Dec 30th...stuff....cuts and screw ups

Ok, today I failed "electrical theory" with a big fat F......I wont say on what but duh.....no issues...but its a hiccup , the first REAL screw up of the build, I assumed somthing and got a note from one of the engineers on the ecu.....uhhhh Chris....Ive been thinking about your plan and.....yeah well....no biggie, just an annoyance.

Something else I found out today that will probably get me a 1 way ticket to the "hoo hoo" house. When using a razor knife and you cut yourself accidently, use it to your advantage, if the bleeding is controllable, use the blood to mark your further cuts instead of taking time to go bandage it, its like a built in "Sharpie" depending on the knuckle you did it to it works out quite advantageous......No I really did cut myself but no I really didnt use it like that but the fact that what I was working on had it all over it in smudges made me think while I used my "shop first aid" a paper towel and duct tape. I was laughing to myself after the fact.....yeah my mind wanders when I have noone to kibitz with.

David, my father, today got all the wiring sorted out, he then a Drak Pak "How to" for the wiring of the connectors, which wires and which plugs to strip from the harness and how to wire the accesory stuff, lights etc. Maybe best describe by his opening in the document (sorry dad for the "Sneak Preview") I just couldnt resist, here is what he wrote

"This advice is not related to the engine compartment, and engine electrical system wiring. Fortunately, I still had some money and was smart enough to leave that to our ECU expert.
But for the rest of the wiring, my advice is to get someone else to do it for you… Unless you are really experienced, and used to doing wiring. Or if you have a lot of patience, and high threshold for pain. Or, if you simply don’t have the budget for it, this job will teach you patience, and provide plenty of pain of one kind or another. "

I wonder who I got my writing style from ?

Lots more "Secret Squirrel" stuff today.

I had 2 different DP owners call today, 1 I had called and we swapped info, the other I had yet to talk to. I told him I have been told "You are giving too much away" My opinion as expressed earlier is all the previous PLUS.....Im legal so it dosent matter AND All the DP owners/builders are going to do what they want anyway....they all have what they think is their seceret recipe.....Im no different, and that stuff is still quiet. But advice on things and vendors that make things like Mr M's line on the RobMC starter alone was gold.....monster unit, never used one, will probably never use anything else. And so on.

I also ordered something I needed they make, kinda like shopping local....shopping with DP guys....his price even retail is good on a good unit that does what I need, and you do too.....
Sharadon Performance has rocker collars, these motors dont even ship with the clips (which are useless anyway) so......If you need em give em a call, I think they are also going to run shafts and hold downs...might be something else....they know their Hemis as well....in the few minutes I talked with a couple guys there I had no doubt about it, they too have concentrated on the 3rd gen stuff for a while too....they scare me the most if we were going to be competing the same circuit. There are guys with more money, Couglin, etc....but these guys already know what makes a 3rd gen tick, and they know the potential.....there is another fellow in Minnesota that does as well....what IS IT About the Nortlands ?!?! They all have had Significant experience PRIOR to actually getting their DP cars. Doug Duell is another that has "hard earned" experience as well in as much as he has run and changed his car up......not saying others dont, I just dont know about them and havent talked to them.

There is weight in them there hills......this applies to ALL class racers not just the DP cars....I was going to keep it quiet but, 80% of anyone isnt going to do it anyway....its one of those things, for the other 20% maybe this is a direction to look into that will lead you in the direction you take.

I thought I would pass this along, its one of those "cool" things I came across for saving weight today in my travels, and quite on accident.

I took some carpet to the upholstery shop today to have it edged while lurking around I said HEY WHATS THIS ?!?! Its called "Ever Dri" its a non foam stuff water will run right through, its not foam...its more like an odd spiderwebby stuff under a magnifying glass.

It weighs about half or less than LIGHT foam and a good 2/3 lighter than the high density 100k mile urethane closed cell stuff they use now (or old rubber based) Its stronger and firmer than I ever expected, a 2 inch piece has more "feel" than 4 inch foam and dropping your rear on a piece you can tell....yes I did I put it on the floor and dropped hard onto it.

The other wayyyyy cool thing is that its super super strong, I could sew 5 loops on each side 1 inch from the edge at a 20 inch span say across a lawn chair and sit on it without it ripping out the edges.....and it dosent strech, so it could easily replace both the springs and wires in many cases as well as being quite firm and comfy.

It cuts easier than any foam youve cut for upholstery and is easy to cut into round and compound shapes, it cuts almost like floral foam.

I obviously spent way too much time "analyzing" it but it was new to me and cool stuff, I wanted to understand how / why it works.Whereas foam works on a "compression" principal, this appears to work on a "stretch" principal, the little threads of semi rigid elasomeric stuff its made out of when you sit on it pull on each other really creating a "support" across the load, some collapse but for every one that collapses 3 of 4 "pull" across the spread.

To the touch (fingertip feel) its coarse, the stuff feels like it is Rigid and something best used in crafts, drop your butt on it .... works great. And it has near instant return unlike foams. I would LOVE to see what a bench with this stuff would drop in weight and on top of it, its really a firmer feel, it gets tighter as it collapsed like foam but quicker.

The price sucks but what light dosent, its about 200 for an 24x82 slab. But its dosent pick up moisture either like foam. (if youre bored one day take a big piece of closed cell foam and weigh it in the winter or on a dry day, then when the humidity has been about 90% for a couple days weigh it again....is heavier.....someone once made a comment I have too much time on my hands...now you really know) This stuff wouldnt do that.

Oh and its USCG approved for fire and such....Its used on Boat cushions, hence the boat Upholstery shop I have stuff done at had some he had just redone his own boat cushions with, apparenly he said it "wears" and dosent break down awesome.....

NOTHING in the rules has a Foam Density spec.....nor are the older stockers even able to run the original as it broke down long ago.....enjoy................Use 2 people to tear down your seats and save your knuckes and sanity.

Cheers....

Another installment tommorow...I have no social life hence I will be working New Years Eve....probably best to keep me out of trouble anyway, its to cold out to wake up half naked (no shirt in sight) with my face in a groundhog hole........but my boots were still ON ! :) So a little tamer as I get older....

Dec 28th.....cutting it close

Well, were cutting it close for testing in the next 2 weeks, had a couple things ship out "Red Label" .... Im gonna need a bottle of "Red Label" when this is all said and done....Cam is on its way to.....ahhhhh....almost said :) It needs to go off for base circle measurement and "line" up so its a drop in and run, I dont trust my measurments on a cam, been there screwed it up....

But the damm holidays .... people arent working on them...go figure. BAH !

Finish carpet "rough" this morning, pull motor , organize shop, dad worked on the wiring. I did about 3 hours of "Office work" but it had to be done....

Engine tear down today, wow is it nice to have someone who a) knows the engine as well as I do and b)knows what to do and how to do it, Dad the cars owner....we tore through it today like a hot knife through butter.....some interesting things I didnt expect to see inside, other than the "rock" in the oil pan bottom....actually I dont know what it is I have to dig out the microscope, its small 1/16 non magnetic, hard....a rock ? its not round its odd shaped so....a rock ?!?!?!?! Well non issue...since its out...I guess I dont know what I expected to see....but the installed height base shims on the valves are nice....and some other things I liked, nothing I cringed at, lots of room for improvments but a good starting point. I havent measured the pistons yet.....I will after I post the blog.....Its not like its the first 3rd gen hemi either he or I has pulled down......zip , crunch zap...I think 20 minutes and it was all bagged, tagged and set aside to be checked and put back together. The old man was "ON" Today ... in every way.....he kept zinging me with this comments and that one, when he gets me to think and laugh at the same time....but bam bam bam one after another. Too funny.....

