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New guy prepping for Power Tour 2020!

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  • New guy prepping for Power Tour 2020!

    Hey all-

    This year will be my first time on the HRPT and I am very excited to say the least.

    I was all ready to do the tour last year and at the last minute I had to cancel. I am a full time Air National Guard guy (AGR) and had my name on a short notice list for a particular school I needed to help advance my career. To my surprise I got a call several weeks prior to the start of Power Tour that I had a slot for the school and it was starting just prior to the start of Power Tour! So reluctantly I cancelled my plans and attended the school.

    This year I am making it!

    My Power Tour chariot is a 1986 Monte Carlo SS. There is little left of the factory ride besides the frame and body. I have put in a 5.3 LS. It is outfitted with an LS1 intake, TSP 220R cam, Pontiac GTP injectors, and shorty stainless headers. That is hooked to a 4L80E with a Trans-Go HD2 shift kit and a Circle D 3600 RPM stall converter. That is all fed to a Ford 8.8" disk brake rear end with 3.27's and a posi. Everything is run by a Holley Terminator X Max. This thing is a blast and a great cruiser!


    This is how it sat last Summer on a set of Rally wheels with M/T Drag Radials on the rear. It hooked great but handled really oddly and was one step below deadly in the rain with the rear tires. When they say these tires aren't for use in the wet they aren't kidding! Yikes! I snapped this pic on my phone and sent it to my with the caption, "My car looks RAD!" Her response, "The 80's called and they want their word back." She is wrong though, my car does look rad!



    I ended up putting some skinnier radials on the back and it tamed all the weird handling traits and was a lot more fun, although much more likely to blow the rear tires off.

    This is me just about a year ago. As I was getting ready for Power Tour '19 I kicked a rod out the side of the block. That previous 5.3 was such a sweet little runner, I felt sick when it puked its innards out everywhere! But hey, if you are going to spin the hell out of them you've got to expect the occasional KABOOM!! My wife was amazed that I was smiling when she snapped this pic as I started the process of yanking the blown engine.



    She got another 5.3 and was a total blast all last Summer/Fall. I was sorry when it was time to put the car away in preparation for snow!

    Currently this is how the car sits. I know many of you can sympathize with a car on jackstands. In the 8 years I have owned this thing it has spent more time on stands than on the road, but it still is a lot of fun! I built the exhaust from scratch from the headers back and it is pulled out here while I make a couple of improvements.



    My latest brainstorm is to give the car a bit of an 80's stock car theme. I bought a set of Bassett DOT stock car wheels, smoothed the sidewalls of the tires with my DA, and then made some Goodyear billboard style stencils like what NASCAR ran in the 80's. I think it looks awesome and the overspray looks much like those tires used to look when I was a kid and used to love watching those races. A little bit of rust to take care of there in the quarter, another item for the punch list! I also have some coil springs on the way to slam this thing into the weeds.



    Underhood shot. There is some definite elbow grease required to bring it back up and looking pretty again. If I know me there will be some reason to pull the engine out again prior to departure on the Power Tour! I have taken some flak for the air filter placement, people tell me I need a cold air intake pipe, the car seems to run fine though so I don't know. I think it is staying like this.




    So that is where I am at as of right now. If everything goes the way I want it to then I will have a fresh coat of paint on the car before I depart. That is a bit of a big order though. The car is very straight and has a minimum of rust but I am not sure I will get it done. I am thinking black or very dark gray with some rally stripes. We will see!

    Since it seems everyone has a plan "B" I have one in place as well. My 2007 C6 Convertible. Bone stock save for a skip shift eliminator, CCW wheels, and a Corsa cat back. This thing has been dead nuts reliable for the 10 years I have owned it. I hope the Monte will be what I head out in, but if it has to be the Vette then so be it!



    So all of that to say that I hope to meet up with some of you on the tour. I will be departing Bangor, ME and heading across Northern NY to get to the start, if anyone wants to link up that would be great! I have all my hotel reservations made already and have at least one side stop planned at the museum of the Air Force.

    I will keep this updated as I make progress on the car. In addition I will probably be picking peoples brains for tips/tricks to success. I am hoping to be a long hauler this year, fingers are crossed!!!












  • #2
    Welcome and nice rides! Both will be just fine on the HRPT, but I hope you get your 'A' together in time!

    I really dig the NASCAR treatment you're doing to the tires.
    2003 Marauder (HRPT 2014, 2018)
    1962 C-10 (2019 HRPT - now sold)
    1991 Country Squire (2023 HRPT?)

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    • #3
      Very cool! Welcome aboard, you'll never regret going on the tour.
      I R Bob
      You can't drink all day unless you start in the morning!
      2007 LH, 2008 LH, 2009 LH, 2010 LH, 2011 LH, 2012 DNF/BLOW'D UP, 2013 LH, 2014 LH

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      • #4
        Excellent!

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        • #5
          Agree, welcome aboard.
          Ed, Mary, & 'Earl'
          HRPT LongHaulers, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19.


          Inside every old person is a young person wondering, "what the hell happened?"

