From: Rick
Draganowski <dragan@harborside.com>
To: Nova
List <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy
Test&Tune 149
Date: Wednesday,
April 16, 2003 7:53 PM
It has been far too long since the last report.
First I want to apologize to the list for my silence and for the
grumpy nature of the few posts I
have made in the last couple months..
What happened is that I took on a contract job with an unreasonable schedule
and unforeseen difficulties.
I was desperate for the money and it was doing a friend a favor so I
gave it my best shot.
But I am too old for the long hours and difficult (read impossible)
deadlines and ended up sick as a dog from the stress.. My heart issues reared their ugly
head for the first time in about three years and my arthritis took a serious
turn for the worse..
But despite missing the first deadline (due to illness) I made the
second one and am past 90 percent of the difficulty.. Whew..
I really got messed up.. Almost had to go to the Emergency room.. And then to add insult to
injury the weather for the last month would have been more normal in
February.. It has been
unusually cold, windy, and rainy..
Brr.. I am behind in everything..
I ended up with open ulcers on my feet. (they are all twisted up from the arthritis and even a
little bit of walking causes pressure sores.. Hell..) Doctor
Williams did a little surgery on them yesterday and I am supposed to stay in
bed.. And not even sit
at the computer.. So
with my laptop out of service I am really out of it..
But enough whining..
We only had about 2 or 3 good days out of the last 7 weeks of
miserable weather.. But I
did manage to fool with Rustpuppy a little.. Took her to town last month and filled the tank with 92
octane Texaco (Shell). It
seems to be pretty good gas this time so I am looking forward to some racing
and testing of the Drag Radials.. I did one 0-60 run on the old road.
Pulled a 5.12 second time despite wheelspin due to the dampness of
the road.. I
need dry roads for proper testing..
Damn.. It has
rained every day for more than 5 weeks straight.. And it has been cold too..
I did find out that without any obstruction of the exhaust the
circulation through the crossover passage in the Performer manifold is poor and
the hot spot never gets more than lukewarm till the motor is fully warmed up.
This is why I am stuck with the bogging problem.. But since the heat is not
working but Goody performs flawlessly when up to operating temperature I expect
to get good results from the Vic Jr manifold that is waiting for installation..
Edelbrock has delayed shipping the special Q-Jet to single plane
adaptor for over a month but I expect it any day now..
During another momentary break in the weather (it was still too
damp and windy for serious racing) I did manage to check the g-force readings
on a reasonably dry stretch on the old road.. It was difficult as most of the time
the cold bog interfered with a good reading.. Here is a batch of them.. 0.75G, 0.72G, 0.73G, and one
pretty good one at 0.80G..
So I am expecting good things when it is possible to race safely..
I took the cutout assemblies to town (in the Suburban) and showed
them to Tim Harding and asked him how much it would cost to make the 4 cuts and
welds to install them on Rustpuppy.. He said only 30 bucks! I guess he pities me..
I still have to do some under Rustpuppy work to move the emergency
brake cable guide rod (replace it with a different design) so Rustpuppy is half
way jacked up high enough for drilling some holes under there.. And it has rained and rained..
After establishing a baseline the cutouts go on (and the noise
gets serious).. And after
testing of those the Vic Jr and special adaptor go on.. I have to get another
Pyrometer going to verify the effects on mixture and fuel distribution as
well.. So there is
plenty of work pending on the Rustpuppy front..
I better go lie down for a while..
More to come..
Rick
Draganowski
(sorry
old basket case)
From: Rick
Draganowski <dragan@harborside.com>
To: Nova
List <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy
Test&Tune 150
Date: Sunday,
April 20, 2003 4:13 PM
It has been an extra wet spring.. Including winter
weather.. In
t&t150-a.jpg you can see the flats below Rustpuppy Run are flooded. This picture was taken
after most of the water drained away. The whole flat was flooded on both sides of
Highway 101.. A
messy place to go off the road..
The mudhole in the top of the yard where I have been parking the
Suburban reached critical levels with about 6 or 7 inches of bog.. Right to the limit of
traction so I have been parking the Suburban up next to Yakima Sue and walking
in to my hovel.. See
t&t150-b.jpg.
Finally on Friday afternoon the rain stopped and the sun came
out.. I was coming home from
the pharmacy in Gold Beach when I took this welcome snapshot.. See t&t150-c.jpg..
