What's new at the Donovan Dodge Garage?



 Decided on a what's new page to help out people who visit my site time to time, make it easier to keep track of updates and such.  Be warned though I'll be pulling out the soapbox from time to time.  Bizarre stuff indeed.

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Year 1999 news   Year 2000 news   Year 2001 news

(Some links maybe broken due to site changes)


 

12/30/02

Hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday!

Movie time! Picked up a DVD this week I have been trying to rent, had a feeling it was going to be good and was NOT disappointed. Minority Report is a very good film, we sat through it twice and I don't even like Tom Cruise.

Someone sent me one of these internet chain "letters" I thought it was interesting and had some valid points and it's also somewhat amusing which goes a long way with me. It's attributed to General Richard E. Hawley who DIDN'T write it and I have included a note from the retired general. Don't take it too serious, it's good for a laugh.

Remember this is NOT from the General Hawley.

Since the attack, I have seen, heard, and read thoughts of such surpassing stupidity that they must be addressed. You've heard them too. Here they are:

1) "We're not good, they're not evil, everything is relative." 

Listen carefully: We're good, they're evil, nothing is relative. Say it with me now and free yourselves. You see, folks, saying "We're good" doesn't mean, "We're perfect." Okay? The only perfect being is the bearded guy on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The plain fact is that our country has, with all our mistakes and blunders, always been and always will be the greatest beacon of freedom, charity, opportunity, and affection in history. If you need proof, open all the borders on Earth and see what happens. In about half a day, the entire world would be a ghost town, and the United States would look like one giant line to see "The Producers.

2) "Violence only leads to more violence."

 This one is so stupid you usually have to be the president of an Ivy League university to say it. Here's the truth, which you know in your heads and hearts already: Ineffective, unfocused violence leads to more violence. Limp, panicky, half-measures lead to more violence. However, complete, fully thought-through, professional, well-executed violence never leads to more violence because, you see, afterwards, the other guys are all dead. That's right, dead. Not "on trial," not "reeducated," not "nurtured back into the bosom of love." Dead. D-E --Well, you get the idea.

3) "The CIA and the rest of our intelligence community has failed us."

 For 25 years we have chained our spies like dogs to a stake in the ground, and now that the house has been robbed, we yell at them for not protecting us. Starting in the late seventies, under Carter appointee Stansfield Turner, the giant brains who get these giant ideas decided that the best way to gather international intelligence was to use spy satellites. "After all, (they reasoned), you can see a license plate from 200 miles away." This is very helpful if you've been attacked by a license plate. Unfortunately, we were attacked by humans. Finding humans is not possible with satellites. You have to use other humans. When we bought all our satellites, we fired all our humans, and here's the really stupid part. It takes years, decades to infiltrate new humans into the worst places of the world. You can't just have a guy who looks like Gary Busey in a Spring Break '93 sweatshirt plop himself down in a coffee shop in Kabul and say "Hiya, boys. Gee, I sure would like to meet that bin Laden fella. "Well, you can, but all you'd be doing is giving the bad guys a story they'll be telling for years.

4) "These people are poor and helpless, and that's why they're angry at us."

Uh-huh, and Jeffrey Dahmer's frozen head collection was just a desperate cry for help. The terrorists and their backers are richer than Elton John and, ironically, a good deal less annoying. The poor helpless people, you see, are the villagers they tortured and murdered to stay in power.

Mohammed Atta, one of the evil scumbags who steered those planes into the killing grounds (I'm sorry, one of the "alleged hijackers," according to CNN-they stopped using the word "terrorist," you know), is the son of a Cairo surgeon. But you knew this, too. In the sixties and seventies, all the pinheads marching against the war were upper-middle-class college kids who grabbed any cause they could think of to get out of their final papers and spend more time drinking. At least, that was my excuse. It's the same today. Take the Anti-Global-Warming (or is it World Trade? Oh-who-knows-what-the-hell-they-want demonstrators) They all charged their black outfits and plane tickets on dad's credit card before driving to the airport in their SUV's.

5) "Any profiling is racial profiling."

