3/11/13

Sorry about the odd entry last Friday.  I was going to come back and finish the thought I began before Gregg called but he gassed on until quitting time so I didn’t.  Not that it matters, but he has “cabin fever” since he has to stay in and take care of his recuperating dog.  Apparently the dog had a hematoma and required surgery and is now recovering so Gregg can't leave the house for any extended period of time.  I don’t get it.  A cat?  Sure, but a dog?  Anyhoo, the thing I was going to say about scaring John with my pessimism about Lil' Wiggly was… um, well, I don’t remember now.  I guess it was to reiterate that the car is NOT dead to me.  I don’t know, shall we move on?  So, Saturday morning I arrive at the shop to find John cleaning up after installing brakes and stuff on struts for one of his projects.  I take a look at the alternator and start looking for the bolts to mount it to the bracket.  I find two but need three.  An A-series head bolt has the right thread but is way too long.  Eventually I quit searching for the last bolt and suggest tapping the end of a head bolt and using a nut.  John counter-suggests running the head bolt up from the bottom of the bracket and nutting that.  Genius!  I drill the threads out of one of the holes in the bracket and fit the head bolt while John finds a nut and washer.  We install them, and the other two bolts, and take the bracket to the engine.  We find the bolts to attach it to the engine and hang it on there.  We then go look under Lil' Wiggly's hood to see if the thing is going to fit.  It looks like I'm going to have to remove the battery tray.  Well, I say that.  It might just clear the tray but further discussion makes it moo.  We walk around and look at shit for the next hour or so and then I drop the big bomb.  I ask his opinion on slapping the NAPS Z engine from the Chickenhawk into George and “build it to sell.”  We discuss it and decide that the plan will be: remove the engine and transmission from George, slap in the Z-20, remove the B-110 axle from George, slap in the B-210 axle from Lil' Wiggly, make it run and drive, then sell the hell out of it.  The B-110 axle, with the welded differential and 4.11:1 ring and pinion, will go into the Spit along with the A-14, rebuilt with the “exotic” parts from George's turbo engine, and George's “dog-leg” five-speed.  I think that will be a fun little car.  George will basically be a reincarnation of the original Chickenhawk without the monster cam or my “bundle of snakes” header.  Speaking of my header, I went ahead and gave it to John for the NAPS Z 510 he’s building.  Hmm, I guess I should have sold it to him… oh well, what are you going to do?  I'm 47 years old.  I'm never going to use all of the parts I'm hoarding… which was another impetus for building George to sell.  But first we’ll finish Lil' Wiggly… probably.  I say that because one of the “plans” we discussed was making Lil' Wiggly a roller again so we could do the preliminary work on George right quick.  I'm not sure why we want to do that, it seems like a slippery slope to “back burner-ing” Lil' Wiggly.  Oh, we need George's remote battery stuff for Lil' Wiggly, I forgot that part.  Hmm, perhaps we’ll just strip that stuff out and leave George outside for a bit longer.  I'm trying to remember what superfluous gauges are in George which need to be removed.  There is the boost gauge and exhaust gas temperature meter that I can think of off the top of my head.  I'll probably include them in the “Turbo Kit” I assemble and try to pawn-off on someone.  I just deleted a bit where I said I wanted to keep that exhaust manifold for The Seven because it is a four-port rather than a Siamese-port but then I remembered that I had ports 2 & 3 “knife-edged” to flow into the Siamese-port manifold on The Seven.  So, I still might keep that manifold for the Spit in case we decide the ugly-assed header is just too ugly-assed to use.  We’ll see.  No, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense for that turbo “gazinta and gazowta” to stay together what with all the mounts and brackets and people and motors and shit attached to them.  They worked, it was just that ridiculously over-bored engine block I tried to use them on overheated on startup.  Hmm, a turbo A-14 in the Spit?  Ok, if I went down that road, would I use the turbo the way it is set up now or go back to my original design with the snail on the opposite side of the engine?  I guess it would come down to: how much room do I have under the bonnet?  Interesting.  I'm sure John will be calling me as soon as he reads this tonight.  Of course the naturally aspirated A-14 would be simpler, and quick enough to be a really fun car, but… well, I don’t know.  I need to do some cipherin’ and figgerin’ on power to weight ratios and stuff.  Hang on.  Assuming a very modest 105-110 horsepower, the thing would have similar power to weight as The Seven.  Bump that power guess up to 110-115 and it would be alongside George with the Z-20!  According to my half-assed math, using an adapted formula cribbed from Corky Bell, an A-14 with 8 pounds of boost should/could/might make twixt 115 and 135 horsepower.  Splitting that difference get us within shouting distance of Fiona… and the top number MATCHES Fiona's P:W ratio!  Now I know there is little likelihood of an A-14 with a cobbled-together turbo setup making 135 horsepower, but it is alluring to fantasize about.  Oh wait, that was with 8 pounds of boost!  What if we bump it to 10 or 12 psi?  Yikes!  10 psi makes the median power number 135 horsepower and 12 psi is just north of 145 horsepower!  Ok, I need to reel myself in a bit.  We’ll burn that bridge when we come to it.  Right now I think the plan needs to be build the A-14 out of Lil' Wiggly using the ceramic coated pistons and cylinder head from George's turbo engine.  Then, when it is sitting in the Spit, we’ll take a look at the possibility of turbocharging it… unless John manages to sell the “Turbo Kit” before we make it that far.  Well, I guess I've rambled on long enough for today.  I'll talk to y'all again tomorrow.