rebuilding after the crash

I stopped to pick it up. After we looked at it a while we decided it needed some gold leaf. I get it Thursday now. Stay tuned in.

 

I picked up the helmet today. The chin guard received some gold leaf and stars.
The sign I use for indoor shows was updated. The lettering was changed to reflect what we are currently doing. She also got her first tattoo.
Now that I have the helmet I checked the radio comunications. That all worked.
I picked up all of the parts from a local funny car driver for the fresh air system. I made a mount for the bottle. Over the weekend I will get it all hooked up. The fresh air not only keeps the visor from fogging it protects your lungs in a fire not breathing the toxic smoke.
View attachment 6656155 View attachment 6656156 View attachment 6656157 View attachment 6656158 View attachment 6656160 View attachment 6656155 View attachment 6656156 View attachment 6656157 View attachment 6656158 View attachment 6656160

 

Shouldn't that be a "Yellow, poke-a-dot bikini"?

 

When it was first made the car was orange and had some mint green pinstriping. We didn't want to repaint the whole sign. No itsy bitsy yellow pokadot bikini. The sign is made out of 5/8 plywood.

 

Safety first. Mounting the fresh air system. I had to get creative. These parts are designed for funny cars not street cars. I needed to make the bottle clamp fit the cage. It was 1 1/2 inches. I bored it out on the mill to 1 5/8. Some carving was required to clear the rear panel The bottle is turned on when the car in front moves forward to stage. Just before I fire the car I have a valve I can open to move the air into the helmet. The helmet has a tube on the left side. The hose just slides on. The hose is made of special heat resistant material so it won't melt so fast in a fire. I cut some metal tubing to slide over the valve. I drilled and tapped it so a bolt can keep it from moving. The collar will be welded to the cage where I can reach it.
I need to buy a large mother bottle. After a few p***es I will fill the small car mounted bottle by transferring air.
This is a HUGE upgrade to the car.
Wheelie bars get fabricated this coming week.

 

The day has finally come. The stars have aligned. The weather is good for around here and Brian Matzenheim has a opening in his shop for the wheelie bars. We were not sure he could make it happen. He is a very busy guy. Brian has tuned the ch***is for the last two chaos wins. So who better than him to fabricate the bars. That way they are where he wants them and I don't have to move them. They are built on a jig. View attachment 6659468 Giving up total control is hard to do but at times necessary to achieve goals. View attachment 6659468

 

The pictures don't show up, just reads "ERROR"

 

Not bad. Double points for the Beatles reference.

 

Success. The car was safely dropped off. They will have it for a week. Now I need to find something to occupy my time. Maybe I will get after the leaking pushrod tube seal on the Road King. Summer is coming.

 

Occupy your time? Do you ever rest, have you heard about a thing called sleeping?

All the kidding aside, I admire your energy and effort you put into this.

 

How's the Chevelle coming?

 

I found something to do today. A bottle holder needed to be made for the mother bottle. This big bottle fills the small in car bottle between runs. I added a smaller section to hold another spare bottle for the Bruno.
After that some bike maintenance was performed. It's hard to believe this Road King is 31 years old. Looks and runs like new. It only has 31000 miles on it. I put a new cam in it last fall. I needed more power when riding two up
Slow progress on the Chevelle. The race car has had me occupied lately.

 

Dodging weather today. It's done. Looks great.

 

Love It!!

 

Nice!

 

Im not a wheelie bar guy. I have to remove them anytime the car goes in the trailer. We use pins that have springs and a check ball in the end. No need for tools They are 60 inches long. I can't get the back door up if they are on.. It's hard to pack chutes. They are just in the way. They look long because I don't have any over hang with the trunk. The wheel end has two holes. They can be raised up so a jack can go under the rear end. The right lower tube has a additional tube inside of it. The right lower takes the abuse. The bars are usually set around 3/4 of a inch lower on the right side to compensate for ch***is roll. They look simple yet there is a lot going on.

 

More of today's fun. I needed a pedal stop. This will keep the cable from getting damaged. With the split collar design I can slide it forward or back for the perfect adjustment.
The timing pointer was welded to the bracket and re installed. I was only recently told it was it was illegal. The pinch bolt could come loose allowing the pointer to fall out. This could puncture a tire.

 

I have been too busy to post updates. It's crunch time. I leave for Texas next Tuesday for more Nitro Chaos.
The car is ready. The data logger works now. This has been a battle. I couldn't get a rpm signal. I went back to the grid setup with a crank trigger. That was three days of wiring and programming.
The trailer received more attention. A full scrubbing of the outside started it off. A new mattress was put in. The old one was not comfortable. The waste tank was emptied out. That's fun. The fresh tank was filled. Food for the week was stocked. Batteries were charged. The tool box was checked to make sure everything was there. Spare parts were checked. It will get loaded up Sunday.

 

What was issue with Grid to R-P ?
Rpm side .
& Do not forget & not load
car & leave .

 

The signal cable had a red;white and black wire. No where in the instructions or diagrams did it say don't connect the red and black wires. I put a crank trigger on to get a good signal.

 

The weather does not look good. Nitro Chaos has just put out a possible rain date. We won't know until the official announcement next Tuesday. The make up date would be the 28th weekend.

 

In a change of events the weather looks much better. I'm loaded and ready to roll. I used some wizzards wash on the trailer. I haven't been able to find a product to freshen it up until now. The gray streaks all trailers get along with road grime and oil spray from fire ups is gone. Looks like new again

 

Back 25 yrs ago straight Simple Green worked ,
By know product probably has changed

 

The weather is much better The race is on. I will post a live feed link.

 

Looks like Flo Racing will be doing the live feed for this weekend's event. If you do not have a Flo subscription, here are links to their free YouTube videos;

Friday Qualifying Live Feed: https://www.youtube.com/live/8xQ5QcrNypk

Saturday Eliminations Live Feed: https://www.youtube.com/live/FXe-RXeppAc

 

Found this youtube of Brian racing. He is shown at the Midstate Dragway. He is shown at about 6:12
11:50 and 14:50. He is also shown in the winners circle at 17:10.


DUH Im a ***** here is the missing link

 

You forgot to attach the link

 

Thanks for the link

The car looks awesome after dark. Looking forward to hearing Brian's story on how the black hardtop ended up in his lane... I would have tested the burst panel in my Nomex undies.

Cheers,
Harv

 

We arrived safe after a 18 hr straight through tow. Camped outside the gate getting some sleep. Pit set up tomorrow then off to Bucky's for brisket tacos. Can't wait.