IHADAV8.com - Turbo Buick Tech, and Nonsense
Tech Area => General Buick Tech => Topic started by: Pyro6 on April 27 2012, 07:41:28 PM
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Tomorrow we T & T at Maple Grove, the weather looks iffy. Thanks to Steve and Eric, I think the car is ready. Which means finally Thomas is behind the wheel and that we have a better chance of going rounds. Just like the Jr. Dragster, the early passes are nerve racking. So, wish us luck and hope it's a great season. On Maple Grove's website, points days are Money Trail. We're doing the fireworks display for the Lucas event on memorial day and the Big Anniversary show.
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Good Luck!!
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Make that Buick Fly. Got your shop advertised on the car? (it IS a business expense, isn't it? ) :player:
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I just advertise on truck and trailer, I don't want to sticker it all up.
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Good Luck!!
When I ran the Sunoco series way back there had to be a Sunoco decal on each side of the car. I got a pair of the Magnetic stone guards for the bottom quarters & they worked well.
Stick them on at the track & take em off after racing.
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And, what happened? :)
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I only made finals once at the GM Nats about 91-92? Thats when the car was running 12.71-12.72 every pass. I was againt a 10 sec car on Sun morning (fog shut us down Sat nite) & with too much boost the brakes let the wheels just turn enuf to red lite. The guy had me sitting for a while & I was too anxious. Still 2nd out of 100+ plus cars was a fun weekend.
As for the Magnetic stick ons the magnets wore out so they are on the wall of my shop.
No one makes them anymore. They were great for protection from stone chips & burnt rubber but since my paint is nothing spectacular I just touch it up now & then. :player:
On the Sat nite the Fog was so thick we got raw potatoes from the food vendor & I guess the starch kept the fog from clouding the windshied as fast. It was a Scary Nite going full out & you cant see 15 feet in front of the car! I wouldn't do it now! :O
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So how did it run?
What do you mean when you say "points days are Money Trail"?
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Sorry didn't get back earlier, swamped at the shop yesterday and today. Car ran great, I think it missed Thomas. He cracked an .025 light first run, car ran 11.753 @ 115.89. 2nd pass, the weather did an ugly turn, ran 11.843 114.98. Came back added some timing, took out some fuel 11.708 at 116.03. Last run, did a quick pegleg burnout, spun the tires at the line and ran an 12.058. I know the car has 10 second runs in it but I'm not going to roll bar it just yet. The skies turned real black so we loaded up and headed home. A good day overall, it's losing a decent amount of oil at the rear main. I have the neoprene one in now, I really thought it would be trouble free (yea, right?). Our first race is May 12th (Money Trail ET Series 1), Dave. The car just sounds so strong and mellow and if Thomas gets back on his game, I am hoping for a good season. The fuel costs might stress the budget, we'll see.
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Nice start to the year :)
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Thanks Steve. Hopefully the oil leak is all I have to deal with.
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Practice and prep are over. We're off to the Grove. 1st time trial 10 o'clock. I hope this is a start to a great year.
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Good Luck!! lots of fun when your chasing those points! :rock:
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Enjoy the day.
AJ___
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Just remember, this is supposed to be fun! Cars are like women... some days they give you their best. Other days, they give you their worst :)
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Just remember, this is supposed to be fun! Cars are like women... some days they give you their best. Other days, they give you their worst :)
Exactly!!! :013:
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We did have fun today even though Thomas was struggling at the tree: time trials one and two @ .106. It was just Thomas and me, no wives, friends, or girl friend (not that it's a bad thing). When he and I can chill at the track it just seems better. The car ran super. First time shot for some reason my settings didn't hold and went to default and ran a 12.339. Set em all back up again and went an 11.67. Dialed an 11.70 1st round against one of his Jr. rivals running a 65 Chevelle dialing an 11.50. Thomas went red .041 against Jake's red .017. Lousy 60', 1.72, came in at 11.76. Since I went to vacuum brakes, it's hard to hold the car back and Thomas is trying to deal with and/or adjust to it. I need a check valve in the vacuum feed line, just can't seems to find one.
