I've been buried with work (I know, I don't have a "job", but still...) lately and preparations for the December race were pushed to the background, but that will change this week. That job is winding down this weekend and I'll have nothing else to do except healthy, happy, Opel Yoga. I hope everyone else on the team is up for some of the same. At least it's not 105 in the carport any more.
When we left off a few weeks ago we had ended work with a number of improvements and fixes, including an oil cooler, new ball joints and front-end bushings, a fan shroud, new motor mounts and bottom end gaskets. This was topped off with a day at Thunderhill where we got to see how everything was working out and to get Geoff some time in the car. The results were mostly good. We still have a carburetion issue, probably related to the jetting for both ports. Also, either we didn't get the fan shroud installed correctly, or the motor moves around more than we expected, or the front of the car is more flexible than it should be, but the result, the fan blades are a little shorter now. But, at least the tire rub issue has been taken care of, courtesy of Geoff's BFH.
I think I also noted that we picked up a gift of a motor, heads, more carburetors, distributors, yet another tranny, (we now have four), and race clutches. The motor is bored to 2.0L but is not stroked. The bottom end is together and has run only one short race. The heads are off but are together and ready to go. A little inspection, some measurements, cleaning, and gaskets, and we've got a like-new motor that we were told could be getting us power in the 110-120 whp range. Our current motor is good, runs steady, but is only putting out 85 whp (and we do appreciate having every single one of them), and oil pressure is in the 25-45 psi range, a bit low, but that's still OK. I'm all for running our current motor until serious problems develop, which hopefully will not happen until we're putting the car back on the trailer. The idea of a motor swap in this car, at the track, does not sound like fun. The motor comes out of the bottom of the car. Other than that, it should be easy to do, courtesy of 1960's automotive technology.
Still to do:
- Fix the tranny, and a spare tranny. They need 3rd-4th synchros and we've learned that Fiero synchros will do the job.
- Adjust valves. This will be the only motor work done so far, aside from spark plugs and gaskets.
- Minor but important electrical upgrades, such as installing a fuse between the battery and kill switch.
- Install wipers. We may not need them, but the race is in December.
The official checklist is at Geoff's house. I'm sure there are a few more items on it.
As for the race itself, there have been a few developments.
- Brian is unable to drive for us. [Joking]This means we can take the shift-light off the check list.[/Joking] We'll miss you Brian. How about next spring?
- Alan cannot drive for this race. He has a prior commitment, the one-darned-day-of-the-year type commitment, but, if Team Tinyvette can get the corporate jet for the weekend and fly him down to Buttonwillow after his event, Alan will be able to drive. In other words, he'll be with us in spirit, plus he has offered to make his truck and trailer available, so he'll be with us in "equipment", too.
- We've asked a local kart racer Steve to drive with us. He has track experience and serious shifter-kart race experience, but so far no racing in anything that has doors. He has seen the car, and when he got in it he got that big grin that tells us he wants to do it, but it's not official yet.
- I'd like to ask John Harlen, lead instructor for TEAM Racing, to join us. When I mentioned this to him last summer he was very interested and said he'd even buy one of those fancy Italian (Sparco?) suits for something like this. He's a great guy, has the right spirit, and can drive. I'm not sure if he has any door-to-door experience, but then who does?
- Bernhard is not available, as much as he'd love to drive for us. His business in Davis will either be taking off real-soon-now, or not, and in either case it requires all of his attention.
Bribe ideas are needed. We did the booze thing last time, and booze is pretty standard for bribes, er, baksheesh, so it would be nice to do something else, something that would do well using our flip-over headlight bribe-delivery system. I was thinking maybe cute little a kitten or puppy, but on second thought, maybe not. We'd have to strap them in, hang them upside down in the pod, drive the car to the inspection station, and by them I'm sure they'd piss themselves or worse and would want to shred whoever comes close to them after the pop-up spectacle. Then I was thinking inflatable girl wearing a greasy Lemons t-shirt, some form of pants, and holding a wrench, so I went online to find one and they were pretty disgusting. I wouldn't want one of those in my house. I moved on to searching for an inflatable Danica Patrick doll, but so far no luck.
Another idea is an Opel GT model. One of the judges loves collecting models of weird and off-beat cars, and the Opel GT might qualify there, at least in his way of looking at thing. Another suggestion has been food, since these guys are inspecting cars all day and don't get to eat. (If police are associated with donuts, what would be right for judges?) Anyway, we need to think hard and long about this. It could be the single most important decision we make for this race.
And for the team promo update, besides the monthly Davis Cruise-Ins, where our car is pretty popular, last night Alan and I were at the Sacramento Auto Museum for a sneak-peek event for the new Italian cars show. While there I chatted up the automotive writer for the Bee. He wanted our postcard, which I was showing people so they could see the car I was talking about, and he wanted to keep it. We exchanged cards and I'll follow up today. Also, I talked to the curator and an event coordinator about a possible Opel show, and that looks like it will happen sometime this year, which means we can't ball up the car just yet. So, try to picture our little yellow car in a museum. Yes, it may be difficult, but try.
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