Later that afternoon I went to take Rustpuppy for a ride and found
that a damn little bird had found it’s way in.. And left it’s opinion of me on the steering wheel,
dash, and windowsills..
I don’t get no respect..
See t&t150-d.jpg..
I did a couple 0- 60 runs but the roads were still soggy.. It had been raining just
that morning.. Times were
fair at 5.08 seconds and 4.89 seconds on the G-Tech.. And it was great fun..
The prediction for Saturday was for sunny and a high of 55-58
degrees.. I am hoping it
will warm up in my shop enough to allow me to take care of the Ray Buck Axle
Cover Project..
At 11:00 am I noticed that it was still too cold.. About 53 outside and
50 even in the shop..
But..
I noticed that there was no wind at all.. Hmmm.. Maybe it is time to
go out on Rustpuppy Run..
I did one G-force of launch test on the way and got a marginal 0.77g..
When I got to the highway I saw that there was no traffic and no
wind.. And the road looked pretty
dry.. Most excellent.. Since Goody was
not up to operating temp I didn’t expect much from the first run..
It went smooth as silk.. Considerable bog right at launch but it only
lasted a short time.. Then
Rustpuppy took off with gratifying speed.. The shifts came up fast enough to indicate a reasonable run
and the tracking with the Drag Radials was perfect.. Rustpuppy could be held to within an inch
of planned track.. I stayed
on the throttle past the end of the quarter mile to check out the high speed
stability..
All the way up to about 5600 rpm in third (about 112-115 mph) it was steady and solid.. Nothing at all like the squirmy,
squirrelly ET Street wrinklewalls..
Well worth the money for those BFG Drag Radials..
The time was better than expected considering the big cold bog and
Goody being pulled down below 2700 rpm by the cold converter.. It was 13.77@106.2 on
the G-Tech.. And
more fun than I have had in a long, long time..
I was hoping for enough warmth from the sunshine to get my shop up
to workable temperature.. At about
3:00 pm I went out to do some work on
the axle cover..
It was about 57 degrees in the shop.
T&t150-3.jpg shows the setup on the Bridgeport to do the rough
milling of the Summit logo..
It is mostly gone by t&t150-4.jpg..
And right at the time I took the shot of the first
fine flycut the battery in the camcorder expired.. And since I had been out for an hour so did
I.. See t&t150-5.jpg..
Today, Sunday, another cold front came through.. And it has been cold windy rain most
of the day.. I am staying in
and staying warm..
The prediction says rain and cold till next weekend.. Rats..
More to come..
Rick Draganowski
From: Rick
Draganowski <dragan@harborside.com>
To: Nova
List <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Non
Nova Lilies for Easter
Date: Tuesday,
April 22, 2003 6:51 AM
Yesterday I noticed that the lilies have bloomed up at the top of
the hill where I go to pray..
They were there for Easter Sunday..
See pictures..
Rick Draganowski
From: Rick
Draganowski <dragan@harborside.com>
To: Nova
List <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy
Test&Tune 150 addendum 3
Date: Tuesday,
April 22, 2003 6:58 AM
I had promised (mostly to myself) that Ray’s axle cover would be
in the mail on Monday.. So despite the cold and wet I pushed
myself out into the shop yesterday morning.. It was only 47 inside but I knew that if I
worked fast I could have it finished and ready to ship in just a few minutes..
The finishing of the aluminum casting turned out to be the quick
part. Fooling around with the swivel-footed bolts took a little longer. But the feet are in place,
lubed, and peened so they will never fall off again.. See t&t150-6.jpg and t&t150-7,jpg..
Then after careful packing the box was ready to go
back to Utah.. Delivered it to the
Post Office at about 1:00 pm...
This weather is really getting on my nerves..
More to come.
Rick Draganowski
From: Rick
Draganowski <dragan@harborside.com>
To: Nova
List <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy
Test&Tune 151
Date: Monday,
May 05, 2003 8:08 AM
During a small break in the miserable spring weather last week I
checked the air filter in Rustpuppy. I noticed that the filter that fits into the PCV
hose bracket had been blown out and stuck back in the narrow spot at the rear
of the housing.. See
(t&151-1a.jpg)
It must get damn windy in there at full
throttle.. This issue preyed on my
mind. There had to be a more
elegant solution. The next time I
was in town when I stopped at NAPA I noticed a new display of Mr.Gasket odds
and ends.. Hanging there was
a spiffy push-in filter for the valve cover PCV vent.. Much better.. (See t&151-2a.jpg)
The only problem was the fancy chrome plating.. Entirely out of place
onGoody.. I
attacked it with the die grinder armed with a small flap wheel.. (See t&151-3a.jpg and
t&151.4b.jpg) That
ground the surface down to be rough enough for paint to adhere..
