We Gotta Go!

Time is really getting short at this point, 3 days till we leave, and the Chev is still not on the good foot. Rick decided he had to fix an oil leak that been coming from the main seal, you can review that in "Long Block 101". A leak there is possible trouble, and if it gets bad, big trouble. In taking things apart, one of first the things to come off is the bell housing. The bell housing is bolted to the engine block and contains the flywheel, clutch and starter, and that's where we found out we'd used the wrong one. GM/Chevy used a couple of different housings, mainly for the small block and the big block motors. So what I'm getting at is, not only do we have an oil leak, we need a different bell housing, and that's not something you pick up at Kragen's! After calling a two or three engine builders and machine shops, things weren't looking good, aah but here in Sonoma County we have, Gerdes Auto Wreckers. You need a part for a '98 Honda, you go to Pick & Pull, you need a hood for a '63 Pontiac, you go to Gerdes. A 40 minute drive to Cloverdale, and I'm looking through a stack of GM bell housings. The guys who work here are really a nice bunch, except, anyone seen "Deliverance" lately?? Definitely taking they're grooming tips from the Manson family. So, after the seal was replaced, and a pilot bearing changed, that went bad in 50 miles because of the wrong bell housing, we're looking good.
The housing we got was correct, except for a pivot ball that's part of how the clutch works, which made an already stiff petal, most herculean.
There was also exhaust flanges that had to be cut off, repositioned, and rewelded, so the dreaded "topes" of Mexico don't tear off an exhaust pipe. And just a little more wiring.
Hey, we almost have everything checked off the list. The car's ready to go on the trailer, the extra parts are packed up, got my helmet, lets roll!


Next Time: The Great Southwest
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Stack-O-Carbs

There's been a short break in blog land because of trying to get ready for The Chihuahua Express. It's been some hectic days getting things together for the race. Just finishing whats half done and trying to find the right jetting combination for the carburetor has been challenging.
So what do jets do? They give the carburetor the right air/fuel mixture, not too lean, not too rich, so it runs at its best. This is kind of old school because nowadays cars use fuel injection and it's all computerized.
We started with a Holley, an old respected name in carburetors, that Rick had, that he modified by chopping off the air horn and choke assembly. Well that didn't work, and we blamed it on it being an old carburetor and a funky hack job. So, we get another Holley, the same one, but brand new and try modifying that one. The thing about Holley's is, they don't modify real good, they're made to to do what they do, and that's it, you try to reinvent it, forget it.
Finally we got smart and bought a Demon carburetor and a box of jets. Demon's are made by a guy who worked for Holley, and improved their design.
At first the car still ran lean, just not right, but a phone call to Demon's tech line, who told us to reset it like it came out of the box, a new set of plugs, and a little more fiddling around, the thing's running pretty good. Now if we can get the jetting right so it runs good at sea level, it should be easy to get it to run at 6000 feet.......yea sure, easy.

Next Time: We gotta go!
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