Just before he left he told me "If youre going to paint this box, at least you should paint it evenly" Thanks dad.....its my wrinkle finish box I spray stuff on....thanks pop...Now...after he left 5 minutes later he came back in the door and told me "You left your phone over there, I was going to call you but...." I do that alot leave my phone here there and everywhere although I only killed 2 this year, 1 in a bucket of degreaser from my shirtpocket and another sitting on a rock in the pits at Dragway 42.

Base carpet is in , needs trimmed and I ran short 1 friggin small piece for the passenger side rear....oh well....itll be here quick and there is wiring to run there so no biggie, tonight Ill finish the motor checks and trim the carpet.

So, its all good, we have the hoist "set" to the DP car, as in marked for boom, and leg run in, so no , "is this good ?" nope just push it into place line up the marks and its perfect.

Sooooo...not much odd today just a good nice steady grind and all progress....If I had 10 days like this in a row I could build anything. Lets hope for a good run.

I need to stay focused......hard for me, and the old man both, but mostly me, he usually reigns me back in.....I spent some time over in the other wing of our shop today looking at our other Hemi's on stands and "thinking" since this one was apart, and 1 of those is together, specifically in regards to the alternator bracket, and the 72 Challenger my dad gave me I promtly tore down is in Hibernation over there, it really just needs repainted(I dont like the color even though the paint is fresh...its just an ugly purple, not Plum Crazy.) and put back together everything and I mean EVERYTHING is new in boxes for it, Im just dying for some reason to build the twin Turbo 5.7 hemi with the Viper 6 speed and put it in the "Sad Mouth"....itll be the tranny the DP Shipped with....and the wheels started turning...I need to stay away from there until this car is done through Gainesville...then I can look at playing with my "tinkertoys".....

Dec 28th....pissed.....and secret squirrel stuff....

Ok, now is time for a real rant.....I guess you can only have so many days where things go your way in a row....yesterday was a "trudge" slower progress on something that should have taken half as long but....



It might sound like something out of a Russian Spy movie where the Political Officer says "He is reliable" Well in our case we only deal with "Reliable" sources, Comp Cams today proved in our minds they are far from it.



If someone delivers as promised, for the price promised at the quality thats promised, or even if there is a screw up and they make it right in our timeframe, or they have a proper solution to something unforseen and are willing to make it happen the way it should we call that "Reliable" when I nail someone down on a "Promise" that they can do something, I expect that result, my father sat here while I ordered the cam and heard me extract just that a "Promise" it would be done by X. They failed....hence they are no longer reliable in our book. I have friends I would consider unreliable, they are still my friends, thats just their nature....with people its easy to overlook and you just dont depend on them but still enjoy their company and knowledge, with a vendor.....thats it game over. Youd think Comp would have learned that lesson from Crane.



On Dec 14th I ordered a Cam from Comp, I wasnt real keen on ordering from them but here is how it went...



Ordered on the 14th, didnt get the "confirmation" email till the 15th on the 14th I was told they had 1 core in stock and they would use it for my cam , it would take 5 "grind days" so with the Holiday I called them to check on the status today.



The answer ? In the time it took them to dick around with the order papers they sold the core to another customer, that called AFTER I did and gave them all the info INCLUDING my payment.



No phone call, no sorry youre out of luck, today was "Oh yeah well be getting the cores on the 29th....of JANUARY !" They didnt even offer an apology, just nothing but cover their ass excuses.....Sammy the "tech" at Comp F'd it up big time..... I about had a seizure. But I had no choice but to search for options, in the end I now know WHO they get their cores from on these cams, and I can order them direct, in addition I found 2 other sources. The not only lost this order they lost any and all future business from us, that may only be 5k or so a year but its gone to them....forever...I will never buy another item from Comp. Given an opportunity I will tell any prospective customers "Cavet Emptor" buyer beware....they have proven themselves unreliable in my book.



As well I dont have to deal with them giving someone else my cam specs as they were nice enough to do for me with other customers on the 6.1 DP cams "Lets see here is something X ordered".....Oh and if you ordered a cam from them with the lobes 13024 intake, and 2504 exhaust, its not going to be legal in a teardown, that was the cam ordered by a couple other DP owners, and the lift at 0 lash is 587 and 586 so unless you "trim it" it ..... good luck with tech.....they tried to get me to go with that as they had done it for a couple others....no thanks...but what I did order was legal and the f'd me on it.



Soooooo....I found what I call "the good answer" someone who had billet cores , hardened and gundrilled in stock...the best you can buy....expensive as all hell....but the "good stuff" not an "assembled" cam or cast core. So in the end , after 4 hours on the phone, I got the duration and overlap I really wanted that Comp kept talking me out of to find out why....they cant do it with their cores....HA. And our cam guy was all over the overlap and duration saying it was the right way to go ! But I wanted at least what I called a Phase 1 cam in the motor by testing by the 15th, and well.....now Ill have the cam I planned for Phase II instead....the wallet hurts but my confidence is high.



The rest today ? Carpet work....I hate carpet , and paint......ugh...



We did a "differential flamability test" on the new carpet that wasnt intended for automotive use. It consisted of me holding a piece of carpet outside the front door in case it went poof and trying to light it with a lighter.....it didnt go up in flames...good sign, I dont like fire, and have been known to use ....errrrr.....questionable materials for their application.....while smoking near it today I thought, I wonder if Im looking at an accident waiting to happen...after all you can light steel wool, and the finer the more flamable....even after extended burning with a bic it didnt go poof and didnt burn which is good since I wasnt looking forward to soaking it in Boric acid to "flameproof" it...what it DID however do was melt a little, and after it should have been cool I touched it with my index finger to have it do what you expect, stick melted plastic to it while I jumped around and screamed, my dads first comment, RUN IT UNDER WATER, was followed by him laughing saying "I so whish I had a picture of you doing that "dance"" What a dumbass I can be at times.....still hurts



Other than other than the cam (and this is one of those "untested" secrets for the moment), there was a lot of "Secret Squirrel" action, at one point after doing something the old man looked at me and said "Yeah Secret Stuff !" Yep....sometimes its secret because we dont want to point someone in a direction we havent tested....and then there are the real secrets....these were the real kind. A lot of those things went on today and hence no pictures for the next couple of days of our shop or car......maybe the carpet when I get that in, how exciting can carpet be ?



But I got to go play makeup doll head thingy with my daughter tonight....and I dyed her hair with the doll head hair dye....and its still fused to my hand....pink, orange and yellow stripes in her blonde hair....her mom loved it.....yeah not so much...but we all had a blast....thats what happens when you buy your daughter "A disaster waiting to happen" toy....mom makes you play with it with her.....and in the end...shell never ask me to do it again....my 6 year old boy wanted it too but we didnt have blue...only sparkles and I told him hes a future NHR mechanic and I would have to get him a uniform for this summer, he asked if he could have a "policemans uniform" at which point I casually informed him, "No a race mechanics uniform, what do you think we are ? New Hemi Racing and Village People Rejects ?" He didnt get it.....oh well...

Dec 27th.....Almost MONDAY

If you cant get a call through to anywhere on the planet monday its my fault, Ive got more calls to make than I care to....holidays.....bah.

Only a few hours at the shop today, the kids were over for the day so I didnt get started till 5 or so. Got the bulkhead connectors in....that was fun......ugh.......

Good thing Ive got one of those "AS SEEN ON TV" Dual saws.....I STRONGLY suggest that you put in your connectors and do the cutting before you paint......strongly. The Dual Saw makes great plunge cuts so it was a lifesaver, even on the .075 STEEL Plate....that Roush used as a heater delete, over 4 ounces for a 4x9 piece.....The whole diamon plate, rear brackets, and steel bolts weighs 6.8 .....

