From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
To: “Nova
List” <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy Test&Tune 103
Date: Saturday,
June 22, 2002 12:05 AM
Slow week. Clouded up Monday night and
started to drizzle..
Rained all day Tuesday but it was such a light rain it only accumulated
to about ½”..
Rain is good..
Wednesday old Jeff Kemp showed up at the door while I was sitting and
drinking my coffee and aggravating with the Nova list.. I thought it was a
social visit.. Yeah,
right.. He had a computer
for me
to
repair.. Bad disk drive in a
Hp desktop.. Anyway I took
Jeff for a ride in Rustpuppy in the light misty wet..
With him
aboard ol’ Rustpuppy was packing over 700 lbs of lard so I hoped for reasonable
traction.. It was
suprisingly good and I pulled a 0-60 time of 5.48 seconds with the two of us
aboard.. (point
A on the map on the old country road is where I do the 0-60 runs . Point B is
the famous Rustpuppy Run(see HomeMap.jpg ))
By
Thursday the roads had dried reasonably well and I took Rustpuppy out for a
test 0-60 run with just me aboard.. Not too bad with the great time of
4.58 seconds.. I love
that rusty old Nova.. She is
so sudden.. A joy to
drive..
Fixed
the puter for Kemper and managed to do a little on the cold air induction
system.. After much
squishing and hammering and clamping and prying it is beginning to whip into
shape.. See
t&t103-1.jpg and t&t103-2.jpg to get an idea of what I am trying to do..
More to
come..
Rick Draganowski
From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
To: “Nova
List” <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy Test&Tune 104
Date: Monday,
June 24, 2002 3:06 PM
I been
slacking the last few days.. Having some problems with my arthritus
meds and have been under the weather.. Mostly hanging out in the office and doing tech
work.. But I did make a
little progress on the Cold Air Induction
(CAI) system for Rustpuppy..
It is
necessary to match the end of the snorkel adaptor to the air cleaner body so
they can be welded together.. I marked the snorkel and proceeded to
attack it with the worm drive and the rapidly shinking abrasive cut-off disk..
It was
convenient to make plunge cuts with the shrunken disk and then connect them and
that made the job go much faster and easier than I had forseen.. I like it when things are
easier than I expect.
A few
more hours of trimming grinding and cutting and fooling around and then it will
be time for the welding..
I am a little worried about the difference in gauge between the thin air
cleaner and the thick snorkel but I hope to figure out the weld settings on my
MIG welder.
See
pictures for progress yesterday..
(t&t104-1,jpg, t&t104-2.jpg, and t&t104-3.jpg)
Now for
something completely different.. A couple weeks ago I stupidly left the
headlights on overnight in the Suburban and drained the battery as flat as it
can go.. This caused
me to make an unscheduled trip to town in Rustpuppy. Then I put my NAPA high zoot battery charger on
the Suburban and left if overnight.. Started ok the next day but the voltage
seemed lower than it should be.. A couple days later for no reason the damn
battery was too flat to start the motor.. The battery is new (just bought the 85
month job at NAPA in February) and I suspect the alternator is not doing it’s
job.. (pisses me off as I
was overcharged about 140 bux for it’s “rebuild” just about 10,000 miles ago)
So I
bought one of the neat cigarette lighter plugs (even has an LED and a fuse) and
hooked up one of my shop digital voltmeters to monitor the charging.. Kind of fishy
as the voltage would go to about 14.25 volts with no load on the system but
drop down to about 13 volts with the headlights and AC on.. Hmmm... The alternator should be able to handle a 20 amp load
better than that.. It is
working but not very well..
Then I
switched the DVM set over to Rustpuppy for a comparision.. The no-load voltage was
14.6v and with the headlights and electric defroster (about the same load as
the Suburban had for testing) it only dropped to 14.25v..
I had
ordered a rebuilt alternator from NAPA last week on suspicion so it looks like
it is time to make the swap..
Sigh.. Another
44 bux down the tubes..
What do
you all think?
Time for an alternator replacement?
Rick Draganowski
From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
To: “Nova
List” <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy Test&Tune 105
Date: Sunday,
June 30, 2002 1:03 PM
Still
plodding along with the cold air induction project.. No I am to the point of making electric sparks
with the MIG welder.. Practiced
tack welding a scrap of the 22 gauge air cleaner body to the heavy 14 gauge
tubing I am using for the snorkels.
See t&t105-1.jpg..
Then it
was time to do it for real..
Worried about screwing up the thin metal of the air cleaner and taking
my time I arced and sparked for what seemed like a long time.. There were times that the 22
gauge metal would just melt and disappear but most of the time it went
well.. Strange, I was
doing the identical tack weld and it would work most of the time and burn
through at random places..
See
t&t105-2.jpg, t&t105-3a, and t&t105-4a for current progress..