Then I painted it with the Oldsmobile Blue Engine
paint from NAPA.. (See
t&t151-5a.jpg)
Naturally I botched it and put too thick a coating
and caused some unsightly runs.. Damn.. Will sand it off and try again when it stops
raining.. If it stops raining..
And the stock hose system has to be removed and the hole in the
housing covered..
More to come.
Rick Draganowski
From: Rick
Draganowski <dragan@harborside.com>
To: Nova
List <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy
Test&Tune 152
Date: Monday,
May 12, 2003 11:12 AM
In the last report I mentioned how I screwed up the Oldsmobile
Blue engine paint on the Mr. Gasket PCV filter. This time I ground the chrome completely off down to
the bare steel. See
t&152-1.jpg.
Then instead of being in a hurry
and putting on one thick runny coat I put on three thin coats.. This is the secret of proper
painting. Never be in a hurry. See t&152-2.jpg and t&152-3.jpg
for the results.
Then it was time for a quick installation. The grommet in the valve cover
yielded eventually and when removed presented a smaller hole than I
expected.. See t&152-4.jpg.
Note the temporary installation
of the tiny Edelbrock air cleaner. The stock stud is too short so I have to install
the top upside down. In
t&152-5.jpg you can see everything was ready.
I had been assured (by someone who should know) that the
aftermarket filter (designed for a 1.25” hole) was proper for this application.. Well that advice was
wrong. In t&152-6.jpg,
t&t152-7.jpg, and t&t152-8.jpg it is obvious that there is a serious
mismatch.
This is due to the diameter of
the hole being less than an inch and the diameter of the rubber spigot being
over 1.25”.
Rats, after all the work on the damn paint. That is what I get for not
checking it myself.
During this adventure I noticed some interesting data. You can see in t&152-9.jpg
and t&152-10.jpg clumps of rust crumbs collected at the bottom of the
restriction in the rear of the air cleaner housing. They must have been sucked into the
snorkel during full throttle blasts..
Rustpuppy is always shedding bits and pieces..
Also notice the base of the air cleaner had a graphic indication
of “reversion” of the intake.
It was installed before the paint was fully cured and the gasoline
discolored the paint.
See t&152-12a,jpg and t&152-13a,jpg.
Note that only the front two
barrels have the marks. This
is because reversion is usually only present at low rpm when the overlap of the
cam sends strong pressure pulses into the intake. They actually make the carburetor work in reverse,
blowing an air/fuel mixture out of the inlet. At full throttle with the secondaries open the rpm
induced inertial effects prevent reversion..
Back on the PCV filter.
In my shop left over from back in 1982 or so I had a new air filter for
the Briggs and Stratton engine on a Sears lawnmower.. It looked like it could be adapted easily to a 1” hole. Since I don’t want to force that
stubborn grommet back in and replace the weenie stock pipe and air cleaner
filter I decided on a temporary installation. See t&152-14a.jpg.
It will take a while to do the
machining on the rubber spigot to get the Mr. Gasket part to fit.
I need to do some modifications on the air cleaner housing. It vibrates and
flexes the thin metal of the housing.
Eventually it will cause fatigue cracking.. I am thinking of support struts attached to the wire loom
brackets on the valve covers.
More to come.
Rick Draganowski
From: Rick
Draganowski <dragan@harborside.com>
To: Nova
List <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy
Test&Tune 153
Date: Tuesday,
May 13, 2003 9:37 AM
The endless story continues.. First a digression. I am planning to rebuild and
install a smogger Q-Jet on the Suburban in place of the good race Q-Jet. Like all of my projects
this one is backed up as well.
I had the carbs cluttering up the floor in my office/home and they were
getting in the way. What
better place to store them to both get them out of the way and to constantly
remind me to get busy on this project than this. See t&153-1.jpg
Back to Rustpuppy.
I planned to use the Briggs and Stratton filter for a PCV filter but it
looked shabby with light rust.. So the paint went on. See t&153-2a.jpg
While getting this done I refreshed the paint on the air
cleaner top..