          The man at the top of the mountain didn't fall there. -Vince Lombardi

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          • #6
            Welcome to the Gang!
            '86 Monte SS (sold) ~ HRPT 2015, '17, '18 ~ Long Hauler
            '73 Dodge Coronet Wagon ~ ‘19 Long Hauler
            79 Trans Am project
            ’90 Chevy 454 SS

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            • #7
              Looks like a nice ride.
              I'd take it on the tour before it gets a new coat of color. Less likely to be a worry wart about it getting a ding or a rock chip/etc. And just enjoy the drive.
              This year will be my first (fingers crossed). So good luck.
              I'd after reading about the last few years, ad a few things that disable the car from starting, without reporting what they are on the internet.
              To bad the trunk monkey isn't a real anti-theft tool.

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              • #8
                Welcome aboard and thanks for your service - see ya in 140 days.
                Phil / Omaha

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                • #9
                  Welcome to the madhouse .. plenty of reading here to get you going, but feel free to ask any questions. One suggestion is to get your name on the phone list (sticky topic) and you'll have hundreds of instant friends.

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                  • #10
                    Welcome PJF nice rides you'll have a great time on Power Tour
                    Long Haul Gang 2011,12,13,14,15,16,17,19
                    The older I get The Faster I was!

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                    • #11
                      Thank you all very much for the warm welcome!

                      The UPS guy made a delivery today so I had the chance to get out in the garage again this afternoon. Look at all this great stuff that showed up!



                      I crawled under the car to replace the collector gaskets and after 20 minutes of swearing and dropping nuts and lock washers I found I had purchased fine thread bolts and coarse thread nuts for my headers, D'oh, that explains why they wouldn't start!!! I wanted to replace the zinc plated hardware with stainless, guess I should have paid closer attention when I was buying the stuff.

                      While under there I noticed coolant dripping from the front of the engine. I couldn't tell where it was coming from so I just went and tightened every clamp I could and then blew everything dry with compressed air. Tomorrow I will check to see if there are any more leaks, hopefully there aren't!

                      Car stereos with Bluetooth and USB ports are so cheap I can't believe it. I paid 70 dollars for this head unit delivered, and that is with the wiring harness adapter and install kit! Things have certainly changed since I last put in one of these things. I didn't even bother getting a head unit with a CD player because I converted my hundreds and hundreds of CD's to digital media and then sold them all!

                      More coming soon. Making these type of update posts keep my motivated.

                      Thanks again for the welcome and the advice you guys have provided already.

                      One question, do any of you all bring along an EZ Up? I am not sure it is worth the space it would take up in the trunk, it seems like it could be useful though.

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                      • #12
                        Welcome and thank you for your service! Good luck with Plan A!
                        Jim & Cathy North Mankato, MN Long Haulers '04,07,08,09,10,11,12,13,14,18,21Short Haul '05,'15,'17,’19 WST '14,'15,'16,'17,’18

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                        • #13
                          Welcome aboard PJF. I am retired ANG. 155th ARG in Lincoln. I was a full-time lead crew chief on KC-135Rs. Which unit are you with?
                          ...when you got a fast car, you think you've got everything.

                          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpvfmSL6WkM

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Eric View Post
                            I'd take it on the tour before it gets a new coat of color. Less likely to be a worry wart about it getting a ding or a rock chip/etc. And just enjoy the drive.
                            Tend to agree with this 1000%. It'll probably rain at least once, plus rocks/chips/kids' greasy paw prints/blah blah blah. And above all, ultimately, very few people on HRPT care how perfect your paint is unless you're in the vendor showcase areas. There are just too many cars to really take in EVERY SINGLE ONE.


                            Originally posted by PJF View Post
                            One question, do any of you all bring along an EZ Up? I am not sure it is worth the space it would take up in the trunk, it seems like it could be useful though.
                            Dad and I packed one in the C-10 last year and didn't use it once, despite rain on more than one day of the Tour.
                            I'm taking a full-size station wagon this year but still considering leaving the EZ-up at home.
                            FWIW, in 2018 some guy left his EZ-up unattended at the venue in Birmingham and a gust of wind knocked it over. Had I not been grabbing a beer from my trunk, a couple of very nice cars + my junk would have gotten pretty dinged up. If you bring one, bring weights or make sure it's supervised!
                            They make those fold-up chairs with built-in umbrellas or canopies. Been thinking about snagging a couple of those, or zip-tying an umbrella to my folding chair...
                            Last edited by a_d_a_m; January 20, 2020, 05:35 PM.
                            2003 Marauder (HRPT 2014, 2018)
                            1962 C-10 (2019 HRPT - now sold)
                            1991 Country Squire (2023 HRPT?)

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by 67 Malibu View Post
                              Welcome aboard PJF. I am retired ANG. 155th ARG in Lincoln. I was a full-time lead crew chief on KC-135Rs. Which unit are you with?
                              Hey there 67 Malibu. 101 ARW out of Bangor, ME. I have been a GAC troop on both E and R model 135's, then I went on to manage all the CBRNE assets for the Wing as well as being the unit armorer, and now I am wrapping up my career in Airfield Management.

                              I have seen the world with the Guard and loved every minute of it! When I was GAC I was cut trained as a flying crew chief and got to see and do a lot of really cool things, you and I have a lot in common!

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