Not Being a Fuel Guy.... I was trying to sort out what actually went Wrong
to Flatten the bearings.... Jim...
Keith...( Hey and Thanks Jim for taking the time to share your mechaincal
woes... )
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Dincau" <jdincau@qnet.com>
To: "List Land Speed" <land-speed@autox.team.net>
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2000 12:50 PM
Subject: WOS autopsy
> Well Keith you asked for it;
> After six passes at Speedweek with no bearing problems at all, and
> going 241 out the back door we were pretty smug about the bottom end
changes
> we made. HELLO - WAKE UP CALL, we pounded out all eight rod inserts in
the
> first half mile of our first pass at the WOS. After fiddling with it for a
> day we decided that we were just inviting disaster trying to fix it at the
> salt. We could have easily converted a scored crank and two dead rods into
a
> broken crank and a split block.
> As you may remember our problem at Speedweek was two dead
> transmissions. The trans guy in Salem asked if we were proud of abusing
our
> antiques. The glides were state of the art in 1990, the last time they
were
> rebuilt (we didn't run in 92 through 97) but are behind the times now. So
> with 400 pounds more lead, rebuilt non slipping transmissions and air ten
> degrees cooler we figured we really missed the tune up big time.
> Saturday after the tow home Ken tore everything down, sent the rods
to
> me to take to Carrillo, the crank to his grinder in Salem and the fuel
pump
> to Enderlie. Carrillo says as we surmised two of the rods are dead, we
have
> two spares so that's looking OK. The crank guy says he doesn't like what
he
> sees with the dye check so he is going to pick the worst throw and grind
it
> ten under. If it is OK he will grind the rest. Not sounding too good
there.
> We can get another right away even though our 3.760 stroke is a custom
> order, our buddy Nick Arias has another COLA unit he is willing to part
with
> for only a measly $1,250. As I have said before "you can't put a price on
a
> good time".
> And the fuel pump? you may ask, well our 15 gallon a minute pump is
> down 1.2 gal/min and the sleeve and cover need replacing. That is an eight
> percent reduction in delivery so it turns out the tune up wasn't the
> problem. We really take good care of the fuel system, draining and oiling
> after each meet so we looked elsewhere. Kent Enderlie asks if we are
running
> a pump saver, Ken says no, Kent says do it. Jerry was always very easy on
> the fuel system when he shut down at the end of the run so we never had a
> problem with spiking the pump pressure. Russ and I, not being as
experienced
> are not treating the system as gently and Kent says that is what killed
the
> pump.
> So we learn another lesson that we knew already but got lost in the
> background noise, remember what I said about target fixation. Running in
> November depends on how the crank thing goes. If it cleans up we will go
but
> if we have to get another I don't think so. Nick will send us the crank on
> the cuff but Ken and I don't like running with parts we don't own yet, and
> we cant afford it right now. Good luck to all who are going to the WFOS.
> Jim in Palmdale, where it is 55 degrees outside at 11 AM
>
>
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