 Who's killing us here, the Norwegians? Just days after the attack, the New York Times had an article saying dozens of extended members of the gazillionaire bin Laden family living in America were afraid of reprisals and left in a huff, never to return to studying at Harvard and using too much Drakkar. I'm crushed. I think we're all crushed. Please come back. With a cherry on top? Why don't they just change their names, anyway? It's happened in the past.. Think about it. How many Adolfs do you run into these days? Shortly after that, I remember watching TV with my jaw on the floor as a government official actually said, "That little old grandmother from Sioux City could be carrying something." Okay, how about this: No, she couldn't. It would never be the grandmother from Sioux City. Is it even possible? What are the odds? Winning a hundred Powerball lotteries in a row? A thousand? A million? And now a Secret Service guy has been tossed off a plane and we're all supposed to cry about it because he's an Arab? Didn't it have the tiniest bit to do with the fact that he filled out his forms incorrectly- - three times? And then left an Arab history book on his seat as he strolled off the plane? And came back? Armed? Let's please all stop singing "We Are the World" for a minute and think practically. I don't want to be sitting on the floor in the back of a plane four seconds away from hitting Mt. Rushmore and turn, grinning, to the guy next to me to say, "Well, at least we didn't offend them."

SO HERE'S what I resolve for the New Year: Never to forget our murdered brothers and sisters. Never to let the relativists get away with their immoral thinking. After all, no matter what your daughter's political science professor says, we didn't start this. Have you seen that bumper sticker that says, "No More Hiroshimas"? I wish I had one that says, "No More Pearl Harbors."

Read here what the real General Hawley has to say-

 http://www.keepingapace.org/html/archives/airforce/hawley.htm

 

12/22/02

Updates! 

1) Racing the Reliant.

It rained A LOT Cecil weekend. Ended up driving down there anyway and just hanging out for 2 days with friends. Was nice to get away from work even for just a few days.

2) Dyno testing the Reliant.

Yup, was going to dyno the Reliant last weekend to dial the cal spot on, guess what? It rained/snowed like hell. Living in New England does have it's drawbacks sometimes. Driving 3 hours through slop towing a car isn't my idea of fun. Perhaps in January...

3) Anyone need a car or some GLH parts? 

Have a project here at the Dodge Garage (I'd tell you but then it would not be a secret eh?) and I need to clear out a bunch o' stuff ASAP so we can get cranking! The '92 GTC convertible, 87 GLHS and Daytona ES are all for sale and I have a pile of mint 86 GLH parts if your looking for something. 

http://www.thedodgegarage.com/glh_parts_for_sale.html

4) "Wonder why our readership is shrinking award"

A magazine that will remain nameless publishes article rife with inconsistencies & contradictions... Turbo won't support reported hp, transaxle won't support reported hp, dragstrip times don't support reported hp numbers... Hello? Not all of us are into big exhaust tips and funky paint. 

Just some musings... It makes me wonder though... People tend to build what they see others build. Am I off base? There was more in the article that didn't add up, figured it was pointless to bring it up. 

11/10/02

On with the updates!

1) Getting the Reliant ready for Cecil County November 16th! As you know I have been doing a lot of research into problems I have run into with the car, perhaps now we have a handle on them!! Of course knowing my luck I have adding a few new ones as well =)

Problems keeping the engine cool? Relocate transmission cooler so it's not in-between radiator and intercooler and replace OEM radiator with big honking Griffin NASCAR unit. Other cooling mods were done as well =)

 

"Old tech" transmission cooler that was in front of radiator has been replaced with new hi-tech 16,000 GVW stacked plate design that is mounted next to the intercooler. Now the cooler is in clean air AND isn't preheating the air getting to the radiator.

 

Having problems with fuel pump keeping up? Replace twin turbo Porsche fuel pump with bad ass Aeromotive unit and dash 10 braided line. 

Problems blowing the spark out at 35 psi? MSD 7 series capacitive discharge ignition system with HVC-I coil and 4 stage digital ignition retard. I bet it would hurt quite a bit if you got nailed by that sucker. 1.1 AMPS at the spark plugs! 

Sweet new Relentless Performance billet center cam sprocket! 

Currently the car is up and running and I'm fine tuning the calibration. Next weekend is coming up fast! 

2) Winona Ryder = BUSTED! Is this a joke or what? 11 months for a shoplifting trial? If you or I were caught on tape lifting $5000 worth of stuff from SFA we would have been busted and stuffed in the pokey a long time ago. 

Tape don't lie baby, your a kleptomaniac! Damn lawyers.

3) Picked up another car!  Saved from the crusher!

1987 GLHS number 112- Missing the a/c and Koni's but otherwise intact.  The owner was going to part it out after one of the rod bearings let go creating a nasty knock. Rather then see a 1 of 1000 Shelby end up that way I arranged to purchase the car.  

 

3) Took a trip to Manhattan a few weeks ago, it's been over a year since our last trip. We like to go down (less then 2 hours away) and catch the sights, ride the subway, etc. This time down was rather sobering due to the aftermath of September 11th of course.

We stopped at Grand Central Station, admired the architecture and had lunch.

