So where are we then after all our engine woes..well that's a surprise and if you read through this blog you will find out at the end...LOL
This brilliant photo was taken by John Kennedy of johnkennedypotography.com at Shakespeare County Raceway, because of the lane I am in I know this was when the gearbox let go this was just the start of our woes as we decided to strip he engine at the same time as repairing/replacing the gearbox and...well if you read all this blog you all know what we found.
This was the lowest point of the year, I really couldn't see how we were going to continue I had spent so much money on the car and truck to start with, then had to replace the truck and repair then replace the gearbox it was all too much, this all happened in the same month that I had already paid for the road tax and insurance on the truck and the storage fees. I really thought about calling it a day and I thought of myself as a silly old git for even trying to do what we were doing,,yeah depression...big time! I didn't even want to t think about drag racing ever again.
Luckily I have a wonderful Wife and Son, Lorni reminded me how much we had tied up in this venture and that it was too much to let go and number one Son and Tight Fit Crew Chief Steve, went to work to find a replacement engine, what we found was, there isn't a lot out there at the moment well not Small Blocks anyway, we even though about fitting a big block in the rail but! too much work to adapt the car, because of what had happened we were put off looking at anything second hand..unless it could be proved that it had recently been refreshed, we found nothing that we thought would be useful to us.
So Steve went looking for new bits and he scoured the States and eventually realised that whatever we do it is going to cost a fair bit of money and even though the prices for new gear in the Sates isn't too bad but!, by the time you added shipping, duty and Vat it was too much.
So another month went past and we kept looking and it soon became clear that if we didn't go for a new power plant then we weren't going to race in 2015, Steve found a company in America that would put together an engine for us for a reasonable price, Steve has been haggling with them and checking on them of course so it looks like we are going to order a new engine from them this week 3rd week of December 2014.
So as we speak Steve is working on the car he is taking the tank out to repair the union on the fuel line he is taking the master cylinder and callipers out to update them with better items and he is also taking the screen with him as we need to make a new one.
If you look carefully you will see a well placed piece of duct tape as I split the screen with my knee getting out of the car at Dragstalgia,,yea a diet is also on the cards LOL
OK so back to the engine then, what we are getting is a 454 stroked Small block putting out around 800 horses we want to run low 8's or even drop into the 7's We are hoping to get the car re-tagged in the new year and I am going to try and get a licence so we can have a go n Super Pro, we will be staying with the Wild Bunch.
This is the spec of our new engine with maybe one or two changes that we are talking to them about at the moment yes it is going to cost me a lot of money and it will mean my motorbikes will have to go but it will be worth it,and yes we are going to use our old injection system because I love the look..
So with a bit of luck and a following wind we will have everything in place to go testing around March and try and get my licence signed off, it looks like it is going to be an exciting year it also looks like there are going to be a lot more cars in Super Pro if what I read is right and I am really hoping that we can have everything sorted and have the car running good for Dragstalgia 2015.
