Alright, the engine is in the car and all the main parts are in place. The alternator, distributor, the belts, the hoses, fuel lines. We've got tires and rims, it's ready to roll, we've got a fuel cell, it's ready to suck gas like a Hoover. It just needs oil, a lot of wiring and it's ready to start.So, are we ready to stop this brute, yes we are, and that's what I'll tell you about this time.
First, let's go back and again check the rules. Originally, the cars had to have the stock brakes, but because the Porsche's, Ferrari's and Mercedes used disc brakes, it gave the Euros a big advantage over a 52 Caddie. In the early renewed version of the race, disc brakes were allowed to be fitted on the front, and nowadays you can upgrade both the front and rears. The dimensions of the brakes are restricted by the wheel size and the drawback for us is the wheel height we're allowed to use, in our case a 15".
Let me tell you, there's not a lot of high performance brake kits for 64 Chevelles out there. In fact there's maybe two, the one we were looking at is made by a company called Wilwood. These folks make brakes for everyone from NASCAR to NHRA drag racers. In talking to their tech guys, the kit they recommended for our size wheel uses a 10 3/4" rotor, and with a little more talk, they decided it would be "inadequate" for what we're doing. Great... now what? We decided just to use that kit for the front and come up with something patched together for the rear.
Wandering around the Internet, looking for a price for the "inadequite" Wilwood kit, I happened on a company called "Hot Rods USA" and spoke with Dean O , the owner. He's pretty busy, anyone who's on a speaker phone must be, but I won't hold that against him as he had the good price which included a proportioning valve and steel brake lines. As we got to talking about the race, he became more interested, and suddenly said, "how about I build you a great set of brakes and help out on the cost". If you've been reading this, you know we're looking for sponsors, so I bite hard on this carrot, "great idea, whatd'ya'got"? He said he'd get back to us with a brake that would work for our wheel size. Now as I said, Dean runs a busy Internet company, so when I talked to him again, he needed to be reminded a couple of times who we were, and what was what, "remember... La Carrera... 64 Chevy"! Well, Dean did remember who we were, and has put together a set of brakes that just fit, by a whisker, inside our wheels. They are beautiful!We both hope to be the ambassadors for better brakes for everyone at the La Carrera.
Wandering around the Internet, looking for a price for the "inadequite" Wilwood kit, I happened on a company called "Hot Rods USA" and spoke with Dean O , the owner. He's pretty busy, anyone who's on a speaker phone must be, but I won't hold that against him as he had the good price which included a proportioning valve and steel brake lines. As we got to talking about the race, he became more interested, and suddenly said, "how about I build you a great set of brakes and help out on the cost". If you've been reading this, you know we're looking for sponsors, so I bite hard on this carrot, "great idea, whatd'ya'got"? He said he'd get back to us with a brake that would work for our wheel size. Now as I said, Dean runs a busy Internet company, so when I talked to him again, he needed to be reminded a couple of times who we were, and what was what, "remember... La Carrera... 64 Chevy"! Well, Dean did remember who we were, and has put together a set of brakes that just fit, by a whisker, inside our wheels. They are beautiful!We both hope to be the ambassadors for better brakes for everyone at the La Carrera.
Next Time: It Starts, It Runs!
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