So I cleaned the shop a little after, one thing about a "Dual Saw" is it throws chunks of metal EVERYWHERE , and HOT, and BIG CHUNKS......cover everything in the car and especially the paint, I lucked out and no booboos....Wear full length welding gloves and a long sleeve shirt when using it......But it cuts a razors edge with NO and I mean absolutley 0 warpage.......its slick, dosent cut wood for crap, but I sawed a TR7 front nose off in about 5 minutes and cut out taillights and side markers off the same car qucker than I could changed a sawsall blade.....and NO warpage.......slick toy, I so want to chop and section a car with it. The nicest thing is the small radius of the blade, I can make a perfect 1 inch plunge cut anywere. The pic of the firewall in tape has 2 cuts in it already....:)

I didnt really have a choice because there was a screw up on my part with the connectors and they didnt get here till Saturday....I dont trust cutting off "templates" of a part Ive never seen, Im glad I didnt, they are Delphi WeatherPack bulkhead connectors 22pin....and well the hole from the print woulda been wrong. Or at least I read it wrong....but connectors in hand no issue.

So I cleaned the shop .... a little... dont want to set a bad precedeent, I know where everything is when its a mess. I can see it all :) I can never find crap anyway, so clean shop, messy shop, I know if it messy the tool I need is where I last used it and out in the open, when its clean, I gotta hunt drawers and shelves because EVERYONE seems determined to put stuff away different every time.

And I laid out the carpet to let it settle before tommorow when I cut it and install it.

Thats all for today...... Time with the kids was / is better than any time here.

Dec 26th, shopping, ER, Christmas and no DP work

Well, no DP work today, took a much needed day of rest, the kids have been out of town for over a week and Ive been missing them horrible. Soooo....today they opened their Christmas Presents and I ended up on a Hospital run with David, he spiked a fever and with his liver transplant (like 11 years ago) we need to make sure its just viral, so about 3 hours and some lab tests later, he was cleared to go home, he goes from 0 to sick, real sick, and back again so fast sometimes you just cant help but shake your head.....and hes a trooper....he love messing with the Drs heads....too funny, hes a 20 year old in a 12 year olds body. He knows more about medical (his moms in her final year of med school) stuff than most of the Drs its funny to watch him start asking qyestions, real questions, good questions, that he knows darn well they dont have the faintest idea about......

But thats all good and the boys are all tucked in for the night.

Not much on the DP, some good calls today Mr "M" and another DP owner / builder, some info traded and it was good to make contact. Knowledgable guys and very nice, I like the "fraternity" that seems to be present in the DP world.......and I dont think that will end, were all smart enough to know were competitors, but were also willing to help and share. I like that, its the same as in motorcycles, we all lend a hand building, wrenching, and doing the garbage like safety wiring..I hope , and believe it will continue, and grow.

I also see because of this it may end up that we end up being our own "elevators" to the next level of competition as it were, that would be nice, 1 pushing the other through competition and willing to help each other to a common goal and agenda of performance and competition of the DP Challengers to "subdue" as large a cross section of the competiton as possible.....

Step 1 for us is simple....get the damm car and running to the track ! Well go from there.......Gotta keep it simple for now.....keep focused, tommorow kids , then carpet.

Dec 25th ...Christmas, Mud Flap Girls and Glass

Well, today was Christmas ..... My son and I went to the Movies with my Mom and Stepdad....out Christmas outing as it were. Sherlock Holmes....good movie.

My son wanted to go work on his "Chrome Ho" guitar, aka Mudflap girl he is making, and today he laid it out on Diamond Plate (for me to cut....ugh, this thing is gonna get plasma cut)

I worked on the glass and some other odds and ends. Glass is in , Tiger has its "roof stripes"

Finshed up the package tray "firewalling" over the speaker holes. Dosent seem like a "firewall" without them...now the trunk is sealed.

Ill be honest, the last 2 days I couldnt have done without my son.....hes young thin and spry....when I screwed up the "pin" on the setting the rear window, he was in the back of the car through the cage so fast and did exactly what he needed to, guiding the steering shaft yesterday....and windshield setting today.....thanks champ.

Not much exciting, looked over some data logs of past 6.1 runs.....and cleaned globs of urethane sealer off of everything......damm this stuff is like roofing tar...why not the butyl ?

So......not much took it off our .'Hilbilly Lift' I dont trust jack stands...this is safter......but I have to cut carpet tommorow and finish the interior. Sooooo....just a bit of piddling around the shop

Dec 24th....Christmas Eve......at the Shop.

Ok, I got a helper today, he fixed my dremmel, did some research on some retainers for another engine, painted my "frying pans" and crinkled em. Wow.....I need more elves...

Even though its Chritmas Eve....we decided a Tree was in order...So wire cutters in hand we went out front an took off some of the Shrubbery.....decorated it New Hemi style and even put a star on top...no cookies and milk here, 40 weight and a moon cap full of nuts and bolts in case Santa needs a check.

So mounting the panel today, and welding the quick release over the shaft, we had a slick coupler machined so it threaded in and well, I wasnt tearing the column down so about 1/4 inch of weld, quench it pack the column in wet rags, let it cool, and again, and again.....still easier than taking one of these columns down. And lets see some other useless interior stuff and setting up the shifter and thinks like that, dash is back in, wow that was fun with just me an a 12 year old, but he saddled up on the creeper and got the column alighned, couldnt have done it without him. Still cant decided what to do with the shifter mounting.......

Well......hes choking me out of the office with Krylon Wrinkle finish and a heatgun to thats all for tonight. And Aircraft remover on a Guitar......god help me......The SPONGEMONKEY invades NHR......

Dec 23rd.....Little things

Today was a "cleanup" day...not the shop hell no.....but the little nagging things we needed to finish....when it gets down to those , better not to have the distraction.

Slow start for the day, but I went to Salvation Army Thrift Store for some important Drag Pak Items like decorative frying pans, a polycarbonate kitchen vacum container thingy, and a stainless hamster bowl, as well as a cup cake tin and some other items our car needed.....they became speaker hole firewalls, steering column cover, engine camera housing (were going to run an infared engine camera...yeah really because we can and its damm near free, well build it ourselves in about 30 minutes, and I think it will be cool, even if it dosent give us data we can use itll give us really cool infrared video of the engine in a run) and lets see some other odds and ends, total time to procure, modify and install items 43 minutes....cost $6.50 (It was 50% off day) BUT If you ever need spun aluminum, stainless, plastic covers go to the kitchen section of a goodwill and let you imagination roam.

Lots of brackets, mounting, fitting items like the trans shield, and I lost 3 ounces from the tranny by removing things not needed like the kickdown post and other flanges.... yes I weighed it, actually it was my dads Idea to weigh it but the reason was for the trans shield.

Finished the overflow tank, emmm...... the package tray firewall plates , or in this case pans over the speaker holes, I still have to wrinkle paint them......Its all in the details.......details that cost me nothing, are nicer looking that a can of krylon and serve a purpose, in this case to give me a minute to sit my but down in the office with a heat gun and watch paint dry....litterally....but it give me time to think.

Someone said they couldnt believe how much we were "giving away" well..........errrrr......the only thing seen other than the rear chunk internals is........uh were using a 904....yeah....and uhhhh......were using strange shocks.....and uhhh........were using an 83/4 with alloy spool and gundrilled axles, wilwood rear brakes and....well who cares....

a)Everyone is at least doing those things and more....nothing suprising there, some are running a Protrans maybe a couple of hunreths faster

b)Anyone will be able to see anything at Pomona we are showing in pictures

c)If they havent thought of it themselves maybe this will save them some heartache

d)I havent revealed any engine info and well its stock eliminator, so there isnt much too do, making those things priceless

e)Were gonna get tore down, isnt that like taking our clothes off in public ?

f)This isnt rocket science, you try to produce the most horsepower you can, you try to get that to the ground effectivley, you do things like removing gyro forces from rotating mass by reducing, well...it mass...you try to find the "sweet spot" for your gearing and you try not to break things by going as fast as you can consistnetly....as well as a bunch of other things in between but you already know that and you know what the goal is

h)How can you be sure we havent shot 2 sets of photos in some cases and 1 is real and not published and these are the other ?

i)If we told you 100% of the truth would you just take it all and make a direct copy of us ?

