Capt's 2021 Indy Racer Upgrades

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Looking good, haul it down into the corner, stab the brake to take a set, and back it up to the cushion! Full throttle by corner exit...

[Captain]

My First Cornering Lesson from Ol' Everitt Fitch.......
YOU Better Pick your Gear BEFORE you Enter The Corner !!!
You are GOING to have LOST your Opportunity to POWER OUT,
And Power in Corners Holds You There.....
And If YOU are Racing, ......You will be Busy Taking Care Of Losing Control !!!
A perfect Corner in Racing Is "Dam I almost Lost It" ...LOL

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

We didn't shift, so if we missed on guessing the change gears before the race, we were screwed. With the 350 injected engines, we'd run around a 5.50 gear with our combination and tires. Heavy wet track go to 5.60s, or maybe even 5.70. If the track dried out, by the feature, drop it to 5.40s or taller tires if we had them. Went to Middletown one night, didn't have a clue what to do. Went with around mid 5.50s and our gumball Hoosiers. Jim also moved to the outside (nobody ran the outside at Middletown!) and drove from 24th to 2nd by the finish. Best night of my entire owner/mechanic career.

If we could haverun an in/out box I would have, but the tracks all required self starters and reverse!

[Captain]

Quick Change Rear Ends were out of our Budget,
But it was great to watch the upper classes run before our
Entry Level Class (Every Track has a Unique Name for them)
You are Right, if you had the Gears Right, "Hook It Up In 2-3 Gear"
And "Giver" hoping your Junk Yard $200,00 engine wouldn't "Throw a Rod"
on the Straights if you weren't bound up in traffic

If There Ain't Dirt in Your Beer, It ain't Racing.............

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Quick Change Rear Ends were out of our Budget,
But it was great to watch the upper classes run before our
Entry Level Class (Every Track has a Unique Name for them)
You are Right, if you had the Gears Right, "Hook It Up In 2-3 Gear"
And "Giver" hoping your Junk Yard $200,00 engine wouldn't "Throw a Rod"
on the Straights if you weren't bound up in traffic

If There Ain't Dirt in Your Beer, It ain't Racing.............

And when you stop at the clubhouse after the races, order your sandwich on whole wheat bread. That way the grease stains from your fingers won't show...

[DanStokes]

Nummmmmm! I've learned to ignore the grease on burger buns.

Dan

[Captain]

Any Fun Adventure has to have a "Good Story To Tell " after........
As posted in the Road America Vintage Car Races post,
We bearly made it a Mile out of the driveway. At first I thought it was running ruff
as it had not warmed up to running temp. But It went SOUTH very quickly to the point we could not even turn around to get back to my shop.

After a bunch of road Side Shenanigans chasing a "It's a Fuel Problem".......
By my Mechanicagian OK Ray, the 35+ year GM mechanic.....
(But this is a FORD...)
It turned out to be as "My" original prognosis, it's something Electrical,
"Did WE knock something loose Cleaning it Up Yesterday?"
I have a ancient Judson Brothers Electronic Magneto one this car,
and even in the Era Correct reviews of the late 60's......They are Known to burn Points !!
This is why I have 2 Spare sets of Points and Condensers.......

So we left 3 hours behind schedule, and had a HOOT telling of our
GREAT Start to Get HERE Story!!! at the track.

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

So any progress to report? I need more ideas to steal!

[Captain]

Here's some pix from Road America

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Here's some pix from Road America

Shift light? we don't need no stinking shift light...

[DanStokes]

Shift light? we don't need no stinking shift light...

I drive Mutt 'till the motor lays down then shift. I intend to shift at 5050 but sometimes it's when the engine lays down which is actually the high speed governor on a Diesel - about 5125 on the Mercedes.

Dan

[Captain]

The Light was on while sitting in the pits,
I sure it was a "Rusty Iron Junkie" Physical Placed Humor
(And it added 1 pound of weight where needed)

[Captain]

Over the weekend, went to a Steampunk Event, and took the Indy Racer.
Suprised Me, there's a lot of Gear Heads at
these events.



And other Fun Attractions.....

[Captain]

Getting things checked out for my trip to Concours d'Lemons in Detroit in a couple of weeks, found some Electrical Gremlins !!
Went to move it from the Barn to the shop, it cranked real slow but started.

Once in the shop, It would not turn over more than a grunt. DAIMITT!!!....what the hell in God's little green apples is going wrong NOW!!
Jumped it, and No Voltage at the Alternator!
Shut it down, traced the Alternator Wire to the Amp Gauge, then to the Master Cutout Switch. Voila! The Master Cutout Switch has No Voltage at the small terminal. Giggled the wires, and the whole small stud is turning on the switch.
I HATE behind dashboard work, and when I built this, I made it so you can pull the dash back, but still it reaching in, and between other Arcy/Sparky things, I have "Witness Gouges" on both hands.
Retightened the stud.

Now Voltage everywhere.
Now that we are in there, the Amp Gauge has never worked well, it was a NOS (Never Out of Style) parts box piece.
So, I find out that "Nobody" uses Amp gauges anymore, and Only O'Reilly's has ONE, but ONLY at there STORE IN SEATTLE, WA. So I pay the Freight to have Buster Brown get it to me sometime mid next week. O'Reilly's said they could get it here FREE if I could wait for a "Inter-store Transfer"..........I could just see the "Last" 2" Black Faced White Needle gauge in the Continental US, getting lost in the system, or miss directed to another store.,
Nope, I WILL PAY THE $6.50 Extra to get it here !!!
Thank You Parts Counter Guy.

So, this intermittent charging this might explain other little things that I was going to check out. I have the Dash back thumb screwed in, and will do some test drives while we wait on the new Amp Gauge.

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Over the weekend, went to a Steampunk Event, and took the Indy Racer.
Suprised Me, there's a lot of Gear Heads at
these events.



And other Fun Attractions.....

So what I have noticed about Steampunk is all the things that we all like/have/use are Steampunk! I still use the round welding goggles they all seem to prop on their hats. And a lot of the tools I still use fit right in. And your car is exactly the type that would be at home at any gathering.

Over the last 8 to 10 years I have made a number of steampunk lamps and have sold them for what I consider silly money for stuff that was just sitting around gathering dust.

Dan may remember the rather large exhaust valve I had on my desk at EPA. I made a lamp out of it and have it in our bedroom. I'll look for pictures and show them in a thread tomorrow.