(t&153-3a.jpg)
As the list knows I am always seeking information. I decided that this was a good
time to make an adaptor to allow monitoring the vacuum conditions in the
crankcase generated by the stock PCV system. See t&153-4a.jpg and t&153-5.jpg
The vacuum was about 5-6 inches
of mercury at high idle and low throttle settings. It dropped to zero after about 30-40 seconds when I blasted
down the back road at full throttle trying to stay alive and watch the gauge at
the same time..
Back to the filter.
In t&153-7.jpg you can see that the adaptor to fit it to the valve
cover was just a piece of ¾” heater hose.
T&153-8a.jpg and t&153-9a.jpg show the final
result.
Note the lanyard attached to the filter. The fit from the heater hose to
the valve cover was not very tight so I thought it would be a good idea to
tether the filter so it wouldn’t be lost if it vibrated or blew out on the
highway.
The last picture (t&153-10a.jpg)
shows the stock pipe and
grommet, the fancy new filter, and some engineering notes about
dimensions.. This is
to remind me of another project that is waiting for attention.
More to come.
Rick Draganowski
From: Rick
Draganowski <dragan@harborside.com>
To: Nova
List <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy
Test&Tune 154
Date: Thursday,
May 15, 2003 11:58 AM
After getting into painting just a bit in the last report I
noticed how shabby Rustpuppy’s core mount and cold air inlet were looking. It only takes a few months
in this location for stuff to start deteriorating. See before pictures. (t&154-1a.jpg, t&154-2a.jpg, t&154-3a.jpg,
and t&154-4a.jpg)
Then breaking out the trusty old Rustoleum and the foam brush I
got to work. See after
pictures. (t&154-5a.jpg,
t&154-6a,jpg, and t&154-7a.jpg)
With the top part of the front end done the lower part started to
look shabbier.. But
the bumper has to come off for that.
More to come.
Rick Draganowski
From: Rick
Draganowski <dragan@harborside.com>
To: Nova
List <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy
Test&Tune 155
Date: Thursday,
May 15, 2003 1:44 PM
Making short work of taking the bumper off (the bolts are clean an lubed hehehe) I
pressed on with the balance of Rustoleumizing Rustpuppy’s front bits.. See before and after pictures attached..
But.
Since the bumper was already off, even though the air cleaner
wasn’t finished and the weenie Edelbrock mini-filter in place, perhaps it would
be a good time to check the weather and traffic conditions?
More to come..
Rick
Draganowski
(it
was a really good day)
From: Rick
Draganowski <dragan@harborside.com>
To: Nova
List <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy
Test&Tune 156
Date: Thursday,
May 15, 2003 8:09 PM
Now we are getting to the fun part.
After fooling with the painting under the front bumper. (now
removed) I was inspired and went
ahead and lightened Rustpuppy as much as possible. I took out my spiffy large dial Health-O-Meter
scale and weighed stuff as I went.
Here is a list of the weights again.
1) front bumper plus shock
absorbers, tin panel, and nuts and bolts. Exactly 85 lbs..
2) spare tire (old FR78-14
Michelin that almost matches the 235/60-15 Drag Radials in diameter) 40lbs
2) bumper jack plus stock
lug wrench and a large cross type lug wrench 15lbs
3) premium 15 foot jumper
cables from NAPA 7 lbs
I vacuumed the collection of gravel and dirt that had accumulated
in the trunk through the large holes in the quarters. Don’t know the exact weight but I bet it was at least
10 lbs..
Total removed from front 85 lbs
Total removed from rear 62 lbs
Grand Total removed fixed weight 147 lbs (plus 10 lbs of gravel and dirt)
For a Super Grand Total of fixed weight removal at 157 lbs.
Plus I had run out half (11 gallons) of the full tank of gas I
started with (had during last run) 66lbs
So Rustpuppy’s race weight was down the Super Duper Grand Total of
223 lbs..
(plus I have lost some lard as well)
It was late in the day, about 5:30pm so I knew the traffic may be
heavier than normal due to our “rush hour”. There was no wind at all. It had been dry for two days.. Hoo haa!
I jumped in Rustpuppy and took off down the old road. Doing full throttle bursts
to speed up the warm-up. Down at the bottom of the hill I staged for a warm-up
0-60 time. After long
delays in getting out to race the process gets more intense.. Despite a slight
initial bog the time was good at 4.71 seconds.. Oh boy..
