Jan 31st....Doing it yourself

I love "Do it yourself" kind of projects. The Drag Pak has been one GREAT project and its not done....but its getting there. The guys helping are definatley the "Do it yourself" types as well...

I am feeling bad for using my Dad as a "Gopher" but, the choices are , both of us go. And things dont get done on the car....Or 1 of us work and 1 of us runs.....

Tonight was an early night we closed out at 8.....so Im under 80 hours for the week....oh well, not like I get paid...lol, the PAY off will be running the piss out of it and breaking things to put them back together and go faster, lather rinse repeat.

Fuel system is done , well less pressure testing, that will be tommorow AM, then running. I like it, being a plumber in my previous life, well as I told my dad, its not something I would be embarrased by. I may have succeeded in building the worlds most expensive hydrocarbon sprinkler system, but for right now it looks good.

AFTER everything is done I will put a detailed parts list together, and if anyone wants to plumb their car like us, Ill have my guy at the shop make another setup for cost plus his hourly rate to help out any other DP guys that want it, you pay shipping.

Brake lines BAH , I forgot my good flaring tools at home and the Summit Junk is just that, they do have good ones for 37 degree, just not in stock down here in Georgia....So....thats my AM hunt for a GOOD 37 degree and double flare tool, or I need to not use AN fittings on the brake lines....but Id preffer to keep it consistent....then the lines I can finish, the stainless line is too hard for the Summit stuff and it turns the anvil point to junk on a 3/16th diamater line.....

But all the bulkhead connectors are in place and flex lines mounted and I have measurment on the rest, first stop will be to Napa to see if they like the one at home can make what I need and save me some time.....

So cleaned up the shop for they fellows, our EFI guys who have been nice enough to let us haunt their shop this weekend. So.....

After that we got our new scales out....(the other ones were flaky as sin) and well.....the weight complete is good. I can go LEGALLY without much changeup back up another 200 replacing things with heavier items that were original and relplaced by ligher items, Right now we go shy of 2940 without fluids, but that was brake lines sitting on the pass seat and fittings, all computers in, and we have 3, hood on, scoop base.....etc....a full loadout.

Ive got about 40 more pounds that are known to pull, 20 of that will require some work, maybe a day. Ill have to go over the car again to make AA min, but it wont be hard, there are some things that can go poof....like the trans cooler, that was only in for testing really. Actually the other 20 will take a day as well....both low cost, but 1 I probably wont do. So I need to find it elsewhere. Thats the fun part....So unless I hear different right now we are the lightest completed Drag Pak car......

Ive been told by many, these cars are fat and noone has made minimum weight. WEIGHT = Horsepower , simple, period. AA not yet, probably by next month, our "Phase II tranny" is about 15 lighter itself....the BEAUTY part is thats all recip weight. I can loose about another 10 in the rear end with 300M axles and Titanium studs. Redoing the fuel line, maybe another 5, Lets see.....just brainstorming here....another 10 in the drivers seat. Another 4 in the Passenger seat....and on I guess. The other weight was planned to drop and provision were made like templates for having items jetted, but time didnt allow me to do it....so theyre planned for.

Not much matters , it can be done. The "Shipping Weight" of the car is 3100 as listed, well be shy of the "Shipping" weight by 100 +/- 20 lbs for fluid variance....(and yes Ive already added all fluid volumes in and still make 3000 or 3020 max.

Itll be intersting with our "Nuclear Option" on ramp rates for our cam what the thing will do. Ive got to find different lifters than anyone currently makes for these engines to handle what I want to do with the cam. OR Modify the current, and have some custom lifters made, thats probably going to be what I have to do.

The cars sucess or failure is 100% MINE to Own....I made every single decision , even contrary to what others suggested or were doing, I copied certain things like Irv Johns gear ratios and converters.....But the 3 step headers I had done will be a much better runner I think, if not ? Well Ive got a set of TTI's like Irv I know will run at least 9.74.

On the things like cam duration, profile, overlap and ramp rates....mine to sink or swim. Things like the Tranny , well mine, it was Phase I, but Phase II with all exotics , alloy sunshell, etc wont be ready till Gainesville, or just after. But hopefully our cryod, coated, overbored and loosened 5.7 will be ready then too. Thats when the REAL fun will start for the competition.

That motor is 100% mine stem to stern....and its going together the same way a GP bike does, perfect. If I can spin a bike at 18k I can sure as hell spin this at 10k, were shooting for 9 with the current motor, but the valvetrain Im not so confident in, until I girdle and change out the shafts for something that will stay stable at those RPMs. The new cam, the Phase II cam will handle the lean issues on 4 and the flow contention that happens in the single plane at these ranges. I can "compensate" but the reason it flows lean is becuase of the order of fire and the way the manifolds breate.

The current motor is still half Stantons, and well its tighter than I like, I dont like the pistons and well it maybe my next 10 years of really cool conversation pieces.

I still need to work on playing with collector length but that for the track not the dyno, it never ceases to amaze me what stock people put in a dyno, its good for a "baseline" and that about it.

Think about this. If I can take a bike at 65 hp for a 326cc motor, and it runs say a 2 minute lap, then I take a bike that dynos at 59 hp for the same motor same chassis and it runs a 1.40 lap without blinking, why ? Simple , its how well the motor gets from Point A in its curve to Point B.....less horse less torque same crosspoint , better time consistently. These are things that most people running or trying to sell dyno time dont get, or wont admit to.

Were gonna run the 6.1 to the point of scatter at Pomona through Gainesville, this is a race car, not a collector item...... its a collector item for someone down the road, Ill be dead by then Im sure, hell Im 40 now almost, if I make 65 it would be shocking, but let them gripe about the original block being a boat anchor.....Run it blow it rebuild it, NOW the fun begins........

Tue back in Ohio, Thur back down here, Fri Tx, Monday California........assuming I dont break anything in testing.....I dont mind breaking things, I just preffer to do it after or during a race :) Especially the first one.

Im DYING to see how far off we are, Im thinking were good for 9.9 at our first outing.....thats my guess but who the hell knows....

The other Combo, the 5.7, with that I think well be in the 9.6X? range at min weight.....but thats all my motor and everything I wanted in the tranny just couldnt get in time for Pomona

Im still a little frustrated it took so long to put this car together 3 months from delivery is too long, wayyyyy to long. But even at that I couldnt be promised certain items by my deadlines, hell I didnt even get my headers I ordered in Oct until January ! (well the other ones were ordered in Dec, came 2 days before)