69 slowmaro

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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Audrey » Tue Nov 26, 2019 12:56 pm

Some may have seen the post on FB of the abomination of what some hack called wiring. If not, here you go. There is no solder, no shrink wrap, no relay, just twist and pray with all 10ga wire. I fixed this using the proper size wire, solder connections and shrink wrap before putting it back together. This pales in comparison to the ground strap to the engine block that I just pulled out of its connection. Fixed that. And the fuel pump relay that wasn't even wired in. Fixed that. Oh, and my ignition box power wire that should be run to an ignition circuit 12v instead of a battery 12v source.

For the love of Pete. I'm dreading the complete re-wire next winter. However, I do believe it will be one of the most satisfactory accomplishments in my lifetime.

Further down you'll see I get frustrated with wiring rather easily, and needed a break. So I polished things....
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Audrey » Tue Nov 26, 2019 1:18 pm

The wiring for the fuel pump (in the rear of the car) had me looking at the dual battery set up. I started removing everything that required the second battery. I have decided that a singe battery setup is definitely the way to go. Cleans up everything in the rear of the car and allows more room to tie in the parachute anchor point. There were also charging posts in the back of the car for when it wasn't running an alternator. Those will go as well. Haven't decided what to do with the holes in the rear??? Still many items on the lists, but big ones are being checked off.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby BeauV » Tue Nov 26, 2019 3:20 pm

I know zip about dragsters. But, wouldn't it be better to have the nitrous oxide bottle in the trunk, just in case something bad happens. I've always considered a bottle like that a sort of bomb.
Last edited by BeauV on Tue Nov 26, 2019 5:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Jamie » Tue Nov 26, 2019 3:41 pm

Nitrous can get exciting, but usually it's not the bottle that pops. A customer wanted to add nitrous to his Lotus Exige. It already had a supercharge with higher speed pulley added installed. Something happened to the regulator and the nitrous blew a big chunk of the head - which was rather thick alu - all over the shop. It was kind of like a shaped charge - people next to it didn't have a scratch as the fragments went in a focused spray backwards( (transverse mid-engine) and out the front door of the shop and peppered a deliver truck.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Ajax » Wed Nov 27, 2019 6:56 am

Audrey wrote:Some may have seen the post on FB of the abomination of what some hack called wiring. If not, here you go. There is no solder, no shrink wrap, no relay, just twist and pray with all 10ga wire. I fixed this using the proper size wire, solder connections and shrink wrap before putting it back together. This pales in comparison to the ground strap to the engine block that I just pulled out of its connection. Fixed that. And the fuel pump relay that wasn't even wired in. Fixed that. Oh, and my ignition box power wire that should be run to an ignition circuit 12v instead of a battery 12v source.

For the love of Pete. I'm dreading the complete re-wire next winter. However, I do believe it will be one of the most satisfactory accomplishments in my lifetime.

Further down you'll see I get frustrated with wiring rather easily, and needed a break. So I polished things....


Most people don't have a clue about electricity. It's "magic." What you've found in your car is common on cruising boats with lots of house loads. Yeah, it's satisfying (but tedious) to re-do shit like this.

We should make ramps for your car and transport it to the track in my 5-ton.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby kimbottles » Wed Nov 27, 2019 10:29 am

Ajax wrote:We should make ramps for your car and transport it to the track in my 5-ton.


Now that would be cool!! Do it you guys!
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Ajax » Wed Nov 27, 2019 10:47 am

Whooooooooo!!!
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Ajax » Wed Nov 27, 2019 10:48 am

I swear, I'm mostly joking.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Benno von Humpback » Thu Nov 28, 2019 6:57 am

Ajax wrote:
Audrey wrote:Some may have seen the post on FB of the abomination of what some hack called wiring. If not, here you go. There is no solder, no shrink wrap, no relay, just twist and pray with all 10ga wire. I fixed this using the proper size wire, solder connections and shrink wrap before putting it back together. This pales in comparison to the ground strap to the engine block that I just pulled out of its connection. Fixed that. And the fuel pump relay that wasn't even wired in. Fixed that. Oh, and my ignition box power wire that should be run to an ignition circuit 12v instead of a battery 12v source.

For the love of Pete. I'm dreading the complete re-wire next winter. However, I do believe it will be one of the most satisfactory accomplishments in my lifetime.

