Barham-405
 

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Happy Halloween.

Sweden meets TRE
 

Visted Dave and Jeremy at TRE yesterday. Brought some Porsche 911 engine parts with me to show Dave. It's a good idea to have an expert opinion as to the condition of certain parts. This is to prepare for assembling the motor for the Type 34 Spyder.
Both 911 engine cases are not good enough for Horsepower being that they are 3R Cases (too early).

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The 2.4 Crankshaft is badly worn and not worth repairing. Turning the Crank is a NO NO on a 2.4 Crank since the heat-treated surface would be taken off by machining. Even without turning and just polishing, it still would leak at the seal due to a groove in the crank.

The two sets of 911 heads are good, one is MFI and the other set is a Maximum-ported Carburated head set.
I have 3 sets of MFI stacks and pumps along with numerous other 911 motor internals like 3 engine oil pumps, etc.
Just an engine case and a cleaner crankshaft is all that is needed to complete the motor.


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While at TRE I met up with Peter T. He is a R Gruupe Rep from Sweden that is visiting in the U.S. to go to the R Gruupe meeting this weekend with the President of the Gruupe.
He had heard about this thread from reading the Excellence article on the Mulholland Carrera and contacted me.
I thought it would be a great idea to introduce him to Dave. Wow! Dave gave Peter a full tour of his facilities and Peter was very impressed.

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Lots of neat cars in the back too.
While we were looking at cars Peter told us that his Gruupe in Sweden closes off country roads for their Rallys. Neat!
Cars in the Rally are checked extensively for cheating: bores, diameters, CPU's, needle jets, everything is checked.
They even put accelerometers in the cars to test them to make sure that they are not generating more horsepower than is possible.

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I found this very interesting, the car on the right (silver) is really a late car (1996) that has been made to look like an early car (long hood).
The car on the left is really an early car made to look like a late car. Wow.

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All in all a great experience for Peter. He really enjoyed meeting Dave B. and seeing TRE.
Later at lunch, Peter said he believes that TRE is one of only shops of it's kind in L.A. and he really liked going there to see the activities, the cars, and all the special parts that only Dave has, like R and ST items.
Thank you Dave for being a fantastic host. :)

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Sorry that I came in late, but what is a Type 34 Spyder? :o:confused:

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Ah, thank you. I have seen one or two of those. :)

The dip**** driver also claims "I've never owned anything imported" in reply to a comment about time for him to go back to a Honda. Where does he think his '04 GTO came from? Ya think he should know it was imported from Australia ...?... not to mention some Honda cars are built in the USA.

Damned glad he didn't hurt someboday.

Holden GTO: pavement was wet AND a slick sheen of dirt as part of the mix. if you look at other videos that am , from inside other cars, you will see wipers on. That hairpin gets a lot of dust falling on it. Not defending the GTO driver, as he exhibited really poor judgement AFTER he almost plowed into the hill on his right. He nailed the gas and you know the rest.
Again very lucky he got off so light. He admits his stupidity in the GTO forum- hopefully he learned from it and will get more experience learning in a proper environment. No need to bash him any further

Ye Olde Softie Ye ! :p

Oversteer?
 

Dave, I wish we had a camera in Carls during the 70's and 80's.
How many cars do you think oversteered coming into Carls sending them right off of the inside of the turn sending them down to "the grave"? 100? 200?

In the 80's I remember seeing about 40 cars down there before the City hauled them up and away.
Before that in the late 70's they hauled about 35 cars away that I know of.
These were in addition to all the cars that went down Deadmans, Carls Jr, and The Corkscrew. Other dangerous turns on "Mulholland West" like The Idendicals, The Esses, end of European Straight, and Doughnuts claimed a few cars.

Since the Racecourse is watched and closed (until the next natural disaster ;)), cars have been regularly going off near my house in The Identicals and at the top of the Esses near Sheen Ravine.

Maybe we should give a refresher course in oversteer and understeer.
Check tire pressures, have sticky tires, no harsh decellerating, and never let off the gas in the middle of a tight turn while commited to it.
Sideways action only means to put it down harder, cross it up, and accelerate out of the turn.

"Smoothness counts, don't slow down for the turns, and Take it the Limit! (from The Mulholland Experience)

I've been resisting joining the GTO-bashing, but I can't help myself... The perpetrator had an automatic with a drag racing "high stall" (3000 rpm) torque converter per his profile. That suggests that he was turning pretty high revs to break the tires loose so that he could show-off to the crowd. Even if he lifted when the tires hooked-up toward the inside of the turn, he probably wasn't going to get much in the way of engine-braking at what the motor was likely turning. That car was set up for low ET's in a straight line, not carving canyons on the throttle. Don't bring a knife to a gunfight...

OK, something I don't understand. Looking at that GTO website, quite a few of those guys have automatic transmissions. Why? I mean, is that somehow superior in drag racing? Does the torque converter allow some sort of positive lockup that minimizes energy loss in the tranny? Why would a slushbox be the preferred transmission in a performance car?

I guess I don't understand the allure of being a "car guy" and buying a bada$$ car where you're not rowing the gears. Isn't that part of the manly fun of driving in a sporting manner?

Most drag racers aren't smart enough to shift it on their own... :D

Standard drag racing setup:
Chevy big block running 150 shot NOS.
Auto tranny (C6 in Fords, not sure about others)
Possibly a Transbrake.
Ford 9" Rear End.
All stuck into a Chevelle, Mustang, Camaro, piece of shiite shell laying around the yard.

Unless you're a Mopar guy, then it's all different.

Basically, they use the auto tranny because it allows you to hold the brake and and gas at the same time. Launches are quicker then. Remember, most American car guys only go in a straight line, and occasionally turn left.

When using a transbrake, 1st gear and reverse are activated at the same time by a solenoid. Gas is applied to the desired rpms. Trigger deactivates transbrake... zoom!

Yes, I grew up in the midwest.

Thanks, Mr. Iowa. I remember you've had a couple Mustangs in your past.

I use the brake/gas hold in the Toyata to launch off the stop light. Usually when someone to my right wants to cut me off. In in my slushbox of a car, it can surprise them. :) Although I also drop it into low.

Ironically, both manuals. ;)

That's cause you're a driver. ;)

I thank god every day that my dad had given up drag racing before I was born...

I've almost got him talked into a 911!

The car I learned to drive on was my dad's '86 Mustang SVO. I loved that car.
Yeah, I know... Fox body Mustang. But at the time, it was quite a car. Aside from the outside differences... 205hp Turbo inline 4, adjustable Koni's, huge for the time Gatorbacks, Hurst shifter, big discs all around... basically a BMW fighter when American companies were still just making the previously mentioned straight line street fighters. If I remember correctly, it was the fastest American car with exception of the Grand National and maybe the Corvette. Also, you could disconnect the waste gate solenoid and get something around 25lbs of boost (standard 14). Not recommended, but... WHEEEEE!!!

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Of course, the major drawback is that it's a Ford from the 80's, which means it falls to pieces at around 60K miles. I would still love to have one though. You can take the boy out of the Midwest, but you can't take the Midwest out of the boy.

Congrats to Radu for a mention in the current Excellence mag. I was reading the article on the first production Singer 911. Radu gets a nod as ace Tesla designer. :cool: