RE: LOD Trophy categories
John,Bill sasid he is not trying to make light of your situation.I am.
Hows this for hard luck.
Year one.I had been stock pileing parts for over a year and a half to build my car the way I wanted.About a month or so before the show I start busting my butt to get it to carlisle.It starts by working OUTSIDE in 120 degree heat putting the engine in the car.Well it wouldn't fit casue of the cobra oil pan SHM told me would fit.So after pulling the engine in and out about a dozen times.Each time trying different things to make it fit.(with the tranny,without.Engine and then tranny,etc etc.) I finally took it to my buddies shop and we cut the K member and reinforced it to get the oilpan to clear.Then we spent two pretty gruelling days building the first set of long tubes ever on a MarkVIII.Only to find out the dipstick tube wouldn't fit.So after fighting that for a full day.I built one of my own.Then we ran into the hood clearence issue and rushed to get a cowl hood here and installed and painted in time.
Then I was trying to put the tranny in and since I had switched to a cobra crank it is an 8 bolt design I had to switched to a different flexplate.Well only a couple people in the country had used the combination of a cobra crank'd engine with an automatic.(at least three years ago when I did it)
Well upon installation of the tranny as the tranny bolts tightened up the engine siezed up and wouldn't turn over.So after putting it in and out about 5-6 times I ended up shimming the tranny away from the engine a hair so it wouldn't bind up.(I knew the car would barely be able to be idled onto the show floor this way,but it was better than pushing it)
So I finally get that part done and I idle the car onto the trailor and the day I was to leave I take it by a buddies house to show him and I fire it up only to hear the belt tensioner snap and fire the pulley into the pavement.So I buy a new one and head out of town,figuring I would change it on the show floor.I get to the show and because there was no belt on the car there was no alternator.Well the batteries were dead.So I'm driving the car off the trailor with a battery charger in the trunk with an extension cord from the motorhome.
The next day I pull the blower off the car and change out the tensioner at the show,only to find out the power steering pump is screwed up from the tensioner breakage incident earlier.So the car is still not able to run for more than a few minutes at a time cause it would over heat without the water pump turning.
Then the fun starts.On my way home about an hour and a half outside of my hometown of Kansas City we hit a HUGE storm.60-90 MPH winds and extremely heavy rain.The talk on the CB was that most of the truck drivers were pulling off th road due to the dangerous wind.Torrey was driving at the time and he thought the right thing to do was to find a safe place to pull over.I being ever fearless wanted to forge on at a reduced speed.The girlfriends were on his side and he ended up pulling off the highway at an abandoned gas station.A few hours go by and the storm subsides a little.SO off we go.Right into a field and we get stuck in the mud.Its the middle of the night of course.So out into the storm we go to try and get us unstuck.We gave up after an hour or s
f course we cant get anyone on the CB now, so I hike about a half mile or so to the interstate to try and find help.No body stops.So I go back to the motorhome.After a while we get a hold of a trucker and he radios the Highway patrol.Who shows up an hour later and he calls a wrecker.Another hour or two later and a 150 bucks shorter were back on the road.
Now the MH starts not running right.We get into my uncles house and I figure the fuel pump is going.So I buy a new fuel pump and filter for the carb.(I dont know much about carbs and have never done a mechanical fuel pump)SO I get that stuff changed out and we get on our way.The thing is still runnig like crap.We cant figure what it is.Maybe the carb needs rebuilt????Not likely that would happen on the side of the road.
So the last 24 hours of the trip ended up taking 35 hours or so cause we had to put along at around 45 MPH with the headers glowing red.( so I knew it was a fuel delivery problem)
Coming into vegas is a huge hill just this side of hoover dam.We BARELY make it over this hill and coast to my house.More exhausted than I have ever been.
All in all I spent thousands upon thousands of dollars and HUNDREDS of hours of very difficult work to get the car to Carlisle.
Okay that prettymuch sums up year one.
Now for year two.I was so fed up with the car after year one I didn't touch it for quite some time.Then I got it up and running and tuned pretty well.
Then at the last minute I decided to go to Carlisle again.So I wanted to do a BUNCH more stuff to the car.I pretty much redid the whole engine compartment.All kinds of custom parts.(metal radiator pipes,alluminum power steering resevoir,alluminum fuse box and lid,alluminum surge tank,and over flow.Alluminum underside to my cowl hood.ETC ETC.Just tons of custom labor.And thousands of more dollars.All at the last minute of course.
So we load up and head off for PA.
On the way I decided to stop in Michigan and have the car retuned with more boost with the 8 rib pulley setup.Well when I had the T trim on the car I wasn't the one who setup the pulleies.So I didn't know the intricacies of it.
So I get to his shop and he tells me how I have the pullies shimmed will not work.So I work all day outside of his shop and pretty much all through the night in the parking lot of a grocery store to get it right.So I get it right and we start tuning.Now the car starts getting hot.We try and trouble shoot it while at the same time trying to tune the tranny computer.A couple of relays later we can continue to tune the engine.Whew, we get the tune really sweet and we are both really happy.
So I get to Carlisle and I go to the carwash and try to finish up the stereo stuff I was doing.I had everything in the car it just wasn't as clean as I wanted.So Torrey and I work at it for a few hours and Pony shows up and we talked for a while.Then off to the show.I pull up and find a place to park.I pull off the trailor,and drive it down to the show floor.(It felt REALLY good driving it down there after last years fiasco)
I park the car and BS with everyone for about a half hour or so.Then its off to go eat.
On the way ther the car starts over heating again and running like crap.Then about a mile from the restaurant I hear a loud bang and it feels like I have a flat tire.I'm thinking to myslef this cant be happening.Where am I going to find a 245/40-20 in the middle of Pennsiltuckey?????
It gets worse,I go look to see what happened and of course you guys know this story.The rim split right down the middle.I BROKE THE RIM.How the hell?????????????????
So now I call some of the rescue squad and they come and get me and I go back and eat with the group.The the squad and I go back and try to figure out how we are going to get me back on the trailor.Bill H was kind enough to take us back and get the MH and trailor.Now I have to take the 20 off the back cause a spare wont fit over my big brakes.So with the spare on the back and the back 20 on the front we get it on the trailor.(OH all this time it was raining by the way)
So I leave the car on the trailor for the rest of the show.
So on my trip back the MH develops an electrical problem.The thing wont start without being jumped.Then after a while it wouldn't run without having the battery charger on it.For the charger to be on it the leads had to hang out the window and under the MH to the battery box.
I replaced the votage regulator and things got a little better.But it still gave us problems intermittitly.(sp?)
And after all this John, Even I have not recieved the hard luck award.Mainly because I had recieved the best engine award,already but still.Forgive me if I dont shed a tear for a shopping cart hitting a paint job you wrote a check for.
