Well, Kiddies, It's been a bit of a week or two. As admitted, I forgot to take the cameras' case to the Nat's. And I managed to break something or other in time to not take the car to Eagle Field. I've had better months. The Nat's were great though, I managed another "Non-street flathead/inliner" class win (that's two of'em now ), but have decided to re-instate my cooling and charging systems (I've concluded that it's more fun to sip a soda between rounds than to have to fiddle with cooling the car off by hand ). First Qual ...... after missing second (several times ) I posted up a weak 15.585, but with a reasonable 96.94 on a .147 light. She topped out at 4800 (and early), but got there pretty quickly. Q2 ...... an .041 r/t, and finding the gears netted me 13.717 @ 97.97. squeezed'er up to 5000, but still long before the finish line. Q3 ...... a soft .168 r/t, but still 5000, showed a 13.474 @ 96.47. Mostly due to a slightly better 60' of 1.779. Followed lunch with first Elimination round call for my class, but the handler put me in the wrong lane. By the time I got it straightened out they had to run me as a left over. So, solo run. I took my time on the tree at .201, and pushed'er up to 13.459 @ 97.93. Still flat on the top, but slightly better. E2 ...... and made sure I was first in line, but the other two cars left wanted to run each other. So, another freebie. I'd added in a bit more advance, and pulled 13.365 @ 98.38 out of the hat. Still a pancake on the top end, but 5200, and better. E3 ...... and finally an actual race. We both dialed 13.40, so it was heads up. Tree'd him, .033 to .284, and found all the gears. Didn't see him at the end, so pedaled out of it at the traps to keep from breaking out. Took the win with 13.723 @ 94.33 to his 13.977 @ 93.06. Great race, classic, just a quarter second at the end. Worth the whole day. Tom & Patti (Mr. & Mrs. '440) made it, which made it all that much more fun, and even stood in for the victory pics. Several other friends, some from the Trompers and the Old Farts, were there & racing. All in all, it was a really nice day. Even the clouds kept their peace, and mitigated the sun all day. Attendance was down, likely due to the threat of rain, and there's scuttle of possibly losing this race to lack of profit. I dearly hope not. Not only is it a true tradition, but a fun get together. The smiles all day were so good to see, nothing like the amount of "grind" at some other (less) nostalgic meets. Eagle Field was interesting, in that it's been rather a loooong time since I've gone to a meet just to spectate. And never for three days of it. Still, it's Eagle Field. I mean, THE nostalgia meet. What can I say? Great cars, great folks, old friends, new friends, and real flag racing on a genuine old air strip. I mean, what else is there for geezers like us? There was some fuel action, tons of tin, about a million slammers, grudge races (including Revelation vs Pure Hell), and even a smokin' (in BOTH definitions) diesel pick'em up. Just plain good stuff all weekend. Got home, and finally got time to do compression tests on the 'Brick. Number 3's down to 120 lbs, and #6's down to 20 lbs. Popped the head, but nothing visible, other than a slight sign of detonation on all six. Will have to open'er up to see. Likely next week.
Try a poor mans leakdown , Pressurize each cylinder and listen from where the air leaks intake ,exhaust ports or crankcase
Sorry, must've forgotten to mention the massive blow-by, which says crankcase. That's what suprised me as I went to put'er on the trailer for Eagle, and the reason I didn't take'er along. Then when I popped the top, the "un" cracked or holed piston tops, which leaves rings. However. Since I broke one compression ring when installing'em, and had to order another full set of six (only way they sell'em), I do have some more rings. And in that I'm doing up another block (in order to re-include a cooling system), I'll have to swap all the guts over anyway. So ...... as an old Hoosier farm saying goes; "There's no such thing as ALL bad.".
Work on 'em Race 'em Break 'em, Repeat That's tough beans, old son. You'll get 'er together and be better than ever. Been watching 15 hours of Eagle Field on You Tube while I'm laid up.
First we have extensive lightening, then ditching of the cooling system, talk of wheelie bars to contain lift and then a floppy body. Next you'll be telling us you're running nitro and rebuilding the engine between runs ! Keep up the good work. Jeff's put his dad's Flatty in his car and ran 12.6. at Sydney last weekend. He usually runs mid 13s. This from a car that weighs around 1800 lb. I think.