No....hence , it dosent really matter........its informational, and hopefully will save someone else time, time that they save get their DP car done faster and out there "In the Wild"

TRUST me when I say we have revealed nothing that is "secret squirrel" stuff and there is some. But for Phase I its about completing the car and getting it running at the track, THEN well see where were at and things will change, as soon as that happens this blog is over the build part.

AND if I can be of help on stupid things to other DP owners along the way good, Im happy to do it....not everyone is paying people to do all the work, hey there is nothing wrong with that and I would if I could but I cant so I dont, and when you have as much blood in the car as we do (real blood....under the paint, inside the rear end....a little skin I think too) well, if I can save someone a leak....

The machine shop is even working on our stuff tommorow for delivery....Great vendors and suppliers thus far, Id like to name them all but Im not going to until we run and are doing well with the combo we choose, it dosent seem right, if we go out and fall flat on our faces for people to be able to point out "well he was using X, that musta been it" Nope if we fall its noone choice but ours, we were given suggestions and some we chose a differnet path than the "Everybody" route.

My dad has a saying "If youre both exactly the same one of you is redundant" , to me if "everyone" is doing xy and z , wed all build the same package and wed all run the same.....that seems to a large extent to me as an outside where CERTAIN things are in Class Racing...so were doing some of those but on other we are pulling a "Change Up"

I almost made a grievous error in judgment today, the kind that would have bothered me for a long time and it was simple. I am a minimailist....I strip things to the bare functional minimum in most cases thinking about the breakage , procurment, and repair cycle while 1000 miles from home in wherever.....BUT its easy to get off that track when Summit Racing is 20 minutes from the house and shop.......The error ? Radiator hoses.......It started innocent enough, we needed good clamps, and well hell while youre at it get us one of those billet filler T's .....they parts came back, nice clamps, but the filler T had a seriously restricted flow, so we hopped back on to Summit Racing site to see what else they had in stock, ooooooooohhhhhhhh and AN ended ....but then I need new hoses and adapters, ok....total like $300........Wait a minute.......WHY ??!?! The radiator hoses arent going to make us faster, period, the thermoplastic is not going to break and it has a better ID for flow, the hoses are new and a standard part we can get all of that at the dealership.....the OE clamps just arent suited to use/reuse and ease.....WTF was I thinking......

So we dodged a bullet of "coolness" that was going to do exactly jack crap for us and complicate things should we need to repair, and increase costs, and well.......If the OE hoses and T cant handle it for a couple races....then our motors got a LOT bigger issues than some cool hoses are going to help.....dumbass.....me.....good thing the old man came back to the shop, he said "If theres a good reason Ill run over and get them, is this going to solve a problem ?" I thought about it for a second....yeah a problem I was creating.....oh well.....

Im going to put that on the whiteboard tommorow,

"Its cooler to be less cool"

On these cars a radiator hose will never make you faster....

Dec 22nd MW NIPPLE PROTECTORS !!! FOR SALE !!!

Ok so a long but productive day here at NHR, brackets for everything except alternator are done and there was bad news about a part we had ordered for the car, the big tin eyeball that is going to be looking out the harness hole in the firewall....theyre out of stock.......Oh well so it looks like its going to have to be the giant glow in the dark eyeball from the ZOLAR game circa 1972...

I have been checking runout today on everything, I had a concern and was told it was a non-issue, I would have checked anyway. Mike at MPR put Mark Willams center caps on our front wheels, a gift. Well checking runout I had a funny feeling, so I weighed them, 6.8 ounces for the pair.....I looked at the old man and said how attached are you to these ? And they do look good....he said to hell with em when he saw what the weighed. Function over form every time here at NHR.

BUT I could have used them later, after nearly ripping my nipple off playing human tranny jack, its a ligthend 904 so its.....light, an easy bench press and since were using guide studs (If you have a KB Hemi the studs are the same and work real nice, nice part is there are 12 on the KB hemi :) so you can do 3 DP motors with 4 on each....if youre not using the KB that is I dont reccomend running 4 light ....lol....but its sure been done. ) I can put it in place and throw the nuts on 1 man from underneath. but, I got in a pinch when pulling it back out to fit some other things, it was just thrown in to measure the Drive Shaft, and I caught my nipple on it .....owwwwww........I should have used the MW caps for something usefull protecting my body parts.

Dad got more done by far today than I did, mine was a lot of sitting and checking things with a dial and calipers....but all looks good, I dont like the runout on the tires but well.....Ill put 100+ psi in them and put em in the sun in california, that always helps......yeah really.....works good on Bias , at least in my experience...expecially when they have been sitting for a while. Old motorcycle trick. And if that dosent work I guess Ill call Irv Johns up and ask him to get me a set of Hoosiers......Goodyear is local, my Mom retired from there but if their tires dont cut it anymore so much for being sentimental.....Im NOT brand loyal....I use whats BEST that does what it needs to pros and cons weighing, there are brands I gravitate to because of GOOD past experience and Im leary to try new in a pinch but may the best product win....

Tommorow the Old Man, David, my dad.... wants me to pull and go through the motor, so I guess Ill do that before the plumbing, Christmas Im going to take a few hours off and go to a Movie...but even that is tenuous with our schedule.....I wouldnt trade this for the world....Id just put a bed down here if there a)wasnt so much funky dust even NASA couldnt identify b)there was a shower.....oh well next year (2011) the shop will be at home after its built I am thinking. Im dying to get in the motor so.....some oiling system work is in order so says the tech bulletin and experience. Make the mods and put er back together after REALLY checking the pistons myself.....then Ive got noone to blame but me when the motor goes to the south pole, not Mopar, not Stanton, not the Grinch, Ill be the last one in the motor and success or fail its mine. Thats the way we like it, I would never, and I mean EVER run a motor I hadnt gone though myself, never ever ever.......not on a race vehicle....never.....not me no way....not the old man without having me go through it....no way....then weve both a)only got me to blame b)are 110% sure on everthing as well as knowing a baseline with our own eyes and measurments for everything, what was this journal before ? Hold on lemme look...not....uhhhhh....I dont know maybe someone who built the motor knows "Hey mr motor guy, what was"....."IT WAS PERFECT" he says , have you ever hear a well, It was x and it was marginal but I had to do xy and z that weekend so I just put it back together instead of returning a defective part ? Well.....neiter have we. Not that this motor comes like that quite to the contrary, but its PEACE of MIND, and one less distraction not being 110% sure.

I got a call from a DP owner today, it was a great call, he is a pleasure to talk to and very knowledgable on the New Hemis as well....very. And he said "Chris you and your dad are the best" I was taken aback, I havent heard that before....he followed some of our advice, some he had hit the same conclusion on of course having one and doing much work himself. But good call.....a nice confederation of DP owners is starting to form and Im just happy to be part of it. But the advice and what we found helped him, that wasnt the single purpose of this blog, it was for OUR records, but it was also meant to help, especially guys like Jerry and Larry who are doing it all themselves, (2 different owners friends....) That made my dad and me smile.