(At World Trade Center sight)

A terrible thing to see in person. 

The construction you see at the lower right is the subway terminal being rebuilt so service can be reestablished to one or two of the train lines.

Someone likes riding on the subway!

And a trip to the Children's Museum of NYC. The things we do for our kids eh?

Great, learning to drive already!!!

4) Congratulations to Jon Genesky who drove his 88 CSX-T to a oh so close 13.0 @ 108 mph last weekend! Track conditions and a overly rich low end fuel mixture prevented him from breaking into the 12s! Also a BIG congrats goes out to Brian Slowe! His 2.5 16V powered Dodge Shadow ran 11.5 at 117 mph on 11 psi of boost! Now that is smoking!

9/27/02

This is cool- I been meaning to look into this since I noticed a reference in a Air Force history book a few months ago. Some of the stuff that happened during the cold war was pretty wild!

http://www.texastower.com/

Make sure you read the history section.

9/23/02

I want to give everyone a thank you who donated to the Gus Mahon fund- We raised $11,042! The check & a list of people who contributed was sent to Dolores and Tanya on September 9th.  Dolores called a few days later to thank everyone for their support and generosity and stated she would send a thank you letter to posted on Gus' website.

If the Earthlink site should go down I have setup a mirror at www.gusmahon.org

Check out some decal designs- http://www.gusmahon.org/decal_designs_for_gus_mahon.htm

Rant-

Some forms of advertising I despise.  Pop-up ads on websites, spam in my e-mail, paper junk mail in my mail box, phone solicitors promising me a "free" trip, etc. I find pop-up ads particularly offensive.

You think I'm going to click on one of those ads? Right...........NOT! All it does is drive me away from whomever is doing the advertising and the website promoting the crap. Drop the admin of the site and the advertiser an e-mail and state that you refuse to visit & promote their site unless the crap goes. Tell the advertiser his product is on the shit list as well unless they knock it off, only thing these scum understand is loss of revenue. 

If I want something I'll go looking for it- Make it easy to find and easy to purchase with good customer service and the world will beat a path to your door. Find some other way to promote your stuff! Spam ends up getting filtered into the trash file, junk mail ends up in the shredder as packing fill and asshole salesman get hung up on.  

Music- Good reader tip!  Union Underground rocks!

Reliant- Research is almost completed, good things have been found out!  =) Hope to hit New England Dragway for some import busting action next month, maybe a rematch with a Supra? Hehehhe

Auto sales page has been updated, a NICE Daytona for sale.

Parts for sale page updated. (Lots!)

Dyno car has been replaced with a vehicle in need of less paint!

UT2003 DEMO ROCKS. 

I had to delete it, wasn't getting anything done in what little spare time I have.  C.T.F. is way too much fun and ran great on my P3/GF2MX/256meg rig. Net play over modem was damn good as well, I had no problem playing insta-gib games over the net'.

Anyone have a PII 450 they want to part with? I'm getting DSL and I want to setup a classic net-Quake server I'm building from spare parts lying around. LMK

Gary 

8/18/02

What a load of horse manure- 

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020819-34549100.htm

Keep your new age, "the west is bad, America is bad, white people are to blame for everything" hands of my kid. 

If I heard of a teacher spouting crap like this at one of our local schools I'd be down at the mayors office in a heartbeat demanding someone's head.

If you don't like U.S.A.- THEN LEAVE.

8/14/02

Still amazes me to this day that Pioneer 10, launched March 2nd 1972 is still working-

http://spaceprojects.arc.nasa.gov/Space_Projects/pioneer/PNStat.html

Voyager 1 & 2 also still kicking butt after 25 years-

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm

Great planetary picture page I just stumbled across today-

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/

8/10/02

Updated the dyno car pictures & information below and did an assessment of the engines condition yesterday. Oil pressure is excellent and all the cylinders except for #1 have leakdown below 5%. Number 1 is off the scale! I think it was like 80% leakdown. 

No problem, spare pistons we have!

Steve Adley dropped off a 523 last night (traded for a 1-2 555 gear assembly) will have to get it cracked apart in the next few days and make sure everything is A-OK before stuffing it the car. The only thing I'm really missing is clutch pedals! And I just junked a car with a perfectly good set, I'll have to head down to the yard and get them back before the car gets crushed. 

DOH!

8/09/02

New Dodge Garage project- The Dyno car. 

Take a 89 Daytona ES 2.5 Turbo (automatic) strip the interior out, cut out the firewall for access to the back of the motor & replace the automatic with a 5-speed to eliminate irregularities caused by torque converter operation. Repair cracked piston, (no surprise there) install double core Grand National intercooler, spare Stage III cylinder head and donated 60 trim turbo. I may have enough spare parts around here to assemble a proper hybrid, anyone have some spare turbo parts kicking around?

