Read from top down:             3rd Quarter 2006 Racing

6/29/06 - How is it possible to be so happy one moment, and be completely upset the next?  We went back to finish the dyno session this morning.  I put fresh oil into the engine.  When we tried to spin it, it stopped.  We thought the carb had leaked down and filled another cylinder, as it had done yesterday.  Not this time!  Number 3 cylinder was full of water!  Everything else was dry.  We pulled the head and could not see the source of the water.  The cylinder walls looked good and the head did not have visible cracks.  Number 3 piston did not look like the others when it came to the amount of deposits on top of the piston and on the head too.  Lane Whittington called the machine shop and told them to get ready to pressure test a cylinder head.  We took the head off and took it to be tested.  The results of the test were, both the intake and exhaust valve seats were leaking where the new seats were installed into the head.  Apparently, the machine shop that did the work (not Tim's or Womack's), tested the heads before installing the seats.  After installing the seats, they went into the water jacket and a leak under both seats was the result.  The head is on its way back to Dart for repairs, which is what I said I should have done in the first place. 

If I had bypassed the dyno testing, this would have happened anyway, most likely at the wrong time, and I would be replacing more parts.  Plus I would have had the engine in the car and I might have been in the final round of eliminations!  I can't wait to see what my 1/8 mile times are when we put it back together.  It should be just in time for those 1/8 mile races at NPRP this Summer.

6/28/06 - Wonderful experience!  Today we started our dyno testing at Tim's Engines in Denham Springs, LA.  The dyno crew consisted of Lane Whittington, Jason Reppond, Chuck, of "What's Up Chuck Racing" and Tim Whittington. 

The engine is awesome!  Before lunch, we warmed up the engine and made three low RPM pulls.  The first pull to 5000 RPM, netted 702 HP and 738 ft-lbs torque, and the curve was going straight up.  At 5500 RPM, the HP was 755 and the top torque was 745 ft.-lbs. and the last pull before lunch, we went to 6500 RPM and netted 817 HP with top torque of 748 ft.-lbs.  The engine timing was set at 36 degrees and we had the Holley 1150 carb, with 92/94 jets installed.  We were using VP C-14 racing fuel.  We pulled two plugs and they were very light.  We decided to richen up the carb.  

We got ready to reset the valves and Lane saw a very small amount of metal flakes in the top of the head where the oil drains back to the pan.  After consulting with several people, including engine assembly people from the machine shop, we decided to  put a screen in the top of the oil filter and we changed the filter.  I told them about the installation of the heli-coil on the #3 intake valve, with the head installed on the engine, last week.  This engine also has a total of 4 sleeves.  The last two were installed in #3 and #5 cylinders.  This may be the source of some of the metal flakes.  After lunch, we reset the valves to the recommended .026" intake and .028" exhaust (all of the exhaust valves required resetting. They were all too loose.  We changed the rotor cap and installed one with a hole in it so we could check the rotor phasing.  We warmed up the engine again and let it run at about 2300 RPM for about 3-5 mins. to allow the oil to circulate.  We pulled the filter and inspected the screen.  There was almost no metal present.  All of the experienced engine builders agreed that we could continue with our testing. The rotor phase was right on target at #1 pole in the distributor cap. 

We decided to make a pull up to 6800 RPM, and we got up to 821 HP with top torque of 743 ft-lbs.  At the end of the day, we had made 13 pulls, none higher than 6800 RPM, changing carbs, changing timing and changing jets in carbs.  The highest numbers were achieved using the BG King Demon carb.  The BG did not have the floats set and the Idle mixture was not correct.  It also leaked down and filled a the heads with gas.  When we ran it, the jets were at .094" square and timing set at 38 degrees. The HP was 841, with torque of 763 ft-lbs. This was 5 HP higher than any run with the Holley.  The worst pull was at 34 degrees timing (down from 36 degrees) and jets at .098 square, with the Holley 1150 CFM carb.  The HP also fell off when we went from .094/.096 jets up to .098 square with the Holley carb. We reinstalled the Holley carb after two pulls with the King Demon.  We will work on the BG carb and get it corrected.  We drained the oil, which looked very good, and went home.  We will continue in the morning.  I want to make at least a couple of more pulls with the K&N Filter Charger in place.   I also want to put the BG back on and try to correct its problems. 

By comparison, my DynoSim computer dyno predicted 867 HP with top torque of 745 ft.-lbs.  That is fairly close to the 841 HP & 763 ft-lbs on the real thing. 

