Like a kid in a lollie shop

Well things are getting closer. I'm having the car scrutiniered tonight so fingers crossed everything is o.k, and they will let me race this weekend.

My safety gear arrive!, This includes, Racing helmet, new safety harness, Race suit, Nomex fireproof underwear, balaclava, boots, gloves and lots of other stuff.

Most of my gear is RCI brand. (Racers Choice International) and is made in the USA.

I purchased it through Rocket Industries in Sydney. A big thank you to Sam Walsh and the guy's who was extremely helpful in my selections and advise. (check out their website in my links section for all your racing and performance gear)

Gee this hobby is expensive.

On another note, I have received my new car race number. As number 09 is already taken, my new number is 91
A quick trip to the sign writer, and a new roof mounted sign and were almost done.
The car is still at the mechanics, so I hope everything can get sorted for tonight.
Damon

Holy Holley

Well it arrived! The brand new 350 Holley. This is the largest carburettor allowed in Production sedan racing. If only it was simple to install.

Being a bit of a mechanical virgin regarding the engine I ran into a few issues in the fitting.

The space plate provided, didn't match up with the intake manifold. Secondly when the carby was bolted to the plate, it hit the thermostat housing.

Solution?

Mount the carby backwards!

A big thanks to "Holley Carbs Perth" for their assistance and advise with the purchase and the fitting.

I cut out the centre of the intake manifold to reduce the obstruction to the fuel/air mixture. and a bit of TIG welding later and it was all installed.
Now to get the thing running.

Problem. Shes Not A Firing!

No spark at the plugs. Another trip to Auto one and the guys sorted me out with a new distributor rotor, plugs and ignition coil.

At last it started. Running a bit rough though. Time for a real mechanic to have a look. I dropped the car of yesterday at VJ Auto in Margaret River. Two hours later and Vic called to say it was only running on three cylinders. Another set of plugs and a new set of contact points and its all back on track. Now I just need to give it a work out early next week.
The big news now is that I am madly trying to get all my paperwork done so I can race in the last speedway meeting in Margaret River on Sat 26th April. (weather permitting)

I will kept everyone informed of the process.

Damon

Strip those decals

It was messy and time consuming but I've been busy removing the decals. If I'm going to put on a fresh coat of paint, the old stickers have to come off. This also presents me with the opportunity to get my own sponsorship. (stay tuned).

Its pretty simple to remove.
A drill with wire brush attachment and some strong arms and 5.5 hours latter I'm nearly finished.

I've also replaced the battery terminal ends. The old ones looked dodgy and with the inherent risk of a cabin fire, due to the fuel lines running through the cab, it was in my best interest to change these over. When your doing 140kh down the straight you don't want to be seeing blue sparks arcing inside, do you?

I flushed out the radiator and figured that replacing the thermostat would also be a wise move.

When i removed the old one and took it into the local boys at Auto 1 Margaret River, The new one just didn't look right.

The old one had 8 holes drilled into it. A bit of research on the Internet solved this mystery.

The holes serve a couple of purposes. They allow water to pass through to the radiator whilst the engine is warming up. This prevents cavitation of the water in the head and block. But the main function is to protect the Head Gasket from failure. As thermostats get older there chance of not opening increases. Al owing some water to flow past will reduce potential damage to the head and gasket. Also as these cars are raced in 2nd gear, maximum RPM, the increased water flow back to the rear cabin mounted radiator, helps keep the engine from overheating.

Coming up next, The Holy Holley arrives!

Cheers Damon