Time For THIS Post!!

[pdub]

Needs an aero package! Front air dam. Remove the mirrors. Push truck to sit in ac with a ice bag on the intake of Red.

Hmmmmmmm......Hmmmmmmmmm......I can see that, and that's the part that's scary........Hmmmmmmmm

[Russell]

Needs an aero package! Front air dam. Remove the mirrors. Push truck to sit in ac with a ice bag on the intake of Red.

[pdub]

432 at the wheels on the dyno. Again, this is called fun, and that's what it is. I'm not gonna sell the house to go out there and run with Big Red Camaro, that's not gonna happen.

There was a guy there, a motorcycle guy. In the inspection area. A young guy of course. He was talking about the wife and some kids and the motorcycle and he paused and said, "I need a hobby that doesn't require going 200 mph." He said that and then he sort of caught himself saying that, and he looked away, out across the airport. In a few seconds he was "back" and said, "But I just love it."

[silver_bullet]

What was the horse power on the dyno? Could be that you are aerodynamically limited....the last gen ZR1 vettes were done at 199

[pdub]

What do you suppose the critical speed of Mustang in free fall would be?

I've got an imaginary number of 185 for that. That's based on watching stock cars run at Charlotte Motor Speedway back in the day. 185 through the trioval, get sideways and the leading edge of the car lifts off of the ground and the driver becomes a passenger.

Red's heavy. Probably around 3700 pounds with the blower and the brakes and the wheels on him. But it looks to me that 185 is the number for all cars, based on unscientific observation. And Red will never go that fast without a JATO package bungeed to his roof.

[silver_bullet]

What do you suppose the critical speed of Mustang in free fall would be?
not Red of course....

[pdub]

IIRC....I think I read somewhere that Mustangs were limited to 149 mph or 240 kmph....someone please correct me if I was wrong....

That could be, but Red's speed limiter is off. Dyno Man saw to that after we put the blower on there. I found out how fast he could go on Saturday. And he could go faster with a different top gear. No doubt about it. But I'm not all that much serious about it, not shopping for transmissions and such. That was soooo close. I think a cooler day and anything like a tailwind and he'd get those last three tenths to 150.

Heck, his GPS says 150, but the time trap said 149.7. I believe the time trap. Dang that was close.

[silver_bullet]

IIRC....I think I read somewhere that Mustangs were limited to 149 mph or 240 kmph....someone please correct me if I was wrong....

[pdub]

Have you removed the speed limiter in the program?

Oh heck yeah. Bluebelle's speed limiter came set at 111 from the factory, so I don't think Red's ever been speed limited since we got him. I don't know his history before that.

Red's thing is that 5th gear overdrive. If he had a close ratio 5th gear he might go somewhere in the upper 150's. But that would make him wind more R's on the highway, which is 99.8% of what we do with him. As it is, it's a super tall gear and the 4-5 shift is long and clunky even with the Hurst shifter in there. He loses speed right there no matter how you do it and I tried it all ways, I got PLENTY of runs. I tried redlining him in 4th, rev limiter kicks in (more speed lost) and I also tried shifting him at 143 mph right before the 4th gear rev limiter cut in, and it made no difference in the time trap.

I don't know how he got to 149.7 that one time, except for my muscle memory was coming back after a few runs and it wasn't yet quite as hot as blazes outside.

But it's more fun than the law should allow. And I swear I'm torn what to do in September. Bluebelle, Red. Red, Bluebelle. I wish I could take them both, it's all so much fun.

[silver_bullet]

I've got videos of darned near every run Red made in Arkansas, but they all look the same. One from another. Red's thing is 5th gear. He won't pull in overdrive. I hit the rev limiter in 4th gear at the 3/4 mile mark every time and after that the show was over. No more faster. Frustrating, sort of. But there's nowhere else on earth you can just mash the gas down and hold it for a whole mile. Not legally.

Hell, Big Red Camaro went 240 while I was standing there getting a time slip. It's all relative. And it's all way above the legal speed limit.

Have you removed the speed limiter in the program?

[pdub]

Here's Big Red Camaro sitting in the shade. He's got a whole lot more plumbing going on than my Red does.

[pdub]

I've got videos of darned near every run Red made in Arkansas, but they all look the same. One from another. Red's thing is 5th gear. He won't pull in overdrive. I hit the rev limiter in 4th gear at the 3/4 mile mark every time and after that the show was over. No more faster. Frustrating, sort of. But there's nowhere else on earth you can just mash the gas down and hold it for a whole mile. Not legally.

Hell, Big Red Camaro went 240 while I was standing there getting a time slip. It's all relative. And it's all way above the legal speed limit.

[pdub]

Safelite put the windshield in Red. I was going through Cincinatti to get to land speed in Ohio in 2012 under one of those double-decker bridges across the river. I was passing a garbage truck and it kicked up a rock. I saw it coming.....POW. Cracked the windshield. Dammit, from then on it was, "Will they let me run like that?" Not a big crack, but it was cracked.

Well, they let me run. On the way back home from Wilmington, just past the double-decker bridge into Kentucky, I was passing a flatbed truck with a trash dumpster on it. A giant basket-size piece of paper mache was hovering over the dumpster, caught in the vortex. I was watching it. Well of course it came out and flew right over at Red and hit the windshield in the same spot. WHAP! Well, now the windshield was indeed cracked, to a fare thee well. I mean, what are the chances?

I was working, Unit got Safelite to come put a windshield in Red in our driveway. It squeaked. It squeaked like Mickey Mouse's best 500 friends on any kind of a bump, not even a bump. It squeaked.

I called them back out. They put in another windshield. It didn't squeak, but with that spatula they use to remove a windshield, they broke the corner supports under Red's dashboard. And now the dashboard squeaks when it gets just the right hot enough and hitting the right bumps.

I called them back. They assured me they will make good in it. They didn't show up so I called them again. They finally had me figured out, the whining customer, and they stopped answering the phone when they saw my number in the caller ID.

Well, whatever......and Red's windshield weather stripping blew out at Arkansas on the hottest day I've ever been at any track. Today Crew Chief Unit called Safelite. After all these years, that repair is under lifetime warranty. They'll be here Friday evening to put a new weather strip on there.

It's pretty obvious what happened, all the glue on the roof in the shape of the strip laying up there and getting thrashed around in the wind.

If the Safelite repair person has the presence of mind to ask. "How fast were you going?" I'll say about 48. Those two numbers are actually true. I don't have to mention the "hundred" part. Do I?

[pdub]

Might be a good idea to get a custom catch can for the AC drain

I don't know Russell. The A/C drain is the next-to lowest point on the car. There's not any room for a catch can.

When the thing was settled, it was a training issue - it's the air conditioner peeing. And I'm not sure but I may have been the only car there running an air conditioner. I commend the ECTA folks. They watch, they observe. Fluid on the ground represents a problem with hot rods. And I thank them all for being so observant. They should be, and that's a good thing. It's great to know they have your back. They're watching everybody have fun, but they're watching. That's a great thing.

[Russell]

Might be a good idea to get a custom catch can for the AC drain