Out to the entrance of Highway 101. I was right about the traffic. Cars were coming about 5 or 6
hundred feet apart..
Too cluttered for safe racing.. I cooled it and just backed Rustpuppy
away from the highway to wait for a break in traffic without lurking right at
the highway’s edge.
The break came and I blasted out on highway 101 trying to get to
the southbound staging area as fast as possible.. I love driving Rustpuppy.. Staging area was dry
and clear and there was no traffic in front or behind.
I tried to relax and just sit for a few seconds. Then checked level and
pushed the button on the G-Tech for a run.
At launch there was a small amount of wheelspin from the Drag
Radials due to the lightening of the rear.. It was enough to bring the launch
rpm above 3000 rpm.. This is
good.. The run went
great with Rustpuppy tracking on the windless highway like an arrow.. I stayed on the throttle a bit
past the quarter mile since because of the sun glare I could not see the led
display on the G-Tech..
Then I hit the brakes and pulled Rustpuppy down to a sedate 60
mph.. I shaded the G-Tech
with my hand and could see the time of 13.39.. Good show. And I haven’t even done any tuning for this
season. And Goody was
pulling air through the teeny restrictive little Edelbrock air cleaner without
the cold air inlet..
This is good.
At the second turnaround I sat for a while to relax and wrote down
the whole time It was 13.39@107.6.. Great fun.
I lurked along the highway and waited for a few cars to pass. Then I blasted up 101 to
get to the northbound staging area.
Without the cold air induction and with the extra salt spray on the
highway at the south end I didn’t expect much..
I was right, the wheelspin (of the Drag Radials for goodness sake)
was much more than optimum and some time was lost at the launch. Everything else worked fine
and it was a comfortable run.
I did notice that the sound of Goody seemed higher pitched and scratchy
at high rpm’s. This was probably
due to the tiny air cleaner.. The run ended without incident and since I
could see the led’s I got off the throttle quickly.. By the time I motored slowly back to the turnoff
to my place traffic was coming both directions as far as I could see.. The time for the northbound run was 13.47@107.2 on the G-Tech.
It is two days later but just writing this up has me worked up and
I am shaking from excitement a bit.. It is a great cure for depression..
Now for some technical thoughts that have occurred to me over the
last few months.. It has been puzzling me that the high speed tracking with the
Drag Radials seems much better than the Radial T/A street tires. Then it came to me. I had found
that that optimum traction with the street tires called for a pressure of only
22 psi. When I installed the
Drag Radials I aired them up to 28psi. This makes a significant difference. And I like it a lot.. Just the
opposite of the M/T ET Streets..
Stall at launch is a variable that is difficult to control. The ideal situation would be to
invest in a Midwest converter set for 3300-3400 rpm. Since I can’t afford that,
setting things up for a slight wheelspin is the only way of getting a really
good launch.. But it
sure as hell is not repeatable enough to depend on.. Launch stall below 2800rpm really pulls Goody
down too much..
It is still great fun and when the good runs happen it is a joy..
These were Rustpuppy Runs number 174 and 175..
More to come..
Rick
Draganowski
(racing
is good)
From: Rick
Draganowski <dragan@harborside.com>
To: Nova
List <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy
Test&Tune 157
Date: Saturday,
May 17, 2003 11:56 AM
I spent an hour or so (on the last warm day, Thursday) covering
the hole left by the stock valve
cover breather gizmo. See t&157-1a.jpg, t&157-2a.jpg, t&157-3a.jpg,
and t&157-4a.jpg
While I was at it I refreshed the paint.
The weather turned against me that evening with another damn cold
front. (at least this one is cold and dry instead of cold and wet) But I was out working on
Rustpuppy Friday anyway.
There was a cold wind from the ocean and the temp never got much past 50
degrees.
Still cold today.
The simple little job described below took 5 hours.. Cold weather really slows
me down..
Remember back in Test&Tune 152 I said this: “And I need to do
some modifications on the air cleaner housing. It vibrates and flexes the thin
metal of the housing. Eventually
it will cause fatigue cracking.. I
am thinking of support struts attached to the wire loom brackets on the valve covers.”
I wanted to get this done and get Rustpuppy’s cold air induction
system back on for more racing. First I just stood next to Rustpuppy with the
hood up looking at the problem for a considerable length of time. Then I got the idea
of turning around the mounting bracket for the alternator and using that as an
attachment point for a sturdy strut.