Afterthought:  The computer dyno (at home) could not do the break-in runs, or find any problems that exist within the engine.  In the time of about 8 hours, we have found out more about the engine than many hours and runs at the track would have taken.  Now I have a basis for the information that my computer program tells me.  I can now make changes, using the computer program, and see what the effect SHOULD be.  I think it is time and money well spent to have the engine dyno tested. 

6/24/06 - It's Done!!!  Ready to go to the dyno this coming week.  Check back on Friday for the results.  Today I put the stud girdle on and reset all valve lashes after tightening the stud girdle.  Some of then moved and had to be individually reset (#3 intake moved about .002" and had to be reset.  Some of the others moved more than that).  The valve covers are on, the intake is bolted down and I put the crank trigger device on the front of the damper and dropped the distributor.  I put in 6 1/2 qts of standard 10W-30 oil in the pan and the filter took just over 1/2 qt.  The final assembly is very tight.  Takes a lot to turn it over.  The spring pressure is very high on these new springs. 
6/22/06    6/23/06      6/24/06

6/23/06 - Bright and early this morning I went to the industrial Screw and Fastener Co. and picked up enough heli-coils to do the whole head.  I only used one.  Alvin and I talked it over and decided to fix only the stud holes that would not torque to 55 ft.-lbs.  The fix was not without its own adventure.  After installing the new threads and installing the stud, when I put the rocker and adjusting nut on, I noticed the rocker roller was not sitting in the correct location.  A quick measurement using a straight edge across the 4 studs, indicated the repaired unit to be off center by a few degrees.  This was the result of using a hand drill to make the pilot hole for the tap and not getting the alignment perfect.  I thought about a lot of different ways to fix it, including taking it to a machine shop, but in the end I put a shim under the push rod guide plate and then installed the stud and torqued it.  I had to do this three times to get the correct size shim.  The torque on the #3 intake rocker stud is 65 ft.-lbs., while all the others are 55 ft.-lbs. 

When I started to set the valve lash on the first set of valves after setting #3 intake and exhaust, as I turned the crank I heard a loud "Crack"!  I stopped turning and started to look for the source of the noise.  Number #3 intake push rod guide plate, where I had put the shim, had broken.  The crack was just outside of the area where the new heli-coil was installed.  I rechecked the alignment of the 4 intake studs, and they were still in perfect alignment and I did not see anything else wrong.  I checked the torque on the stud and decided to leave it.  Since I run a stud girdle that clamps around the tops of each rocker stud adjusting nut, I don't think too much bad can happen if any of the rest of them pull the threads out.  I would let a machine shop install any other heli-coils that need to be done.

I completed setting all the valves, installing all the lash caps and checking the torque on all the intake and exhaust valve rocker studs.  The cam calls for .026" intake lash and .028" exhaust lash.  For this "cold" setting, I took .002" off of each setting.  After the engine is hot, I will reset the lash to the correct setting.

6/22/06 - After laying off working on my engine for so long, there is a tendency to forget things (especially at my age).  I installed the odd side head, torqued it down and put the rocker arms on.  I had set 3 of the 4 sets of valves on that side before I thought about the lash caps!  While loosening #1 intake to put the lash cap in place, the whole thing started to turn, stud and all.  Now that lets me know that I should have torqued all of the rocker studs before I put the rocker arms on (I ran into this same thing the last time I did this in August last year [I need to put this step on a checklist. Is that right Mr. Johnson?]).  When I tried to torque #3 intake, it would not tighten. I was trying to go to 55 ft-lbs torque.  The threads were bad.  The Reher-Morrison book says to put heli-coils in all of them.  The exhaust studs seem to be much longer than the intake studs because the intake studs reach into the intake passage on the Dart Pro 1 heads that I have.  I don't know enough about BBC heads to know if this is the same in all BBC heads, or just my Dart Pro 1's.  I wonder what else is wrong with these heads?  I am going to check ALL of the rocker studs and put heli-coils on the ones that will not reach 55 Ft-lbs, or that feel like they may give out.  I will purchase enough to do all of them and I may just do all the short ones (intakes). 

I called to make an appointment to have the engine dyno tested today. After careful consideration, I have decided to go to Tim's Engines for my testing.  Layne and Tim Whittington  have been a loyal supporters of Bracket Masters Racing Team during the past few years and they have a very nice, new dyno testing facility. 

June 18, 2006 - Skip participated in the Father's Day race by working on the gate and taking photos during the day. 

