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Year 1999 news

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12/17/99

More info on that voodoo video thang.

Current system is a P3-500, 128 megs pc-100 ram, Abit BH6 1.0 Motherboard, EnsonicPCI 1370 soundcard.

  Old-timers who have been coming to the site for awhile will remember my pc overclocking page (my other hobby).  I did some testing with V3-2000, the default clock speed is 143 mhz.

  In testing today I hit TWO HUNDRED AND TWO MEGAHERTZ.  It was a bit unstable at that speed but was perfectly happy at 195 mhz.  wow!  That's a full 52 mhz over its rated spec, and the limitation isn't the V3 chip, but the ram on the video card!! (lock ups as opposed image tearing and or artifacts) The ram is only rated for 166 mhz operation (6 nanosecond ram) I have another V3-2000 here that has 7 ns ram on it, guess I got lucky on the one i'm currently using.

 Saw Howard Sterns Private Parts movie over a bro's house for the first time, I was suprised.
It was rather good, very funny movie.
 

12/12/99

Subject: How do you convert a 84-87 Turbo I turbocharger to Turbo II spec for next to nothing?

http://idt.net/~gdonovan/turbo_con.html

=)
 

12/9/99

Things learned in the past week:

1) Voodoo 3 2000 overclocks to 166 mhz no problem (A 486 fan is a good idea)

2) Velocity 100 is a V3 with just 8 megs and it will run at 166 mhz too but doesn't have enough memory for really detailed textures.  Still a great deal for $45.

3) The jump from 400 mhz Celeron to 500 mhz Celeron is good for 10 fps- 15 fps if you get a P3-500, 20 fps with a P3-550. (bus speed differences, 66 mhz vs 100 mhz)

 4) Above video cards are still being choked by the CPU, they would really be hitting their stride with a 600-700 mhz cpu.

5) Wicked 3d makes some great video drivers!

12/8/99

Yep I have been a slacker, holiday prep and customer work in the garage have kept me busy.

By popular demand the TI to TII turbo modification page will be done next.

11/28/99

  Nothing exciting going on here this week- getting ready for the holidays, working on a few customers cars, some minor website editing (the turbo page had some info added to it as well as a few deletions, and the map sensor page received a few pictures to make installing a diode easier) Trying to find somebody to install a rollbar in the k-car but its not a high priority at the moment.  Will be doing a bit more on the website in a week or two, little busy at the moment...

11/22/99

BLAH!

  Well not all blah, just one of those weekends. Car ran a 11.90 @ 112 and then a 11.84 @ 113 and then a track flunky told me if I run a 11 again I would be heading home- it seems one of the RWD rotary boys was crying big salty tears on the guys shoulder about how some mean nasty FWD K-car with no rollbar just ran his 13.0 s*htbox over and this was his petty way of getting even because his car couldn't hack it.

So I dialed the boost back and here is a list of my runs.  No bottle runs this weekend either.

11.90 @ 112 1.87 ST 30 psi
11.84 @ 113 1.77 ST 30 psi <-- best mph to date
12.97 @ 103 1.82 ST 16 psi
12.64 @ 103 1.84 ST 20 psi
12.28 @ 108 1.78 ST 25 psi

First round I blew the launch (1.96 ST) and didn't run my dial in (12.1 ran 12.3) and that was it for the day (lesson to be learned, run your own race darn it, I was so busy watching the other guys tree to see if he redlight I blew my own launch, DOH!) Car was pretty much the fastest FWD car there and the photographers would run like hell every time I pulled into the burnout box, I was always happy to oblige with one of my trademark smoke shows!

Car still has a "pop" when at high boost levels, very noticeable in the burnout box but only did it 5 or 6 times rolling down the track. I have to investigate more but I have narrowed it down and will have it fixed this week. I don't know if I'm racing again this year, would be nice we will have to see how things go. Going to try and get a rollbar in the car in a week or two also....

 Dick and Scott it was very nice to meet you, glad you could make the trip, sorry there was no 10 second passes to watch. Maybe next time!

11/20/99

Spent the last few days fighting some skipping problem with the k-car, I think its been isolated but not really sure. Heading down to Atco (www.atcorace.com) to run in a 4-cyl vs rotary shootout sunday, my class pays $400 to win so I'm going to give it a shot and see how it runs.