In t&157-5b.jpg you can see the attachment points I visualized
in the red circles.
I decided to fall back on an old standby of mine for this
kind of thing. Good
old half inch thinwall conduit. In a proper design it is a lot stronger than you
think. You just have
to remember to grind the zinc off before welding it. In t&157-6b.jpg you can see the chunk of
conduit I am using has had it’s end flattened neatly in the Kurt AngLock vise
on the Bridgeport. (that
thing squeezes harder than any other vise I have ever used) I am getting ready to drill the
3/8” hole for the bolt to the bottom bracket.
I drilled the hole, then ground the end to a pleasing curve and
did the preliminary install for the next stage. See t&157-7b.jpg, t&157-8b.jpg, and
t&157-9a.jpg,
Going to take a little tweaking. Judicious bending of the conduit and repositioning of
the bracket brought us to t&157-10a.jpg.
Marking and cutting to length took only a few minutes of hacksaw
work. See t&157-11a.jpg.
Then I farted around measuring
and marking the strut to be sure that when I flattened the upper end it would
be at the correct angle to match the
snorkel. I lucked out
an got it right. See
t&157-12a.jpg..
Then I drilled a ¼” hole for the
top stud and wingnut I planned on using and then ground the end to a nice
curve. See
t&157-13a.jpg.
Marking, drilling, and messing about with the location of the top
stud took a lot more time than I expected. Eventually I had to tweak the housing a dozen times or
so with the peen end of my number 3 hammer to get the stud to mount at the right
angle. But it finally
went together just as planned. See t&157-14a.jpg.. I am using stainless steel hardware for
the top stud and wingnut.
Now I have to wait till the everlasting cold wind to die down for
some more
racing..
More to come..
Cutouts are next..
Rick
Draganowski
(old
and cold, and slow)
From: Rick
Draganowski <dragan@harborside.com>
To: Nova
List <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy
Test&Tune 158
Date: Sunday,
May 18, 2003 11:36 AM
Yesterday afternoon I subjected myself to the bitter cold north
wind to put the aluminum hose back on Rustpuppy’s snorkel. The aluminum is starting to
corrode so I plan on painting it soon. When the damn wind stops. See t&158-1b.jpg and t&158-2b,jpg for Goody’s
current looks.
Getting Rustpuppy’s cold air induction system back together inspired
me to take a little test ride. I noticed immediately that the sound of Goody
was back to normal with a deep growl instead of the tinny howl with the mini
air cleaner..
Much more satisfying..
I just went to the other end of Coy Creek Road to do a couple 0-60
times.. They went
excellently well with a time for the first one at 4.71 seconds on the
G-Tech. Then I
immediately backtracked and turned around in the middle of the road to make a
second run from the exact same launch area. It felt good, and the time was 4.70 seconds.. Nicely consistent when
there is no wheelspin..
The asphalt I am launching from on the old road is weathered with the
sharp gravel showing.
Abrasive but great traction..
Due to the lack of wheelspin and the cold weather keeping the ATF
thick and cool so the stall speed is lower the launch times are slower than
they would be on a warmer day, or with slightly less traction.
On the way home I set the G-Tech for g-force and did one launch on
the newer pavement.
Slight wheelspin and a reading of 0.78g.. Someday I hope for consistent 0.83 - 0.84 g but probably not until I
get a new torque converter. Flash stall on the 0-60 times was going only to about 2700-2750 rpm
which is about 400-500 rpm too low for Goody.
One other note about the 0-60 times.. Since I am going fast on a narrow and bumpy old farm
road (the area I use has no entrances or driveways) I must keep my attention on
the road. Between that and the sun
glare it is impossible to see the signal for the 0-60 time from the
G-Tech.. What I normally do
is run to the shift light in first (about 48mph), shift, and then stay on it in
second until I get the light for the 2-3 shift. (about 78mph)
This is pretty damn fast to be going on a narrow bumpy road but
Rustpuppy handles it beautifully.
After I got home I parked Rustpuppy next to Junkyard Dawg. See t&158-3b.jpg
I mowed my acre of grass just 5 days ago and it almost needs
mowing again.. I guess
it is the sunshine.
This has been a strange several days as far as the weather is
concerned. Down in the 30’s at night and clear and cold in the upper 40’s to
lower 50’s in the daytime with a nasty wind out of the northwest to
north.. A large
dry cold air mass sits offshore making me miserable..