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that's the downside to vacuum brakes. start looking for a hydroboost system :)
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I agree the hydroboost an option. I'm just a little skeptical of the HB. I aligned the front end of my wife's Yukon last year. For non alignment people, you need to do a caster "Sweep". On most equipment today you need to lay on the brakes so the front wheels don't rotate on free floating turntables while turning the steering wheel (engine running) 10 degrees left/ 10 degrees right. It just so happens, on wifey's Yukon in the middle of the sweep I felt the loss of power assist. I suspected right away what happened. Un friggin fortunately I was right: PS pump gone. I took the belt off, pulled on the PS pulley and sure enough it came out with the pump shaft. It might be rare that it happens, but it does happen. And I figure when you're racing, you're pushin pretty aggressively, just like a caster sweep. I would still like to maintain the simplicity of the vacuum setup. We are so close, he only needs to stage at 32k. It's hard to hold at 28K. So I'm thinking before I jump to hydro, upgrade the back brakes and give him time to adjust. After a couple weeks if it doesn't work, we'll give HB a go.
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when you increase the rears...watcho ut for lock up
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Would a vacuum pump help?
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Couldn't hurt, diesel's like em.
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HB does seem to be h*ll on the pump, a friend's (yes do have some) gave out while he was bleeding lines on a fairly recent vehicle.
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Just got back from the Grove. I feel we're making progress. Thomas is starting to get lower on the lights but not near good enough yet but I know he'll get it. The car is running very strong, so far no signs of hiccups. We didn't something rare this week: we didn't even get the car out of the trailer since last week, we were just to overwelmed at the shop. Most nights didn't get home til 8, we had an AC class Thurs Thomas and Matt went to, I was still working til 6:30 and needed to mow the grass, finished up at 8:30. Something stupid is happening every week: my SD chip goes to default after sitting for a week. Once I reprogram raceday it's good the rest of the day. 3 runs today, 11.76, 11.88, 11.67. I was zeroing in on the boost controller and I think it liked the last adjustment. The car was sideways after 60 on the 2nd run. 11.67 was too but not as bad. We never had hook problems before, gotta figure that out.
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Be a man and leave off the ebrake. :P
Tie a piece of rope to it so you can pull it while sitting back.
I used to do my burnout - stage, set the ebrake, build boost on the foot brake and let it all go. I could get 20+psi on the ebrake - it would spin anything over 15 psi. I could cut .01x lights too ;)
Just be careful - if your timing is off, you'll rip the backing plates apart.
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We're winding down the season, the Grove had all kinds of special events June/July. He raced in the 50th Anniversary race and I did the fireworks display. Thomas won first round and broke out the second round.
We took off the one week and did Chrysler's at Carlisle. Everybody cancelled anyway due to the heat. We rolled the dice ET 8 thinking it was gonna rain but it never did.
This Saturday we had a big car show in Mount Joy, they close main St. down 9-2. I took the GN, the 442, 72 GMC and Thomas' Ramcharger. The GMC won a sponsor award, which was cool.
I'm not sure how the rest of the year is gonna go. Back in February I had a TIA event, also known as a mini stroke. During their testing they found a mass in my abdomen they thought was a pseudo cyst. More tests with an ultra sound scope down my throat into my stomach. The cyst was filled with dark fluid, not clear like they expected and a speckled nodule they consider pre- cancerous. So they are scheduling surgery, at this point no later than Sept 6. maybe within 2 weeks if they can. It'll be a 4-8 day stay in the hospital with 6-8 week recovery. They are telling me if I get it out now all should be good.
I was really holding out thinking I could make BPG again but it will have to wait til next year. Not really looking for any sympathy or anything, just wanted to vent a little. The Internet is good for something.
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that does not sound like much fun but I am glad they found it early. Like I told my son, it will feel better when it quits hurtin'!