6/11/06 - Remember to get your state inspections on your cars, trucks and trailers.  That's right, in Louisiana, your trailer is required to be inspected each year, just like your car and trucks.  Because trailers and Diesels don't require the emissions test, the inspection only costs $10.00 for trailers and diesel engine vehicles.  There is no insurance requirement on the trailer.  I got mine done this weekend. 

6/6/06 - The hood looks good!  Perfect match, which is exactly what Mr. Allen (the painter) said it would be when he looked at the paint.  To get the perfect match, I took the trunk over to B & T Paint and they used an electronic color matching machine to get the correct mix for the paint directly off the trunk.  I am really happy with the way it came out.  I had a lot of running around to do today and have not been able to devote the time to get everything back on the car to see how it looks with everything in place.  At first glance, it looks very good.  It even passed Barbara's critical inspection (which almost never happens!).  

Today I talked to Attorney Robert Randolph, who is also a racer.  He started out with, "He's Back!"  I was shocked, and flattered.  He continued by telling me how he follows my progress (or lack of) these last few months and how much he enjoys reading about my engine work.  He said he missed reading about the car while I was on vacation.  I really enjoyed talking to him. 

Most of the time when I write this stuff, it is so I will have a record of what I did and to make sure I can retrace my steps, especially if I screw up something.  It is also very helpful to be able to go back and capture an old combination that worked. I know many of you out there reading about my work on the car can see when I do something stupid, but I hope that when you stop laughing, you learn something from my mistakes.  On the other hand, you may learn a few good things too. 

I was informed yesterday, by my church, that I have  been selected to teach the Youth and Young Adults in Vacation Bible School this coming week.  That will put a severe crimp in the time I have to work on the car.  If it will help save one kid, it will be worth it. This will be my 4th year of teaching in VBS.

June 5, 2006 - Returned from vacation yesterday.  I left the hood to be painted before I left for vacation.  I will pick it up tomorrow.  It will match the front end of the car and will not have stripes.

Now that the vacation is out of the way, I have some other pressing family items to complete early this coming week, but after that I plan to make an all out attempt to get the engine dyno tested as quickly as possible.

May 19, 2006 - I finished the new cowl induction hood. Now all that is needed is the paint. I have contacted a man about doing the hood in the near future. 

The more I cut off, the lighter it became (dah...).  The final configuration is actually a little lighter than the old one, but is more flexible. I think it needs reinforcement across the back opening, and I think I can invert a small strip that I cut out and contact cement it into the top inside of the scoop. 

With the 8" engine set-back in this car, I should be able to take better advantage of the high pressure at the base of the windshield. No more black plugs!

I think I will tackle the Lexan windows next.  The car has all of the original glass, with the roll-up mechanisms. The exception is the two small rear quarter windows, which are already Lexan. 

I had a complete set of letters, numbers and decals, made for the car, truck and the trailer a week or two ago.  I am going to have the hood painted solid purple, and remove the stripes from the rear and paint the back quarter panels solid purple.  Then I will apply some new, different, stripes along with new rear quarter decals. 

May 17, 2006 - The hood is almost complete.  The 8 Dzus fittings are in place and they all line up and work!  Thanks to Mr. Van Johnson!  Now all I have to do is cut the back part of the cowl induction to allow the air to get under the hood.  I went over to Eddie Fisher's home and made a template off of the old "Masterpiece".  Now I can cut the new hood to match the old one.  One exception, the old one was 4", and this new one is 6" tall.  I moved the oil and gas gauges over exactly 3 inches to fit under the opening in the hood. 

The Inaugural William "Dub" Lewis Fathers Day Race, Quick-8, will be sponsored by Popeye's and will pay $1000 to the winner.  The quickest Quick-8 car, under 7.00 seconds, will get an additional $250. 

I watched Ronnie "FoFo" Ferret play with his beautiful blue and white Corvette last night at State Capitol Raceway, on a rare Tuesday night Test & Tune.  The engine, a 632 CID BBC, needs a little more fuel to reach its potential.  Last night he was testing a 1350 CFM carb.  The current 160 GPH fuel pump is not near enough to feed this monster all the way down the track. Ronnie has a new 500 GPH fuel pump on order.  I can't wait to see the results.  There was another beautiful car out there last night, a candy apple deep red Vega.  I spoke with the driver and found out the car has a 383 SBC under the hood.  The car ran some very respectable very low nine-second runs.  The car sounds awesome, a very, very strong 383... 