Further down you'll see I get frustrated with wiring rather easily, and needed a break. So I polished things....


Most people don't have a clue about electricity. It's "magic." What you've found in your car is common on cruising boats with lots of house loads. Yeah, it's satisfying (but tedious) to re-do shit like this.

We should make ramps for your car and transport it to the track in my 5-ton.


Was going to say, if it were a boat that would be standard. Somewhere, I have a picture of the aftermath of the small fire that started in the fridge circuit shortly after we bought our boat. Sadly, it was the controller for the compressor that saved the boat, rather than the breaker.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Benno von Humpback » Thu Nov 28, 2019 7:00 am

Ajax wrote:Whooooooooo!!!

Those your truck graphics?
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Ajax » Thu Nov 28, 2019 9:20 am

Benno von Humpback wrote:
Ajax wrote:Whooooooooo!!!

Those your truck graphics?


Ha, nope. I put a few small flags on it for Vet's Day and took them down when it was over.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Audrey » Sun Dec 15, 2019 8:22 pm

BeauV wrote:I know zip about dragsters. But, wouldn't it be better to have the nitrous oxide bottle in the trunk, just in case something bad happens. I've always considered a bottle like that a sort of bomb.

Common misconceptions about nitrous are that it is flammable. It's not, but you do heat it to generate pressure (there's no 'pump' for N2O). You're also required to have a 'blast cap' rated for 3,000 psi. If the tank pressure gets above that, the cap blows and vents the contents of the tank. If it's mounted inside the 'cabin', it needs a blow down tube that vents it outside the passenger compartment. Typical safety rules. However, some people don't use the blast caps, or forget to install them. Some others heat the bottles with torches instead of proper bottle warmers that regulate the pressure. Google nitrous bottle explosion, and you'll see 1/2 of the car blown away. If done incorrectly, it can be dangerous. Most pro teams run the bottles in the passenger seat.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Audrey » Sun Dec 15, 2019 8:27 pm

Jamie wrote:Nitrous can get exciting, but usually it's not the bottle that pops. A customer wanted to add nitrous to his Lotus Exige. It already had a supercharge with higher speed pulley added installed. Something happened to the regulator and the nitrous blew a big chunk of the head - which was rather thick alu - all over the shop. It was kind of like a shaped charge - people next to it didn't have a scratch as the fragments went in a focused spray backwards( (transverse mid-engine) and out the front door of the shop and peppered a deliver truck.

Doubling up on power adders can get interesting very quickly. Because of the cooling effect of nitrous, it's works almost twice as well on a forced induction motor and should be tuned for such. For a lotus, start with a 25hp shot and tune for 50. Then work up. Detonation, whatever the cause, will destroy any engine.

Never underestimate how fast things are spinning inside a motor. They can quickly come out of the motor with speed of a bullet. I never stand near a car on the starting line or the dyno. There was recently a harmonic balancer that came off a car and broke a guys jaw and knocked out another bystander. Both went to the ER.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Audrey » Sun Dec 15, 2019 8:28 pm

Ajax wrote:We should make ramps for your car and transport it to the track in my 5-ton.

I'm down, but those would be hella long ramps!!!
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Audrey » Sun Dec 15, 2019 8:40 pm

Sorry for the delayed responses, I've been very busy. Tried contracting a fabricator to weld the parachute mount, we spoke in person for an hour. Emailed pics, followed up, no response. ugh.
Talked to a body shop, showed up, met in person. Sent photos of parts needed to paint. No response.
Honestly, I'm not asking them to cure some disease. I'm trying to give them money.

I did finish up the nitrous wiring, need a couple more fittings for the dedicated fuel system, but progress is being made. Had a customer stop by for some splicing services, so got that knocked out as well. The nitrous arming switch clicks something under the hood (it shouldn't).... and I don't know what it is. But the solenoids fire off when their supposed too, and the purge works as they should. So it shouldn't take long to figure out.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Ajax » Mon Dec 16, 2019 6:20 am

Yes, I am stunned at how difficult it is to get supposed "professionals" to take money and deliver a product or service. I'm not sure if this is something endemic to our region or if it's a nationwide problem.
I keep hearing how "small businesses are the engine of our economy." If this is how it is, we're doomed.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby LarryHoward » Mon Dec 16, 2019 7:53 am

On the other hand, Many sole entrepreneur-ships are busy and operators have to decide between working current jobs (and backlog) and writing new quotes. For everybody pushing for a quick quote, there are others whop want their car back. I know my welder has a full time job in addition to his shop and is stretched pretty thin. I talked to him abut Trevor's car and he gave it a pass for 2 reasons. Lack of time and custom work on a safety system.