Looks like it will be plenty strong with just the tack
welded seams and I am thinking about using Bondo to finish the joint and
provide the sealing as well as improving the appearance..
It is
about time that I get some experience fooling with Bondo since I have never
used it in my life..
More to
come..
Rick
Draganowski
(arcing and
sparking)
From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
To: “Nova
List” <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy Test&Tune 106
Date: Monday,
July 01, 2002 1:00 AM
Started
back up on the project late this afternoon.. Puttered around cutting out and welding little
triangular bits into the holes in the snorkel.. Then went out to mount the air
cleaner/snorkel assembly and plan on routing for the hose to outside.. See t&t106-1.jpg
Bummer.. My first idea of making an
adaptor to use the plenum at the base of the windshield blew chunks due to the
awkward routing of the hose it would lead to. My next idea of going through the inner fender panel
seemed like a solution..
Today is
the first day of not having to wear the neck brace (needed during recovery of
cervical fusion surgery) and it is a month earlier than most folks can get away
with. It is good to heal
fast.. (since I hurt myself so
often)
So I had
the luxury of laying on my back and looking up under Rustpuppy and planning for
the hose routing.. It is a
great feeling. Turns out due to the
interaction of the tire (when wheels are turned full lock left) the massive
Disco front frame horn and the radiator mount shock pad location that it would
be almost impossible to thread a 4 ¼” hose there.. Damn another good idea just blew chunks..
So I am
down to idea number three..
Figure a way of fitting a 4” inlet in the area of the radiator mount
partially blocked by the transmission cooler and the right front turn signal
lamp socket.. See accusing
finger pointing to spot.. See
t&t106-2a.jpg.
Tomorrow
I will be digging into this part..
But in the meantime I decided to take Rustpuppy for a little innocent
ride.. Since I had started
Goody to turn the wheels to full lock when I was checking clearances underneath
I must abide by one of my “Rules of Operation of Goody”.
This is
the Rule: “Whenever Goody is
started she will be run till operating temperature is reached to prevent condensation
and oil contamination.”
It was a
cool sunny dry day and it was a real pleasure to go ramming down the road in
Rustpuppy without that damn neck brace..
At the
bottom of the hill I did a little spirited driving to time a 0-60 run on the
G-Tech. Since Goody was still cold
it started with a bit of a bog but still was an exhilarating blast with a 4.68
second time..
Up on
Highway 101 the traffic was thick with
way more cars and motor homes and such than usual.. Probably due to the 4th
coming up.. No chance
for a southbound run due to the traffic so I motored innocently down to the
first turnaroud..
I was
appalled to see that the damn Oregon DOT had been fooling around with pavement
patches on my precious Rustpuppy Run.. There were two strips of it on the south end
(just where the best launching spot was) and one strip of it in the
middle.. The damn oil from
the paving was being tracked everywhere and it looks like it will be a while
before the traction comes back on the Run.. Damn..
Just taking
off fast from the turnaround indicated that traction was going to be a big
issue.. Went clear
back to the north end and turned around for one last try.. Traffic, traffic, traffic.. Poop..
I lurked
on the entry to the highway till it looked like it was all clear and tore over
to the launch area for a southbound run.. Not expecting much. And not getting it.. The oil contamination on the highway caused Rustpuppy
to spin most of the way through first gear. The rest of the run went great though with Goody really
eager and pulling well.. The
time was dismal at 13.73@106.5.. But it was great fun
anyway..
Motored
home happy and thinking about drilling through that steel bulkhead..
More to
come..
Rick
Draganowski
From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
To: “Nova
List” <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy Test&Tune 107
Date: Tuesday,
July 02, 2002 2:47 PM
In the
last episode I mentioned what the swine at Oregon DOT did to my precious
Rustpuppy Run..
Putting three unnecessary asphalt patches down and contaminating the
daylights out of it with the miserable paving oil..
I spent
an hour stripping down the front of Rustpuppy to get ready for “The Hole”
surgery needed for the cold air induction system.. T&t107-1.jpg shows the innocent and
unsuspecting Rustpuppy before the procedure..
Next we
see the surgical field exposed..
(t&t107-2.jpg)
Taking the hoses off of the tranny cooler (by cutting them
with a box cutter) pissed a bit of excellent pink Type F fluid on the gravel
drive.. It smelled
really good and would make a nice cologne.. Nice to know that nothing is overheating in the
Wade Austin TH350 after over a year of serious abuse.
I
printed out a 4” template on the laser printer and laminated it with clear
packing tape and added a bit of doublestick tape on the back.. You can see it in
place in t&t107-3.jpg and t&t107-4.jpg..
Later
today I will be aggravating myself placing a hole where the template is.. The steel of the radiator mount
is thick and I foresee considerable difficulty..
More to
come..
