shots from the garage...

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So pulled the intake and epoxied a pinhole in the water manifold. It’s an old Craftsman truck piece so who knows the history. I have couple more and in inspecting them was surprised how rusty they are inside. I always store the car with glycol so who knows. I should be out in the garage, but I needed a break... thankfully it’s been busy at work.

The trip to Bakersfield once again proved that ANYTHING over two years on trailer tires in the desert and you are on borrowed time. Stopped at a rest area near Boron CA and three of the tires were at 160-164..... and one at 185. I’m well versed in this dance and within 10 min we were back on the road as the high temp tire was eating itself. On the way back we hit an early fuel stop so we traveled non stop. Monday night checking things over the only good tire was the spare we had put on... so another big racing expense. The Load Star E rated tires we’d run to 6/32 so overall, they did pretty good. My two spares are Tow Master G rated 14 ply tires. I ordered 4 more so this will be the latest experiment in trailer tires. They’re supposed to handle 4K lb each which might be well suited as we are 18,600 combined loaded for racing.
We’ll be packing heavy as our next race is Labor Day weekend at Oahe Speedway in central SoDak. Nice 2600 mile round trip. Spare gears, prob take the 727 and associated parts to swap.... just in case :). Looking forward to the road trip
 
Got 2 out of 3 days of racing in as the big R word ended our weekend. Air shifter still having issues so we just set the shift light low and tried to run the number. Had things dialed in pretty decent and made it to rnd 4 Saturday. Was up against a dragster in box/no box and when I went up on the brake and a noise took my attention away and threw that run out the window. Sunday in round 3 I went up on the trans brake and it bogged when released..... another new way to lose. Carb is coming apart for a look see. Damn header tube started loosening again so we took the Remflex gasket off and used gray RTV.... all good now and staying tight. I’ll be removing all the gaskets and going rtv on them all. Sunday 2 test passes and 1st round all has 1.242 60 times. Track prep must have been better as the front end came up a little more than what we’d seen Saturday or back in Bakersfield a few weeks ago. Not real bad, but I was liking the launches that didn’t involve the wheelie bars.
Now for the fun part.... it took us 16hrs to go 420 miles Tuesday. The predicted arctic blast storm was no joke and we got caught up in it. 2 road closures on the I80 coming across Wyo.
either way it was nice to load a car that won’t need a ton of work before the next race.
 
Car sitting in the garage... rewired the shift timer (need to do the whole car!). Eliminated the connectors I was using and hardwired it. I was running some nostalgia stuff that required it to be removed.... we’ll cover it if we run that series again. Not like it can do anything without the co2 bottle in the car. Cleaned the fuel filters, checked the valves, adjusted the front ride height. Now we just need to find some time and a place to race. There’s a “mopar” show at Irwindale coming up, but it’s just an open track run what ya brung type of deal. While it’d be “fun”, I’m also thinking “marginal prep on a fairly narrow track” and with the expense of towing 250 miles and sketchy schedule of the event I’ll probably pass. For sure (so far) we’re heading to Famoso oct 16-18 for a West Coast Hot Rod Association race and possibly returning in November for the last ANRA Race. This Wednesday they open the entry for March Meet so I’ll pre-enter for that. Been a few years since we’ve run that race and not sure how it’ll be with the worlds current situation. Hopefully they’ll let fans in by then.... but it is California
 
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cars been loaded since Friday.... leaving this Friday for Famoso!! I’m so ready!! Forecast looks hot so we’ll set the shift points low and do the bracket thing. Was really looking forward to some nice cool fall air... oh well!

since I’ve deleted like 1000 photos I was able to load a few new.

the Friday of Labor Day weekend we’d made our way From western AZ to Oahe Speedway in central SoDak. I’d arranged a front row pit spot and was sitting under a shade tree enjoying the 75ish temp when suddenly..... the car owner showed up!! Yeah my dad and my right hand man Dave totally punked me! My dad had flown in Thursday and was waiting for us.... how cool!!! My dad started racing at this track which was built long after my wife and I moved to AZ. Made for an even better weekend :)
 
Self portrait of the Slow Kid, AKA, A body?
 
A body said:
View attachment 1715612382

cars been loaded since Friday.... leaving this Friday for Famoso!! I’m so ready!! Forecast looks hot so we’ll set the shift points low and do the bracket thing. Was really looking forward to some nice cool fall air... oh well!

since I’ve deleted like 1000 photos I was able to load a few new.

the Friday of Labor Day weekend we’d made our way From western AZ to Oahe Speedway in central SoDak. I’d arranged a front row pit spot and was sitting under a shade tree enjoying the 75ish temp when suddenly..... the car owner showed up!! Yeah my dad and my right hand man Dave totally punked me! My dad had flown in Thursday and was waiting for us.... how cool!!! My dad started racing at this track which was built long after my wife and I moved to AZ. Made for an even better weekend :)
Click to expand...


Absolutely Love your car! Nothing better than Family get together's at the race track. Great Family History with this Bad Boy Duster.
 
