Projects The Sachem Special; a little 'T and A' for the ROG

Ground like crazy when I jammed it I reverse and it peeled out of the garage and down the driveway! Ha! We got it sorted.

 

Ground like crazy when I jammed it In reverse and it peeled out of the garage and down the driveway! Ha! We got it sorted.

 

Haha @Tuck they weren't posed for. I had just pulled back in the garage from the drive and was handed a beer. I was sittin' in the driver's seat with a celebratory Smithwick's... @CrazyUncleHarry took the pics while I basked in the aroma of fresh beer and gas and exhaust.

 

i dont know why i cant get a video to embed. and i dont know why this one is so small. but here's a link to the first drive video.

https://flic.kr/p/pbEqXo

 

@Slick Willy, that's what she said.

 

So, I'm back from TROG and on the heels of my first good night's sleep in about a month. I'm still reeling from all the adventure I've had the last few months building this car and taking it to the races. TROG is mostly a grudge match heads-up event. Nobody there gives a hoot about brackets, or even winning and losing, really. It's mostly about accepting the challenge of building something that didn't exist before and bringing it to the beach to see what it'll do. Sure, it's fun to beat the guy you've lined up against, but it is only a part of the story.

If you pay attention, you'll see that TROG is really a love story. Mel and Bobby (@Dirtyest Devil and @Bobby Green) and the rest of The Oilers CC/MC go to Wildwood before us all, lay open the town with a huge welcome, prepare a feast, and envelop everyone with hugs as they enter. It's an event so intensely felt and brilliantly colored that it can only be motivated by love. Love for hot rods. Love for customs. Love for motorcycles. Love for all those who ply away in their lonely garages for a year leading up to it, for the love.

An awesome couple met and fell in love at TROG last year, and celebrated an anniversary at this one. Another rad couple got engaged at this year's event. My wife dug in deep and supported me all summer, hung out with me, spun some wrenches, gave me the free p*** on late nights in the shop, and stood by my side all weekend. Kevin (@CrazyUncleHarry ) and I swapped off work on each other's cars, lent parts, spent long down-to-the-wire hours. His parents tagged along to watch their boy tear it up.

My Alter Boy brother @moose made some parts, rebuilt my carbs, wrenched on the car all weekend. Other Alter Boys pals @caddywhacked @gonzo @cball @flash and others banded together to make the trip in their hot rods, strength in numbers. @Slick Willy blasted down Friday night after a long week of work and brought his solid dudeness just to hang out and provide encouragement.

Truck loads of pals road tripped from the west coast with their cars in tow, sharing brutal, dude only confined spaces for days and days of travel. Colorado's Super Heroes Mike and Amy (@Barn Find T ) brought enough mountain love to go around for days. AJ-Ajay-pronounced-Aahj (@Speedy Canuck ) jumped in his daily and racked up the kilometers to see his like-minded American pals and make new ones.

These are only some of the stories of love that I witnessed from my perspective. I am sure that there are loads more. And, if you shift the focus from my lens to that of another, and another, the love stories go on and on. That's why TROG rules. It isn't the racing at all. It's the family.

 

Sachem in the New York Times Automobiles section.

 

So. I've got an issue with starters in the Sachem. I had to push start it pretty much all weekend at the Race of Gentlemen. I messed around with it a little today to try to figure it out, and I come away with this:

With 3 different starters I get the same result. Connect power to them outside the car with jumper cables to a battery, and each of them spins fast and free and fine.

When I install them in the car, they give a grudging half turn and stop. Every starter did the same thing. It didn't matter if the car was wired up, or if I tried to bump the starter from the external battery with jumpers. Same result every time. Spins fine out of the car, but install it and it will not turn.

The flywheel turns fine when I roll the car in gear. The teeth are perfect because the flywheel is new.

Anyone have any ideas about what the deal is?

Thanks.

 

Got a bunch of guys saying variations on the same theme. I hope it's that simple. That would be awesome. Should get some free time in the shop tomorrow, so I will report back.

I wonder if it worked initially, and then got progressively worse with exposure to sand and salt and water.

 

It was electrical. I got so frustrated tracking it down that I went to Tractor Supply and bought new cables. It appears that the grounds were good. But the power supply cable from starter to battery must have been corroded or broken inside. I replaced that one, put the battery on the charger for a little while, and it fired right up. The good news is that all the ground and power connections are now new and shiny clean.

Also, the vroom. That part is good too.