In other news I'm jobless; was running into problems with my back related to the car accident I had in january last year so it was time to move on, I'm not quite sure what I'm going to be doing next.  Just going to take some time off and relax for a bit for a month or so and see how things go.  Picked up an Olympus 340R digital camera this week too- $288 on sale and it works like a pip!  8 megs of smart media ram & 1280 x 960 resolution is going to make webpage updates a snap!

11/12/99

Spent last few nights getting another motor in the k-car, it seems to have oil flow problems to the head, I'm taking the weekend off and see if I can get it sorted out on monday when I get back. Hoping to go to Atco on the 21st for a 4-cyl vs rotary shoot-out, this should be my last race of the year.  K-car page has been updated with pictures of the installed intercooler.

Have a good weekend!

11/8/99

Piston number 4 in the k-car collapsed in the burnout box at Atco before I even made a pass.  Ran 11.8 @ 112 with a 1.76 short time (NO NOS), car was not running right on top end.  I leaned the motor out on the return road and everything seemed fine BUT when I opened the hood in staging there was oil everywhere from the dipstick tube being popped out by crankcase pressure.  Cranking the car over it made the distinct noise of one cylinder with little compression. Well I didn't drive 280 miles to just pack up and leave so I headed back to staging and made another pass, and what a pass it was! The car hooked up with a 1.68!! short time and ran 11.68 @ 108 mph (NO NOS)  When I shifted into high gear the number 4 piston failed altogether and pressurized the engine so bad it popped every seal on the engine!!  I lost a quart of oil on the big end of the track!!!

Here is a link to the pass as a real audio file.

I'm going to toss another piston in it this week and try and make the import vs domestic shoot-out at Atco in 2 weeks.  With the short time I ran hitting a 10 on the bottle would have been a piece of cake.  CYA!

10/31/99

I installed the new intercooler late friday night and went to bed around 2:00 A.M., woke up this saturday morning did a quick check over bumped up the fuel jets in the 6th injector to be safe, went for a short road test down the block with the upper intercooler hose off to blow out any debris that may have collected in the intercooler & or lines and then pulled over to hook the hose up. Pulled out in the road slowly rolled up to 3rd gear and matted it.

HOLY SMOKES BATMAN!!!

I PICKED UP FIVE PSI OF BOOST! The EGTS climbed like mad up to 1650 and I got out of it and this is AFTER I bumped up the fuel curve to be safe, my Autometer boost gauge is now PINNED at 30 psi of boost where before it would only go up to 25. Throttle response is better and boost seems to come up faster.  Atco is looking real good for a stab at a 10 second pass if the traction is there.

10/17/99

GOD DAMN NETSCAPE MAIL !!!

Please resend any mail you may have sent me in the last 2 weeks that I did'nt reply to please.

I ran 11's on saturday with the k-car, how was your weekend? =)

Slip number one is a side by side 11 second pass with Mike Demoss and myself.
(a first for FWD Mopars EVER I'm told)

Slip two is the best pass using a 40 hp NOS kit.
Slip three is the best NON-Nitrous pass of the day.

Next race is at Atco, N.J. Nov. 7th.

10/11/99

 What is it the drives us forward? What is the passion that fuels your life? Do you even have one?  I'm one of those people who is cursed with a need to do something with his life. Living, breathing and working day to day bores the hell out of me.  I have no kids to focus my attention on, I have a house but in all honesty it's just someplace to sleep, eat and pass the time (and work on a few cars of course); Better Homes and Gardens won't be stopping by my place anytime soon to shoot a feature.  Its not a sty or anything like that just nothing remarkable. I'm paid well enough for my skills that I have free time.  I have a wonderful woman who has a job 380 miles away till early March. This bothers me but is beyond my control for the most part. So I wait...

 How can people just exists day to day with nothing much to live for? When I was a younger man work was what I lived for, I was eager to go in everyday and do the best that I could do. I came to the realization when I got older that no one cared about how well their car was fixed. My efforts were wasted on people who didn't give a damn. They wanted more for less, I find this a disturbing trend nowadays- everyone wants a bargain but is unwilling to pay for quality. We have a fan in the shop that must be 30 years old if a day. You get crap that falls apart after a year or two at Wal-Mart.

 Racing is one of my passions, the challenge of tweaking and tuning a car is the ultimate test of my skill and intellect.  I love nothing better then racing a car one weekend and then taking the information learned from that race and making changes and racing again and picking up 3 tenths or more at the next race.  If someone challenges me (I.E. throwing down the gauntlet) I love nothing more then to focus my whole attention to the task at hand of making sure I'm the driver at the big end of the track when the win light comes on.