Rick Draganowski
(still
pissed about the oil on Rustpuppy Run)
From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
To: “Nova
List” <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy Test&Tune 108
Date: Saturday,
July 06, 2002 8:31 PM
The
story left off with me whining about needing a 4” metal cutting hole saw.. JR offered to loan me one
but I thought I had misty memories of buying hole saws about 15 years ago for a
project..
After
frantically searching throught the incredible muddle inside my shop I struck
pay dirt! I found a 2”, 3”,
and 4” Starrett hole saw.. The 3 and 4 inch ones had never been out
of the boxes..
Cool.. (see
t&t108-1.jpg)
After
loading my ½” drill with the nifty hole saw and making a ¼” pilot hole it was a
piece of cake to make the 4” hole..
(t&t108-2a.jpg, t&t108-3a.jpg and t&t108-4a.jpg)
I
decided to make two 2” clearance holes for the transmission cooler hoses and
the turn signal wiring.. Done in a jiffy.. See t&t108-5a.jpg)
More to
come, soon..
Rick
Draganowski
(having the
right tools is good)
From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
To: “Nova
List” <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy Test&Tune 109
Date: Saturday,
July 06, 2002 10:45 PM
With the
hole in place it was time to flange up an inlet pipe and mounting. I planned to clamp the mount tab under
the bracket used to hold the grille and headlight bezel on the Disco Nova.
After an
enjoyable interlude of marking, cutting, grinding, and welding the mounting tab
was in place. See t&t109-1.jpg
through t&t109-6.jpg.
Then a bit of trimming on the chop saw to cut the inlet to size and
provide
clearance for the turn signal lamp socket..
You can
see the scheme I am using for the mounting in t&t109-7.jpg as well as the
neat way the clearance holes clear the transmission cooler hoses.
Finally t&t109-8.jpg and t&t109-9.jpg
show Rustpuppy back together with the snorkel and inlet pipe in place..
More to
come..
Rick Draganowski
(feel a
strange attraction to “Grinder Girl” on Letterman’s “Is This Anything?”
feature..)
From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
To: “Nova
List” <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy Test&Tune 110
Date: Saturday,
July 06, 2002 11:13 PM
The next
priority was to get the driver’s side inlet hole on the air cleaner sealed
up. I cut out a piece of the
neat aluminum allow sheeting that I have used to seal the holes in Rustpuppy’s
transmission tunnel.
Nice springy alloy..
Then it was just a moments work to get it pop riveted in place. See t&t110-1,jpg,
t&t110-2.jpg, and t&t110-3.jpg..
Then I
had great fun mucking about with the generic Bondo I bought from NAPA.. Man, it sets up faster than
I expected, and the smell gave me a splitting headache.. Ow.. But it was fun.. See t&t110-4.jpg, t&t110-5.jpg, and
t&t110-6.jpg..
Will
sand it down and put another coat on tomorrow..
More to
come..
Rick
Draganowski
From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
To: “Nova
List” <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy Test&Tune 111
Date: Monday,
July 08, 2002 8:56 AM
After
putting a used and well rounded abrasive flap disk on the angle grinder I
started to grind the hardened Bondo to shape.. What a mess of fine white dust is generated by
this stuff.. It was all over
me, the shop, and everything near my work area. T&t111-1.jpg shows the dust (not too well) on my
hand and the snorkel..
Messy business.. You
need a vacuum attachment on your sander to properly deal with this stuff..
The job
was small and the Bondo was very easy to work so it was ground down to shape in
a jiffy. See
t&t111-2.jpg..
Then it
was time for a coat of paint.
I had a can of the NAPA chrome paint (old formula) and it went on nice and
even. Doesn’t look
like chrome at all though. Just
nice silver paint.. See
t&t111-3.jpg, t&t111-4.jpg, and t&t111-5.jpg.
I bought
some four inch dryer hose at Ace hardware for the cold air induction system.
(t&t111-6.jpg) It was neat stuff made from laminated aluminum foil and
polyester so it was shiny and silver. The clever plastic clamps it came with were a
exercise in futility though.
They were designed for a high density nylon material and the
manufacturer substituted a cheaper plastic. As a result they did not work worth a damn. It is things like this that makes being
an engineer frustrating as hell..
After
putting the now nicely silver air cleaner with snorkel back on and a little
fooling with the hose and the defective clamps the system went together. See t&t111-7.jpg and
t&t111-8.jpg.
During
the work the weather had been perfect for testing the new system out on
Rustpuppy Run.
Sunshine, dry, cool, hardly any wind.. Perfect.
But.. (another damn
but)
As soon as I finished the job it clouded up and
started to rain. Poop!
I had
started Goody to move Rustpuppy into the shade of my Giant Bonsai Tree so I had
to take Rustpuppy for a ride just to be sure to get Goody properly warmed
up. It is the Rule.
