5/15/09

Well, there might be a change of plans. I just had a look at those tires rattling around in the back of Fifi and they might be junk. There are significant dry-rot cracks in the sidewalls. I picked at one and a huge chunk of rubber looks about ready to separate from the carcass. I'm not sure they’ll even hold air anymore. I don’t know what that does to Barbara’s niche in the DLR realm. We’ll see. As for the “power requirements” in that ride, I do have most of the bits to do a blow-through turbo system. I'd need a fuel pump and another boost gauge but I think I have everything else. There is that DGV intake plenum top-hat thingy with the blow-off valve attached, there’s that fuel pressure regulator, there’s that other turbo of course, and, um, probably other stuff. Then again, the single DCOE and header, along with the stainless Supertrapp, would be a lot easier. That probably wouldn’t make as much power, but it also probably wouldn’t lunch the engine as quickly. Of course if the thing will breathe up to 7,500 rpm, and gets used up there in the power more often, as we all know it would with me driving it, the engine lunching could happen just as readily with natural aspiration. I don’t know what I'm going to do. I should set Barbara on the back burner until we do something with Roku-Hyaku. Remember that thing, the Honda N600 I was so hot and heavy about just a little while back? Since it is taking up a bay in the shop we really should poop or get out of the Ganges. We probably should just buy a set of coils for it and make the stock engine run. Hmm, that turbo would be relatively huge on that engine. Oh wait, we’ve been down that road already. But I ain’t agin’ it. We’ll see. Well, I have to go hold some idiot’s hand in the Executive Conference Room. Perhaps I'll have more to say later. Ok, I'm back. I just asked John if we’re going to the shop or Tulsa tomorrow. I was greatly relieved to hear back that we are going to the shop. I told him about the dry-rot on the tires and am waiting to hear what he has to say. I'm not even sure the Kreblechistani tire store will even mount the things for us. I'm debating whether we should meet at the shop and roll to the tire store together after inspecting the things. Perhaps Ray would let us mount them on his machine so as to remove all liability from anyone but us. I don’t know what we’re going to do. I'll let y'all know on Monday I guess. Now, there is another project I should be thinking about. What is up with Shichi and the idle, mixture, and lack of torque in fifth gear? I'm wondering if we should check for vacuum leaks and/or a bad intake gasket. I wasn’t too happy with the one I put on there as it was a round port gasket and very close to the edges of the manifold. After installing that one, I found another oval-port gasket at the swap meet. It would just take a few hours to change, if that long. Of course if that isn't the problem, then I've wasted a good gasket. No, using the right gasket on that car and throwing away the wrong gasket wouldn’t be wasting it. Now that I think about it, there are three gasket surfaces, five if you count each carburetor individually, that could be leaking. That would also ‘splain why the problem appears isolated to the rear carburetor. Hmm. Well, John swears that silicone on intake gaskets won’t be affected (or is it effected?) by the gasoline. [ It is in fact "effected". - SM ] Perhaps we should take them apart and perform the “S” word with some silicone. [ It should only be high temp silicone, though... - SM ] What the hell, it couldn’t hurt, right? Hey, I just remembered that the heat shield for those carburetors hits the frame rail and doesn’t want to sit flat until they are bolted down. You know what? I'll bet they are leaking right there! I may have to redesign the return spring mounting tabs and trim that shield some more. Yeah, yeah, I hear you John. You told me to do that two carburetor removals ago. See, there’s one of those nuggets I mentioned yesterday. That is why I haven’t already thumbed my nose at him and installed the DCOE and header on Barbara. He may just be a wee bit more right than me on that idea. He still hasn’t convinced me, but it is ever so slightly possible. So now I'm in a quandary. Do I take Fifi and the wheels and tires tomorrow or do I drive Shichi and try to get her tuned up properly? I imagine Fifi, wheels, and tires will win but I'll wait until I hear back from John after he reads this tonight. I think if I don’t hear back from him saying, “Absolutely not!” I will bring the wheels and tires as planned earlier in the week. Of course I might get another look at the tires this evening, be totally disgusted with the idea, and just drive Shichi out of spite. Well, y'all will have to wait for Monday to find out. And on that note, I think I'm going to call it a week.