Let us know how everything goes :) It's too damn hot for cars right now anyway
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Sounds like you have been having fun racing, congrats.
Yup I hear the venting; August 1st I go under the knife, getting a colostomy done.
The docs will take care of you !
AJ___
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Sorry to hear Gary, our thoughts are with you. Sad you can't make BPG.
It sux getting old (for various definitions of old) Knee scrape queued up after BPG.
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Thanks for the thoughts.
Steve, I feel lucky I don't have any pain but like a "tightness" feeling. When I'm driving on a washboard road it has a jelly like feeling flopping around inside. If it weren't for the ultra sound test I probably would have just ignored it.
AJ, good luck with your test. I hear the cleaning out prior to the test is worse than the test itself. Like Steve said, let us know how it works out.
Dammit Dave I ain't old, just seasoned. :atbeer: :atbeer: :atbeer: :atbeer: :atbeer: Wished I could catch up with you at BPG.
Anyway, I'm trying to think about what is gonna happen to the business for the next three months. I've been steering Thomas toward the front desk and he's been doing o.k. I have a Tech working for me that's been my "hands and eyes" for awhile, so between the two we should be o.k.
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Treat it as an opportunity to push them along the way to learn both more responsibility and decision making while you are still within range via the phone to help guide them. Might end up being a positive experience for one and all, and, one that gives you a bit more freedom down the road.
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You're right Steve. We've been slowly working our way toward Thomas taking over when this whole thing started. I can't wait for the day when I don't even have to go to the shop at all. Working on cars for a living has lost its fun. I have a trip to San Diego scheduled in November. My cousins Marine Co. gets together once a year and his wife can't go along, he was a Corpsman in Viet Nam and was right in the thick of things. Last year they met in Dallas. It will be my first real vacation since 1999. So yea, may be the start of something good.
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sometimes, necessity sends us on a detour that opens new vistas!
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Just got a call, they moved my surgery to this coming Monday. Happy gas Dr. tomorrow at 8 am. There goes the shore trip we were supposed to have next week.
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and less time to dwell on it!
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Thanks for the positive view. After 55 years of otherwise good health, today I am just pissed off.
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That is a good thing- I've noticed pissed off people live the longest :)
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For some reason I don't check this website, now I know why Gary didn't make BPG Nat's. I hope all is well after the surgery Gary, wishing you a speedy recovery.
Chuck
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Any body hear from Gary yet, I just got home myself yesterday afternoon.
Checked in a bit from the hospital.
AJ___
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I'm finally up and around feeling close to human again. They let me escape Thurs. afternoon. I guess they figured it's better to feel miserable at home instead of the hospital. They ended up taking 1/4 of my liver and they were thrown a curve ball. The mass attached to my diaphragm meaning I now have an incision from my naval to my breastbone. 28 staples that are already starting to itch. I can't drive for 4 weeks or lift more than 10 lbs. for 8 weeks. I have to take heparin shots in my thigh for 21 days and a couple pills for infection and ulcer prevention. Other than that, I'm just like new. Thanks Chuck, AJ, all those that asked and thought about me while I was down.
AJ, I hope all is well with you. Let us know what's up if you want to, you won't be hijacking my thread. We'll soon be talking racing again. I hope to be at Cecil Co. at the end of Sept. and the car did some strange stuff the last time out.
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Gary, it's a lot better being miserable at home where you can make everyone else miserable rather than being stuck in a room with nurses that are immune to it! Glad you made it thru and glad you are on the road to recovery now.
As I said, it will feel better when it quits hurting ;)
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Thanks Steve. It's good to be home.
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Good to hear things are going well, Gary!
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Thanks Mark. I do miss a beer though :atbeer:
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Soon enough you will be knee-deep in Pabst Blue Ribbon. :D
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Soon enough you will be knee-deep in Pabst Blue Ribbon. :D
ewww that is wrong he will get sick from that stuff. :068: :068:
AJ___
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Coors Light. PBR = diarhea in a can :O AJ how you doin???
