Everything was going so well. I was actually ahead of schedule and I tried to start the car this weekend! Unfortunately, the God of amateur race car builder was on vacation, and Murphy answered the call instead.

- fuel leak: fuel rail connection inexplicably was seeping fuel. Found the old washers were still on - along with the new ones. Old washers removed, leak fixed. DOH.
- oil leak: seeping oil at the valve cover when filling the oil in the engine. A quick removal showed a deformed valve cover gasket. High temp silicone is on for now, with a handful of new gaskets on order from Majestic.
- dead starter: Pep Boyz has a new one, $100 and an hour of cursing later.
- new battery: didn't come charged from the store. DOH! Now charged.
- Water leak: that was icing on the cake. A leak at the junction of the water pump and the water pipe that goes to the thermostat. On the back of the block. It took a solid hour of more cursing (bilingual, this time) to finnagle the ******* thermostat housing out of its nest of water hoses and wires. Turns out a $1 o-ring was pinched when we installed it. Log on to Majestic again. Order 4 of the bastards. At least, i had to drain the radiator to remove the water pipe, which turned out to make me feel better since all I had in there was water and water wetter and the temps are VERY low at night. I was getting nervous about freezing the water in the block - although it has not frozen in the garage yet.

Grrrr. I think I should be able to keep to my original schedule and start the engine by 1/3/2005.

On a side note, I got my 12x20 canopy for xmas. Now I need to go to Lowes to get some electrical conduit - lots of it. What do ya'll do to keep your canopies from flying off? Seems like staking them in asphalt or concrete ain't gonna work too well.

cheers.

 

almost there, seabass!

Go to sears - http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr...51000 - its on sale, smokin deal. I have the 12x15 version (that may be on sale in store too - I paid $80 for mine). Takes 3 or 4 to put it up, but its awesome.

 

I already have the canopy (reading is fun-damental ) but thanks for the link.

 

D'oh! Well.... ****. Tie it down to your street/rain tires - works for me.

 

that was my first thought as well. I can get some bungees to attach them I guess. I will also buy a 6" PVC pipe to hold all the metal conduit together. Next i'll have to find a way to attach it to the trailer. There's a lot of little details to take care of still...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .RJ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I have the 12x15 version (that may be on sale in store too - I paid $80 for mine). Takes 3 or 4 to put it up, but its awesome.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Awwwww, so cute! You got curtains on yours!

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SJR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I will also buy a 6" PVC pipe to hold all the metal conduit together. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Can I ask what the conduit and pvc is for?

 

when you buy the "cheap" canopies through places like racer wholesale, they just send you the tarp, connectors and bungees. You need to suply lengths of metal conduit to act as poles and legs. They recommend to buy 1" Electrical Metal Conduit from your local home depot or lowes. I will need a total of 18 pieces, ranging between 6+ feet to 10 feet.
I will use a 10 foot long, 6" diameter PVC pipe to store all 18 pieces of 1" conduit.

HTH.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SJR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Unfortunately, the God of amateur race car builder was on vacation, and Murphy answered the call instead.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I need that on a banner in my garage

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SJR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Turns out a $1 o-ring was pinched when we installed it. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Little pointer....try a little Vasaline in those coolant pipe O rings before installing.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Track rat &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">a little Vasaline in those coolant pipe O rings before installing.</TD></TR></TABLE>

So thats how you boys do it down in NC....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .RJ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

So thats how you boys do it down in NC....

</TD></TR></TABLE>


lmao

 

(with 'Deliverance's Dueling Banjos' playing in the background...) Yeah big boy, Vaseline is good for getting almost anything into a tight place


Modified by Track rat at 8:09 AM 12/31/2004


Modified by Track rat at 8:09 AM 12/31/2004

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SJR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">that was my first thought as well. I can get some bungees to attach them I guess. I will also buy a 6" PVC pipe to hold all the metal conduit together. Next i'll have to find a way to attach it to the trailer. There's a lot of little details to take care of still...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Bungees are a recipe for disaster when the winds pick up. They do and will fail in high winds. Use motorcylce tie downs hooked to spare tire/wheel/trailer/truck during the day and hooked to the car fenders or wheels overnight.

All the conduit in a 6" tube makes for a heavy load. And if you mount it solid, you will be fishing for the shorter sections. Think about using simple metal pockets that each end of tubes can sit in and then secure them with the left over bungees.

Rick

 

Thanks for the vaseline tip, Track Rat - I definitely don't want to have to take it off again.

Good points, Turfer. I hadn't thought about these two points. I am not sure that I understand your suggestion about metal pockets. Can you further explain?

thanks
Sebastien.

 

I think he's saying that if you try to mount a large PVC tube to hold 50-75 lbs. of conduit, the mounting points could pull out (or just think wisely about how you mount the 6" tubes). Think he's just suggesting you use something of stronger material at the front and back (cup like) to hold them in place - I could be reading him wrong however.

I thought of a lot of different contraptions to get mine around (7' and 6' sections) and ended up just putting them in the back of the race car. The upside is they don't have much chance to develop rust since they are relatively enclosed - the downside is that its always in the car (ergo in the way) between races cause I was very often too lazy to remove them.

 

yeah, cup like ends is what I thought of at first, but with 10', 6', and 7' lengths I am not sure how that's gonna work if they are all loose. i guess this is where a monster Schultz-like excursion would come in handy, eh?