This Saturday 11/8 is the last t&t day at the Grove this year, racing is from 10-4. The weather looks good right now, temps are supposed to be in the 40's which should make for some good runs. I just removed the strut tower brace and yanked the sway bar for the first time this weekend, I'm hoping they will help me with my 60' times some. I also finally installed a line lock to make sure I get the dr's good and hot and I want to try to run it with the cutout open for the first time (no cat ) I'm getting excited

 

Just curious.... How tough is Maple Grove on "tech"? I have all the right pieces and parts..... but my harness expired in September. I'd hate to drive 100 miles only to get turned down for the harness.

 

They will check. The grove is pretty tough on tech. They even nailed a few guys with "old" helmets this year.

 

Fred, they definitely are the toughest on tech of any of the tracks I've been to. They've questioned me several times on my "old helmet" (it's approved and only a year old ) I finally fixed my loose battery that they always bug me about, the clamp that held down the front of my battery was broken. Maybe email or call them and see if your harness is ok for this season since it just went out of date. I'd love to see the Bird in action

 

I'll be there Sunday for the $10,000 Footbrake Nationals. Any body else going for the gold? You'll need to pre-register. I think there's still some slots open.

Steve

 

I won't be able to make it on Sunday for the big event. Good luck there though $10k would sure buy a lot of nice mods!

 

Or 1 big mod I GOT TO WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR

 

Damn that sucks Kaz, sounds like the new motor is taking longer than expected. Good luck with the swap.

 

Wow, what a difference a few little changes and some great weather can make:

Temp was 41 deg and 46% RH

1st run

60'.....1.973
1/8.....8.039
1/4.....12.34
MPH....115.21

2nd

60'.....1.891
1/8.....7.931
1/4......12.21
MPH.....115.72

3rd

60'.....1.868
1/8.....7.892
1/4......12.18
MPH.....115.58

I couldn't believe how good the car was running Saturday, it just kept getting better and better (I tried to post this weekend but we switched internet service at home and it was all screwed up) It was packed so I was only able to get in three runs from 10-2, I could have gotten one more in but it would have taken easily another 2 hours it was so crowded by then. The car felt really strong with the cutout open for the first time and I also just installed a Harlan shift light, I think I was shifting too late before just using the stock tach, I set the light at 5900. Losing the sway bar and stb definitely helped out my 60' times a good bit, I had never been able to break a 1.9 before that. The line lock sure makes burnouts much easier too, on the last run I got em real good and smokey when I did one in 2nd for the first time

And if breaking my previous best by .5 sec in one day wasn't enough to put a huge smile on my face, on the first run I beat a guy in an 02 CE TA by over 3 seconds (I think it was his 1st time ) The 2nd run I beat a cocky guy in a 94 Supra T by a full second (that was priceless) and the last run beat a guy in an older Stang by .5. I'm going to run it at Cecil again this month for the last time this year, thinking about dropping some more weight here and there and giving it a couple brutal launches (>5K, sorry 10bolt ) and see if I can maybe get her the 11 sec club before I park it this year for some changes, we'll see

 

When I showed up on Sunday morning the DA was -2025 feet! I couldn't wait to make a pass. I thought I'd be 11.90's fo sho. Unfortunately the car broke up and fell flat at the 60'. I just loaded up and headed for home. Post mortem is looking like either a severely blown head gasket or a big honking hole in number 5 piston. Leakdown test showed 100% leakdown. If it's a piston I'll be in stroker land for next year!

Steve

 

Sounds exactly what happened to me last May. Great excuse to get more cubes.

 

Wow sorry to hear about the engine troubles Steve, hopefully it's not major. The weather was excellent for racing this weekend, my car felt like a beast Saturday Anyone know who took home the $10k Sunday?

 

Well Guys,

The post mortem results are in. The Impalla head gasket gave up the ghost between #3 & #5 cylinder. The debris flying back and forth between the two holes cut a nifty little groove about .250" wide and about .08" deep to connect the #3 & #5 chambers in the head. Block looks to be OK. I guess now would be a good time to get that extra 15 or 20 CFM out of that set of Lloyds heads!

This was pretty much a best case scenerio!

Licking wounds and making ready for next year,

Steve