So I
took off in the rain for a ride down the hill and back up.. Naturally I stepped on the gas too much
and at the bottom of the hill where I do the 0-60 times I overdid it and got
Rustpuppy seriously sideways from excessive wheelspin at about 40mph. It scared the hell out of me. Then I motored home like a good
citizen..
Sun is
shining today.. Gotta
go to town for 4 inch hose clamps and bank business..
More to
come.
Rick
Draganowski
(Rustpuppy+Rain+Idiot
Driver=Disaster)
From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
To: “Nova
List” <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy Test&Tune 112
Date: Wednesday,
July 10, 2002 12:16 PM
The
weather was perfect, warm, dry, and sunny. About 2:00pm I took Rustpuppy out for some testing of the
finished cold air induction system.
Everything seemed good at the practice 0-60 run at the bottom of the
hill with a time of 4.7 seconds.
Then I
lurked at the entrance of highway 101 for a long time waiting for a break in
the traffic.. It was
the middle of the afternoon and the giant motor homes towing SUV’s were coming
about 500 feet apart.
Each going about 45 mph and followed by about 10 impatient drivers.. I went back and forth
on Rustpuppy Run three times waiting for the traffic to clear and then gave up
and went home..
Tried
again later at about 6:00pm the traffic was ligher but it still took several
passes to get a clear road for a Run.. Finally I was able to stage for a southbound
Run.. The traction was
still compromised with oil contamination from the road repairs and Rustpuppy
spun the tires through most of first gear.. But there was another problem. Goody seemed flat above 4500rpm and the
time was way off at 13.94@105.3 on the G-Tech.
Then I
turned around and waited on traffic for a northbound run. It cleared and I staged between
the fresh paving areas.
Suprisingly less wheelspin but something was seriously wrong with
Goody. She was not
gaining rpm normally at all..
Sounded good but acted weak.
The time confirmed my concerns at 14.27@101.7
on the G-Tech.
Then I
waited on traffic one more time and staged for a southbound run. Something was terribly wrong as it took
forever to get to the shiftpoint in first and Goody would not pull to the
shiftpoint in second gear at all.. (5800rpm) I aborted the run and headed home full of worry.
At home
I inspected Goody and everything seemed normal. Secondaries on the Q-Jet were opening and the
air valve was not sticking..
It was a depressing situation compounding the problem with depression I
had been having all day.. What a revolting development.
I spent
a few hours paying bills in my office. Another depressing business.. In the back of my mind I
could not stop thinking about Rustpuppy and Goody and coming up with one
fantastic theory after another..
This is not conducive to joy as I am too aware of the many mechanical
problems that can occur with these motors and was visualizing one horrible thing
after another.
The only
benign theory I could come up with that fit the facts seemed impossible. Goody was acting as if the
air intake was clogged and could not get enough air for high rpm operation. My recent experience with
the rag snorked up in the Suburban provided an empirical basis for the theory..
But when
I inspected the snorkel hose and air cleaner on Goody all seemed normal.. The only possibility was
that the pressure differential between the inside and outside of the hose was
collapsing it. It was reinforced
with a spiral spring steel wire and the theory seemed far-fetched. But I did a bit of mental math to
calculate the forces involved and they were much higher than I would have
expected..
So later
that evening at about 8:00 pm I removed the silver dryer hose and took
Rustpuppy out for another test run.. Within the first few minutes I could see
that Goody’s old pep and eagerness to rev were back and my spirits lifted
minute by minute.
I zoomed
down to Rustpuppy Run savoring the sudden response to throttle abuse that Goody
was capable of..
Traffic
was completely clear and I took my time staging for a southbound Run on the
best bit of asphalt. A
little more wheelspin than optimum at launch but Goody was pulling great and
the shift light was coming up fast..
The time was back in the normal range at 13.48@108.7..
Just a tenth off the best with a nice high speed.
I
motored home happy and wondering where I could find semi-rigid 4 inch hose for
the induction system..
More to
come..
Rick
Draganowski
(hoseless in
Oregon)
From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
To: “Nova
List” <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy Test&Tune 113
Date: Thursday,
July 11, 2002 1:02 AM
A trip
to town for a doctor’s appointment let me rummage around in lumberyards and
hardware stores for semi-rigid 4” aluminum tubing.. Struck paydirt at one of the lumberyards and came home with
a spiffy new tubing to try..
It is a
compressed semi-rigid aluminum tube that is supposed to stretch to eight feet
long. The compressed length
is only 23” and that is almost exactly the length I need. See t&t113-1.jpg for a
comparison of the flabby original tubing and the new stuff..
The next
two pictures are the interiors of the old and new tubing.. The new stuff is almost smooth
inside and since I will not expand it, it should stay that way.. (t&t113-2.jpg and t&t113-3,jpg)
You can
see Rustpuppy without tubing (t&t113-4a), and with the new stuff in place.