We pulled some sneaky items today...racing items.....curveballs for Pomona and a suprise, if we can keep the suspense maybe we can get some more people interested and talking......"There is no such thing as bad ink" as the old man says........too sneaky but itll be fun. Pomona is a lock, papers were signed and I's dotted and T's crossed with our driver.....shhhhhhh.....nope were not saying. World Champion should be enough, Its Stock Eliminator, come on...its not like he can go out and just win win win, but he CAN drive and he CAN win, hopefully for us we can put him the right package together and well be a REAL Threat...a looonnnnng set of discussions about strategy and how were going to handle HP on the car, as well as future moves into the other classes with the second Challenger.....yep its coming.....Probably, Tenativley Juneish from what it looks like it will be tracking, to span the classes as it were........some DP guys arent going to like it......but....we wont get too stupid, and so far 3 other DP owners like it and are "on board" with our idea. Ive got to finsh a letter and get it out to a couple more I have met, M*** and Al so they are aware (Hes not saying anymore so henceforth here he shall be know as M) Hey M give me a call when you get a chance.

Back to the accumulator and some other fun. at 12:45.....this is New Hemi Racing signing off.

Dec 21 ... its monday ? wow HEMI ZOMBIES INVADE

Im loosing track of days, I had to think what is today, I was up till 4 am last night and here at 10 am...I slept in on purpose....too much caffine and bad take out food I guess.

Im going to start with "Drag Pak Tips of the Day"

CHECK all your interior panels to make sure the clips are still on them and not in the body having come out when they were remove, we had 2 that wed have never gotten in had we not noticed and checked all of them (the push slot clips)

When installing the headliner cover the ground (or whatever it is) stud next to the "third" brakelight on the roof, otherwise you can put a nasty and nearly tragic scar into the headliner, because when you have to remove it to mount the "Courtesy light sunglass holder bracket" Have at least 2 prefferably 3 people, 1 inside the car, 2 outside at the back. AND , we didnt because were not running them , the visor brackets that go under the headliner. They weigh 2lbs 10oz in case youre curious....damm near 3 LBS ! Sorry dont need em.....I wouldnt run the courtesy console but I dont have anythign to put over it like a delete plate, I am going to keep an eye out for one however.

Dont forget to put the rear plastic in before you put the headliner is, just something I thought of because I dont see a way to put it in if you dont, maybe Im wrong havent tried.

Cover them in bubble wrap on the interior side so you can manhandle them without fear of screwing up the finish.

Magnetize a socket for the 3 screws that go into each panel, or gum it so it holds the screw, use a 1/4 drive ratchet with an extension it clears the cage nicer than a driver.

Put SHORT Studs in the engine where the mount bolts go, just long enough to bind a nut on, then you dont have to rock and line up the engine with the holes in the mount, if you have clearance problems with the pan grind 1/16 off the bottoms of the mounts it will clear nice then , ours had to be jacked out sidewaysish when we pulled it the first time.

We got the interior in today less carpet and seats but thats an hour maybe tommorow, the headliner was everything painful Mike said it was.....the rear door panels , well with 2 people pushing and 1 jockeying not so bad.

Thats all I can think about , obvious stuff but if you havent done it (and I hadnt until today) well things to watch out for......

And DONT DONT, no matter what...

Forget to add the appropriate "Mojo Joose" to parts you want to go mysteriously faster, its one part nitro, 2 parts naptha, a little mouse sweat and dandruff from G Gordon Liddy (if he isnt mysterious and spooky I dont know what is)......and well...some MOJO......apparently "Mojo Joose" or a secret dust some other racers must posess are the only thing that will get you going fast.....so we decided to do like we always do and brew our own.... :)

Had some good calls today, and some not so good ones, the not so good ones are on a part we want in the engine by the 30th, they may not get here till the 3rd, we may have to push testing out a week to 6th - 18th....I dont like that at all. I wanted to be testing on the 2nd. But I also want to make sure we are unlocking every bit of potential on the dyno and the track....soooo....Ill have to wait.

I am adding to this, I cut it off when I bounced from the shop but sitting on my Lazy Boy....its all different. Talked to a couple DP Owners today, very nice knowledgable guys, kinda in the same boat as us with while having lots of drag racing experience little class experience as many tell us is a whole new world of what were used to.....I would guess different, that different...not that I can see.....the rules are the rules and the goal is the goal to win.....

Our "strategy" is formalized as of today for the first part of the season, its a very long boring and detailed plan with what we plan to do when and how, what not to do and what to do to distract, what to do to forge the alliances we need and can benefit from us and the type of people and the charachter and their goals being in line with ours.

The HEMI Zombies are us....

Laughed our butts off today at the general stupidity of our own company, man was it good....work....not even close....Id pay someone to do this with the old man....(no ideas pop....)

My dad called after we left the shop at midnight and said I thought of something funny , I asked what, he said it really dosent matter what time we get there well be there at least 14 hours.....how true..........heeeemmmmmiiiiiiiissss.....more hemiiiiiiisssss.....sorry my hemi zombie moan....

Dec 20th , The rear is back in

Well lots of making brackets and mounting stuffz, radiator, oil accumulator, having problems finding the "perfect" spot for the tranny cooler with our front mounted pusher fans its a little too close unless I run a fanless tranny cooler....and I dont want to do that so itll take some creative mounting ideas. Mounted the slick Diamond plate rear firewall, now the carpet and interior can go in.

Gotta love the old man came down late (after 8) and helped a ton, amazing what another pair of hands can do. And another brain.....between the 2 of us weve got 1 good one.

Jay came in an helped wrestle the rear end into place, and waxed it, saftey wired the brakes.

Tommorow will be putting the engine and tranny back in, and measuring for the drive shaft first think then ordering it. Some running here and there for this and that, finishing up the mounting and mounting the line lock and a few other odds and ends.

Thats about it till tommorow......7 days a week 12 hours a day building crap and harassing dumb people on Class Racer....lol....There are what seems to me about 1/2 the people there really know what they are doing and talking about, many of them stay quiet and communicate via PM.....me Im loud obnoxious and dont know crap apparently according to the other half....lol.....oh well. Fun in between bathroom breaks.

Dec 19th...Before,During and After

Ok, were on track again and then some.

Some , Before(at pickup), During (At MPR, the second pic) During (Scraping shit out at NHR), During (Base Coat at NHR), During (Buffing at NHR), and After (All assembed at NHR)

Well be wired and plumbed by Christmas, thats the beauty of doing it all yourself, NO Waiting on others schedules and if you want your schedule moved up you work harder, I am thrilled we had Mike at MPR do the cage and suspension, I am dissapointed I couldnt do as good a job in the time he did....envy :) But then all were wating for are headers and a driveshaft and were good for tuning and Dyno Runs. Well after we build our way slick alternator bracket and water pump mount. But well maybe on Christmas Ill do that. The family is all out of town and wont be back until a couple days after Christmas, which is good since I havent shopped, I dont have to I can wait until Saturday or Sunday and catch all the sales :) AND I can work on the DP on Christmas, to me, honestly thats the second best thing to spending it with Family, since thats not an option this year (we do every other with all the inlaws) well......

We made good progress today, rear end is together, parts are all waxed, lubed, torqued and ready for pop in tommorow. I decided to call it a day early at 9pm and send Jay home......lol...its funny when you ask your worker, you ok till, 6, then 8, then 9 and every step of the way its "Shit yeah, this is too much fun" Someone who "Gets it"

So we got the trunk all set up, battery box in, stuff mounted, seals on , taillights, vents, fastners, pistons installed so we can say goodbye to our broom handle prop rod, which did super duty as a rifle bore cleaner for the diff housing before assembly, the only thing left to mount is the fuse block and the really cool diamond plate (special super thin diamond plate...really) firewall.

Inside the trunk that is, other than the plumbing and wiring.