 I love racing- I admit it I'm a racing junkie. Years ago we used to street race around here and I would be out racing every weekend.  Heads up, handicaps, money races- whatever, If someone was faster then me I did what ever it took to make sure I was faster the next weekend.  Cam changes, gear changes, nitrous, carb swaps, hood scoops, I've done it all.  I had two cars then (funny how history repeats itself), of which I still have one (The GTX) rust kind of did in the Dart. I always wanted to race one car against the other but never got around to it, used to confuse the hell out of people, they never knew which car I was going to show up with (for the record I THINK the Dart was the faster STREET car, The GTX the faster DRAGSTRIP car). Then the racing dried up, I don't know why.  Its all big stereo crap now, go figure.  I feel like a dinosaur some days, some relic from a different time, times are changing and I don't like it (I'm only 33 damnit).  Damn kids nowadays seem to have no sense of direction, no ambition to do anything, the schools seem to pander to the lowest common denominator (I mean in our area you see decals on peoples cars saying that their child is an honor student, yet almost ALL the freaken cars have THEM) what, they just show up for school and they are an honor students? I broke my ASS to get through Tech school, If you weren't good, YOU WERE OUTTA THERE!  Now all little Johnny's mom has to do is write a weepy letter to some asshole in the newspaper or something after he failed a class because he didn't show up or do his homework and they bend the rules for the S.O.B. so he can finish school instead of being tossed back a year like he should be.  There was a news story about some 17 year old basketball player in high school who was thrown off the team because he was caught drinking!  Not once but TWICE, and he almost killed someone the second time (he was drunk driving) It was very simple-

You get caught drinking- NO BASKETBALL.

Simple no?

Get this, the PARENTS were SUING the SCHOOL for enforcing the policy that THEIR SON AGREED TO!

WHAT THE F$%K IS THE WORLD COMING TOO?!  The damn kids parents need a reality check.

Anyways, I'm rambling, thanks for listening.

What drives you? drop me a line and let me know. I'm curious.

Gary

10/7/99

If you sent me e-mail in the last 2 weeks re-send it please.

Netscape 4.05 ate it.
 

10/4/99

 Good morning.

   Updated the V6 page with a link or two this morning, also added some information to Cliffs V6 page (about time).  I have been working on the k-car all week, the racing seat has been done and installed in the car (added 18 pounds, the seat frame is a mere 1.5 lbs!) so weight loss on the car is currently at 232 lbs.  Reinstalled most of the dash this weekend, sealed a lot of holes in the firewall and re-routed some wiring so its neater, fixed 2 holes in the floor, reinstalled all the intercooler plumbing so I could road test.   Interesting, the spool that's in the diff makes the car very difficult to handle under full power.  Hopefully its a different story at the track with slicks, if not I will have to pull it out and replace it with a posi perhaps.

Things still to do;

Replace all gauges in dash with aftermarket gauges (wednesday or thursday I hope)
Install switch panel.
Install new intercooler and tune engine (weekend)
Fix minor transaxle leak.
Replace defective battery.

Congrat's to my buddy Steve Menegon for hitting 12.91 @ 112 mph in his Lebaron GTC coupe a week or two ago!
He became the first person to hit 12's with a J body.

9/28/99

 Managed to find a non-tilt steering column for the k-car this weekend which shaved another 7 lbs off the car; total is now at 249 lbs removed.

9/24/99

 Good morning; The customers lebaron is all set so I had a chance to work on the k-car this week and managed to remove 237 pounds from the interior alone! Target for weight removal is 300 pounds, here is some figures;

Front (87 Daytona bucket) seats ................................................................................... 76 lbs
Rear seat ................................................................................................................................. 26 lbs
Carpet ....................................................................................................................................... 30 lbs
Back panels ............................................................................................................................. 10 lbs
Heater core ............................................................................................................................ 19 lbs
2 boxes of odds and ends (seat belts, trim, etc.) ................................................... 35 lbs
Center console ....................................................................................................................... 10 lbs
Pass side door "lightened" ............................................................................................... 30 lbs

 Just getting started on the new intercooler (I'm welding 3 stockers together, think it will flow enough air? he-he) doing some rewiring of the dash and rearranging some gauges as well as upgrading the boost gauge. it only reads 20 psi, I have been hitting the "oo" in bOOst and I figure its time for a new gauge that reads higher...
 

9/14/99

The car gods are not pleased. The engine in the lebaron spit out a NEW freeze plug on a road test.  sheesh.