Add instrumentation to record backpressures in the intake and exhaust tracts, throw in a Snap-On scanner with a movie function to see what is going on with the ECU and a 80's vintage F1 datalogger wired up for multi cylinder EGT& cooling system monitoring and you have one hell of a platform for doing some serous development.

Which is really better, 1 piece or 2 piece intake?
How much power does a 2.5" swingvalve make over a 2.25"?
Do headers really make power?
Mitsu turbo vs TII Garrett vs Hybrid.
46 mm vs 52 vs 58 mm throttle bodies.
Custom cam testing.
Underdrive pulley testing.

You get the idea, the list goes on and on... 

I'm rather excited at the chance to get definitive answers to a number of questions. With the firewall missing it will be rather easy to make changes in a short period of time without even removing the car from the dyno! Doesn't get any better then that. Track testing is fine and works great but I'm looking to eliminate as many variables as possible to get definitive results.

Will look much better once the wrenches start turning next week.

Have to paint it though, primer looks like hell. 

"We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it—and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again—and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore."

Mark Twain

8/03/02

People who do nothing but talk annoy those who just do it.

Current music- Puddle of Mud.

Rosie? Ughhhhhhhhhhh Hello?

I need a location to ship your package, all your e-mail addresses are broke.

8/02/02

Now for something totally different- 

What do you get when you get two guys disassembling a car for spare parts, a case of beer and an airbag?  VID CLIP

The stuff you see raining down is pine cones! Darn airbag rocketed up and was only stopped from going further by a pine tree that got in the way.  Sucker would have cleared 100 feet with ease! Have to try this again sometime...

What a camera ham!

Chris's 89 CSX, it's been... tweaked!

I won't go into too much detail about what has been done, let's just say the car is on the stout side of things and leave it at that.  No part of the engine was left untouched & it will be dyno time once the engine is broken in...

One question I have been getting of late is when is the Reliant coming out to play? It has already! In June I towed the car down to Memphis TN to attend SDAC-12 a round trip 2600 miles!! Now that's a lot of driving to do by one person! I took two days to get there (I was pretty burned out after thrashing to get the car ready) but made the trip home in a single day. 

1300 miles in less then 20 hours = Turbo mini was cooking! 

I'm really glad the a/c was working because it was HOT down in Memphis! The first day was a mater of getting my bearings and meeting up with Heather and Leah (They flew in rather then put up with the rigors of long distance interstate driving) 

Did plenty of hanging out the first day or two & socializing, played the tourist as well! I have heard that Memphis has some of the finest BBQ in the world so we headed downtown to check out the sights and see if we could find some. After walking downtown and seeing the sights (Autozone park home of the Redbirds, the Peabody hotel duckwalk, etc.) we headed to historic Beale street. From there we followed out noses to Blues Street Cafe which had some of the tastiest BBQ ribs and stuffed mushrooms I ever had the pleasure of sampling! 

Parked at the hotel, a few hours before road testing.

Time for a few more videos- Road tests outside the hotel at night! WOO! WOO! Lots of fun..

http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~sdeandre/relentless1.mpg

http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~sdeandre/relentless2.mpg

Last day of course is the drag racing (!!!) where without a doubt we attempted to make passes on the most traction forsaken dragstrip on the planet.  How bad was it? At New England Dragway it rained for 7 hours before I had a chance to make a pass and this place mad NED look stellar! HOLY COW I have NEVER spun slicks before in second gear that bad before, I started sliding toward the wall!  And then proceeded to spin them in third gear for good measure. Yikes! 

Still ran a 11.4 @ 122 mph which I was rather pleased with considering it was done at a lower boost level then normal. I was testing out several new things on the car- New head, new electronics and calibration, cooling system mods, fuel pump, etc. A long drive for a test and tune! As always good stuff was learned and will be applied for the next event.

Paul Smith's 12 second minivan!

The worlds fastest FWD Reliant getting ready to race the worlds fastest minivan.

Over-pressurizing a coolant system from a blown headgasket sucks.

Getting the combo dialed in proved frustrating and the new cooling mod that was tried made a different cylinder unhappy. So it goes, so it goes.. All in all it was a great time, was great to tour Memphis and most importantly it was great to see all my friends again! We all had a blast and if all goes well we are looking to get together at the end of the year event at Cecil County.  

Parting image-

7/26/02

When I was younger I was paranoid about death. 

