JustDreamin wrote:
Speaking of tomorrow (which by now is yesterday), what happened???? Did the truck break down or catch fire on the way home? Did the Slotus' CV joints spill their giblets all over the racing surface? How was the food? Was there sausage or seafood (or both)? Inquiring minds need to know....
Oh, and did you get to do any drivin' of the black, purple and slotus racing green beast?
Yo, Team Slotus!
Sorry for the delay... I was a tired white boy yesterday, and kinda sorta went to sleep right after dinner without posting anything.
Those "high points" I mentioned previously were almost the best part of the weekend.
I was in the first run group on Monday morning. That was fine, the weather was sunny but cool. Turns out the track was a little slippery at Turn 1 because of some oil from the weekend's Club Race. I got a little sidways on it one lap, so did several folks. First time lap, I thought the surface was kinda uneven or something, the car seemed upset when I got on the brakes. By the second lap, it was more obvious, the car was pulling to the right under braking. It got worse as the brakes got hotter. I pitted. Right front brake was smokin'...
There was also a really nasty vibration in the driveline somewhere. I'm wondering if a U-joint took a dump, or one of the just-balanced tires is actually un-balanced, or we got too much angle on the driveshaft. I don't think that last is it, as that driveshaft has seen some RPMs in autocrossing with no vibrations. Don't know, but I'm a-gonna find out...
After things cooled a bit, I was able to tell the rt front was not releasing properly. I could barely turn the wheel with nobody touching the brake pedal. My friends Bill Coffey and Bill Jr were next to us in the paddock and Bill Jr helped me (a lot!) with checking out the caliper and bleeding brakes and things. We found that there was no buildup of pressure in the caliper, nor any air (duhh...) but it wasn't releasing. Rather than take it apart, we just replaced it. TWWTFM found a NAPA store in Kershaw (10 minutes from the track), called them and got us a caliper (my front calipers are GM "Metric Chassis" parts). We went to town, got it and put it on the Slotus. (Best lookin' 1978 Malibu that brake caliper ever saw!)
Went back out, still had braking problems and of course the vibrations weren't any better. I did a few laps, trying different gears to see if the vibrations got better/worse. No difference. After being a rolling chicane for everybody else, I went back to the pits.
OK, one bright spot in the whole mess... Josh Briggs came down from Charlotte to see us. He turned out to be a fine young man, smart, personable (yeah, I know he's gonna see this... One size larger helmet for Briggs!) and TWWTFM and I both enjoyed chatting with him. He wouldn't take a sandwich when we had lunch... That ran counter to TWWTFM's maternal instinct to feed everybody.
Other'n that, it was a great visit, glad he came to see us. He also was a huge help in packing up and getting ready to leave, but that's not really why I'm sayin' nice stuff about him... Well, maybe a little...
OK, so it was kind of two steps forward and three back, but we'll get it figgered out and go try it again. Like the possum, we're too stupid to admit defeat, so we'll trundle onward until we get it right. Stay tuned, and keep the faith!!!
JDK
_________________
JD, father of
Quinn, Son of a...
Build LogQuinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special "Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom
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srsly, I am sitting here cracking up.