The k-car made car of the month over at Kanata ; Stop in and take a peek!

http://www.pinnaclecda.com/carofmonth.htm

9/12/99

Another week come and gone, changed out a engine in a lebaron yesterday.  Computer show this morning, and then finish the lebaron this afternoon (vacuum lines are a MESS)

Still waiting to work on k-car...

9/4/99

I'm sitting here enjoying a quite saturday morning with a cat in my lap and a cup o' coffee in hand as I'm thinking of things to do in the next few weeks. Its been a busy week getting caught up in the "non-racing" portion of my life- computers built, cars fixed and houses repaired.  All the stuff you have to slog through till the next time the garage door opens and you have the spare time to work on the beast so you can go hammering down the track again...

First a list of things I'd like to do on the website this winter (all though some will be done sooner)..

1) Facelift/make more "professional looking".
2) ShelbyTek (Anthony Berge) is going to get his own page here soon, AJ has a 16V 90 VNT Daytona!
3) Breakup turbo and TBI pages into smaller sections.
4) More case histories pages.
5) 16V database page.
6) Flesh out the V6 page a bit more (hoping to get some info from Cliff Sebring one of these days)
7) Do it yourself strut tower brace page for non l-body cars.
8) Turbo I to Turbo II conversion page. (84 to 87 cars)
9) How to modify your 84-87 TI turbo to TII status. (its easy, trust me)
10) Mopars around the world page, so far I have a Phantom R/T in Mexico and a Dodge 600 in Germany.
11) A database of Mopar owners and their rides (something brief; name, location, e-mail icq & aol i.m. number and photo of person)
12) Link page for video clips.

Next race will be at Cecil County Oct. 16th, and I haven't even looked at what failed in the k-car yet! Hopefully sometime this weekend I will get a chance to pull the transaxle out and find out what failed and make sure it doesn't happen again. After that I have a monster intercooler to make and gut some poundage out of the car.
 

 8/30/99

 WOW what a weekend! Went racing at Atco N.J. in a Import/FWD battle.

 First the waterpump craps out just as the K-car rolls onto the trailer, ARG!
 stop at a parts store and picked one up on the way and installed it saturday
 night.

 After fighting traffic for 5 hours we find a hotel at 11:45 pm and crash for
 the night- 7:30 a.m. finds us at the track waiting for them to open the
 gates so we can get cracking. Car prep goes smooth and we wheel into the
 staging lanes on first call. So far there is no sign of Mike Demoss or his
 GLHS, Dave Skrab is there to scope things out (his clutch is slipping in his
 Shelby Daytona, bummer) and Benzo is there manning the camcorder.

"Car should have no problems hitting 11's by the end of August once the turbo is replaced."

DOH!  Did I say that?  The transmission broke after 5 passes damnit!
Car ran a best of 12.3 @ 108.7 mph with the larger turbo and underdrive pulley being the
only changes (except the e-brake cable being repaired of course) So I gained 3 mph and 3
tenths- I feel 12.1 - 12.2 could have been had by the end of the day,  was just starting to get
the feel for the automatic when something in the diff crapped out.

The car needs a larger intercooler now,  I feel its limiting the car on the top end (A much
higher mph was expected based on how much harder the car pulls now not to mention the low
et's its pulling) after the diff is replaced and the larger intercooler installed we will be
heading back out to take another crack at the 11's.

8/27/99

 10,000 hits!!! COOL DEAL!!  Thanks to everyone who stopped by and for those who have sent e-mails of thanks for my humble website. Thank you, thank you & thank you. Now go out there and RACE!

 Spent last night working in the rain changing a broken e-brake cable and a frozen wheel cylinder- wheee. (sarcasm dripping off my lips, get it?)

8/26/99

Class can you say ROCKETSHIP ?!  yes indeed the k-car is running well, its making enough power to spin 225/50R15's at 60 mph with 3 adults in  the car- IN THIRD GEAR.  HOT DAMN! Atco on sunday,  BE THERE!

8/25/99

When trying to pull the k-car into the garage saturday afternoon to install the S-60 turbo reverse was acting funny. Made the call to yank the transmission and found a shim we placed in the front clutch pack broken to bits! back to the drawing board.... Going to heave a underdrive pulley in the car while I'm at it to free up some more hp. The car was fired up last night on the jackstands and everything seems ok, going to roadtest it this afternoon after the pulley is installed.

8/20/99

Look what I found last night....

