of the nose of the frontend.  Replaced 2 of the forward heims on the ladder bars.  

Fixed some of the belly pan mounts that had either broke off or were damaged.  Put in dzus fasteners on the very back belly pan that we had scabbed in just before going to the salt.  Reinforced the frontend suspension stops and added a second brace to them.  

Found some other rims and tires to use on the car when it is in storage and on the trailer.  We also bought 2 almost new landspeed rear tires and rims.  We are also going to mount up 2 tires I had so now will have 2 front and 2 rear spares.

I got 4 new springs for the wastegates that will let us start with basically zero boost at WOT.  With the 8 lb. springs we were using it would go from no boost to 6-8 lbs. and the sudden 200-300 HP in a second or two was hard to control.  Now with the ability to start at zero boost at WOT we should be able to bring the boost on in 2-4 lb increments with the 6 stage Turbosmart boost controller in 3rd and 4th and run on the motor in 1st and 2nd.  Remember the car ran 218 on no boost and 50% throttle.  I think on just motor in the first couple gears the car will actually accelerate faster since you won't have to be feathering the throttle so much.  Then in some of 3rd and 4th we can hopefully bring the boost on in steps that don't keep breaking the tires loose.

I also found a new set of the 'right' overdrive gears for 4th (.865) that Hooley will put in when he gets to our place.  I also found two different sets of higher drive gears for the transmission that drive the countershaft that would also give us a higher 4th with the present two high gear sets we have available now but would also make 1st and 2nd higher which could be good or bad.  At least now we have a better selection of available gears and also gears I could use in the lakester if I buy the same transmission which is what I'm leaning towards.

Hooley is on his way now (Friday) to our place with his wife and sister-in-law.  They are taking their time and should arrive here Sunday.  We will spend a couple days sightseeing in the area and then Wanda and her sister will return home and we will put the motor back in the car and do a few other things and hopefully leave for Wendover Sunday the 30th.

The plan is to put Hooley in the car and run AA/BFCC.  If he gets the record and there is still time we might change to AA/BGCC and I'll drive the car.  This time there won't be any license runs for either of us so we might get a chance to see what the car will do and I'm very optimistic that it is going to be fast if we don't do anything stupid.

I think that is about it,

Sum

Glen you are going to be very happy with the shop.

One suggestion is put multiple outlets on both sides of the doors.  I have 4 outlets there and wish I would of put in 8.  Most of the wall ones get covered up sooner or later and are hard to get to.  Divide the ones at the door between a couple circuits in case friends are helping and running tools the same time as you.

I also put in 220 for mill/mill drill and lathe and the lift.  Have the welding ones also by the door so they don't get covered up.  I have 3 for the welders around the shop and two long 220 extension cords so the whole shop is covered for welding.

I also have outlets on the front side of my work bench and those are really handy.

Think the same with air.

I'll be looking forward to seeing the projects that come out of the shop.  If the past ones are any indication there will be some great cars built there,

Sum

Here is a copy and paste from a post I just made on landracing.com:

I added some video of my license runs last night.  We have in-car and out-the-front video from the first 3 runs.  Then I think left the cameras on and ran the batteries as the last 3 runs we only have a few minutes of video from each run.  Of some value as we can see the oil temp on the dash before each run and can see that it was getting hotter and hotter as the last 4 runs were back to back.  We really shouldn't of made the A license run that day knowing what we know now.  Should of gone to the pits and cooled everything down.  Next time we will be much more careful and watch the oil temps and change some of the water between each run in the main 30 gallon tank that feeds the rad-in-a-box and change water and add a lot more ice to the intercooler tank since hopefully we will be running more boost.

Here are two videos from the C license run (150-175 mph)my second run after getting the D license) and it is pretty boring but shows the starter and you can also see how well the car handles.  The only time I moved the wheel was a couple short WOT experiments when the tires got loose going into boost and the car jumped a little sideways.
 
In-Car: //[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jymzMP1fjIQ[/youtube]

Down-Track: //[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n44GVPKMguo[/youtube]

the 2 mile was 168.846, 2 1/4 177.085, 3 mile was 173.66.  I pushed the 2 1/4 speed a little higher than I should of but was trying to see if getting 175 at the 2 1/4 to qualify the car for the long course was going to be a problem as they wanted us to re-qualify the car with all the changes to it.  We did not try to use that speed to go to the long course, but used my speed on my B license run the next day.

