The Escort

[116ciHemi]

Man, it feels odd to leave your car with someone else. I just dropped it off at the welder's in Ohio to get some floorpans patched, the rollbar installed, and the seatbelts mounted. I got the header installed and the cat removed a few days ago, and it now sounds a lot better. From my end, the car is done. I will pick it up on the way to Maxton to go race.

[SPARKY]

What a nice job you are doing with your Hot Rod 

[Milwaukee Midget]

Man, it feels odd to leave your car with someone else.

No matter how small the car is, when it's gone, theres a big hole left behind.

Less than 2 weeks - I hope your weld guy is faster than mine!

Good luck, have a safe trip to North Carolina, and keep us posted.

Chris

PS Race safe and go fast!

[116ciHemi]

The welder got the seat mounted yesterday, and has the floorpan mostly patched. He bent up the main hoop yesterday, but didn't like the way it came out so he is bending another one tonight.

[116ciHemi]

Main hoop is in. The only thing I don't like about the roll bar is that it is chrome-moly (2" with .190 wall thickness) and the upper corners are cut and welded (and gussetted with 1/4 plate). I called Kieth Turk and he said that it was OK, just not the preferred method. I plan on changing that before the next time I race it, but it will have to live for now. Another Maxton racer sold me a simpson harness on the cheap, so I am in pretty good shape. The only thing I didn't do was get the full front air dam made, but that just couldn't be helped with the time crunch I was in. 5 days till I leave.

[Milwaukee Midget]

Main hoop is in. The only thing I don't like about the roll bar is that it is chrome-moly (2" with .190 wall thickness) and the upper corners are cut and welded (and gussetted with 1/4 plate).

Did your welder give you a reason for cutting it this way?  Is there a clearance issue, or was he trying to reuse the tube he wasn't initially happy with?

I suspect you'll put up some numbers that might surprise a few folks.  It's a well thought out and patiently put together example of what can be done with an unlikely, low-dollar combination. 

[116ciHemi]

Pictures of the progress. The car is 98% ready to run. Just a few little tweaks to finish up at the track.

[116ciHemi]

Well, I sort of neglected to update this, but this is it: Picked up the car, started down and about the time we got into the mountains, the brakes on the truck started to get a little strange, i.e. pedal needed to be pumped up, and when it did work it would pull right or left. That, combined with the truck's gutless 7.3 and 3.73 gears made the mountains a rather exciting time. After the mountains, things went smoothly and we dropped Mom off at the hotel while Dad and I took the car to the track, where I was immediately drafted for rookie orientation and then weed-whipping short shutdown. By then, Dad had given up on me and returned to the hotel, so I drove the Escort back and for the first time with the racing seat and seatbelt. Dan Stokes took me and my parents out to dinner, where he did his best to assure my parents that what I was doing was really quite safe. Dad needed little convincing, since his youth involved street racing his 13 second 1965 442. He is tickled that I bother with all the trouble of the safety equipment and taking the car to a track. Mom, well, she needs some reassuring. Saturday morning rolled around and I arrived at the track around 5:30 to prep the car. Then I worked on the starting line till noon, and the after that I finally got into the Escort and rolled around to the line. I definitely had first run jitters, since this was a much bigger and more dangerous deal than my 1/8th mile passes. However, it went without a hitch, or so it seemed.  I just kept the hammer down, didn't miss shifts, and ended up running 100.5. As I rolled into short shutdown, still giddy, Victor waved me over and said "The tower called, they said you dropped something on the track". Crap. It turns out, it was a screwdriver that had fallen through a hole in the floor at the starting line. Oops. I made several other passes that day, netting a best of 102 with  the front end taped up. On sunday, I arrived at 5:30 again to make a few small changes to the car, and then I started running laps. I was in search of 103. We had the whole front end of the car taped off, with Russell and Graham providing their tape and expertise. On my last few passes of the day, I beat the snot out of it. I was trying to push the go pedal through the floor. On my second to last pass, I ran 102.8. Before I even got out of the car to grab my timeslip, Kieth just waves me back to the return road. So I line up on more time, and I gave it one more shot. 103.2. It was fun. Sure, it was slow, but it was still an awesome. I will be back next year, so question.

[4-barrel Mike]

Great update to a great thread.

Now apply for that SCTA scholarship!

Mike

[Seldom Seen Slim]

I mentioned the SCTA scholarship to him and his folks at the June Maxton meet.  I think they said he already had some scholarship support -- but more is probably better.  I went to Tech, remember, and I know well how much beer costs up there.

[sabat]

Great job, congratulations. It's amazing how a few tenths of a MPH can make you feel, eh? -Dean

[116ciHemi]

My scholarship covers full tuition, 900 a year for books, plus 300 per month for living expenses. Because I was in the first twelve AFROTC scholarship students to confirm to tech, the school covers full room and board.

[Cajun Kid]

I hope all goes well in school.

See you next year at the track.

Charles

[116ciHemi]

One comment I have to make- people tell me that nothing gets done by surfing the internet and posting on forums like this. I have to disagree. Without the encouragement, knowledge, and generosity of those I have met on the internet, I would never have gotten past the "I wish I could do that someday" stage. My racing seat came from the Red Hot Racing guys, who I first met on bangshift.com. Most of my seatbelt was donated by Daryl White, who goes by Revolutionary on here. Dynoroom has blown a lot of his time answering my questions and sharing his expertise. Another internet forum member did the fab work to manufacture the roll bar and install the safety equipment, just for the cost of materials.

[Milwaukee Midget]

103.2 is nothing to sneeze at, and given that you have a plan in place to improve on that, I've no doubt you will. 

Think about what you've started with - What you're doing is precisely how this sport started out on the lakebeds - buy a cheap Ford and keep tweeking it.  I can't think of anybody on these boards who has done so much with so little.  What's making it happen for you is grit, determination, imagination, know-how, and the will to achieve.

Summit doesn't sell that stuff.

And after all is said and done, you can say, without equivocation, "I am a land speed racer".