This is why the K-car hasn't run right since I got back from Cecil.  Car would break up over 10 psi of boost; I have no idea how they got there I'm just grateful the car waited to get home before acting up.

Now that irritation is out of the way its time to install the S60 turbo with it's .63 exhaust housing and rap off some 11's.

8/16/99

Best bumper sticker I ever saw,

"Ban low performance drivers NOT high performance cars"

/rant mode on

Half the freaken drivers in America are sheep in minivans or SUV'S.

See cop on other side of road, hit brakes, back up traffic for 20 miles.
See tow truck with lights on, hit brakes, back up traffic for 20 miles.
See car with flat tire, hit brakes, back up traffic for 20 miles.
See someone hitchhiking, hit brakes, back up traffic for 20 miles.
See construction sign, hit brakes, back up traffic for 20 miles.
See bump in road from construction, hit brakes, back up traffic for 20 miles.
See drop of water from rain on windshield, hit brakes, back up traffic for 20 miles.
See curve in road, hit brakes, back up traffic for 20 miles.
Drive in fast lane below speed limit, see drivers behind you flashing lights, hit brakes, back up traffic for 20 miles.
 

Wish I had a mini gun mounted on the front of the car some days and it would be legal to use it.

Sigh.

Ok how about a paint gun? just avoid the asshole with the car covered with paint, simple no?
As you can tell I was driving the interstate this weekend, saw 16 cars broken down, one roll over and a Neon stuffed under a guardrail with the roof peeled back like a sardine can.  (I hope the driver was ok)

/rant mode off

Did I mention I updated the transmission page last week?  Well I did, so go look.

8/10/99

Thought of the day...

A mans fate is a mans fate and life is but an illusion...

8/4/99

 Did 12 video captures Russ's page and updated the transmission & k-car page with info and pictures, thanks to Craig l Flowers for the snapshots of the k-car at the track...

8/3/99

Ahh nothing like the rush of getting ready to go racing at the last min, a pain isn't it?

Trucked the k-car down to Cecil with Old Blue (1985 Shelby inspired D-150) for its maiden race on Saturday.
Only used 2.5 quarts of oil in 580 miles, not bad, I really need to get around to re-ringing the engine one of these days...

Any ways, finished doing some wiring and rigged up a 2 stage boost control in the hotel parking lot friday night, was mighty fun doing 20 psi blasts setting up the boost control! heh.  Well to make a long story short the k-car made 14 passes with a best run of 12.62 @ 105.8 which was fast enough for the number 3 spot out of 64 Shelby Dodges that were racing that day!

TEMPS WERE IN THE 104-110 DEGREE RANGE WITH HUMIDITY AT 35-50%!

Even though it was hotter then hades I had a great time.  I have to do some test and tune up here in New England before we hit the track again, the turbo is too small for the engine and is getting replaced with a better flowing unit and I have a couple of other things I wish to polish...

Video clips will be up on Russ's site in a few days and the k-car page has been updated with more info.
 

7/29/99

Motor is a might thirsty!
I had to hijack the dual injector setup off the Daytona last night but it works!  EGT's are much better.

Cecil here we come!
 

7/28/99

Monday (7/26) Installed S60 in K-car after work, tapped out 4 stripped holes in head for valve cover, replaced valve cover with black one so it matches intake.  Car can smoke the tires from a roll in first gear!  BWHAHAHAHAH!  Need to retard cam timing a bit... EGT's are a bit high too...

Tuesday (7/27) Spent 3 hours setting up 5th injector, does squat for EGT or fuel curve.  sigh.
I'll try pinch valve tonight and see if that works. Retarded cam timing 2 degrees.

I'm running out of time....

7/25/99

Man my butt is dragging, K-car ran last weekend and promptly broke the transmission case in under 80 miles!!! This weekend Shelbytek, Benzo and myself rebuilt another late model 413 automatic and stuffed it in. Works BEAUTIFUL!  Hope to go racing next weekend at Cecil County and get some numbers to post!

Here is what has been happening the past week:

Friday (7/16) Spent six hours assembling head and installing, got car running, made 3 inch exhaust.

Saturday (7/17) Fixed lots of stuff (lights, wiring), worked on fuel system.

Sunday (7/18) Installed EGT and oil pressure gauges, reinstalled seats and console, did lots of other odds and ends, left at 12:00 to go to a SDAC-NE chapter meeting in Mass. (an hours drive) good road test, no real problems noted except when I got to meeting transmission had a 2-3 shift flare that wasn't there before and had a ATF leak from drivers side axle housing. (cue sinister music)

Monday (7/19) Cleaned "blown up" garage after work.

Tuesday (7/20) Repaired frayed wire on charge air sensor, wired a switch on dash to override fan, pulled drivers side axle to repair leaking seal.

Seal not leaking, TRANS CASE HAS A CRACK IN IT AT DIFF AREA.  OUCH!!!!!  Engine makes so much torque it flexed the diff bad enough to break the case on the early model rebuilt transmission I was using.

Wednesday (7/21) Installed 52 mm throttle body.

Thursday (7/22) After work disassembled 88 Turbo transaxle core.

Friday (7/23) Before work cleaned case and other parts for rebuild.

Sunday (7/25) AJ and myself go to town on rebuilding 1988 transmission for k-car, some V6 and Neon parts are used and with the help of Benzo we have it done and stuffed in the car in nothing flat! A big hand goes out to Anthony for doing the bulk of the transmission work and supplying some really trick parts to make this happen- without his help I wouldn't be racing at Cecil next weekend with the Reliant.

7/13/99

Hi! Been very busy out here with Real Life the last few weeks, sorry about the lack of updates.

"At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi, at last we will have our revenge" <--- Good movie eh?

The Special K project has begun. No more updates this week, it's crunch time.

Maybe running this weekend.  Maybe.
 

Work done the past 4 days:

Inspect short block built 1 year ago, reclean and reassemble
Inspect transmission built 1 year ago, replace damaged side cover and install manual valve body.
Install in car above items complete minus head- axles, motor mounts, p/s, wiring, etc...
Strip seats from car
Remove fuel tank from car
Remove rear bumper from car and build supports for bumper cover
Repair frozen L/R brake wheel cylinder
Install single air shock in L/R
Replace damaged alternator in car
Repair damaged automatic shifter
Port exhaust manifold to inch of its life, polish (5 hours)
While no head was on car test fit supplied prototype header for future use
Test fit prototype air to water intercooler
 

6/28/99

Updated 12 pages this morning, uploaded 5 new images.

Man I hate New England in the summer, the humidity is a KILLER!  A long weekend too, lots of stuff out of the way, just 2 more jobs to do before I can begin my next project this week.

6/27/99

 Updated the 89 Daytona page with a few new shots this morning.  Richard over at Kanata has updated his site with pictures of his journey to the states and racing at Cecil County.  Stop in to one of the coolest Shelby Dodge sites on the web.   Here is a link Cecil County June 99 pics.

6/24/99

  Went to Lebanon Valley Dragway in New York last night to check out the track and shoot some video of Gus and several other people racing.  Track is pretty nice with friendly officials (with the glaring exception of one bunhole on the starting line, that dude needed an enema) The tower even let me shoot some video down on the starting line! Gus ran a string of 12.5's, (the air was pretty bad up there) and Arly ran 14.77 with his GLH which was the first time he has run 14's.  James Dempsey Jr. ran a string of 15.5's with his V6 Daytona and Butch N. was also on hand to try out his new engine in his 89 Shelby Daytona.  All and all a good Shelby Dodge turnout. The drive home was a sweet 2 hour run, I'll have to try racing there later this year and see how the car likes the track (the starting line did seem a bit slippery)

6/12/99

 Well they canceled SDAC-9 because the track boned us on the date for a pop concert, so I went racing down at Cecil County this weekend (I was in the neighborhood any ways) car ran a 12.80 at 107.9 in VERY hot conditions.  The  clutch is slipping in the car on the launches, not quite sure what I'm going to put in next..

 I'm pleased with the intercooler setup and will continue to polish it a bit more in the upcoming weeks. Spent today pruning the site a bit and compressing images a bit more so I can fit more in my meager 8 megs of space.  7 pages have had minor changes and/or images added.  The Daytona page has been updated with lots of new stuff.  Greets to all I the people I met down at Cecil, Richard I still can't believe you drove all the way down from CANADA!  Glad I could give you a ride in the car.

6/8/99

Bad news damnit, no SDAC-9 for me.
They shifted the date of the drag race and I can't make it in time.

Modifications of the "watercooler" to improve its efficiency are moving along. Insulated the core so it wont get heat soaked from the engine/radiator heat, made insulated pads for the radiator brackets, swapped the original radiator back in, tapped the water feeds out to 1/2 line (from 3/8)

Still need to replace the cool can, re-route and insulate a heater hose and make a heat deflector for the air filter.

6/7/99

Good morning!

 I received a few e-mails asking how did my new water to air intercooler work and why don't I use a ice tank to stick the intercooler in?

1. Yep works great!
2. It's a street car.

 An intercooler submerged in ice is a great idea but when the ice runs out your pants are kinda down around your ankles don't ya think? Like when your NOS bottle runs out, game over man!

 I may try the ice route with the k-car though, the pump system in the Daytona works fairly well, I have to do some polishing this week before SDAC. The cool can needs to be relocated to a more usable location, I have to erect a heat shield near the rad area (to much heat transferring to intercooler from engine bay) and a heater hose has to be rerouted/insulated because its getting the air filter hot.

 The car seems to pull stronger then before- this is just subjective of course- more testing will take place in 3 days after I make the minor mods I just listed.  A/C operation was unaffected (38F) but the car did tend to run warm at highway speeds (210F) I need to swap back to the radiator that was in the car and put the 2 rubber "ducts" back in nose-cone.  Informal road testing of the cool can on the way down was good for a extra 30F degree temp drop- insulation of the intercooler will drop this number even lower I think...

 Did I mention I won 3rd place in the car show?? FWD modified class! First time I ever won anything in a show, the bane of having to drive a car everyday.. She isn't a show queen but can rock at the track with the best of them...

 It was good to meet Art Leong (THE perfect gentleman racer), Mike Kelly (briefly) and Joe B. (very NICE R/T)  Marc and Seth were there (The Omni twins) great runs guys! (14.2 and 14.4?), Anthony Berge (shelbytek), Cliff Sebring (Congrats on saturdays win of the rumble!)

 Steve Adley was also there having tech problems with his new combo but managed to run a 13.4@103 with his 89 CSX before it's "aftermarket vendor SMEC" crapped out and almost left him stranded at the track. (I think Steve had the fastest FWD car there RACING) was a fairly light FWD turnout.

5/31/99

 A great weekend! Heather was up from her job down south for the weekend.  Sunday we rolled the bike out from the garage and it fired right up after sitting over 4 months!  Damn I love this bike- it's a 83 Honda Magna V45 with 19,000 miles on it, all stock except I had it repainted red and had the chrome fenders painted red also.

 I admit I'm a fair weather rider and don't ride as much as I used too, I feel safer with a roof over my head.  But still once you learned to ride a motorcycle it's something that never quite lets you go...

 Oh by the way? I'm working on a package that will add 35-40 hp over what the Daytona is making now for hp. If I'm in luck, 1/3 of it will be functional for SDAC-9.

In itself good for 15-20 hp. heehehe.

5/27/99

 Updated the links page. Sorry I have been busy and haven't done much in the way of updates, Mopars at Englishtown is June 5 & 6, SDAC-9 is June 14, 15 & 16 and I'm going to Lime Rock this weekend for the Papa's Dodge show- I used to sell parts at this one for years before they picked up and went to Lime Rock.

5/24/99

Go here and read this.  It's a speech by NRA president Charles Heston.
If you think America is fine and you like it just the way it is then don't.
He hits the nail right on the head, thanks to the reader who sent it to me.

5/21/99

Quote of the day:  >So what did you think of that 13.20 E-town vid clip?

 "I'm still giggling like a 5th grader in sex ed class!  Yes, I loved it.  Especially where the announcer nearly chokes while saying "13.20 seconds" on the slower run."

Dempsey Bowling,  http://www.xmission.com/~dempsey
Stop in and check out his site,  I think Dempseys was one of the first Shelby Dodge sites on the net... good stuff!

5/18/99

Bah! Another day in the salt mines.  E-mail me if you want to get the 12.68 pass (894k), the clocks are fuzzy, but its entertaining. I leave you with a quote from the track announcer;

"That was the quietest, most vicious front wheel burnout I've seen in a long time"

I may take a crack at the 11's. Maybe. Damn k-car will never get done at this rate.

5/17/99

 Monday, Monday- Just a quick note; the sale page has been updated as has Gus's page. Have to get the GTX ready to run down at Englishtown June 5&6 (annual Mopars at E-town), doing a gear swap (3.23 up to 3.55's) and replacing the 2.5 inch dual exhaust with a more manly 4 inch model- it's going to flow baby, yah!  Hoping to crack 11's with highway gears and an exhaust system- hehehe.  Last time I ran 11's was with open headers and 4.56's.

Needless to say I had a fine weekend, my honey was here and I ran 12's,  Hoo-ha!