(t&t113-5a and t&t113-6a)
Then it
was time for some more testing..
It was hot this afternoon (over 80 here and 108 in Medford) and that is
an important detail..
Had to
lurk at the entrance of highway 101 for a few minutes for the traffic to
clear. Then it was out for a
southbound run..
Reasonable launch but Goody seemed just a little flat and the time was
reasonable at 13.68@107.2..
But then
after doubling back at the first turnaround and staging for a
Inspecting
the induction system found everything still in order. The hose is made of metal and if it flattened it would stay
flattened.. It was
just as I installed it..
Completely
confused and depressed I motored home slowly...
Later
after it cooled down to about 70 degrees I took Rustpuppy out for some
scientific testing..
Set up
for a southbound run with the hose on.. It was an in-between run at 14.13@101.2. As soon as I got to the first turnaround I piled out
of Rustpuppy with a screwdriver and removed the hose. Then I headed back to Rustpuppy Run for a northbound
run.. It was almost
identical at 14.18@103.3.
What
does it all mean??
Still a puzzle..
Later,
at about 9:00 pm I came up with the theory that the winter 87 octane gas in
Rustpuppy was boiling in the carb due to the much higher underhood temp and the
induction system was not the issue.
It was the heat and bad gas..
Rustpuppy
had just enough of the 87 octane left to get to town so without any more racing
I took off for town to get some 92 octane Texaco gas.. Rustpuppy ran fine and I put 11 gallons
of the Texaco in and got a wild idea of doing a ¼ mile run on the straight
stretch of highway 101 just north of Gold Beach.. No traffic at 9:30 pm and just getting
dark.. It was cooler (about 67
degrees) and the traction was good.. The time was equivocal at 14.05@103.6.. Still way off of the normal
pace..
Then
before I got to Rustpuppy Run I stopped at an ocean viewpoint and let Goody
cool for about 15 or 20 minutes.. It was great to be there on the shore just as it
was getting dark.. Wind was
dying down and temp had dropped to about 65 degrees..
Traffic
was non-existent and I staged for a night run northbound on Rustpuppy
Run.. Goody seemed much
better and the time was back to 13.76@105..
I
noticed what seemed like a roughness in Goody (like a high speed miss) and next
I am going to change the sparkplugs and do a compression test. And replace the fuel filter.. Going to fool around and cover all the
bases that could be causing this temperature dependent miss.. It better not be the high
zoot MSD distributor giving me trouble..
More to
come..
Rick
Draganowski
(confused in
Oregon)
From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
To: “Nova
List” <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy Test&Tune 114
Date: Tuesday,
July 16, 2002 12:51 AM
As the
list knows I have been stuggling with a weird problem with Goody that has been
a distressing turn of events..
Last
week, the day after I made the nocturnal trip to town to fetch a half tank of
92 octane and did some night racing on the way home I discovered a discouraging
sight..
See
t&t114-1.jpg for the first revolting view I had of Rustpuppy.. I instantly visualized the
taillight assembly splattered all over highway 101 and the police interested in
discussing my littering offenses..
I was
relieved to see that the taillight fell into the trunk (due to the turbulent
pressures on the rear of Rustpuppy at over 100 mph) and not into the
road.. Whew!
See the
rest of the five pictures to see challenges I face to make Rustpuppy roadworthy
again.. Note the
serious lack of steel in this area.. Just the rubber gasket left in places.. I also noticed that the Nova
emblem is almost all that is holding the right taillight assemble in
place.. Sigh..
More bad news.. The spiffy new hydrostatic drive lawn tractor I
bought back in October 2001 has
developed a serious oil smoke problem.. Acts like the piston is cracked..
More to
come..
Rick
Draganowski
(Depressed
in Oregon)
From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
To: “Nova
List” <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy Test&Tune 115
Date: Tuesday,
July 16, 2002 2:10 AM
Because
denial is not just a river in Egypt I forced myself to forget the serious rust
issues that have developed in the rear of Rustpuppy and engaged in more
pleasurable and uplifting projects..
I knew
that the R45TS plugs in Goody were too hot now that the rings were perfectly
sealed and combustion optimised to the best of my meager ability. Even with 92 octane gas there were
times when Goody would run over on shutdown..
The AC
Delco R44TS plugs came set for 0.040” so I regapped them to 0.045” for
Goody. See t&t115-1.jpg.
I had
bought a special all polished Taiwan made 5/8” wrench to modify to make a spark
plug wrench that would ease the sparkplug removal issues I have with the damn
Dynomax headers. Custom
grinding of the jaws provided easy clearance to the recesses the spark plugs
live in.. See
t&t115-2.jpg..
The old
sparkplugs looked absolutely perfect. All eight of them.. And this after well over 100 quarter mile runs.. See
t&t115-3.jpg... I put
them back into the boxes to use in the Suburban when she needs a plug change..