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Doing better Gary as you know when they open you up and remove sections of you it takes time to heal. Plus the pain is different too and gets better. Just think it all gets better and when you look back the time that was dragging will be like wow that was short lived.
Get well soon AJ___
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Both you guys get better!
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They say I can go back to work Oct. 1, so I may as well pull the GN tranny out Saturday. :player:
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LOL...don't lay it on your belly and try to slide out....glad you all did well and glad you are feeling better!! :cheers:
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LOL...don't lay it on your belly and try to slide out....glad you all did well and glad you are feeling better!! :cheers:
Yeah not a good idea at all. lol Or any other moderately heavy item. :D
AJ___
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Used my telescoping belly while standing. Otherwise she'd still be in the trailer. No patience, she's out, ready for the rebuilder Monday. I hate to admit, I missed wrenching, I hope that goes away. :player:
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My mini pics
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You have two?
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No, a customer. I work on a handful of others. That particular one is a TLC in progress.
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Now that Thomas has one you should get one for yourself
:rofl:
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stuff a Buick into a '67 Pontiac Sprint
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Actually, I think I finally found a replacement for my 200K '94 Park Ave. Ultra. I'm going to look at it now.
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Winding down the 2012 season. Tranny's back in, lost a snap ring in the rear sprag which resulted in a total going over. Had the convertor checked and adjusted. We're running the Foot Brake race at Maple Grove Sat. Thomas is driving so our chances are considerably better. 10K 1st, 2k 2nd means the competition will be fierce. 75$ payout starting 3rd round. The Cecil MAGNA weekend it ran back to back 11.47's. I cut the boost back to get us in the 11.60 slot and keep us legal.
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Good luck!
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Thanks Steve, we need all the luck we can get!
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I would wish you luck but . . .
I believe in causality, hence I know you will be on the top of the heap. :cheers: :cheers:
AJ___
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Good news/bad news race day. About 300 cars. The reconned trans worked flawlessly but the convertor adjustment messed us up a little. We had a bad storm Friday night which pushed the starting time back an hour and a half. Time trials cut to one, we sure coulda used two. Adjusting a car 1/4 mile at a time is hard enough. Here's the good news/bad news: the bad .083 red light, the good is the fastest the car went yet. 11.36 @ 119 mph. So first round I cut the boost back thinking we'll be safe in the 11.5xx's and it comes in at 11.43. Short race day but efffective as a test and tune. I feel we are winding down the season with a healthy car and am looking forward to next year (after this next race, of course!!)
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That is too bad...but, if memory serves me correctly, you have made a ton of progress since the early days of taking it to the track and trying to get it right!
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You have an excellent memory. :D I am always cautiously optimistic everytime the car makes a a pass. We are finally at the point we were aiming for years ago, Thomas driving plus being able to adjust the boost to make the car run it's number. We leave the line with zero boost but continue to put up 1.6x 60 ft times. I like it that way, it doesn't seem to beat the car up as much and I don't worry about wheel spin.
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yeah, I remember some things....:D
I know someone else that leaves at zero boost and does the same. Does not twist the car out of shape and helps keep both tires planted properly. I really believe the converter is the secret that most of us ignore. Not all are created equal. Spending 10k on an engine and $199 on a converter does not make much sense to me. I like a good unlocked converter for racing. Amazing how many old guys out there still run the original AC 9". I guess the PTC is the modern successor.
And, understanding how boost affects the time and controlling it precisely is not something easily taught, I think.
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I have my convertors done by a local guy, racing only, Jay Heckman owner of C2. After the trans crapped I had him open it up, clean, inspect, and re-stall it a tick looser. Seems the car likes it and Thomas trees better with it. As far as adjusting boost to race, it takes alot of passes in alot of different weather. Each year I log more and more info which helps build a database. I feel I am getting close to being "right on". This weekend I didn't give enough for the weather change, and neither did most people because there was an excessive amount of breakouts.