Test & Tune

We headed down to Spokane Raceway last Saturday for a little T&T with the altered. We did our best to keep it low key knowing that the day would be plagued with issues and we were right. From the get-go our new water pump was having interference issues and popping fuses causing our water temp to sky rocket. Our tach wasn't working so shifting was a guessing game, fortunately we do have a rev limiter. We breezed through tech which was a relief and we were whisked into the staging lanes and into the burnout box before I really had a chance to psyche myself out. The whole driving process is completely different than our black wagon which we can pretty much drive blindfolded. The line lock and push button controls are both on the left side which will take some getting used to. The car spun it's tires o.k. but had problems making tire speed which translates into less smoke and even less sticky. The launch was fairly unspectacular and it was clear that the 5.38 gears were way too much for this combo of tall tires and low output motor. Shifting went well considering I was just listening to the roar of the engine and the car tracked quite straight.

Our first pass was 14.9 and the car was running super hot due to water pump issues. We cooled it down and went again. We managed to drop to a 14.45 followed by a 14.30. A decision was made to fatten up the mixture which resulted in a sluggish black smoky pass in the low 15s. We cooled things down again and heard some curios sounds emanating from the heart of our old 440. With a little boost we made her fire up but a lack of oil pressure put us on the trailer.

I know it may sound like a discouraging day but we were really happy to see it go down the track at whatever speed. Building a race car of this magnitude from scratch in our home garages has a sharp learning curve. A unanimous decision was made to poach the race engine from our black car and stab it in El Chupacabra. By Early Sunday afternoon Chris had the motor from our black car on a stand with new bearings ordered. In my world I got the old "black-up" motor in the altered stripped and within four bolts of coming out of the hole. We will run the same low deck dual quad on "old reliable" so we can keep our Max Wedge scoop in place. This combo with some 4.10 gears that we'll install should put the car deep in the 11s. Our next race is in Osoyoos on May 6 for some 1/8 mile action.

El Chupacabra I

El Chupacabra (the 1st) is a legendary mythical creature described as a heavy set gargoyle looking creature about the size of a small bear. These vampiric furry lizards have been reported marauding parts of the southern States, Mexico and Chile. They generally target small livestock and drain the blood from said animals with the use of their sharp teeth. Directly translated, El Chupacabra means "goat sucker" which is apparently one of it's favorite snacks. Also reported to have leathery green scales and a row of spines running the length of it's back leading some eye witnesses to suspect an extra terrestrial origin. Come on now...that's ridiculous.

Lettered & Striped

It's been a long time coming to finally arrive at the graphics stage of our build and in an effort to stay true to our tribute to 1965 we had to have our lettering hand painted. There was only one name that I had considered for this particular job and that's our friend Myk Roc out of Langley. He isn't a sign painter by trade but is one of the best natural pin striper's I have ever seen and an over-all great artist. It also doesn't hurt that he's a die hard gear head and truly gets what we're doing. We imported him to Nelson this week for a working vacation. The layout was slow and tedious as he corrected the crappy vinyl that we had cut in order to maintain lettering proportions for the gold leaf. The letters themselves used 50 sheets of gold and by the time Myk was done there was ashen gold carnage everywhere. Outlining went rather quick and Myk free handed the "El" and "II" portions of the name. He also scrawled us an open ended /FX logo on the C-pillar for class designation and striped the entire blue and white colour break on the car in gold. The final outcome is nothing short of outstanding and I'd be lying if I didn't say that my liver hurts.

Clean Machine

When we first planned our engine compartment layout we were initially using under-car headers, mostly because we had them. When we got these slick Hooker super comp fender wells from our buddy everything changed, or rather had to be changed. Wires and fuel lines were interfering with the hot tubes on the passenger side and brake lines and line lock on the drivers side. The only solution was to pretty much do it again but this time around I decided to really take my time and make everything look tight and organized as well as having lots of header clearance. The end result speaks for itself in it's functional yet esthetically pleasing look.

Super Cushions

We finally broke down and ordered up a set of these beautiful Super Cushion front runners. Cody Adams of Hurst racing has been really helpful in setting this car up with period looking boots. Also a  huge shout out to Cory Sokol from Nelson Kal Tire for sponsoring our insatiable rubber addiction and continuing to listen to my repetitious stories as we stumble around the shop. We had to clearance the lower fender and bumper to avoid an interference fit but it looks bad-ass as ever.

Can we go racing yet?

Ta Da

Well not completely Ta Da but we're pretty much down to the short strokes for having this car race ready. We have a couple of wiring and fuel related issues to work out still and I would really like to focus on doing some interior finishing but that's basically it. Some proper skinny front runners are in order which will mean that we have to trim our fenders and bumper for clearance but that's pretty par for the course. We pulled it out into the light of day to snap a few shots in natural light and it looks killer with the snowy back drop. I'm still blown away every time I walk into my garage and get to pour over our crown jewel. Then my eyes usually roll back in my head like a shark and I just have to fire it up and let the neighbors know that I'm home.

Oh So Shiny

 Holy crap it's been a long time coming but we finally got the car in paint. Time seemed to stand still working up to the final hours before primer, then everything went pretty much like clock work as we began to spray. Once the colour and clear were down we then had to colour sand and polish the shiny yet dimpled surface which also seemed to take forever. Well it's done now and we couldn't be happier with the outcome.

 We fired the windshield and driver's seat in today and pulled it out into the daylight. You probably can't notice in the pictures with Chris and I but we're grinning from ear to ear like we just ate a whole box of pot cookies. Next on the agenda is to set up the drive shaft and front end angles, set the alignment and truck the car back to my shop for reassembly. Putting shiny parts back on the car is always the most exciting part of any build. The metamorphosis from scrap parts to shiny race car has been an amazing transformation. In case you haven't been following this build from the beginning, we just passed our one year mark since this project began. Pretty freakin' good if you ask me. Now we have to wait until Spring until we can huck it down the 1320. No matter, I look forward to spilling beer on it all Winter long in anticipation of race season.