Next up is video from my first attempt at a B license (175-200 mph).  I was trying to run 190 at the 2 1/4 and when I went to WOT before the 2 the throttle stuck wide open for 3 seconds.  The car jumped sideways and I lifted as I had done on previous runs but the throttle was stuck wide open.  This was at 178 mph according to the data log at that point.  The tail of the car continued to the right very quickly and I felt for sure it was going to go all the way around so didn't pull the chute as it would of just wrapped around the car.  I steered into the slide and the vertical stabilizers caught the car and sent it the other way but not quite as far.  Then I waited until the car started to swing the other way and pull the chute just before it was lined up with down-track.  The chute came out and the car settled down.  Of course all of that happened a lot quicker than you can read about it.

In-car: //[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKGZrCyLSEI[/youtube]

Down-track (keep track of the horizon): //[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaGf2Dh7bPo[/youtube]

We took the car back to the staging line and Hooley added a 3rd throttle spring that was also at a better angle to the linkage at WOT and never had a throttle problem after that run.  No more videos after that run, but a short run-down.

The next run, for the B license, I screwed up and shifted from 1st to 4th.  Instead of trying a down shift I left it there to see how the car would pull under load.  I had a 122 mile 2 speed, 145 at the 2 1/4 and a 156 3 mile speed.  According to the rpm at the exit the car was running over 180 though so that was good.

Finally got my act back together on the next B license run and ran  a 155 2 mile, a 188.726 at the 2 1/4 (qualified for the long course) and  a 186.560 3 mile as I just ran through at the same rpm trying not to screw anything up.

We went right over the the #2 long course and ran (should of waited to next day) and again I just wanted a smooth run for an A license.  Ran a 153 2 mile,  178 at the 2 1/4, 188 3rd mile, 208 4th mile and a 213 5th mile.  I ran the second half of the 3, all the 4 and all the 5 at about 50% throttle and about the same rpm as I didn't have my rpm sheet with me before the run.  When I saw the exit traps coming up I got in it a little and ran a 217.997 exit speed.  The oil temp was pegged at 300.

The next day after looking at the filter we decided to quit but later found no engine damage once Hooley got the engine to his place.

At this point I'd call the rear vertical stabilizers a major success as I'm sure the car would of spun without them on the one run and on the other runs the car was as straight as an arrow as long as the tires didn't break loose and when they did it was very predictable and returned to straight as soon as you lifted just a bit.  On the near spin I thought for sure the forces might of laid the verticals over but they survived with no bending or damage at all.

I was really happy to of been able to drive the car and run over 200.  Thanks Hooley and all the other guys who worked on the car and a special thanks to my wife, Ruth who has been very supportive on this whole deal.,

Sum

Just added 3 pages on building and finishing the ....



.............. vertical stabilizers and ....



... small wing.

Lots of RRT....





.... help on these.  Sorry George I didn't get a picture of you working on the inside body panels and the other jobs you did.  Do you have pictures of any of that?  George was on duty from Hooley's house to the last hour (teardown) on the salt so gets the "most hours put in" award .

There are lots more pictures and more detailed info starting here on the verticals and the smaller wing....

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/Hooley%202013/13%20-%20hooley-construction-2013-20.html

They saved my butt on one run   ,

Sum

good news on the engine in 974... baby steps with new setup as you folks are doing.

Was data logging at Speed Week a success or limited?

I'd say limited.  It all worked (16 data points), but while the license runs insured the 'baby steps' it also limited what we could do.  Keeping the speeds down meant that the car ran on the motor on almost all of the runs except for some very brief full throttle/load situations.

We did see some boost, up to 6-7 lbs. briefly, but not long enough to really see what the air/fuel would be under constant boost.  Even the A license run over 200 was at about 50% throttle for most of the run.  If we would of watched the water/oil temps more closely and put the run off to the next day then the run after that would of been a good run for putting the car under load and boost for a longer period.

According to Gordon though at Superior Air whom we bought the carb from the data we did get suggests the carb should be pretty close at higher loads/boost.  I'm hoping we go two jets richer on the driver side and one on the passenger side as I'd like to see it richer for the next run.

I do have questions about some of our data and how to interpret it.  When I have it in better order to present to someone Gordon said he would look at it and also the techs at Borg Warner said they would also help along with Jerry at DIYautotune and Marty at Turbosmart.  Luckily we do have some good backup help in this venture.

I'll post more when I know more.  It was good seeing you guys.  It has been a while,

Sum

Sum, thanks for updates.

Any internal engine inspections yet?

He has checked the mains and there was no damage and the same with the rods that he has checked.  So we could of kept running, but I'm glad we didn't chance it.  This stuff is expensive  :cry: .