He does recommend you approach a known race car shop who has done this work before and knows what is acceptable to tech inspectors. You may have to tie it back to the cage. Welding to the unibody may not be satisfactory.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Ajax » Mon Dec 16, 2019 8:01 am

Reasons like "Too busy" and "won't perform custom work on a safety system" are perfectly acceptable.

Total failure to communicate to the potential customer is just lousy. Please just TELL ME that your work backlog won't allow you to do the work, or that the job simply isn't economically feasible or that you're not willing to do custom work on a safety system. Most reasonable people will understand. Usually I respond with "I understand. Do you have any references that I might contact for this work?"

Ghosting on a potential customer is just rude, even if you're so busy that you can afford the bad customer review.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Jamie » Mon Dec 16, 2019 10:43 am

Audrey wrote:
Jamie wrote:Nitrous can get exciting, but usually it's not the bottle that pops. A customer wanted to add nitrous to his Lotus Exige. It already had a supercharge with higher speed pulley added installed. Something happened to the regulator and the nitrous blew a big chunk of the head - which was rather thick alu - all over the shop. It was kind of like a shaped charge - people next to it didn't have a scratch as the fragments went in a focused spray backwards( (transverse mid-engine) and out the front door of the shop and peppered a deliver truck.

Doubling up on power adders can get interesting very quickly. Because of the cooling effect of nitrous, it's works almost twice as well on a forced induction motor and should be tuned for such. For a lotus, start with a 25hp shot and tune for 50. Then work up. Detonation, whatever the cause, will destroy any engine.

Never underestimate how fast things are spinning inside a motor. They can quickly come out of the motor with speed of a bullet. I never stand near a car on the starting line or the dyno. There was recently a harmonic balancer that came off a car and broke a guys jaw and knocked out another bystander. Both went to the ER.


I never saw the point of putting nitrous on these cars. It doesn't fit the purpose/use of the car and they had more power than they could put down already. I've used water/meths mixtures to add an extra-level of conservatism, but never something like nitrous. You are right about not standing near cars being dyno tuned. For one, my ears can't take it without protection.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby BeauV » Mon Dec 16, 2019 11:59 am

Audrey, color me Palm-in-Hand. Of course, Nitros isn't flammable by itself... I simply hadn't been thinking about its full name: Nitros Oxide. It's a source of O2 under temp & pressure. Duh!!! Sorry about that. Understood on the drain that goes overboard, makes a lot of sense.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby BeauV » Mon Dec 16, 2019 12:12 pm

Jamie wrote:... my ears can't take it without protection.


You'd be amazed at how quite an electric motor is at zero RPM and max torque. I got to watch some tests at Tesla a long time ago and everything was silent but the fans outside the room cooling the batteries until the motor self-destructed. (They were doing destructive testing.) The thing blew into about three pieces, most were attached to something, but one bit hit the cage pretty hard. The interesting thing is that once the motor fails the torque goes to zero immediately. There isn't any kinetic energy, so it's quite anti-climactic. Nothing like this.

HERE
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Audrey » Fri Dec 27, 2019 11:15 am

LarryHoward wrote:He does recommend you approach a known race car shop who has done this work before and knows what is acceptable to tech inspectors. You may have to tie it back to the cage. Welding to the unibody may not be satisfactory.

Yes, welding to the unibody will not pass tech. I have two large frame rails that extend to the rear bumper to weld the mount to.
I contacted EB3 motorsports who work on and build race cars. Never heard back, followed up twice, nothing. Called yesterday about filling the nitrous bottle "yeah we do that, let me make sure we have some in the tank and I'll call you right back". Nothing. It's literally a 10 minute procedure to make $70.

It would be great if I could find someone who does paint and can weld, but those usually aren't the same people.
I did find out the clicking noise was just a relay powering up (which it should) so that checked out. However, I need revisit the timing retard box I installed b/c now I'm not getting spark. :p
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Audrey » Mon Dec 30, 2019 8:59 am

Progress has been made, in baby steps.
The brake lights were always on as the new master cylinder shaft was a different length. Adjusted that twice while being inverted in the driver's seat, but the lights work as they should now.