Hoping for warmer weather.
More to come.
Rick Draganowski
(still cold, even indoors, from that damn wind)
From: Rick
Draganowski <dragan@harborside.com>
To: Nova
List <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Timing
and whining
Date: Sunday,
May 18, 2003 2:44 PM
The cold wind from the north persists. The only thing I got done today (so far) is check the timing on
Goody. Yup, still 12 degrees
initial and 34 degrees total (centrifugal) advance at about 3300-3400 rpm, Actually when I checked the TDC
location on the cheap Proform 8” damper with my home made piston stop I found
that the TDC is 1 degree off.
So the actual operational advance I figured out with trial and error
(emphasis on the error) is 11
initial and 33 total. (centrifugal) The MSD distributor is not only a work of
art it is mechanical and electrical and electronic perfection..
But even this tiny job was difficult.. Since I planned on staying in due to the cold
weather and do paperwork naturally I got a migraine (cluster) headache about
noon. Which made
me blind for the most part with flashing lightshows in the center of my field
of vision..
Damn.. And I was
driving Rustpuppy to get Goody up to operating temp for the timing check.. At
least I had my peripheral vision.. No racing and no funny business though.
These damn headaches leave me stupid and sick for about two days
afterward..At least I can’t complain about it being age related as I have had
them since I was 17 years old..
Whine, complain.. At least I can read now even if I feel like
crap..
Even my eyes hurt..
More to come.
Rick Draganowski
(have approximately the ambition of a snail that can sleep for two
years)
From: Rick
Draganowski <dragan@harborside.com>
To: Nova
List <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy
Test&Tune 159
Date: Tuesday,
May 20, 2003 1:01 PM
Yesterday (Monday) I had business in town and an appointment back
home at 1pm.. So instead of
waiting till the sun did some good on warming the place up I went out about
10am.. I noticed as I
headed for the Suburban that the wind that has been bugging me for the last
week had stopped.
Delaying the trip to town I piled into Rustpuppy and blasted down
the old road to get some runs in.. I was eager and didn’t do much warmup messing
about.. I did do a dismal
0-60 at 5.73 seconds..
The bog was still pronounced and much time was spent waiting for it to
end.. The
highway looked clear..
I motored to the southbound launch area and got ready..
I was so eager I kept botching the level on the G-Tech and wasting
time.. Before I got my stuff together (the word I am thinking as I write this
is not stuff) an oncoming car appeared..
Damn.. I hoped to salvage
the run so I started motoring slowly south waiting for the oncoming car to
pass.. He finally did but I found myself on an area of Rustpuppy run that had
never been used as a launch area..
Not knowing what to expect I went ahead with the run.. The Drag Radials grabbed the road
and there was no wheelspin at all, no second gear chirp either.. Most excellent
traction.. I stayed on
it past the end of the quarter mile (I was so stoked that I went clear to 6000
rpm in 3rd) and probably was going about 119-120 when I let off..
But.
Due to the excellent traction and the low converter stall the time
was only average at 13.55@107.6.. Since the last few days
have been the only decent weather we had since last fall, every camper, RV, motor home, and old
car with stuff tied on top have been on the road.. Since I need about a mile of traffic free
highway it is almost impossible to make a run.. I went out on attempted runs about 3 or 4
times since and always was blocked..
I decided that the best solution for the above issues is to have
patience, redo the battery box in the trunk, get the cutouts installed, get the
aviation gas.. And take my
time about this stuff..
Also it is nuts for me to be running around on the highway without
a spare or a jack..
I messed around with the scale again and came up with this package that
must go back into the trunk.
See t&159-1.jpg..
A small floor jack, cross wrench, and the 40 lb spare.. The bumper jack would not be much
good on the front since Rustpuppy has no front bumper mounted..
The
floor jack weighs 31 lbs
the
cross wrench weights 4 lbs
the
spare weighs 40 lbs
and
the jumper cables weigh 7 lbs..
This means that I must put back 82 lbs of trunk junk.. Goody just needs more
horsepower..
More to come..
Rick
Draganowski
(lost
in the vacation zone)
From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
Subject: [nova] Rustpuppy
Test&Tune 160
Date: Wednesday,
May 28, 2003 10:04 AM
Rustpuppy
has been jacked up awaiting the
cutout installation for a week
now.
(see t&160-1a.jpg and t&160-2a.jpg (note sturdy jackstands))
The weather finally cleared up and is going to continue to be
good.. So
the
story continues.. So far this
project has been a comedy of errors, or at least poor planning. I suspended the right
cutoff directly under and touching the location that it will be spliced into
the existing exhaust system.
See t&160-3b.jpg and t&160-4c.jpg.
Then
using short pieces of 2 ½” exhaust tubing I did a survey of possible problems
with the location. Naturally
there was one. And serious
too.. Not actually interfering
with the location but ending up solidly against the top of the cutout was the
hat section underseat brace..
It is always something.
See t&160-5c.jpg and t&160-6a.jpg.
My first
instinct to fix this was to cut the brace out (and the one on the other
side).. I thought about
using the air powered cutoff tool.
(see t&160-7a.jpg, think oversized Dremel with over one horsepower..
)
I put
the project on hold to attend to some needed outdoor work on the
property.. Like all my
projects I thought about it while doing other more routine things.. The more I thought the more
the solution stank.. The major
flaws were this.
First, this brace is an important part of the
unit body and removing it would not be a good thing.
Second,
it would take an enormous amount of time and trouble to grind those thick tough
pieces of steel out of there..
And
third, I bought my air compressor in 1980 and has been online cycling
since.. (due to small leaks
it comes on about once or twice an hour)
This puts
it considerably past the end of it’s useful life. It has
So I had
to come up with an alternate solution.
The
first alternate solution was to modify the cutout assemblies to put a jog in it
to avoid the braces. After a day
of consideration and thought this idea started to stink as well..
First,
it would involve modifying my beautiful cutouts.. Cutting them up and gobbing welds on them
really got on my nerves.. I don’t
know if I could make myself clamp them in the Dewalt chopsaw and have at them..
Second,
the changes needed would compromise flow. Not much but enough to be discouraging..
Like a
dead fish in the noonday sun, the more time went by the bigger the stink.. I had to come up with a
reasonable third solution.
Yesterday
I lay on the cardboard under Rustpuppy and tried to clear my mind of
preconceptions. I noticed the good
job Tim had done on the exhaust system. He had tucked it up as high as possible as is
his style. It was well above
the bottom of the subframe..
Then the
idea I should have started with came to me.. Since I was cutting each exhaust in two places
It would be easy to rotate the parts to lower the area that the cutouts splice
into a half inch. And that
was all the clearance I was looking for.. Simple and probably would have happened automatically
if I had not measured and tested.. The bad assumption I had started with was that
the existing route of the exhaust pipe would remain after modification.
This is
a good outcome. Today
I will practice my Sawzall metal tubing cutting techniques (tricky with a
single speed saw, I may just saw
them out with a manual hacksaw) and get started again..
More to
come.
Rick
Draganowski
(sometimes
less is more)
From: “Rick
Draganowski” <dragan@harborside.com>
To: “Nova
List” <nova@engr.smu.edu>
Subject: Rustpuppy Test&Tune 161
Date: Monday,
June 02, 2003 9:19 AM
Naturally
now that the weather has finally cleared up and I can take care of all of the
backed up projects Chuck drops a bombshell on me on the 30th of May.
An
invitation to meet him at Woodburn (by Portland) for some racing.. On the 29th of
June.. So now I got a
deadline.. I am
worried that scheduling for surgery may interfere but I am planning on being
there. (276 miles)
So
Rustpuppy has to be brought up to NHRA standards... Easier said than done.. I am juggling so many projects
that I lose track of too many things.. My short-term memory is fading fast so I am
always looking for something I just had and set down somewhere. Back to Rustpuppy. Chuck and the rulebook sez
that no more than three
This
boggles my mind as a stock disco Nova has three pieces of rubber hose and this
is their lengths from the factory.
Tank pickup
to rear subframe/body-- - 7”
Rear
subframe/body to front subframe- 9”
Front
subframe to fuel pump--------------10”
This is
a total of 26” of rubber tubing from the factory.
Back to
Rustpuppy again. When I was
out measuring the rubber lines. (you know how I am about details) I noticed
that the rear one that goes to the tank pickup had deteriorated since the last
time I inspected it. Everything is
slipping away from me..
It was obviously leaking and I bet
I took pictures of the other two pieces of stock rubber fuel
line. See
</