Awesome... Always good to have a great crew guy.... The look on your face must have been Priceless !!! lol
 
A body said:
View attachment 1715612382

cars been loaded since Friday.... leaving this Friday for Famoso!! I’m so ready!! Forecast looks hot so we’ll set the shift points low and do the bracket thing. Was really looking forward to some nice cool fall air... oh well!

since I’ve deleted like 1000 photos I was able to load a few new.

the Friday of Labor Day weekend we’d made our way From western AZ to Oahe Speedway in central SoDak. I’d arranged a front row pit spot and was sitting under a shade tree enjoying the 75ish temp when suddenly..... the car owner showed up!! Yeah my dad and my right hand man Dave totally punked me! My dad had flown in Thursday and was waiting for us.... how cool!!! My dad started racing at this track which was built long after my wife and I moved to AZ. Made for an even better weekend :)
Click to expand...
Good luck Jay!!
 
Bracket Races in Vegas on 12/5 and 12/6.....Wally Race....
Day races

Just in case you dont want to go to the Race that never ends....
 
70aarcuda said:
Bracket Races in Vegas on 12/5 and 12/6.....Wally Race....
Day races

Just in case you dont want to go to the Race that never ends....
Click to expand...

I’ll keep an eye on that Tony although I’ve told myself I’m done for the year after the Irwindale Mopar track day. id like to upgrade my trans and maybe finally tackle my obscene wiring.
 
Well the racing gods didn’t smile on me at all this weekend. I was the king of breakout Saturday, and Sunday in round 2 the car decided not to hook..... but I got a new best 1.22 60ft. Went 5.77 in the 1/8th on a pass, and lowered my ET record to 9.16. Air wasn’t stellar by any means with 2200 DA and 35% humidity and 90 degree temp.
 
A body said:
Well the racing gods didn’t smile on me at all this weekend. I was the king of breakout Saturday, and Sunday in round 2 the car decided not to hook..... but I got a new best 1.22 60ft. Went 5.77 in the 1/8th on a pass, and lowered my ET record to 9.16. Air wasn’t stellar by any means with 2200 DA and 35% humidity and 90 degree temp.
Click to expand...



Sorry you did not get a win $ , but a new low ET and a new best 1.22 60ft makes the ride home a little easier. congrats on the new best's .
 
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.....and we interrupt our fall racing for trailer failure! Man I was lucky. Went out this am to put the tire covers on and the right side tires were about an inch apart. Not sure if I trust my welding skills, or lack thereof, to tackle this one. I’ll have to at least cobble it together good enough to get the car and golf cart out.

or maybe I should just go trailer shopping!
 
A body said:
View attachment 1715616003

.....and we interrupt our fall racing for trailer failure! Man I was lucky. Went out this am to put the tire covers on and the right side tires were about an inch apart. Not sure if I trust my welding skills, or lack thereof, to tackle this one. I’ll have to at least cobble it together good enough to get the car and golf cart out.

or maybe I should just go trailer shopping!
Click to expand...
Uhhhh....trailer shopping!!
 
A body said:
View attachment 1715616003

.....and we interrupt our fall racing for trailer failure! Man I was lucky. Went out this am to put the tire covers on and the right side tires were about an inch apart. Not sure if I trust my welding skills, or lack thereof, to tackle this one. I’ll have to at least cobble it together good enough to get the car and golf cart out.

or maybe I should just go trailer shopping!
Click to expand...



Glad you made home before something worse happened.
 
Well trailer shopping or not.... this ones gotta get fixed. Got the old spring hanger cut and ground off the frame. Got some 1/4” steel and angle iron last weekend. Going to make all the hangers basically twice as thick adding bracing to them. Big prob at the time is trying to find the correct hanger with the 1.875 inside dimension.... I’ve found one place that shows one (Rockwell #4101-4L) but it’s out of stock.... and that number doesn’t appear to cross. Got calls in with a local trailer repair/sales joint and Cargo Mate..... wish I could have gotten the car out before all this.
 
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layed in the rocks a couple nights this week and got all the old hanger cut/ground off the frame. FINALLY found the correct spring hanger and that showed up today.
 
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I’m not sure how I ever lived without a bandsaw.... picked up some steel last weekend and spent last night cutting my “support overlays” which will go on both sides of all the hangers. Leftover material will be gussets. Tonight we’ll use the holesaw on the press to make holes to clear the bolts for the leaf springs. My 50ft extension cord for my welder arrived so my only remaining “quest” will be to rig up a 240 outlet off the main box on the side of the garage.
 
I looked at the left side rear hanger and it had started to break on the inside..... really has me questioning what the H is going on and “why” are the cracking/tearing from the rear forward. I’m still following through with my support plan, but has me wondering what the next weak link will be. The spring eye bolts are only 9/16” so I hope they’re not the next victim although the one I did remove didn’t show any signs of stressing and the spring eye bushing is still centered.
 
That is absolutely bizarre how it just ripped the mettle....That is a new one for me. Best of luck with the repair.
 
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