Started off really good. The new BOSS motor makes 30 hp more on half the boost (only 7psi) of the old motor (making 461 at the tires).
Thursdays practice was going well. The new power made me much more comfortable on the course. Although I was dropping a bit in the middle of the bank, I could now make the entire bank without too much trouble, and was working on putting together a few entirely clean runs. At about 2 pm, the motor started to act up. It was losing a lot of power intermitently. The problem got much worse, and I couldnt even spin the tires loose in 1st.
We brought the car back to our pit, and looked for problems. We quickly discovered a vaccuum line from the blow off valve to the Vaccuum tree on the firewall had been sitting on the headers, and had caught fire. It burned through all the way to the vaccuum tree on the firewall, and melted that too.
With only 1 hour left in practice, we ran out to a bunch of Ford dealers and Kragens. We discovered it was a dealer only part, and the only dealer that had it was 20 miles away. I decided to try my luck at the junkyard only 2 blocks from Irwindale. After some BS at the junkyard, we picked one up for $20.
We got back to the track, and slapped it all back together with some new vaccuum line. As we got ready to head out on track, a big crash ended the day early.
Friday AM the car ran, but I wasnt convinced it was 100%. Unfortunately I could only tell by running the car hard under load in 3rd gear to see if it did indeed still have a problem. With FD having such a tight leash on the pits, we couldnt even attempt to get to third gear.
The first practice lap showed there was still a problem It was now running super rich, and fouling plugs. We replaced plugs, a few questionable wires, and took apart the MAF to clean it. We even tried swapping MAFs and filters with Geoffs (Thanks Geoff!) from his drift 5.0 in the parking lot. Nothing fixed it. After talking with the tuner on the phone, we tried removing the SCT chip he'd written for the car. The car ran much better- but again, I couldnt tell how it would be under load.
During all the thrashing to diagnose and repair the car, an FD official apparently told someone in my crew that qualifying would be starting. I never got this info, and no one claimed to have heard it. The official saw my car torn apart, and assumed we'd be out for the day. As I went to line up, I was told I had forfeited my 1st (of 2) qual runs.
I waited for my 2nd qual run to come up. As I took off on the start, I immediately new I wouldnt be making it into the top 32. The car was down on power, and wasnt gonna have enough to make the entire bank. I gave it all I had. The car dropped all the way to the flat on the bank and I had to straighten to keep the car going the right direction. A second attempt at completing the bank left me in a spin.... .... .... not the way I wanted to end my season.
This was a really tough event for me to swallow, after feeling soo good on Thursday. I'm not saying I would have made top 10, probably not even top 16. But I believe with my runs on Thursday that I definately had a chance at a top 32 on Friday. Until next year........
It sucked that the car was not up to 100%, but it was nice to see you and all the Mustang guys. I always love an opportunity to shoot the shit for a few hours.
We need to figure out how to get both of our cars running at the same time, on the same track.
Seriously. Dude, imagine if we could get David licensed, and your car fully legal (and painted) in time for the only round of team comp next year at Long Beach!
I have to do some serious work over the short break. I think I need to completely dissasemble Drift Patrol #1 and redo everything. Look for after-cooler systems on both cars before the start of next season.
Thanks again Geoff for offering up your car for parts. Really wish you could have seen Thursday- but I'll work on getting you some footage from Thurs. Tonys crew guy got some useable footage unlike my guys-
Another dissappointing weekend.
Started off really good. The new BOSS motor makes 30 hp more on half the boost (only 7psi) of the old motor (making 461 at the tires).
Thursdays practice was going well. The new power made me much more comfortable on the course. Although I was dropping a bit in the middle of the bank, I could now make the entire bank without too much trouble, and was working on putting together a few entirely clean runs. At about 2 pm, the motor started to act up. It was losing a lot of power intermitently. The problem got much worse, and I couldnt even spin the tires loose in 1st.
We brought the car back to our pit, and looked for problems. We quickly discovered a vaccuum line from the blow off valve to the Vaccuum tree on the firewall had been sitting on the headers, and had caught fire. It burned through all the way to the vaccuum tree on the firewall, and melted that too.
With only 1 hour left in practice, we ran out to a bunch of Ford dealers and Kragens. We discovered it was a dealer only part, and the only dealer that had it was 20 miles away. I decided to try my luck at the junkyard only 2 blocks from Irwindale. After some BS at the junkyard, we picked one up for $20.
We got back to the track, and slapped it all back together with some new vaccuum line. As we got ready to head out on track, a big crash ended the day early.
Friday AM the car ran, but I wasnt convinced it was 100%. Unfortunately I could only tell by running the car hard under load in 3rd gear to see if it did indeed still have a problem. With FD having such a tight leash on the pits, we couldnt even attempt to get to third gear.
The first practice lap showed there was still a problem It was now running super rich, and fouling plugs. We replaced plugs, a few questionable wires, and took apart the MAF to clean it. We even tried swapping MAFs and filters with Geoffs (Thanks Geoff!) from his drift 5.0 in the parking lot. Nothing fixed it. After talking with the tuner on the phone, we tried removing the SCT chip he'd written for the car. The car ran much better- but again, I couldnt tell how it would be under load.
During all the thrashing to diagnose and repair the car, an FD official apparently told someone in my crew that qualifying would be starting. I never got this info, and no one claimed to have heard it. The official saw my car torn apart, and assumed we'd be out for the day. As I went to line up, I was told I had forfeited my 1st (of 2) qual runs.
I waited for my 2nd qual run to come up. As I took off on the start, I immediately new I wouldnt be making it into the top 32. The car was down on power, and wasnt gonna have enough to make the entire bank. I gave it all I had. The car dropped all the way to the flat on the bank and I had to straighten to keep the car going the right direction. A second attempt at completing the bank left me in a spin.... .... .... not the way I wanted to end my season.
This was a really tough event for me to swallow, after feeling soo good on Thursday. I'm not saying I would have made top 10, probably not even top 16. But I believe with my runs on Thursday that I definately had a chance at a top 32 on Friday. Until next year........
It sucked that the car was not up to 100%, but it was nice to see you and all the Mustang guys. I always love an opportunity to shoot the shit for a few hours.
We need to figure out how to get both of our cars running at the same time, on the same track.
Seriously. Dude, imagine if we could get David licensed, and your car fully legal (and painted) in time for the only round of team comp next year at Long Beach!
I have to do some serious work over the short break. I think I need to completely dissasemble Drift Patrol #1 and redo everything. Look for after-cooler systems on both cars before the start of next season.
Thanks again Geoff for offering up your car for parts. Really wish you could have seen Thursday- but I'll work on getting you some footage from Thurs. Tonys crew guy got some useable footage unlike my guys-
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