I realized one day that I would die.  Nothing dramatic happened that I could recall made me feel that way, it just happened. Caused many sleepless nights I can tell you! It only lasted a few weeks but was hellish while it did. What ended it was the realization that I was going to die anyway one day and that there wasn't anything I could do about it. 

This of course lead to another realization- As I grew older people around me would start dying as the law of averages went to work, assuming I didn't go first of course.  Sometimes it's welcome in a sad way, as when my step-father passed away after a long battle with cancer and heart trouble.  Other times it's unbearably tragic event when a young life is cut short

I'm thinking about death this weekend because not one but two people I know have passed away. One I knew through e-mail and we have met at one or two of the SDAC conventions, another on a more personal level. 

Derek Nechamen was 20 years old when he passed away on Monday from a car accident. What makes the tragic death even more saddening is the fact that Derek had a near fatal boating accident 11 months ago! While jet skiing at a local lake he collided with another jet ski and was very badly injured. I went to work part time for his father Todd at Sid's used auto parts in Salem CT while Derek recovered. Even after being underwater a number of minutes and suffering a large number of internal injuries Derek seemed fully on the mend and had resumed his duties at Sid's working alongside his dad. My friend Jon and I had just talked to Derek two weeks ago when we dropped off a Daytona that had been molested for spare parts. 

As usual Derek cracked jokes about Mopars and I inquired about his health as I always did (you would too if you had seen what this kid had been through, I'm still amazed he pulled through the boating accident like he did) and he checked out Jon's Motorsports edition 4.7 5 speed Dakota before we said our farewells.  Little did I know it would be our last...

Derek was a level headed kid, not prone to do anything too reckless or irresponsible that I ever saw, but for some reason on Monday he lost control of his 300Z not 50 feet from the front door of where he loved to work beside his dad and passed away when his car crashed into a tree.  I knew him for a number of years.. he will be missed.

Larry Cox I knew from conversations carried on through e-mails and club events like the SDAC conventions. He was an active member in the auto club and a great guy. I don't know much about his passing away at the moment, it appears to have been an attempted robbery at his grocery store that he just opened not long ago... He will be missed by family and friends

7/10/02

My take on current events-

"Michael Jackson claims Sony is racist."

Should read-

"Has-been pedophile whines when he loses Beatles portfolio he put up as collateral to Sony due to poor sales of crappy album" 

Note to Mike, if you can't afford to loose something, don't gamble with it.  It's something people in the real world have to deal with everyday, get over it. 

"World-com misplaces $3.9 Billion"

Man I get bent when I loose a $20.  Who was doing their books, Arthur Andersen? WHOOPS. 

People need to go to jail for this crap for a long time, it's always the little guy that gets burned.

S.W. Episode II = adequate.

(hey I just got around to seeing it, I'm a busy guy)

6/16/02

Wow over a month, shame on me! Have been busy though and then some. Lets roll with the updates...

1) Some FWD Turbo Mopar racing videos from Mexico!!

http://www.prodigyweb.net.mx/squallm1/

2) And you thought my Reliant was fast? How about a 700+ hp diesel pickup?!!

http://www.dieseldynamics.com/videos/mm02/1041-keith.mpg

3) Time for a little import humor =)

 

And to be fair, time for a little Reliant humor..

The Reliant looks like it's going to make it to SDAC-12 after all! Been a hard struggle between unforeseen problems, shipping snafu's and Murphy's law working overtime.  BUT the car seems to be running acceptably well enough to take it to the track and do some tuning.  Stay tuned...

Big fuel system changes this year.

5/12/02

Check this out- A little dyno action anyone?

http://www.thedodgegarage.com/ne_sdac_dyno_day.html

5/03/02

Movie review- Blade II

Spoilers ahead!

One of the most anticipated sequels I can think of for years (for me anyway) and they screw it up. The first movie was perfect! It was dark, it had action, it had style, it had a plot, it was plausible! All the good hallmarks of a great "sci-fiction" movie. 

Blade II sucked! Well that maybe putting it a bit strongly, the first movie was a pretty tough act to follow.  Still B2 looked like it was written by someone who watched "The Matrix" about 10 times to me, the Matrix was a far better movie then B2.

Note to Hollywood- Slow motion fight scenes / hanging in the air / slow motion bullets have been beat to death and look so out of place in this movie it's jarring and pathetic. It worked well with Matrix because it fit into what could be done/not done in that movies framework. It also worked in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon because that was the style of that kind of fantasy & martial arts movie. Blade/Blade 2 is *supposed* to take place in the Real World and last I checked even super strong people don't defy the laws of physics. The framework for this movie was set in the first one guys, can't go changing things now.

One case in point- Blade has a box of "ultraviolet light bombs" sitting at his feet when they go off and cook all the vampires in the area. TWO problems with this little scenario- They show several scenes where light is traveling AROUND CORNERS which is kind of a problem considering light pretty much goes in a straight line except for reflections! These jokers show it going around corners like a regular bomb blast! What a joke! 

Problem two is Blade is standing over the box when a pile of these "light bombs" go off, UV maybe death to vampires but last I checked even minor exposures to humans was pretty bad (I speak from personal experience, ever have a flashburn from welding? You won't do that again I promise) He stands there like nothing has happened after a box of these fricken things goes off. 

Plot was poop. 

Lots of fight scenes for no reason then to just have lots of boring matrix-ish style fights.

End was predictable. Bad science everywhere.

Director & writer should be dragged through the streets.

See it only if you must, otherwise wait till it comes out on video. First movie is worth it's weight in gold, this ones crap.

 

Someone kicked the dog, that wasn't smart.

4/23/02

New webpage! Something Chrysler said they never made!

http://www.thedodgegarage.com/turbo_long_wheel_base_mini.html


More cool stuff! A dual turbo?! Shadow!!!!

http://www.omniturbo.com/

So what do you do when you have a cheap V6 car cluttering up your yard? Call a few of the boys up, crack open some brews and have a Sawzall party of course!

3 hours from running car to corpse ready for the recycle yard. 

 There is a method to our madness of course.

The engine bay is going to be used for fabrication of new products without having to tie up a car for long periods of time (aka Relentless) Once fitted with a drivetrain lying around I will be able to mock up items and check fitment before anything ships. Doing this will ensure a product ALWAYS fits and is right the first time.

This was kind of in an obscure location- It's an excellent video clip of the Reliant running it's best pass to date at Cecil County at the end of the season. 10.41 @ 132 mph, the cameraman had a great spot right down on the starting line!

4/06/02

Cool! The 89 CSX is a rocking automobile! As soon as I clean up a few things up I will do a "feature" on the car and post the details. I will tell you that at 18 psi 1st and 2nd gear are totally useless and the things walks all over the road in 3rd like a rabid animal! =) 

Ahh the things I get paid for.

For some reason I find this hysterically funny.

3/28/02

One of the popular questions I get is when is the Reliant going racing again? Currently I have a customers 89 CSX here which is getting tricked out with double core cooler, upgraded turbo, ported exhaust manifold, ported cylinder head, 3 bar electronics and a few other goodies like a custom clutch. Once it is completed and tuned to my satisfaction then I will be free to work on my own car which should be out to play in early June for Mopars at Englishtown. 

Again, thanks to everyone who has contacted me regarding Relentless Performance! Things are going extremely well and it's looking like there will be a number of new products on the shelf in the next few weeks.

3/18/02

Hey there! Work has really been keeping me hopping the last few weeks- Response to the site has been outstanding! I'm glad everyone likes it along with the range of goods and services. Look for more goodies to be introduced in the next few weeks as more "wish list" items move off their checklists and onto the shelves!

Making things more difficult (if starting a business wasn't enough) I have been fighting off a wicked "cold" for 3 weeks now that turned into pneumonia! After a trip to the hospital, a few days of enforced bed rest and antibiotics I'm almost good as new.

More info soon! Have a good one..

3/7/02

http://www.relentlessracing.com/

3/6/02

1) This has to be about the funniest damn thing I have ever read. It was sent to me by a reader, from some column called "Click and Clack"

I have a 1988 Dodge Caravan with a four cylinder turbocharged engine. I read in the owner's manual that the warranty is void if you tow using a turbocharged engine. Why is the warranty voided? John

Ray: Because it is a virtual certainty, John, that you would fry the turbo if you were towing something. The reason is that a turbo is meant to be used only occasionally. When you need a little extra power, you stomp on the gas, and the turbo kicks in. Then after you've caught up to the garbage truck that passed you and you let off the gas a bit, the turbo shuts off and cools down until you need it again.

(THE TURBO SHUTS OFF? WOW I WONDER HOW THEY DO THAT?)

Tom: But if you were towing a trailer, the extra weight would require that you be stomping on the gas all the time. So that means the turbo would be running, when? Right. All the time!

(what's wrong with that??)

Ray: And turbos just aren't designed to run all the time. When you run them all the time, they fry.

(wrong answer bucko, you ever see a semi going down the highway with a load? them guys are under boost for days!)

Tom: That's why the warranty is voided, John. And by the way, the only reason they don't void the warranty for the non-turbocharged four cylinder engine is because they know you won't be ABLE to tow anything with it. You hook the trailer on the back and the thing just sits there, so there was no need for a towing disclaimer.

Wrong again, the issue isn't the turbo but the engine itself. 

Proper engine cooling is needed when operating in boost as is proper octane fuel. Last thing Chrysler needed was Joe Public loading up his Caravan with a camper and 1000 pounds of camping supplies and tooling down the highway with 86 octane in the tank.  PING PING PING. If you have proper cooling and correct octane fuel there is no reason you can't tow with a turbo. I have already racked up 30,000 miles on my Caravan towing and the majority of the time it was with a 3000 lb load with a full cargo of race parts! I'm in boost for hours at a shot.

I don't know about you but I cringe when I see a column in a newspaper that answers automotive questions. It's been my experience that the writers of the columns are dead wrong the majority of the time or the answers are to greatly simplified to be of any real help. Automobiles are complex devices that don't lend themselves to well to glib 30 second answers when something goes wrong or advice is needed.

2) I'm entering the market to sell FWD Chrysler parts.

I think there is a spot for someone with my skills & experience serving the FWD Chrysler racing community. I'll be carrying an array of items and services and my goal is to offer nothing but the best. It won't be for everyone, but then again I'm of the opinion it's better to do a few things extremely well then to try and do everything. When the new site is ready I'll post the link. This is why I have been to busy to update the website or post much in the way of news.

Gary Donovan

2/24/02

Huh almost March already? Almost race season!

Hell my birthday is in the first week of March, I feel a suprise coming ;-)

2/19/02

Damn, almost caught up on the mail.

Like racing videos? Check this out (1.5 megs)

2/09/02

Square tooth sprockets are here! $130 plus shipping.

2/06/02

I learned something really interesting yesterday. 

No, I'm not telling.

Here, check this guys car out, it's cool n' stuff.

http://www.pentastarpower.com/feets/newpage.html

2/04/02

Several pages of the EFI database have been updated with information sent in from a few people.

Also the camshaft & cylinder head pages have been updated with information regarding 89-95 cylinder heads with missing features. If your running a slider camshaft in a 89-95 cylinder head it maybe a good idea to check these pages out.

2/02/02

Almost 200,000 hits by the old counter (it lies like a dog, I get FAR more hits then that!) But in it's honor I thought it would be nice to get something finished that has been on the backburner for awhile.

2.2/2.5 N/A EFI database

Still some tweaking to do there, have any info or links you wish to add?

Gary

1/26/02

Lord of the Rings movie **** (4 out of 5 stars)

It's one of the better Hollywood adaptations of a book I have seen in a long time. Some sections from the book have been edited out but that's to be expected as the first book is a little slow paced at times. I was suprised that there was almost none of the ballads that were ever present in the books, but then again maybe that's not such a bad thing after all! If I sound slightly negative it's because I almost always find going to a movie that comes from a book a pale shadow to reading the book itself... Especially ones I have read so often as the Lord of the Rings.

Engine run stand = operational !!!

You know what I like about winter? Boost!

Drove around all day running errands with the Daytona (I have been driving the van most of the time)... Boost set to 16 psi... it's cold out... Car's running great!... I pull over and reset the boost control to 18 psi... he-he!... still not enough.. after going to the movies I get under the hood and crank it to 22 psi.. oh were having fun now! 153,000 on the clock and it still rocks. Damn I need somebody to race, it's too quiet out here!

people who say high boost is bad have not tried it.

1/24/02

Mailing list page has been updated-

Caught "The Fast and Furious" on DVD last night- I have not laughed that hard at a movie in YEARS. Even Heather caught the fact that the majority of the turbo cars that were making BOV noises had no turbo! Highly amusing... 

Wiring on the engine run stand was completed today and engine fired up on propane for the first time, yea! Need to finish brazing the fittings onto the fuel cell so we can get it fired up on gas now and tweak a few other things before testing starts.

Picture taken a few days ago, messy!

1/21/02

Winter is here! 

And now for the news....

1) Stuff I have been working on- Currently I'm building a engine run stand to do a variety of research and development. As a bonus, the SMEC harness can be quickly removed for use on my machine shops engine dyno which is almost completed! Currently there is a complete Turbo II engine installed and I hope to have it fired up in a few days. A few things I'm hoping to look into include- windage tray experiments, oil flow, intake testing and crank trigger ignition. Pretty easy when you have an engine on a stand with no car body in the way!

2) Cylinder head for Reliant has been repaired but I'm not installing it just yet. While it's at the machine shop I'm going to get it flow-benched to see what kind of cfm numbers it's kicking out. This will give me a good baseline on what's required in the way of cylinder head flow to support a 10 second car.