I
greased the threads of the new plugs to make removal by hand easy after initial
loosening with the custom wrench..
Planning for the future.
Took a nice picture of Goody after getting the new plugs
installed.. See
t&t115-4.jpg..
More to
come..
Rick
Dragnowski
(in denial
on the rust issue)
From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
To: “Nova
List” <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy Test&Tune 116
Date: Tuesday,
July 16, 2002 2:39 AM
I had
proven to my satisfaction that Goody was not being choked for air when she
would have the “running like ass” episodes and after thinking about it settled
on the theory that for some reason she was being starved for gasoline.. Several possibilities
entered my mind from a stopped up sock in the tank, to a bad fuel pump, to a
partially plugged fuel line, or a stopped up fuel filter..
The fuel
filter is the easiest one to check and replace so I started there.. You can see the old (only about one
year) filter and the new NAPA Gold replacement sitting on the fan shroud.. See t&t116-1.jpg..
When I
pulled off the old filter the gasoline that drained out of the inlet side
looked like Bock Beer.. Dark
brown and nasty..
That was an encouraging sight.. It indicated that there was a ton of junk in the
gasoline getting to the filter.. I had been concerned about the tank or so I had
bought at the little store in Nesika beach being contaminated..
And it
looked like there was some validity to the theory..
I chucked
up the old filter in the lathe and setting the spindle speed on very slow to
avoid generating sparks that could cause a minor explosion and ruin my day I
turned the crimped ring off so I could separate the halves of the filter
can. See t&t116-2.jpg
There
seemed to be a lot of very fine dust in the filter.. Later in the lab I got out my spiffy standard
frame microscope and analyzed the filter contents.. See t&t116-3.jpg. It looked bad under the microscope and
after cutting the pleated paper element in half and tapping it on a white card
you can see the pile of dusty residue that came out.. See t&t116-4.jpg.
I am
almost 100% convinced that the filter was causing the problems with Goody. But I cannot do any testing till
I do something to chase away the rust boogyman that has me in paranoid denial..
Oh well,
better start forcing my self to think of solutions.. Sigh..
I hate this..
Denial
is better..
More to
come...
Rick
Draganowski
(feeling a
little autistic today)
From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
To: “Nova
List” <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy Test&Tune 117
Date: Thursday,
July 25, 2002 4:30 PM
Lots has
been happening here but mostly a series of revolting developments.First a week
or so ago my splendid red lawn tractor with the Industrial/Commercial OHV
16.5hp engine started smoking and losing power.. The damn thing is only nine months old.
I
struggled with the Suburban and the PuppyTrailer to get it hitched up at the
top of the hill where I had the PuppyTrailer stored.. Lost control of it once and even though I saved
myself from injury the hitch speared the license plate on the Suburban and
mashed it good.
Eventually
I got it attached and after several false starts with different ramps managed
to get the tractor aboard.
It was an interesting situation I found myself in after arriving on the
trailer sitting on the tractor.
With my cripple fat bod it was a struggle to climb off of the tractor
with little room for placing my feet beside the tractor.. But taking my time
and concentrating on each move I managed.
See t&t117-1.jpg, t&t117-2.jpg and t&t117-3.jpg for the
tractor journey.. Note
the foggy overcast here and the sunshine in Gold Beach where I left the tractor
for a Briggs warrantee repair..
After
stopping for some groceries I noticed a Gold Beach police cruiser with it’s
lights on at the end of the store parking lot adjacent to City Hall and the
Police Station.. Too
cool, it was one of the local rodders with the most unusual rodded Studebaker
Lark I have seen.. I took a
picture of the tableaux and both the rodder and the cop waved and smiled.. It is a great little town.. See t&t117-4.jpg..
Then
more adventures climbed up my leg and bit me.. Remember the spiffy rebuilt alternator I just
put in the Suburban?
Well I planned a trip to Brookings (about 45 miles south) and checking
the gauges as is my habit I noticed that the voltage from the alternator was
abnormally high.. About 16-17
volts at 60mph..
Damn! It looks
like the new internal regulator in the rebuilt alternator had blown up.. Doing a little
testing I found that the voltage tracked the rpm almost like a
tachometer.. Going from
about 12 volts at idle up to about 18 volts at 4000 rpm.. Double damn!
I nursed
the Suburban the rest of the way into Gold Beach keeping the speed down so the
voltage would stay about 14 or 15 volts. Don’t want a damn fire or something..
Then
bitching to my friends at NAPA they mentioned that this type of problem has
been happening with increasing frequency.. And they didn’t have one of the 42 amp
alternators in stock, only the high zoot 78 amp job.. Damn again. I knuckled under and took the more expensive one and then considered my
options.. I sure as hell
didn’t want to change the alternator myself.. I ran into Brett (of Central Curry Truck and Auto) and
he claimed to be to busy to help me with this little job. I stopped over to see the
swine later that afternoon and found him drinking beer and bullshitting with
two of his fishing buddies..