5/14/99

Went to Epping tonight boys,  I got one bad ass Daytona.
The race for the first G body to runs 12's without nitrous is over.

More updates (and scans of timeslips) on Sunday. My significant other is in town and I will be busy for the next 48 hours.

 5/10/99

 No 12's on sunday.  Made 5 passes and on the 5th figured out where I was losing almost 30 hp. On the last pass I broke the damn car, no biggie it's all better now.

Epping, friday night- be there!
 

5/8/99

 I FEEL GREAT!  It's still raining here but several tracks look good for sunday! BWHAHAHAH! Nothing can stop us now!  God am I bored, is it Sunday yet? =)

Metallica's Garage Inc. CD set kicks ass don't it?  Music to race by...
 

5/7/99

  I think someone is out there with a voodoo doll with my name on it.  Every track on the east coast is rained out AND I have the flu. Sunday looks good for Long Island Dragway if I can keep from yaking in front of the track officials long enough to make a pass. (My rear Bogart rims came in Thursday, Mike Demoss you are da MAN!) 7.5 pounds each- SWEET!
 

5/3/99

  Things that piss ya off.  People who travel s-l-o-w in the left lane. People who travel in two lanes. People who weave while on their cell phones. People who stop at the end of on ramps. People who cheat. Morons in the drive through at Dunkin Donuts who don't know what "black and sweet" means.  ISP's that burp and disconnect you at the most inopportune moment.  Weak drinks at a bar.  Waitress who top off you coffee when your not looking after you got it "just right".  16 year olds with $5000 worth of rims on their cars.  Rude track officials.  Cops with no sense of humor.  People with no driving skills.
 

  Kyle Oberlee dropped me an e-mail today, kewl beans. Says I have 3 weeks to beat his 13.01 run (his motor is in the machine shop)  mine isnt.  Guess who is going racing this weekend? =)

  Want to know who ran what in the FWD Mopar world? Stop into the Mid-West Shelby Dodges score-card page right here.

5/1/99

  Went racing with the Daytona at Epping Dragway last night, the track has gone back to it's normal "yes we have no traction status" and it was pretty much a waste of my time going.  Best short time of the night was an abysmal 1.99 and E.T. was 13.03 at 107.7 mph.  Total weight removed from car was 100 pounds and it is making more power as evidenced by the higher mph. If I ran a 1.89 short time like last time I raced, it would have been a 12.8 pass for sure. Thinking about removing a few more pounds and head off to a better track next time. As a side note it was wall to wall Mustangs that night and they fell to the mighty Daytona's wrath like autumn leaves...

(not that there aren't fast Mustangs, just that I don't run into many!) kinda few and far between, like a low 13 second Daytona eh?

Horsepower is up to 292, race weight is 3,000 lbs even.

4/28/99

 Pulled another 10 pounds of weight out of the car this week and spent the night doing a vid capture of Gus's Acclaim running 12.31.  The original AVI was 171 MEGS, then I compressed it down to 11 megs and then converted it to Real Audio format.. Nice, a small 841k file with good quaility.  E-mail me and I can send it to you if you like,  my server is out of space.

4/24/99

Ok we are going to try and break 12 's next weekend!  Lots to do on the car (but not as much as i'd like to do).  Kyle Oberlee is aiming for 12's with his and I intend to beat him to it!  Bad things are going to happen...

4/21/99

 Working on finishing transmission page, (no it's not uploaded yet) covered clutches and flywheels this morning. Still have to wade through axles/auto trans/interchanges, and yes the strut brace page is next.  I really have to get a digital camera, the sony floppy camera is the bomb but they're stupidly expensive for just 640x480 on the 10x model. The Daytona is running rather snappy!  =)

What's up with those kids out in Colorado?  My god I'm horrified, where the hell were their parents?  I called my mom (my brother lives out there) and she started on the "well if they didn't have guns" thing (my mom is very anti-gun).  Well I had to point out that where did they get explosives from mom? don't see them down at the 7-11 on the bargain rack do ya?

Fact of the matter is, it's up to PARENTS to instill VALUES into their children.  I'm a life member of the NRA with a few firearms of my own (safely locked in a safe I'll point out)  And I would NEVER take someone's life "just because".  Self-defense or defense of others in mortal danger however is a different issue.  I have a very "you do your thing and i'll do mine" attitude about life.  Don't bother me and I don't care what the hell you do. Run around naked in your backyard with panties on your head singing "La Bamba" for all i'll care. (not in front of the kids though ok?)