May 16, 2005 - What a night last night on TV.  I had two VCR's going and still didn't get to see or tape all of the shows I wanted to see.  The President screwed up all of my start and end times for my VCR settings, tapes ran out or stopped short of the end of the show, it was a mess.  I had choir practice, so I didn't get to see Prison Break, thank God for Blogs, at least I could read about it.  Two and One-Half Men, Old Christine and the two-hour Gray's Anatomy final show, back to back with the continuation of CSI Miami.  Just too much for one night.  I should purchase one of those new DVR units, but even if you record them, when do you have time to watch?

Yesterday, during the day, I worked on fitting up the new cowl induction hood.  What a mess!  Most people that have seen my car know I have my fuel and water temp. (correction, oil) gauges mounted outside in the line of sight of the driver.  These have to be relocated to install the new hood.  I also had to cut off approximately 7 inches from the rear end of the hood.  Van Johnson came by and instructed me on how to make a template to fit the hood to the existing cowl panel where the gauges are mounted.  The last thing that I must do is the most critical.  The Dzus fittings have to be installed.  This hood is not as light as I had hoped for.  In fact, it may be the same or a little heavier than the old one.  I still believe the air flow will be much better.  Only time and experience will tell.

Does anyone own a 12 point, 1/4" socket?  I have many sets of 3/8" drive and 1/4" drive sockets, but until I went to Sears (Lowe's doesn't sell them loose), I did not own one.  I was using those 12 point bolts on the two bolt holes that clamp the front of the oil pan to the timing cover.  I changed them out to Allan head screws.  Much easier to deal with, even though I bought the sockets.

I want to have everything ready for the Father's Day Shootout at State Capitol Raceway on June 18th.  They are going to have a Quick-8 Doorslammer bracket.  I would love to get one of those 8 spots.  I have missed all of the other events that I wanted to make this year, maybe I can make this one.  I can already think of 8 -10 cars that run quicker than what "I think" my car will run when I do get it out there.  Even if I don't run quick enough to get into the Q-8, I can still run in Super-Pro.  It should be a fun day. 

Father's get to do what they want too on Father's Day, without feeling guilty!  I do hope all of you treated your Mom's and wives that are mother's to a nice Mother's Day...  Do you know that some women without children are some of the best mother's in the world.

Next time you go to State Capitol Raceway, take time and visit the VIP lounge in the tower on the 2nd floor.  Remember the open room with nothing in it that was there for the past few years?  Now it has wood floors, a flat panel big screen TV with a big sofa to watch the shows, they also have two other big leather sofas in front of the two picture windows for the VIP's to sit and watch the races.  The walls are paneled and they have things on the walls.  The lighting is even real nice.  If the rest of the proposed improvements to the track are going to be as nice as the tower (the office downstairs is laid out nice too), we are going to have a first class track in Baton Rouge.   The Friday night crowd has returned and the racers like the new management.  Congratulations to Owner, Mr. Lanny Lewis and Track Manager, Gary Carter.

May 8, 2006 - While sleeping (this happens to me a lot), I had a dream about the drive train of the car.  Seems everything was working well, except the Torque Converter was missing!  I could not find the torque converter anywhere and in my dream, I could not get the car to leave the line.  I woke up and early Monday morning, I called Custom Built Torque Converters in New Orleans to, first of all, see if they were still in business after Katrina, then to find out if they could freshen up my torque converter.  The man said "Bring it on!"  They are still in the same place in Marrero, LA off the West Bank Expressway.
I found the converter in my work shop, covered up and ready to be reinstalled.  Remember, I have just had the transmission overhauled at TCI.  I looked at my old records and thought I had had the torque converter freshened up the last time I had the tranny reworked.  That was in 2004, and I only had around 140 runs on the units.  When I got to Custom Built, they looked and said the overhaul date was March of 2002! 
That converter must have over 300 runs since Custom Built freshened it the last time.  This was originally a BTE 9", 4500 stall converter, built to go behind the 540 BBC engine.  At 200 runs, I had had it freshened by Custom Built.  At the time, it was working just fine, but when they looked inside, it had worn Torrington bearings and some bushings were worn.  They checked everything and they welded the fins in place. 
I did not ask for this fin welding and thought it may effect the stall of the converter.  I was assured it was only to strengthen the converter.  When I put it back in and ran it, I could not tell the difference.  From what I am told, once the fins are welded, you cannot adjust the stall again, without replacing the part that was welded. 
Fast Fwd. to May 2006.  They cut the converter open and everything on the top looked good, including the Torrington bearings and the stator under the bearings.  When he removed the stator (may not be the correct name for that part), underneath it, on the stationary part where the welding of the fins was done, was a broken fin, just laying over and still connected at the top, where it was welded.  Had it not been welded back in 2002 we were looking at a disaster. Thinking about what may have happened if I had chose not to have it freshened up this time, it could have been lights out for the new transmission.  We will never know how long it would have lasted, but other fins may have been ready to break off too.  I had noticed about 200 RPM change (higher) in finish line RPM during the last few full passes that I had before the engine failure last April 05. I had a rear end failure back then too, and I thought the RPM change may have had something to do with that. 
Custom Built is going to check everything inside and replace what is necessary.  It will be ready Weds. and I will go get it Thursday.  The cost?  Only $175.00!  Willie says that is cheaper than insurance. 
Willie Beathley and Van Johnson had both been telling me to get my converter freshened up. My wife Barbara even offered to help pay for the converter to be done when I took the tranny to TCI. The lady at the receiving dock at TCI even questioned me about my converter.  Everyone was warning me, but it took a dream to make me move.  Maybe that was GOD tapping me on the shoulder and telling me to listen to my friends. 
Due to faulty record keeping on my part, I had convinced myself that the converter only had 140 runs, it was working well and did not need to be freshened.  I have learned my lesson.  When the tranny comes out for overhaul, the torque converter will be done at the same time.