David, my dad and the cars owner (We have 2 of those as well, my sons name is Daivd) did monster duty running and tracking down all the items we needed, including "Racer Fuel" food and soda :) I thought about it , him and I think alike, hell he taught me how to "THINK" I cant tell you how many times people have said how the hell did you think of that, only to say "My dad taught me to improvise" not hack, improvise. We are scroungers and hes the king of em....so when I told him what I need I get it, hell drive to hell and back to get it, and today several runs for this that and the other and its all sitting there. I cant imagine, even fathom how someone could run or work a shop where everyone isnt mentally on the same page about things. Just the time spent tracking down and getting things has to account for over 50% of the total build, we find the right stuff local, now granted Summit Racing is local, but for bulding mount plates, for fastners, for paint supplies, well we dont use Summit for raw materials.....

For today (I dont want to spoil the suprise) just a single "Before and After" pic, now mind you the "

Dec 18th....Day....I have no idea

Sorry no pics again today, 2 reasons, 1 I was pretty much too busy to take more than about 4, second, the car will be all back together and rolled out in the next day or so, so thats when Ill be able to take some good pics of all the cool things in place.

Apparently showering and personal hygene arent as important as people think...lol...Im JOKING, I just find it funny I now shower and shave, etc at night, my Grandfather a farmer and pipefitter did the same.....works well when at 9am youre already covered in compound.

Today FINALLY the Paint cleanup and buffing and rubbing is done. Engine Compartments and trunks are a BITCH. To not break an edge and I did good there is a skill, and an art....someone once asked me how I became such a good color sander .... the answer ? I Suck at painting, but in the end it all looks good :)

Jay busted his ass for 12 hours cleaning up my disaster :) These new buffing pads SUCK, they shed worse than a Saint Bernard in July. But Jay managed to keep a good pace cleaning it up. So first coarse compound, them wetter, remove all, polishing coumpound with high cut pad, remove clean, them Meguires #9 swirl mark remover, then #7 Show car glaze.....looking good.

I have buffers elbow.

But its stick a fork in it DONE ! HA.....

Rear diff , brake assy, battery box, fuel cell, fuel pump, measure for plumbing, mount tranny cooler, fan unit, and oil accumulator tommorow, sweet.........

I am thinking of doing this stuff for other DP owners who dont want to themselves, since Ive got it pretty much down now as to exactly what needs done.

Oh and if anyone is interested, I am having some extras made, a mount for the water pump shaft to mount a proform or moroso gilmer pulley. So f you want one, lemme know Ill sell em at cost. I just figured since I has having them machined Id get more than 1.

Well till tommorows installment......

Cheers

Dec 17th....Buffing cleanup and pinstripes...

Well, had a visitor to the shop today, a couple of people, 1 looking for work.....wish I could hire more elves for Santas workshop but.......

But the old man got lots of Goodies from Summit today, its so very nice to live 10 minutes from Summit....so so very nice...Line lock, accumulator, valving, tranny cooler, fuel regulator.....all kinfs of goodies.....Funny thing about "Racing" stuff is some of it is not only overkill but just plain dumb for looks. The accumulator brackets in alloy weigh about 3 times as much as their not so cool looking and 1/5 the price steel counterparts. Oh well, thats the beauty of living 10 minutes away......just take it back :)

More buffing today.....and detailing, no pics, today too busy , maybe tommorow. The rear diff will be back in and the old man can make more progress on the wiring. I am NEVER , ever again, buffing and polishing a trunk, after the brackets and bars are in, my back....ooooohhhhh my aching back.

My buddy Damon came over to pinstripe for us, he had laid out a couple of desigs but nothing struck either him or I once on the diff, so they came off.....we tried a Tiki type design on the pumkin and some just basic 50's striping but well....nothing "hit" us.....

Damon is "Old School" to the extreme....He thought the coolest car (other than the Challenger Drag Pak #24) is my 49 Plymouth 3 window coupe "Gasser" thats about 1/2 done :) He got more cool toys than any guys should be allowed to have, and they change on a weekly basis. Old school stuff, but if you ever need a set of Fenton or SoCal items, WWII Bomber parts, Model A stuff or REAL Vintage speed gear....hes got em.....and more....or a McClaren M8 or a Cuda, or a 450 hp BUG Motor ! When I went to take a look at his Van I noticed the "REAL" old school Hula girl on the dash....I want one on the Challenger...:) Ive know him 20+ Years and hes always been the same, a stand up guy you can depend on , 100% no bullshit....When I called him to ask if he wanted to go to Pomona with me a few months back for the Winternationals, he said SURE ! A day later he asked why we were going, and a day after that asked what was going on....thats a real friend, ask him to go on a 3000 mile roadtrip, he says yes dosent give it a seconds thought and dosent know or care why youre going......

Well, lots more to build, Jay will be back at work tommorow so hopefully we catch up some time.

Till next time......cheers and dont screw up my indexes until I get a chance to screw em up....

Dec 16th, Wetsanding, wiring and pinstripes

Well as I wait for my buddy to come over and pinstripe our rear end.....ok that didnt sound right but you get the idea.

I figured I would post this so I dont forget 2 years from now what I did on what day, that is the primary reason for this blog, if others enjoy it cool.....

Not much excitment except for loosing some unneeded weight on the car 1.5 lbs here and there adds up....and if its legal to pull its going bye bye, this is so its history. Im gonna make honest A weight with this car if I have to tie helium baloons on it for lift.

Wetsanding the hood and buffing it out today, as well as some cleanup and trying to track down one of those forgotten items noone has in stock, well someone always does and after a couple hours on the phone for the old man he got a hold of someone with it....so bango !

Im starting to get twitcy about the plumbing, Ive laid it out 32 times in my head all different and I dont know what I like.....Its not that damm complicated but well it has to be perfect :)

David my dad and the cars owner played with the wiring some more.....its looking like an electricians nightmare on the floor.....glad that isnt in my arena....

So until tommorow....

Nothign too exciting other than we got a driver for Pomona.....sssshhhhh its a secret :) I figure if he cant get it done for us , well its our fault for not setting the car up right, crap happens but I wont be worrying about a driver for now. I figure anyone listed as many places and not by themselves as a "Heavy hitter" and a "Big Gun" should be able to run us out good at Pomona....

Fed 14th is coming fast....

Dec 15th, CLEANUP...appointments and orders

Well, today was CLEANUP day here at NHR getting ready for Phase III of our final build.

The shop is cleaned and mopped and well, all clean.

While I was at a morning appointment my dad the cars owner had an early Christmas , unwrapping the car from its 30 lbs of masking paper. Tommorow some wet sanding of a few booboos in the trunk and hood paint and final assembely begins.

Jay one of our workers, litterally cleaned and dusted every item on every shelf, paint booth ? who needs one....lol.

Got a few forgotten items ordered today, like gaskets, and getting all the ducks in a row for wiring.

All in all were actually not as far behind as I thought 2 days is more like it, so I guess 2 days behind a very aggressive schedule isnt bad.

So since the old man can wire without me, Ill be plumbing at the same time and make up some time that way.

Here are a few pics of the car, the first time Ive even seen it in almost 2 weeks.....unwrapped that is in its entirety

Dec 14th...getting behind....

Well were about 2 days behind here at New Hemi Racing, PAINT is taking longer than expected to DO RIGHT, but today the last of the Clear and the Hood was finished up.

Now for the pinstriper to stripe our diff and other goodies....yep you hear right PINSTRIPES ! Yeah buddy.....I want to do lace but well the old man agreed to let me do floral "Mod Top" on the roof in Vinyl print so I guess I cant be too dissapointed in the lack of "lace" :)

Got news on the EFI front the New computer is running with the stock Crank and Cam wheels, Its Running with the DP Manifold on the SRT8....Its RUNNING ! Props to our ECO and FI team, you know who you are, and THANKS ! Noone else has done or could do what you have done in a week, I am thrilled.

Got some other goodies ordered and learned some interesting info out, some good some bad, the piston issue still has me a bit wound up.