Hooley will get on here sooner or later.  His computer broke about 2 weeks before SpeedWeek and he still isn't back on-line but he does want to thank everyone that helped us at home, my place and on the salt,

Sum

A little more info.  On my long course run I ran 208 in the 4th mile and 213 in the 5th with a 217 exit speed.   The car will do much more.  I ran the second half of the 3, all the 4 and the 5 on about 50% throttle and no boost all motor.  

I didn't want to screw up the license run or I would of gone faster.  The car handled great.  Also according to the tach and the data logger I was running 6200 at the exit which according to my spreadsheet is 240 so don't know what was going on there.  

It looks like we will for sure go to World Finals the 1st of October with Hooley driving.

Also I'm back to documenting the changes to the car and have 3 new pages on the 28 gallon ice water tank for the intercoolers....









Lots more pictures here....

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/Hooley%202013/13%20-%20construction%20menu.html

One more page on this tank and then back to the vertical stabilizers and the wing,

Sum

Not sure which mailbox??  PM me with the box you are trying to use.

The e-mail I have on the site (starts with contact20) isn't full unless someone is sending a lot of photos at once or a very big one.  

Right now there is about 29 megs of space on it.  Please send pictures that are less than 1 meg.

Thanks,

Sum

Ruth and I wanted to thank everyone, especially Hooley, for making it possible for me to get in some license runs this past Speed Week.  Thanks, John, Mark, Charlie, Ken, Ken & Loraine, Bill, Frank, Doug, Mark, George, Tom and anyone else I forgot for all of the hard work back east, at our house and on the salt.

Soon I will try to have more of the build posted and also this year's story of getting the car to the salt and on the salt action.

Now for another request.  Borg Warner (our turbos are from them) contacted me today and would like some pictures of the car to possibly use in their next performance catalog.  Ruth took pictures on the salt and Tom sent me some nice pictures.  If you have a picture of the car on the salt, by itself or with crew please send them to me.  I'll try and go through them and forward some to Borg Warner.

Thanks again to everyone.  The experience was something I'll remember forever,

Sumner and Ruth

Tony it will be good to see you guys.  

One thing on the weight is that with the longer wheelbase and the engine in the same location it is actually set back more so we have worried that we need more weight forward.  There hasn't been enough time to scale the car at this point,

Sum

With xtra weight added, I imagine the coil springs needed swapped to stronger rated units?

Hi Tony, not sure where he is at on that issue.  If I remember right the front springs were about the stiffest he could find for the frontend parts he used.  I might be wrong.  There are stops, so the car might be down on the stops.  Too late to do anymore about that this year.  

He is hoping to change the frontend out to a solid (dropped) axle in the future like Gary Hart ran on his Stude.  There are other things we wanted to do, but with about 6 days before he has to leave for my place some things are not going to get done this year.

You going to the Salt?  Would like to see you.  If not we will try and catch up with you this fall if we go through PHX on the way to Southern Calif.  It is a little longer but we might have time to go that way.  Would like to see you and Jim,

Sum

I've added more to the build pages, but I'm still behind on what has been done.  I'll probably just post pictures for a while and add dialog later as the days are too short now to get the work done and post also.  Here are some teasers....



... the rad-in-a-box with insulation and heat shields was finished and shipped to Hooley and is in the car.  I'm working on the intercooler ice water tank now.

After that I'll work on skinning the vertical stabilizers for the wing.....



.... that Hooley made and we brought back home with us.  Hooley has been working from dawn to past sunset and....



finished the body work for the nose extension.....



.... and pulled everything out and painted the new bare metal....



.... and has the new 572 installed.

If you don't have the link to the build it is here....

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/Hooley%202013/13%20-%20construction%20menu.html

... there are lots more pictures and info there.

John is making new rocker panels so hope to have pictures of those soon,

Sum

.... with a goal of pulling into Blanding no later than Tuesday the 6th....Charlie

Good deal, it will be great seeing everyone again.  

Anyone else making the trip?  

Ken I got your phone numbers, thanks.  George and Charlie if you can PM me yours so we can be in touch if we need to.

Also I added a page on the wing for the car.  The work Hooley did.  I need to finish it and will post pictures when that happens.  John went over today and helped to put a hole in the nose of the car for the scoop inlet and figured out how to make rocker panels for the car,

Sum

Wow, I just got back from a couple of months at the cabin and am catching up.  You guys are really going all out and doing a lot of good hard work.  It's going to be an exciting year at the salt if everything comes together.  I'm confident it will.  If any help will be needed (including washing dishes or sweeping floors) I'll also be out to Blanding on the 5th or 6th.  I'll PM or call you Sum.  

That is great.  Ruth and I will really be glad to see you.  I called a week or two ago with no luck as I hadn't been in touch with you for so long  :oops:  and wanted to catch up,

Sum