April 28 - May 4, 2006 - During the past few days, I have participated in the Glen Oaks High School Car Show, the Career Day at Prescott Middle School (I took the Jr. Dragster to both of these) and I went to the Sr. Breakfast for the graduating seniors at Glen Oaks High School.  Little Barbara is graduating this year and we are so proud of her.  The Baton Rouge SMART Program has awarded two $750 scholarships to students that completed the Glen Oaks Auto Tech Program.  I had the pleasure of presenting the awards to the students at the Sr. Breakfast.  Little Barbara was awarded a certificate for being the best student in her Computer Science class, and she passed her Microsoft Computer Certification test a day later. 

April 19, 2006 - Worked on a lot of little things that are important.  Put the new bronze gear on the distributor.  Installed the new window net.  Installed the new seat belts and fixed the parachute handle.  I need a new parachute cable.  Cleaned up the room where I work on carburetors and stored tools. 

I came across an interesting bit of information while reading my Upper Engine Assembly book, by Reher-Morrison Racing Engines.  Gaps on spark plugs should be between .030"-.035" on racing BBC engines.  For years, I have used .040"-.045" spark plug gap.  Today I reset my 8 new Autolite plugs to .032" gap. The Autolite' s are also new for me, I have used NGK in the past. 

April 13, 2006 - Still have not done anything to the engine.  Been real busy doing my taxes.  I plan to have the car ready for the Glen Oaks High School Car Show for 2006.  The show will take place on April 28, 2006.  Racers are invited to bring their cars to the front lawn of GOHS at 9:00 am until Noon for the show.  The show gets bigger each year and the kids really enjoy it.  The car show is free! 

April 11, 2006 - Picked up my head from Womack's Block and Head, where Rick had resurfaced the head.  He took off .005" to clean up the scratch.  He said it was deeper than we thought and it was a good move to have it resurfaced.

April 7, 2006 - After thinking long and hard, I've decided to remove the head with the scratch between #1 & #3 cylinders.  I will take it to a machine shop to get the surface cleaned up again.  When we did the cc of the chambers, we had approximately123.8 cc on one of the reworked chambers and 123.3 on the other one.  The other two are also just over 122 cc.  I can have .005" taken off the surface of the head and only reduce the chamber volume by 1 cc.  The scratch may not be that deep.  The other head has volume between 121.5 cc and 122 cc, so I will be real close to even on both sides.  I think this will be better than taking a chance, especially when the scratch is right under the gasket.  The additional down time will be worth it.

Late Afternoon - 4/7/06 - The machine shop looked at the scratch and said it was not something (deep enough) that I should worry about.  He did say, if it was his, he would resurface it, especially since it was right under the head gasket seal between the cylinders.  I will have it done and I should have the head back on Monday.  They said approximately a .003" cut would clean it up.

State Capitol Raceway is having their first Sat. Bracket Race under the new management, on Sat. April 8, 2006.  Everyone is super elated about the new changes and we are all looking forward to some great Saturday racing. 

Bracket Masters Racing Team normally has a family picnic at State Capitol each year.  We will be looking for a Saturday bracket race to have this event. 

       3rd Quarter 2006 Racing
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