Well, BobW, at least Eagle actually qualifies as a real "reality show". Target for future, Spanners, is Dr.Pepper between rounds, and back to rebuilding once every seven years or so. Sounds like a good running flattie. Same system, Tony. It was as light as I could make it before, I just wanted to try it without the weight at all. Turned out to be far too much bother for little benefit. Live & learn, I guess. Going to go check on my next block tomorrow, have everything ready for the swap-over. Playing with my toy trains, and at the float, to fill the time.
An old saying about racing & having fun is: The ice chest is larger than the tool box. Sounds about right.
I'm an ex-pat Hoosier. Corn country, with 23 sayings for each thing you want to say. I'll have to add that one to the tome.
Compression check last week went 150, 130, 150, 150, 150, 20. Think it just might be some rings? Should be picking up the new block, and swapping parts over this week. Also decided to get a slightly taller cam. Hope it gets here in time for the next ANRA meet.
I'm beginning to have some doubts that I did. Perhaps it took the three prior meets just to clean off the assembly grease. Picking up the new block today, and have Friday & Saturday open to fiddle about.
Well, Kiddies, Back from a disappointing weekend at Bako, but hell, even the worst day racing still beats hell out of nearly any other day available. As my new cam hasn't shown up yet, I had to toss in one I have on the shelf for El Toad's next engine. It's a street grind (CompCam's 264), and runs out at 5200, even with a bit too much advance. Thus, I was limited to tall 13's for this meet, not that it mattered in the long run. When I pasted the mill back together, and fired'er up to put'er back on the trailer she sprouted a water jacket crack by the #6 cylinder. About 2" long, it was just weeping, rather than actually leaking, so I packed a bottle of BarsLeaks in the tool kit just in case it decided to get worse. Friday afternoon, and I had my first boondoggle. I'd forgotten to get new belts, and the tech wouldn't spot me the two months mine were out, so had to buy some used ones with a couple months still on'em from one of the other Open Wheel boys. Finally got my sticker, and put'er away for the night. Saturday Jeana & I decided to go ahead and duke it out for HAMBie first Qual round. Can't get'em to admit what they've done to that little Ford, but she burned a flying 12.705 @ 106.60 (on a sweet .059 light) for a beautiful running away win. My 13.774 @ 93.93 on .139 never stood a chance (her Q2 was even better, but I don't have the numbers for it). My deepest regret isn't losing (I've done that before), but that I'd left the GoPro sitting on the card table back in the pits, as had Kay her phone camera, so that we have no video of her killer win. The block was still weeping after that run, so I poured in half a bottle of the BarsLeaks. Second Qual I packed in a bit more advance, but bounced around on the launch, costing me some e.t. Also fumbled the tree for a sorry .232 light. Managed 13.948 @ 95.41, so the timing change was working better than I was. At least I remembered the vid camera. Came back to the pits overheating, and thought I might know why. Seems that BarsLeaks works well on ANY tight place in the system, including my scrubbing pad radiator filter, designed to keep shit from my old blocks out of the radiator. Plugged it up solid. Drained the system, deleted the filter, and re-filled the system for Tomorrow. Sunday they started early, to try to beat the day's heat. I drew a killer driver (last year's champion), and decided on a strategy that might give me a slim chance. Flamed'er and hit the lanes. We didn't have to sit long, as they were keeping the schedule tight in order to keep the sit in the lanes as brief as possible. We pulled up to the box, and did our burn-outs. As I backed across the beams to set up & stage, a crewman gave me the ax sign. I killed'er, and he told me I was dumping water all over. They pushed me back (he didn't want me to fire'er up again there), and I looked'er over enough to see that I could drive'er back to the pits. Once there, I sat & went over what'd happened, and concluded that the BarsLeaks must've gotten to the bypass hole in the T-stat, and plugged up the system again. The pressure from the pump against it during the burn-out must've opened the crack again, and blown water out 'til it re-equalized. Oh well, such are life. I can't fault the crew, they did it right. Hell, it's the call I'd have made myself. Not sure it's a good thing that I got it on vid. Jeana went on to put the Ford in for three rounds, winding up in the quarter finals, and posting up new personal numbers all weekend. So at least one of us HAMBster Herders turned in a good showing. Good show, Kid. And ...... I'll have to get my shit in my mess gear by August if I'm going to have a snowball's chance of getting HAMBie back this year, eh wot, Jeana? I'll post up what vids & pics I do have Tomorrow. Be cool, Kiddies.