Had a body shop guy come by for a quote on the paint. Expecting to hear something today. I'm scared...$$$$$$$$$
UPDATE: quote came in. Lets just say I'm not going with those guys. I'd like to, but I like to eat and pay my mortgage too. $8k+. I'm in the wrong business.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby BeauV » Fri Jan 03, 2020 6:02 pm

Buy a couple of boxes of flat black rattle-cans and spray-away-all-day!

I see a lot of home paint jobs running around our town. My fav is a VW Van from about 1968 done in that Danger Orange caution paint.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Audrey » Mon Jan 06, 2020 9:39 am

I'm close to rattle canning it for a year and waiting until after the new engine is in to repaint. Dropped off the trunk lid to another body shop for a quote, so we'll see what this one says.

Pulled the wheel, brakes, and axle to seal a small leak. Rewired a connector on the ignition and got the car fired up. Stunk up the garage but set the idle and got her up to 160*. No fuel leaks or vacuum issues but the pesky transmission cooler is leaking again and the oil pan gasket is leaking again. I may need to come up with a different solution. It was nice to hear the car run again, last time was on memorial day last year.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Audrey » Thu Jan 16, 2020 10:37 am

Pulled it out of the garage over the weekend and got it back nose in. Gave her a bath. She's off to the fabricator for the parachute mount this Friday. I had to relocate the fuel pump last night so the fab shop could have somewhere to weld in the cross member. Hoping all goes well. They're also going to do an alignment for me since the front is way off.

Body shop #2 came back with a quote of $1700 for the paint. I'm guessing the first guy really hates doing body work. I have a feeling it'll be $2k by the time car leaves the paint booth, but that's ok. I'll be sure to post up some pictures of the finished products.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Audrey » Wed Jan 22, 2020 1:50 pm

Updates, chute is on. :D
Now the fun park, testing...
- linelock for burnouts
- brakes, in general
- parachute release and blooming.

Everything 'should' work. I'll try and get some video.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby Audrey » Wed Feb 19, 2020 5:32 pm

No video, but did get a test hit on a back road that's waiting for more development. One of the benefits of living in data center headquarters. Took it up to about 70-75ish pulled the chute and although it took slightly longer to bloom, it did work. I'm not crazy about packing it with the giant spring pilot chute but even at those low speeds it definitely "assists" the deceleration.

I'm playing around w/ the carb a bit more, need to revise my fuel system and change out the springs in the dizzy but that should be completed by this weekend. Hoping to make it to cars n' coffee nearby and go for a test drive. My 'strip' is a new road of sufficient length, 4 lane divided highway. And the car seems to be pretty happy with the current fuel pressure and timing. 18 lbs in the street tires also helped get it moving. There is a legal "street racing" event at a track about 1.5 hours south of me I may visit this Sunday.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby LarryHoward » Wed Feb 19, 2020 6:09 pm

Audrey wrote:No video, but did get a test hit on a back road that's waiting for more development. One of the benefits of living in data center headquarters. Took it up to about 70-75ish pulled the chute and although it took slightly longer to bloom, it did work. I'm not crazy about packing it with the giant spring pilot chute but even at those low speeds it definitely "assists" the deceleration.

I'm playing around w/ the carb a bit more, need to revise my fuel system and change out the springs in the dizzy but that should be completed by this weekend. Hoping to make it to cars n' coffee nearby and go for a test drive. My 'strip' is a new road of sufficient length, 4 lane divided highway. And the car seems to be pretty happy with the current fuel pressure and timing. 18 lbs in the street tires also helped get it moving. There is a legal "street racing" event at a track about 1.5 hours south of me I may visit this Sunday.



Well, it's running better and you seem to have solved the cooling problems so real progress. Be interested in actual track data when you run it.
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Re: 69 slowmaro

Postby H B » Wed Feb 19, 2020 10:29 pm

Trevor, if you bring it to MIR let us know. I dunno if that is the same place you are talking about in your post or not. :D
One day, I will run my Civic there again. I ran it 100% stock in 1999 with 92HP..18.078. I have never gotten it back there since I hopped it up (for a Civic anyway). I hope to drop about 4 seconds on the 1/4 and get it in the low 15's. I won't get anywhere near the helmet or parachute requirement. :lol:
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