3) Square tooth adjustable sprockets will be here within the week, I have also sent out a few samples to get pricing on getting them anodized.

4) Rant mode-

Who the hell are these slackers complaining about how we are treating Taliban prisoners? These guys are sworn to destroy western civilization and are trained killers who would have cheerfully blown themselves up and anyone around them if directed to do so. They are getting 3 squares a day (with no pork), clean clothing, a bath and are even allowed to practice their religion while awaiting there fate. 

A bit of a refresher for those with a dim memory.

This image ring a bell?

Taliban idea of justice.

If I offended your delicate sensibilities- TO DAMN BAD. You don't see "justice" like this being dispensed for minor "offences" in front of a packed crowd in the USA do you?  I have *ZERO* sympathy for killers that would gladly cut my throat or kill my fellow countrymen by any foul means at their disposal. I'd like to see some of scum that are screaming these Tailbans poor rights are being abused dropped in a cell with one of them and see how long they last. That's justice!

1/03/02

Anyone looking for some adjustable cam pulleys?

I have round tooth units in stock and hope to have the square tooth units in 2 weeks. 16V are under development.

$130 plus shipping- Contact me here if interested, personal paypal accepted.

1/02/02

Happy New Year!

Spent the last few weeks of 2001 getting ready for vacation (mostly back burner stuff, home improvement and customer work) and on December 24 we flew off to sunny California for a week! We went to San Capistrono Christmas day 

(via Rt. 74 through the mountains which was awesome) to check out the historic mission and then spent the rest of the day with fellow turbo enthusiast Alan Jones and his wife Karrie & daughter Keely in Mission Viejo. The next day we headed down to San Diego for 2 days of museum hopping at Balboa Park, the first stop was the aerospace & flight museum where for me the prime attraction was an A-12 Blackbird. It was a really excellent museum but I was mildly disappointed that the A-12 was on a pylon and it had been "restored" (meaning it looked nice but appeared to have everything of interest stripped from it including the engines and I'm a nuts and bolts kind of guy) After the museum closed we headed off to Old Town for a tasty Tex-Mex dinner and a few brews with Rosie, a local friend we happened to bump into ;-)  The next morning (after a tasty Tex-Mex breakfast) we headed back to Old Town for some shopping and sightseeing and then back to Balboa Park where we spent the rest of the day at the world famous San Diego Zoo- And world famous for good reason, it was great! 

Was impossible to see everything in one day but what we did see impressive, Leah had a blast! Friday we headed north to the Simi Valley area where we visited a friend and took a tour of the Ronald Reagan library (If your into history, I highly recommend it) from there we headed down the Pacific Coast highway to Malibu where we viewed dolphins while driving along the shore (to cool, don't see that around here!) from there to Sana Monica pier (the rides & a great view)

After that we headed home with a shortcut along Sunset and Hollywood Blvd. which lasted several hours because we decided to get out and go for a stroll ;-) 

The next day we headed out to Palm Springs for lunch and a view of the desert and along the way spotted a "few" windmills, holy moly! It looked like there was thousands of them! On Sunday we headed over to March Air Force base to check out their museum there, our host had mentioned it to us and I noticed in the row of planes that there was a B-52 parked there (March AFB is along the highway) and being a big plane fan I couldn't resist stopping in. I wasn't disappointed- the inside part of the museum is very cool with lots to see including complete cockpit displays and lots of historical items but where they really shine is the planes parked outside! Just about every jet ever flown by the US Air Force including a functional SR-71 Blackbird!! 

There is cargo jets, tankers, fighters, bombers and personal transports! There is also a good number of prop planes as well including a fully restored B-17 bomber. I snapped several dozen pictures of the SR-71 (including close-ups of landing gear bays and other areas) How can you not love a plane that *cruises* at mach 3.2, is 95% titanium and after FORTY YEARS of service nothing can still touch it? 4000 Surveillance missions are under the Blackbird fleets belt and never in the whole time they were in service was one shot down. 

A graphic example of just how fast the Blackbirds are is when the DOD "retired" the fleet in 1990 a SR-71 flew from LA to Washington DC to be presented to the Smithsonian Air & Space museum. 

It made the trip in 68 minutes, now that's hauling some butt! 

The B-52 was cool, got to climb into the bomb bay area and the wheel wells- These things are huge! I may come back in March because they have an "open cockpit" weekend where you get to check out the insides of the plane- I'm there! If I lived closer I'd volunteer to help restore the planes just so I could check them out close up.