I went
from NAPA to Tim Harding’s shop and whined and begged him to help me with the
alternator problem so I could get to Brookings.. He put the new kid on it and he had the job done
in just under 20 minutes..
Good old Tim (feeling guilty about charging me so much for all the
Suburban work the last two months) only charged me five bux..
The high
zoot 78 amp alternator is working splendidly well and is worth the extra 20
bux..
Now back
to Rustpuppy and the miserable problem I have been fighting.. I am reluctant to go
out on highway 101 for testing until I fix the unsightly hole in Rustpuppy’s
rump and get the left taillight working.. I figure it would attract unfavorable
attention.. But
fooling around on the old road with minimal exposure on the highway showed that
the problem was better but there was still something wrong.. Flat performance at higher
rpm when hot and despite my poor hearing I could swear that there was an
unpleasant scraping noise as well.. Double damn! My innate paranoia was beginning to flower in a
most depressing and unsettling way.. I kept visualizing terrible bearing
issues..
After
running the piss out of Rustpuppy on the old road till she was good and hot
(water temp above 190) I left Goody running and opened the hood. I planned on sitting down and
watching her run.. Everything seemed normal at
first.. But when I winged
the throttle up to about 5000 rpm it was obvious that something was seriously
wrong with the fan clutch..
The fan was wobbling and hitting on the home-made shroud.. (hmmm, that would explain the
nasty noise)
It is
the weirdest damn problem..
When the clutch is cold it seems to work fine with no wobbling at
all.. But when it heats up
it wobbles like hell and seems to lock up as well.. This is very bad as it would spin the fan at over 8000
rpm when I would race.. It is not
designed to ever spin that
fast.. And
it was chewing on the shroud too..
So
Rustpuppy is parked till I get a new replacement fan clutch..
More to
come..
Rick
Draganowski
From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
To: “Nova
List” <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy Test&Tune 118
Date: Thursday,
July 25, 2002 5:53 PM
After
going to town for groceries (fell off my diet again) and important fan clutch
for Rustpuppy I started in on the enjoyable job of swapping it out..
T&t118-1.jpg
shows Goody with the fan shroud and fan off.. Never get tired of looking at her.. Notice the skinny
radiator. It’s amazing
thinness shows up well in t&t118-2.jpg.
It is the stock radiator for a 76 six cylinder car with
air conditioning..
I have a three-core in stock (came with Junkyard Dawg) but it needs some
repair work.. So far
the skinny job has been just fine in the cool coastal climate here..
You can
see the fan, shroud, and old and new clutches in t&t118-3,jpg.. The clutch that has gone all wobbly is
the original fan clutch that came on Rustpuppy back in 1976.. Cheap thingy only lasted 26 years..
You can
see where the fan has been munching on the shroud in t&t118-4.jpg. With it all back together you can see
the normal clearance in the area where it was chewing.. (t&t118-5.jpg)
Then it
was time for some testing..
I took Rustpuppy out to blast around on the old road and sneak up on
highway 101 for some full throttle mischief.. Seems like a big improvement in response with the
velvety smooth revving from Goody that I have grown to love so much.. A test 0-60 run went
well with the great time of 4.59 seconds and the old familiar early appearance
of the shift light.. Almost
catches me by surprise each time as it comes up shortly after 3 seconds into
the run..
Now it
is time to do something about the Rustpuppy rump rust issue..
More to
come..
Rick
Draganowski
From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
To: “Nova
List” <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy Test&Tune 119
Date: Friday,
July 26, 2002 2:54 PM
Last
evening just a little after eight PM the weather was perfect for some
testing. The ocean was flat
and glassy, the wind died down to nothing, and it was about 65 degrees.. The humidity has been way down
for days so the road should be dry as a bone..
I took
Rustpuppy down the hill just planning on some innocent fooling around on the
old road but the temptation to sneak up on Rustpuppy Run was too strong for
me.. I should know
better as the gaping hole is still uncovered in Rustpuppy’s rump and the left
taillight assembly is still on my workbench in the shop.. In that condition Rustpuppy
is pure ticket bait..
I lurked
at the entrance to highway 101 waiting for traffic to clear. Finally a quiet moment occured and I
quickly zoomed up to the southbound staging area. The launch went well with just a little bit of
cold bog and Goody was sounding great and pulling good. The nose up attitude without the
front bumper brought on the floating sensation above 100mph but Rustpuppy was
still tracking straight as can be.. The time was most excellent for crappy
summer 92 octane at 13.44@108.7 on the G-Tech..
Normally
Rustpuppy runs in the mid 13.6’s to 13.7’s with summer blend gas so the cold
air induction system is making a difference..
Couldn’t
get a northbound run due to traffic..