I forgot to blog Saturday and Sunday I guess, I know I wrote one on one of those days I just apparently missed the POST button....

Dec 11th, Paint, Paint more Paint....

Well, about 2 more days of paint and I should we should be all set.

Tommorow, the decklid and the hood.....still cant decide on the hood, all white, white with clear over the scoop showing the fiber, or gloss black on the scoop, or flat black on the scoop....lots of decisions...

Unfortunatley I we had to sit around and wait for RL carriers to show up to pickup a 392 Crate motor that sold...I didnt want to open up the shop and be moving stuff around doing base coat.

Base on the trunk today, clear tommorow. Monday car and shop cleanup , Put interior in, Tuesday put rear end and engine and tranny in, Measure for drive shaft. Wed the old man will start wiring, Ill be starting on plumbing...........lots of stuff to do, but I see the end is near........

I NEED HEADERS !!!! Ive got Pete Z working on a set, and I have a set on order from TTI, I want us to be testing in the first week of Jan, and we need to do some Dyno tuning. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....

My son sat in the office typing BASIC programs on a vintage Kaypro II (c1981) and wow what a flashback, I had one and at 12 could have been either found working on a motorcycle or doing the same thing he was doing......

Tonight was an early night we finished up at 10:40.....pm........

Tommorow I am sleeping in ...... I may wake up by noon....maybe....my wrinkles are getting wrinkles

Dec 10th....paint, plays and paint

Well...super busy day here, not all of it car related but all family related. Lets see......Shop, Supply House for Basement windows with the old man, drop off at contractor, he ran to get me some mortar and shutters while I prepped the engine compartment for clear, then shop, then dinner with the little ones, then a preshool Christmas skit they stuck like glue to Grandpa :) Then shop for some more paint.......

Its 8:30 and Im suiting up again....SATURDAY I get to sleep in past 8 !!!!! My mom says Ive aged 2 years in the last week, actually I think its losing weight and paint overspray on my face but hey....

The engine compartment is now DONE , done with paint.....I have to say its the first time I used a Gravity HVLP gun that worked Right, or maybe it was just one I could adjust right or maybe its the new compressor we installed at the shop about 6 months back...

Im not a fan of bc/cc for solid colors, too much potential for "flies" in the ointment, but BANGO, an entire engine comparment without so much as a dust bunnie, dust speck, or run.....Im happy, and proud...We all know what a pain painting an engine compartment RIGHT can be like, and damm Im happy, so is the old man, someone may have been able to do better but I dont see how, it flowed just right, gun just right, temp just right, all clean and all spot on. I only hope the trunk comes out as nice......It should be easier but well see......

Got a call today from DP owner #26 Larry Curtis about some things on the DP engines and Fuel Injection, were already on a different path, originally we were going to run the Big Stuff 3, and its still in the "backup plan" category as we are pretty far down the road with our other system.

The funny thing is the Big Stuff 3, great system, sharp guys, nothing bad to say, but it was actually them who accidentally sent me down "my own path" I got some pics of their system and they were running an external crank trigger !?!?! Well.....if thats the case then the sky is the limit as far as I was concerned....soooo.....thats the road I took, something else.......If their system would have read the stock trigger and cam wheel I would have bought it and never looked back, but since they were going external....the sky was the limit, whats funnier is the system we ended up going with can now read the trigger and cam wheel (it couldnt before we provided our SRT8 with the DP manifold as a test mule) but it can now.......

So, back to the paper bunny suit until I collapse, and its much easier to breathe now that I changed my respirator filters, no wonder the other ones were so expensive, they can handle just about everything including nerve gas, but they are a 4 stage and the paper honeycomb on the outside clogged up bad. Nothing like a filter change.

Dec 9th.....11:18 and counting....

Well, its 11:18 here at New Hemi Racing, PM ! and Im letting a basecoat on the engine compartment dry. Then Clear, then sleep, then drop off glass block to the guys doing my house, then back to the shop for the trunk.

Nothing real exciting today , lots and lots of taping and masking. LOTS , finishing up all things paint before Friday so I can let it sit over the weekend, Detail and clean up the Shop on Monday, and start FINAL Build on Tuesday !

So I figure out of boredom and lack of any actual video of us building the car I would shoot a "time lapse" sequence of me cleaning the engine compartment, masking it and painting it.....so should I blow the shop up....there is a video record of my demise somewhere in the ashes....

I may not be the best painter, I may not be the best prep man, but Im thorough, thats my problem it takes me an eternity to paint something........an eternity...

Nothing like using the whole shop as a paint booth :) But unfortunatley we have it down to a science.....well Al Gore hates me Im sure.......

Dec 8th PRI is already a pain ......

Ok, well good day here at New Hemi Racing. Got lots of pre-christmas goodies. Tranny shield, water pump drive, ordered the alternator, got shift linkage and bracket.

Most importantly got the cage taped (wow what a pain, almost as bad as actually PAINTING it was) And got the interior sealed in. I love , absolutley love this 2 part Uretane undercoating stuff. So tommorow base and clear on the engine compartment and trunk, let it sit over the weekend and next week putting her together.

The old man spent a lot of time going over diagrams for the car in as much as wiring it goes, and seeing as I saw him build a computer with my own eyes, as in etching boards with acid and a lot of time spent at a solder station putting each and every component on it, and he taught me to wire wrap prototype boards at the age of about 8 I think he can handle this....lol.

PRI is giving me a hassle, a hassle because EVERYONE is Going but ME ! I dont want to go as much as Id sorta like to, Im much more productive here and need to concentrate on the decisions we have already made instead of "Hoping" vendors will have what we need by January....yeah that aint gonna happen....so this year will be spent WORKING ! But Im having a problem ordering 2 different items because everyone is in gear for PRI , irritating.

"FRAGILE" ???!??!?? Must be "Italian" Speed parts...

Never fear, as busy as today was we still managed to get our requisite being a dumb ass for the fun of it time in.....

Dec 7th...a day that will live....

First a note to remind people of the importance of this day on 1941, to the brave soldier, their families and the Americans that lived through, and didnt live through this day. BECAUSE , and ONLY because of their sacrifice and their resolve am I able to sit as a FREE AMERICAN posting this blog.

Now that being said, we didnt do much today, the old man tired, me recovering from what can only be described as food poisioning. A rough weekend.....

Today we got PARTS , our trans is done and delivered, and some other goodies like our steering wheel. LESS than 2 lbs WITH the quick disconnect. Strong, Good Looking and ULTRA light, with a monster. Parts are always fun, its like Chritmas in ....well in December in this case.

Made some calls today on misc items of concern and got "the good answer" so....On we go with our plans. Mwahahahaha......

So finish paint tommorow and start putting it back together. Headers and Driveshaft are the only 2 parts we dont have in house to complete the car at this point. Thats actually better than I would have expected, in this timeframe.

There are 3 ways to do things, the right way, the wrong way, and OUR way, "OUR" way usually consists of taking the "right" way to a slow and painfull extreme, making all the decisions up front and moving forward with them having all ordered before we start, and things like pulling sealer and deadning out, usually its "OUR" way of doing things that bites us in the rear.....it usually take us a looonnnnngggg time to iron out the details in advance, in this case we had ample time to prepare.

Dec 4th an Early day....

Well working till midnight 2 days in a row (or more accuratley 1:30) will take the wind out of your sails sometimes.

So we decided to call it an early day

So some supply running, tape, paint buckets and the like, as well as shipping some items to have them set up, like our rear chunk now that our spool and gears are in, as well as our Yukon case

So, a little bit of taping on the car, ok a lot, but still a lot to go for the interior and the engine comparment, trunk.

Tommorow. Tommorow Ill finish up the interior with the white sealer.

