@Murilee Martin: Y'know, I've actually got a 3800 series II and 4L60E out of a '98 Camaro that'll go right in there... I've got a supercharger as well, ooh, great idea!
These guys had no idea what they had. I'm pretty sure they didn't even change the oil that was in it.
The engine actually ran fine all weekend, never overheated (well, the 'overheat' light never came on) and seemed to actually get quite good fuel economy with its 135hp .
The team was great, exactly the kind of stars-aligned luck and cheerful/willful ignorance that sometimes gets you through.
I just stumbled into the Henry V8th team on Saturday, and tried to help them keep the thing going. They left the 700R4/4L60 in 'D4' on Saturday and it was shifting way too often, many times shifting mid-corner in an annoying/vast Caddy bulk disturbing way...
The pinkish-brown transmission fluid progressed towards the 'brown' end of the spectrum as Sunday wore on, and it suddenly started self-shifting back to 2nd gear on the front straight, but the team eased back enough to make the finish.
I'm sure Jay will give them a residual value of $1.50, so we can find an appropriate engine for it (if they want to run it again...) I vote for some NASCAR sway bars and a generic 350/350 combo, or maybe go ludicrous and throw in a Giulia motor or something.
Henry the V8th should have some style in the form of POWER next time...
The engine actually ran fine all weekend, never overheated (well, the 'overheat' light never came on) and seemed to actually get quite good fuel economy with its 135hp .
The team was great, exactly the kind of stars-aligned luck and cheerful/willful ignorance that sometimes gets you through.
I just stumbled into the Henry V8th team on Saturday, and tried to help them keep the thing going. They left the 700R4/4L60 in 'D4' on Saturday and it was shifting way too often, many times shifting mid-corner in an annoying/vast Caddy bulk disturbing way...
The pinkish-brown transmission fluid progressed towards the 'brown' end of the spectrum as Sunday wore on, and it suddenly started self-shifting back to 2nd gear on the front straight, but the team eased back enough to make the finish.
I'm sure Jay will give them a residual value of $1.50, so we can find an appropriate engine for it (if they want to run it again...) I vote for some NASCAR sway bars and a generic 350/350 combo, or maybe go ludicrous and throw in a Giulia motor or something.
Henry the V8th should have some style in the form of POWER next time...
@Roberto G.: It WAS my car, and that is for sure the USB power adapter.
And yes, we did have two cameras.
@Paul Y. thought he was a man, but he was a muffin: The Maxima guy started it, then the Miata guy couldn't slow down enough- it ended up as a high-speed PIT maneuver alright.
@The Cheat: That was the power adapter for one of the onboard cameras...
Thanks all, news as it breaks.
@SagarikaLumos: Yep. they've brought it to the last few races.
Kawasaki did something very similar to this in the 1970s, until 2002- when they went to Nikasil.
From an old Kawi press release (Engrish):
The inside of the cylinder made through a process of electro-fusion of certain metals, namely molybdenum and High Carbon Steel. Molybdenum wire and high carbon steel wire with a diameter of 1.4 mm placed alternately along the cylinder and electricity 15,000 volts ( "blown up" - to 15,000-volt molybdenum and High Carbon Steel 13,000 volts) so that the metal is transformed into particles that dissolve into surface of the cylinder and form a special metal coating very thin on the inside of the cylinder (martensite = composition of iron and carbon is strong). This process is repeated several times (7 times Molybdenum, High Carbon Steel 14 times) and eventually formed a very strong layer (thickness less than 0.070 mm). Surface layers of these explosions are able to absorb and hold grease lubricant (porous) where the fine cracks of oil is going to live in it, so to avoid any direct friction between the walls of the cylinder with a piston.
I guess Ford has figured out a better way, but the idea isn't new.
I had a 1968 van with a 250. 1 quart per 75 miles, and I rigged up a system to add oil while driving- it was great, the lifters would start clattering slightly, signaling low oil.
The passenger would go in the back and grab a waste oil bucket from ALL of my other vehicles, lift the doghouse engine cover and pour away. A couple quarts would usually get you to the next gas stop, and the Powerglide would make sure you didn't get there too quickly. That was great van.
Except it's ChumpCar this weekend, not LeMons.
FreeRange IS planning to run this monstrosity at T-Hill though.
Sliced fingers ahoy!
@r0ver: That is why I made a 3-HEI homemade unit for my Kawi S3 400 triple.
3 pickups, one magnet on the crank, and WAY fewer fouled plugs. I just couldn't imagine setting those damn points every weekend like I used to do 15 years ago...
@tenbeers: Nice of you to include 'The Classic' as seen in every Sam Raimi movie EVER...
He's been gone 25 years, but:
1964 Valiant
1967 Dart
1972 Blazer
1978 Bronco
1980 Civic DX hatch
Cheers dad, gone too soon.
2006 Civic LX sedan 5A
Before that:
1993 Civic hatchback CX 5M
1985 Civic Wagovan 5M
1980 Civic hatchback DX 5M
1967 Dodge Dart 225 3A
1965 VW Karmann Ghia 4M
There's a trend here, I think.
She almost bought a Fit, since it's the real successor to the '93 CX, but she decided that the luxury of the Civic sedan was worth it, and now that she's livin' in the city it was time for her second automatic trans car.
The Dart was among my favorites, since it 'looked like it had been attacked by a herd of can openers!' and used a doorbell button for the starter... and yet was absolutely unbreakable.
@eggwich del fiero: Nope, for the vast majority of LeMons racers, it's pedal to the floor at every opportunity; hence the multiple failures every race.
You blow it up/break it and make it better for the next race, and eventually you have a crapbox that can finish.
Sandbaggers get punished, but I think that most of the LeMons racers aren't that 'strategic' anyway. It's a race for $500 cars, for F* sake.
@diesel W123's don't die: Hey! Our J-car is a shining example of suck! It's had the crap beaten out of it, especially in those early Altamont races, and it's been quite good...
er 'swimming', and it's not like I've only ever gotten ONE ticket in my driving career, just one in NV, ever.
I took 50 to St. Louis in my '87 Toyota Tercel 4WD Wagon, and it's brick on the gas pedal and read a book time in one of those. 89mph for hours and hours.
Bay Area-->Flint,MI-->Corpus Christie,TX-->Bay Area(via Vegas/395) 8000mi in 10 days including swinning in the Gulf and touring the bombed out wasteland that is Flint.
I've only ever gotten one ticket in over 4000 mi. of 100+ mph driving and riding in the last 20 years, and that one was too close to Vegas 'Hey, that's a Camaro... with a LIGHTBAR!' -wails on brakes and waits for the turnaround- (officer) 'That's 83 in a 70.' $180 and cursed reciprocity w/CA, so raised insurance for a couple years.
@Tanshanomi: Yay! As the ex-owner of TWO of these 1986 VF500Fs, let me just say this: Coolest bike EVER. Well, pretty cool anyways. Honda had fixed all the problems with these bikes in '86, and with a Fox shock and sticky tires there wasn't much that could keep up on tight twisty roads.
@mclawdog: C'mon, you know that if they have ANY success at all there'll be more teams jumping on the 'F1 the way someone thought it used to be' bandwagon.
Then there will be a new Bernie, then revenue battles, then we'll be right where we are now.
But hopefully with a few good years of racing in the middle. Personally I'd like to see a return to the '80s turbo madness, but there are lots of interesting eras to choose from...