(it is the height of the tourist season) and motored innocently back to
the north turn around area. Spent
some more time lurking waiting for another break in the traffic.. I noticed that my hands were shaking
slightly from the excitement.. What a rush.. The perfect antidote for mild depression..
Staging
in the exact same place for another southbound run I was a bit disappointed
with the launch.. The
heating of the transmission fluid raised the stall rpm enough to lose the
delicate balance of forces needed for a proper launch on the hard street
tires.. As a result
the wheelspin in first gear was much more than optimum.. The rest of the run went great
with no apparent problems from heating up. The time was 13.54@108.1 on the G-Tech.
Then I
decided to head home.. But I
did one more 0-60 test on the old road on the way home to verify that the heat
problem was gone. Time
was 4.9 seconds with quite a bit of wheelspin in first.. Still perky..
So far
so good. My theory is that a
combination of partially plugged fuel filter and defective fan clutch were
acting together to cause the miserable problems I had been seeing.
More to
come..
Rick
Draganowski
(gotta fix
that taillight)
From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
To: “Nova
List” <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy Test&Tune 120
Date: Tuesday,
July 30, 2002 1:05 AM
After
staying on my diet for a week I decided to take myself on a picnic last Friday
afternoon. I planned
on driving (in the most excellent Suburban) the 45 miles down the coast to
Brookings to buy a bucket of chicken at KFC and enjoy a one-person picnic.
On the
way down I stopped at Pistol River and took a couple pictures.. This is one of the hot spots for the
windsurfers.. See
t&t120-1.jpg and t&t120-2a.
If you look close in the second picture you can see the yellow sail of
one of the windsurfers..
After fetching
the chicken I parked on the entrance drive above the Lone Ranch State Park and
pigged out.. What fun. See t&t120-3a.jpg and
t&t120-4a.jpg...
Next day
I hitched up PuppyTrailer and went into town to pick up my neat little red lawn
tractor.. The problem
with the Briggs&Stratton motor was just a blown head gasket. I was appalled at the poor
engineering of the headbolt spacing on this otherwise well-designed
motor.. I scanned in
the blown gasket and marked the head bolt positions with red H’s and the blown
area with a red X..
See BriggsHeadGasket.jpg.. It is obviously a screwed up design and Chris
said that he has been getting a lot of these motors in on warrantee repairs
with the exact same problem..
Damn..
You can
see me unloading the tractor in a chicken way by hand without climbing up on it
and just rolling it off the trailer in t&t120-5a.jpg.
A lot of
fun but no Nova content..
And there was Rustpuppy sitting there with the taillight gone just
waiting for me to start fixing her up..
Sigh.. Real soon
now.. See t&t120-6a.jpg.
More to
come..
Rick Draganowski
From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
To: “Nova
List” <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy Test&Tune 121
Date: Tuesday,
July 30, 2002 1:39 AM
Big
doings on Sunday. Couple of logger
friends came over to dispose of the row of dead cedar trees at the top of my
property. But they still
charged me a hundred bux..
It was worth it.. The
fungus killed Port Orford Cedars were getting so dried and britttle that I was
worried that they would be blown over on Junkyard Dawg and Yakima Sue..
Them
Novas is precious to me..
Couple
pictures from hill above my property.
First a telephoto shot showing the 50 foot tall dead cedar still next to
the old house but the line of smaller dead trees gone.. Wide angle shot showing
whole neighborhood..
And then
approaching my front yard on the old road.. Left the stumps about 5 feet tall to use as
fence posts.. It sure
opens up the view and makes the place look much better..
More to
come..
Nova
work next..
Rick
Draganowski
From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
To: “Nova
List” <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy Test&Tune 122
Date: Tuesday,
July 30, 2002 3:06 AM
Finally
getting down to business and overcoming my innate revulsion to auto body work I
started on fixing Rustpuppy’s rump.. In t&t122-1.jpg you can see the rivets
I added to hold the taillight assembly metal patch plate that the previous
owner inserted when he Bondoed up Rustpuppy’s rump back in ‘92.. Rustpuppy’s rump has
been rotting for some time you see..
Reassembling
the taillight housing and using some industrial grade duct tape to hold the
taillight socket in place I prepared to bend the assembly back into place and
add the aluminum flashing patches.
It went together better than I expected.. See t&t122-2.jpg, t&t122-3.jpg, and
t&t122-4.jpg..
Then I
addressed the right taillight assembly. It is partially held in place by the Nova
emblem.. (t&t122-5.jpg)
After
removing the emblem and while scraping off decayed Bondo with a screwdriver the
right taillight assembly fell off..
It was just some Bondo at the bottom plus the emblem that was holding it
in place.. See
t&t122-6.jpg.
Giving
up for the day I set the right taillight in place loosely and took one more
picture.. (t&t122-7.jpg)