Feb 10, 2004
Hi everyone, If your reading this, then I guess it can be assumed you have survived the harsher part of our winter. I can see some ice melting off your cars as they sit in cold dark storage where there was a roof leak and -- ahhh, no I cannot go there. See what this weather does to a healthy mind. Well, almost healthy.
Anyway-on to better things. This is our 7th news letter and I hope it finds all of you and your families healthy and with things going in the right direction. I know all of you are once again looking forward to breaking out your rides. It will not be long as the sun is taking longer to set in the West.
Our meeting of January 10th went well despite the fact we had 17 show up when we had over 30 committed to come. I was unable to make the event at Leicester last fall and wanted to thank those who stepped up and handled things. John Macpherson and John Oneil manned the lights, Jerry Thompson handled the finances and those who ran there cars. I understand there were a number of you who GAVE IT H E L L and then got towed away-HUH? Nice going anyway- I know there were a number of you who made it into the 11's. That is a great accomplishment -- congrats. I ask you-how many of our cars were in the 11's two years ago? I can think of only five. Also a special thanks to the guy who works very hard behind the scenes - Ron Turch. He handled the fall meeting and works very hard for your club in his putting together these letters and always is looking to generate more ideas and energy into this club. Finally, Joe Rizzo's article on his experience with his car was a good one. The guy has driven it a bazillian miles, race it a ton (got it into the 11's) and been through the motor. He did it all on his own while financing himself through school - Nice job Joe.
At this last meeting we discussed the family outing. Was not my idea, but it was suggested it be held in early June (before school exams) at my home. That's OK with me. I will need some help and I am sure I will get plenty. The date is set for Saturday, June 13th.
We discussed the Indoor Show this March at the Convention Center. Paul Pryor is definitely gong to enter two vehicles. He is looking for others to join him. Call me ( 947-9218) if you are interested in doing it. It is fun.
We also started the raffle for the T/A Performance rear end cover. It would look great on anyone's GN or T-Type. The final drawing will be held at the Family outing.
Our next meeting is set up for Saturday, February 21. We will continue the raffle on the T/A cover in addition to raffling off a donation by Nick Leonardis. If you did not know, Nick was to be at our last meeting with this donation, but-he found himself in a local Hospital with a very high fewer do to the Flu! I am glad to say, he came through fine. If you check our web site, you will see Nick was quit upset he had to miss that meeting. He is relatively a new member with lots of energy and we are glad to have him aboard.
At our next meeting we will be fine tuning this upcoming seasons events, so don't miss out and voice your opinions on what you feel would be best for your club. Here are three thoughts I had. No: 1- if the money is there- use of it to buy each of us a very nice embroidered sweat shirt. No 2: use some of the money to pay for track rental for a day. No 3: use some for up front money to sponsor our own outdoor car show. Think about what you would like! Just think the more money we can raise, the faster MY CAR goes together---- No, that came out wrong! Seriously, the more money we can raise, the more we can spend having some fun.
Well, that's it for me. Time to turn it over to a guy who has been quiet about things, and then almost broke the 11 second barrier without anyone being aware. He has been an active member or our club and just a very nice guy Dave Schreiber. Give it H e l l, Dave. SEEYA, LARRY
Being so cold and nasty for the last two months I have been avoiding the garage and I have heat out there if I want it! So needless to say I have not been thinking too much about the car. I have to get the motor back together and I still have a few hours of porting left to do before it goes into the machine shop. I go to Jim Mangus (Jim's Cyl Head service) on Hinman in Buffalo. He is pretty experienced, and has good prices. I used to be a die hard Chevy (my best was a 70 1/2 LT1 Z28) nut but eventually found something much better and far more interesting than the typical SBC cam, head, Holley 4-BBL and header swaps just to end up with a gas guzzling, uncomfortable slug! I started out on the wrong foot with the non-intercooled cars for what I wanted, and that was a mid 11-sec car. Don't get me wrong, the non- intercooled models are great fun for everyday beater street cars and there are a fair amount of upgrade parts available, but for real power the 86-87 was much better configured. I have always known about and feared these cars, but didn't really think they would come into my budget range, but things change! Raising 3 on our income is not easy and putting money towards the car is not possible at times, so sometimes things can take a long time to happen. My garage is a small old (1897) carriage house and there is less than a foot between the front or rear and the wall/door so it can be a pain to work on it in there with the door shut, but, I do have enough shop area for now though.
This summer brought a few firsts for me, like my first time to a race track. It was great and I found something I really like to do even if it is too far away. My buddy Steve with the S-10 is going to be a hard sell to get him to come back, but I think he will. He is trying to sell the 383 S-10 and is considering stepping over to the dark side. My personal best was a 12.00@113.72 1.8 60' with a stock long block that was ready to take a dump, I escaped the trailer ride home but only by the skin of my teeth. I was also running propane for the first time and I will discuss that later. I can't wait until this summer to get back to try to top it but to be honest at this point I don't know if it can be done with all I still need to get. Hey Larry, could I borrow your new motor for a few months, I'll break it in for ya ;).
Propane was neat, expensive and different. I was going to go alchy and probably should have, but decided to try the propane setup instead. It does work, I was able to run 25 psi on 94 octane with no knock counts, however if the line pressure dropped too much things changed quickly. To fill my tank cost only 5.00 and it would last for about 200 passes or so with the system on full delivery. I was trying to run 25 psi so ran it wide open and that would cause me to go through it a little faster. Back to back runs were limited to about 3, and then the bottle would drop psi because of it chilling. A NOS bottle warmer would have fixed this but you would also need a remote tank pressure gauge. On my setup I added a 1/8" earphone type jack to enable hooking up a remote "overboost"light which is a hobbs pressure switch hooked to a red light to warn when the boost has reached a preset level. I also spliced in a wire to the tank solenoid wires to run up to the "power injection" factory dash light so I could see the solenoid pulse width and verify it getting power as well. This is great stuff for the street and while running the C-16 I put it on and it seemed to make the car run a tenth or two quicker, but I didn't test it enough to be sure. I have decided to drop it from my plan though because I am not really interested in street performance anymore. After experiencing what the C-16 can do I realize I didn't need the propane. It allowed me to have way too much power for the street and traction was pretty scary even at a roll. I am going to get a stretch stock location IC or a front mount instead; I believe my stock intercooler is holding me back.
Well, I'll see you all @ the next meeting, enjoy the weather! I sure hope nobody is driving their TR with snow chains! I know at least one of you guys still has a set of studded HR-78's in the garage somewhere you are saving just in case!!