Wow! They've got Jenna's little Ford 6 running good. When you get all your parts together you'll be back in the game. I've got a good running stock engine you could have for a core if you weren't half a continent away.
Happy Birthday Old6rodder! In the wisdom of youth, our granddaughter would say you are now "old". Welcome to 70, it's only a number. A big number, but you should be able to count that high by now anyway. Growing "old" is mandatory...Growing "up" is optional. Avoid growing "up", as it tends to take the fun out of things.
Happy belated Dick! I have looked like I was 70 since I was in my late forties. How come you look like you are only in your late forties when you are 70? Some have been speculating that it is because you only have a part-time job and play the rest of the time.
Job???? Thank you, Gentlemen, for the very kind wishes. Guess I'll go ahead and keep getting older (I still have a couple of y'all to catch up with, eh?).
Well, Kiddies, In addition to the cracked water jacket, I'd noticed that that mill sounded a bit loose, and it decidedly was low on oil pressure. Not gone, but low. Sooooooo ...... teardown found that the standard bearings I'd popped in were indeed a bit loose on the unmarked -.010" crank I'd used ...... without checking. Got lucky though, none of the caps (main or rod) were ovalled out, so they're all going into the new cracked block, along with a standard crank this time. Yes, you read it right, another cracked block. This one has a cross shaped fracture along the port side of the crankcase that looks to be from a mild internal impact in spite of the lack of an impact mark. Perhaps a foundry thing (I can't tell for sure), but it doesn't leak oil, and isn't in a stressed area. I hadn't noticed it before I started the mods, but it's the only block I have available at the moment anyway, so ...... whatever. I'll drill the ends of the fracture of course, and fill the holes, but it should be OK for strip usage. As planned, I'm going back to a cooling system (with minor improvements of course) and a charging system. Guess I'm "still lazy after all these years" (my apologies, Paul ). I'll get some pictures up as she goes back together. Planning on making the Summer ANRA meet the 26th, 27th 28th.
'bout time you checked in. I was beginning to think you'd fallen off the edge of the planet along with the rest of us . The boys from Queensland had a bad run with their Slants on the weekend at the Nostalgias. Brendan was in the saddle this time and was running hard until he backed off then it all turned to crap. Firing back through the carbs and flames out the exhausts. The drive gear on the camshaft lost a tooth. Not the dissy gear, the cam gear. Boys hadn't seen that before. John's Slant spat coolant out on the first run, overheated on the second run, (turned out the pitcrew had put the thermostat in upside down), and broke the gear shift plate on the third run.
Don't feel bad. Old6rodder broke two sets of timing gears on the same weekend back in the early days of running the car.
Howdy, Kiddies, Think I may've finally figured out the fall off in the 'Brick's ETs. Hope so, anyway. At any rate, I have'er back together, ready for Eagle Field. I've made some changes, some visible, and others not, as a result of some changes in my situation. For mostly financial reasons I'm dropping out of the ANRA series, a move I wish I didn't have to make, but have little choice as I have to cut back somewhere. I've managed to hang onto the two weekends of Eagle Field meets, the twice annual Antique Drags at Barona, and the Antique Nationals at Fontana though. Also may be able to get in an occasional T&T at Fontana as well, as hobby monies permit. To that end, I've removed the second hoop and mounts, allowing me to add the windshield that I originally wanted, and still enter & exit the car reasonably. A full re-wiring, a couple more lower braces to re-stiffen the interior cage, and a freshening up of the valves & seats should have'er back to the fun buggy I like. Ran'er back onto the trailer today, and took a few pictures in the process. Here're some of'em ......
Crap! Just realized I didn't post anything up on the Summer ANRA meet. I promise I'll do that later this week.
Old6rodder, I'm love'n the look! The new windshield is WILD! Sorry to hear about the recent financial reverses. Hopefully things will improve.