Dec 31,01

Anyone need a couple of Mallory Electric Fuel pumps? Found out that the CIS system takes 50 psi just to crack open the injectors and 75 psi to run!!! Back to the drawing board. I may end up running two 4 cyl CIS systems as opposed to the single Mercedes CIS system which are harder to come across.

The ITA RX7 that my friend Jude and I are building is coming along nicely. The cage is in and finished. The interior is about 80% painted as well as the front wheelwells. The rears are prepped and ready for paint as well. A few good weekends and the RX7 will be ready to go. My 2nd drivers school is in March!!

Dec 30,2001

Holy Cow! I worked on the 66 today! Started running the fuel lines. Well, mocking them up and figuring out where they are going to run. Also mounted the dual Mallory Fuel pumps. One will be boost referenced so that it kicks in when the turbos have spooled up so there wont be any fuel starvation. Hopefully, they'll work just fine with the Bosch K-Jetronic CIS injection system.

Oct 23-Nov. 23,2001

I've managed to part the parts car completely and have the quarter panels 90% pulled apart. The trunk extensions are still atatched but I'm going to pull them. I'm going to take the panels, two trunk lids, the two new fenders, and possibly the hood in and have them chemically stripped and dipped sometime after the new year. I may have found a storage place for the 65 as well as my Dads 55 F-100 this winter. I might be able to store some parts in there as well, which would really help out space wise.

I found a Ford Powerstroke Intercooler for the TT project. Holy cow was that thing huge! It's going to take quite a bit of engineering but I should be able to make it work. The inlet/outlets actually stradle the exteriors of the inner fenders! I've been trying to read up on suspension theory so that I can build the 66 up to Road Racing specs. There's a lot of info out there that I have to learn!! My pal Jude is having a buddy of his machine me up some adjustable tubular upper control arms. Should be entirely cool. Jude has also found me a Fuel Injection unit that looks promising for the TT project. It is actually a Bosch system that was used in the late 70s-late 80s on the V8 Mercedes and Turbo Porches. I've found a guy online that had great sucess with it. Should be an interesting year coming up huh?

Oct 12-22,2001

I started installing the weatherstripping in the vert but kept getting sidetracked with other projects so it is still in progress. I have to get it installed so I can park it outside for a while this winter. I may see about getting a storage unit and park it in there for a couple of months.
I parted out the parts car a little more and brought some more parts home. Haven't had much interest in the parts I've put classifieds up for so I guess I'll head to ebay and see what I can sell. I've got the carcass down to a very small pile of rubble now so it'll be off to the scrap pile soon with it.
I spent Oct 18-20 in Hallett at the Stephens Brothers Racing School. What a blast! Nothing quite like the feeling of throwing a car into a corner at 50+ mph and having it stick like glue! I'm hooked!

Sep.8 - Oct 11,2001

I've done quite a bit in the last month... and what a hectic month it has been.
My sympathies go out to anyone whos families have been affected by the Terrorist events of Sept. 11.
I've been busy building up parts for the twin turbos. I've managed to snag 2 Garrett T3's off of 85-6 TurboCoupe 5 speeds, plus several intercoolers to play around with to see which ones will work the best in the space I have.
I finally received the weatherstripping for the Vert from Laysons. Looks like good quality stuff but I haven't been able to install it yet.
The parts car has been hacked to pieces. I spent a couple days cutting it apart and the rear quarters are better than I expected. I've got them sitting in my driveway (covered of course) waiting until I get some time to haul them over to be stripped/dipped. I cant decide if I should separate the wheelwells and trunk extensions before or after the dipping.
I go next weekend (Oct 18th-21st) for my first SCCA drivers school at Hallett OK. The cool/scary thing is that I will actually be racing the next day in a full fledged race!!!! I'm pretty psyched about it and it should be a blast. My friend Jude is loaning me his Fiat 124 to use.
--- oh... my company is talking layoffs so the TT340 may be on a long hold.

Aug 29- Sep.7,2001

Worked on cleaning up the Vert for the upcoming Monster Mopar Weekend over at Gateway International Raceway this coming Sat. and Sunday. I decided to try and wake up the paint and polish it out. What a mistake! There were soooo many sanding scratches deep in the paint (probably in the primer below it). I ended up wetsanding the hood, trunk and drivers door and rear quarter (the latter of which had never been wetsanded.. orange-peel city). The scratches are still very visable when you're right on top of the car, but it looks 100% better from 10 feet away. That paint was really dead.

The car is running really well since the Pertronix install, but every once in a while at cruising speeds, it seems to "bog" slightly. It's probably running a little lean. I replaced the spark plug wires with a set of Crane "Make Your Owns." Finally, I've got some decent plug wires that don't look like mismatched spaghetti. The shift linkage now goes into park...and into low. Up until now it was one or the other. A little more tweaking is needed as P through D are a little off.

I plan on taking a lot of pics at the show tomorrow. It's been too long since my last all Mopar show!

Aug. 28,2001

I actually got to work on the convertible today. I've only got two weeks to get it looking and running good for Monster Mopar Weekend over at Gateway Raceway in Madison Illinois. I need to clean her up in a big way. It needs a washing, a little wetsanding, polishing, waxing and detailing badly.

I still haven't recieved my weatherstripping from Laysons. I'm a little upset, but not too bad. At least they haven't cashed my check yet. I installed the Pertronix Ignitor and Flamethrower Coil kit today. What a breeze! The hardest part was soldering the red wire to the existing wires on the key side of the ballast resistor. I took the car for a spin and it was pinging like crazy. Checked the timing when I got back and I was at least 30 degrees advanced with the old single points! Man, it must have been running really bad! I also found a 65/66 Commando/Charger Air Cleaner on ebay for $50 and in really decent shape. I put it on today to see how it fit (had to use an Edelbrock baseplate). I will polish it up and then put the 273 Charger sticker on that I've been saving for 2 years.

I still need to fix the shift linkage so that I can get it into low, and adjust the Lokar Kickdown cable so that it actually works. I may have a manual valve body, but not a full manual valve body. So, I'm not 100% sure that it will kick down like it's supposed to. I do know that by adjusting it, I can change the upshift points. Tomorrow is the shift linkage and maybe the Kickdown, unless my daily driver doesn't pass the state inspection...

Aug. 10,2001

Man, I'm sorry for anyone who is actually looking at this every once in a while. I hurt my back in the beginning of July and its just now feeling better, plus it's been pretty hot around here lately... so, I haven't been doing much on the cars lately.
The leak in the gas tank has gone away so I will probably wait until this fall/winter to replace it. I ordered new weatherstripping from Laysons for the 'vert. I got the works-- all of the top and door rubber as well as the trunk. I also bought a Petronix (sp?) unit and coil for the Electronic Ignition conversion. The parts car is still sitting where I left it. I want to get at it as soon as it starts cooling off a little and have the quarter panels and trunk dipped as soon as I yank them off.

I'm working on joining the SCCA and becoming a driver in their Club Racing program so that is going to take up a lot of my time in the next couple of months. A friend (Jude) and I are going to build an 85 Mazda RX7 for him to compete in the ITA class. Should be a blast!

I ALMOST FORGOT!!!!

I've decided to make the 66 a Twin Turbo'd 340 4 speed!!! That should be interesting. I've been trying to figure out what I need (compressor maps are starting to make sense!) and will start building up parts over the next year or so. I would like to build the TT system for under $1K. The 340 will need a real bulletproofing on the bottom end, but it was going to need that anyway. Stay tuned!