The undercarriage came out EXACTLY like I wanted it....so Im happy about that, the flattener i used apparently needs to be added at about twice the concentration it says. Chassis looks great, and got ou"reversed" diamond plate trunk firewall back from the folder, mike made a nice one but we wanted somethign with a little more POP, so until I can find someone with a bead roller to dress it up with a #24 the plate gets it, it weighs only 8 ounces more, I know but I loose 8 ounces somewhere else. The stuff is super thin (NHRA legal) but the thinnest alloy DP Ive seen, I only wish I would have bought more, Ive only got about 16ft of it left, and I lost the suppliers card. It was cheap....oh well...

Got news from our FI guys the car (our SRT8 the "Orange Peel") should be ready for a test run early next week.

Saw the pics of the test set up, and we're thrilled, 2 days and theyve prototyped a harness, decoded the crank and wheel signals and are coding the firmware, set up the DP manifold on a test car and get things ready in parralel....lets see another vendor move that fast for a customer (3 DAYS !) I am STUNNED , and thrilled, I think with our system we are really going to knock one out of the park. Much more flexible than any other system out there......and proven....and no I wont tell you what it is.....my secret......I already know it can do everything competing systems can an much much more. I am thrilled beyond belief. Kudos to all the guys working on this, and there are a bunch.

Tried to order some parts today, and well everyone as at PRI or on their way, I should say so......2:30 and we bailed.

Dec 3rd, The Hemi Bunny Strikes....ok paints

Well, it was another long day of taping and painting here at New Hemi Racing.

We got a little goofy from the fumes and the old man made me a pair of ears for my paper suit....It was a good day all in all no issues....paint flowing like it should, covering like it should and no dust bunnies lurking.

There is a reason I hate painting, the prep work, I cannot stand so much as a speck in corners etc. When you see a beautiful car and its got dust bunnies lurking in the corners I start twitching.

So....lots of prep, cage is painted, I dont like the flattener we used, I wanted a semi-gloss and it didnt come out right, my fault, I should have sprayed a test panel, oh well, the color is good, the same gray as the interior panels. Sooo...it was on to the underside, I love that White undercoat urethane, wow, I shoulda just bought it in gray and used it.....it cures hard as nails, its smooth and the right semi-gloss I like, we almost left it white, but it will pick up too much track crap, so a light grey semi-gloss it went.

The trunk is sealed , and tommorow will be bc/cc on the trunk and engine compartment.

Monday re-assebly starts..

Please excuse my spelling, I really can spell, between my fingers sticking to the keyboard from uncured urethane and the fumes....this is adequate :)

My DAD spelled BUNNY Wrong on my suit......"Bunney".....what a great day though.

Dec 2 Paint fumes and tape, Powder...LOTS of tape

Well, its been a 14 hour and counting day here at New Hemi Racing.

Earlier we went and picked up the rear end and suspension parts that were powder coated, blasted, cleaned, coated, and well , well done, rear, crossmember, 4 link bars, panhard, weight box and drive shaft loop, $160 ! and a 2 day turnaround.....Summit Powder Coaters out of Barberton GREAT guy, GREAT Work.

David, my father and the cars owner and project funder :) Spent all day helping me (and actually doing most of the tape and paper work)

We covered everything in lots of paper, I scuffed the cage, floors, trunk....etc. Cleaned them and cleaned them....

Shot em with an etching primer and sat and mixed up paint for the cage.

If you buy "flattener" for paint and let it sit on the shelf for a year....well all the silicone dioxide settles to the bottom....ugh....and I dont have a mixer....so I sat at the desk and mixed the crap for about an hour. Mixed up the paint and squirted away.

My dad got all the basic wiring laid out today and tracked down all the connectors we need to scab off the harness, and bought a 3 RD METER !!!, we already had two, but apparently 3 is better.

Now that Im sailing high on fumes.....well....Im going to let the cage dry and put a second coat on it if it dries to the right "semi-gloss" with the flattener, otherwise Ill add more on the last coat.

What FUN ! Progress, LOTS of progress, and only 2 more days of the NASTY stuff to go, tommorow Ill seal the trunk and interior with sealer, base coat the trunk, and shoot the undercarriage. Friday, engine compartment base coat and clear, let it set for the weekend and Monday start putting it back together.

AND Got a status update, the DAY after I left the SRT8 in Atlanta with the FI guys for a mockup harness, the DP Manifold is on the car and the harness is already at the point theyve pulled signals from the cam wheel and the crank trigger, now they are writing the code for it.....WOW they move fast....sharp guys...

Dec 1st....paint and stuffs

Well the SRT8 was dropped off in with the DP Intake to have a harness made and the base fuel and spark maps for the DP startup. Very , very impressive facility and equiptment, and their dyno...wow ..... not a lameo wheel dyno....a REAL serious chassis dyno, a DynoPack....I was thrilled to see that I think most wheel dynos for drag cars are junk, thats my opinion , but well slippage and a whole lot of other factors make them mechanically unsuitable and unreliable for this type of testing. An engine dyno is good, very good....this I like nearly as much from what I saw for this type of testing (not on the SRT, but rather later this month on the DP with different headers, different coil configurations and a whole lot of other things only a dyno or the track will tell) with this system I dont have to wonder is it tire slippage, worry about it coming off the dyno, etc.

For entertainment sometime type Dyno accidents into youtube.......some funny and sad (for the cars) stuff, here is one of my favorites, only because Ive nearly done it.

So.....tommorow paint, probably take 2-3 days for me to do it all right. Im still trying to figure what prep I need to do to the cage (the moly tube) but Ill call Mike P tommorow and ask.

Just got back in town after a very nice plane ride from Atlanta, it took everything I had not to fall asleep on the plane, not that sleeping on a plane is a problem, I just try and shield the other passengers from my very loud snoring when I sleep sitting up....and my drooling that happens when I sleep sitting up....it all usually ends with an elbow in the ribs. But I made it :)

Tommorow will also be a FEW phone calls....for this that and the other. Trying to get all the details for our second motor ironed out.....

Nov 29th and I thought I was done ! HA

Ok another 8 hours spent prepping, stripping deadner and sealer from everywhere including engine compartment.





I just CANT, CANT paint over shit that looks like my 6 year old put on with a mop.





So the deed is done, and its well over 15 lbs. I quit weighing at that point. A lot ended up in the shop vac and as anal about details as I am Im not sifting through the shop vac (although I did consider it)





Had a great conversation with fellow Drag Pak owners Marc Jacobs and Mack Reeves today. I like Marcs approach on a lot of things, and he knows his stuff, knows the vendors and knows the players, a good resource to have in your corner. I only hope I can be as much help to him as hes been to me.





Us DP builders are going to HAVE to share and learn SOME things , Im not talking about Sanders Secret Herbs and Spices, we all have our "tricks" and items we hold close that we think will make us competitive, but Drag Pak items that can be shared well, we need to, we are up against very stiff competition from the Ford camp with the SCJ and certain things I would think we need to share.





So Ill share my thoughts on something, all the crap in the nose of the car needs to go, the shrouding for the grille, the air directors, all junk, all sloppy passenger car stuff , anything that can go should go. The fan unit that comes with the car is HEAVY, an aftermarket Dual shroud and fans with BOTH, weighs less. (Yes Ive weighed them) and to counteract the shroud behind the grill that takes up to 35% of the cooling area and effectivley negates it, a pusher type setup MAY be an option for some, and its legal as I read it. (its pretty clear)





So just some thoughts, I had hoped to have sealer on today but Im feeling a bit under the weather and havent eaten....so Pizza first then sealer....maybe.





I leave for Georgia tommorow to meet with the people doing my custom fuel system, that should be fun :)

Ok...pizza and home 12 hours on the road tommorow is enough work.