Winternationals is done. Back in to the shop to pull the front end apart again. I need to patch the drivers cowl.
Had a hiccup at the drags. Friday and Saturday night, we were supposed to push the dragsters down the track. John Force blew up Friday, along with other things and the day ran late. About midday day they let us know that we wouldn't be doing any push starts. We had already put the axles in the dragster rear end. When the axles are in, the thing is a bear to move! There was an opportunity to go up to the grandstands and do a fire up. We decided to pass as it was just way to much work to do that. Later, after it got dark, we did a fire up at the Cackle Corral. There is a few videos here and there on Facebook showing this fire up with my Burb in the back ground. I'm not in the video as I was cooking burgers and dogs at the time.
Saturday, we got word that the push start was on. Before final qualifying rounds, we moved our mess to the top end of the track. There was going to be about 6 vintage dragsters that were going to push. As we were getting closer to our destination, I could smell antifreeze. I was hoping it wasn't me. They placed two of us out on the return road. At the big show the return road is quite the dangerous place. You have crews flying up at freeway speeds to retrieve their race cars. Once they retrieve them, they fly just as fast to get back to their pits so they can start the process to make the next round. So, we're out in the middle, they have all us human bodies move back behind a barrier because they're about to send some 300+ mph cars down a hot track. From my vantage point, I can see a drip and a puddle forming under the drivers side cowl. I talk to my partner and he says, if the track officials don't see it, we are a go. I'm more worried about not having enough coolant in the vehicle as opposed to making a mess. Some of our co-dragster people notice and I tell them to stop bring it up and ignore it. Unfortunately, the track officials see it and ask "Who's vehicle is that?" I tell them it's mine and they ask if it is AC condensation. I tell them I don't have AC and it is probably coolant. They tell us we can no longer be part of the party. I'm bummed.
Then my partner asks our coordinator how long it will be until we will be able to get on the track. He tells us an hour to an hour and a half! My partner asks, if we fix it, can we go?? He says yes! OFF TO THE RACES, so to speak. My top fuel tuner hops in the back and my partner hops in shotgun. Back to our pit we go. Now, my Burb is powered by a 1986 L98 out of a Corvette. It has an oil warmer. There is a nipple in the side of the block that goes to the oil filter housing, comes back out, goes to the front of the motor and dumps in to the heater system. GM put a lot of stuff on the 'Vette to help warm it up. Probably a bunch of stuff that I don't need in California, where it seems to be summer year round. The hose that comes off the nipple to the filter has a pinhole leak at the nipple. I couldn't see it at first and almost thought it was a head gasket! So, I'm handed some tools that might work and start to remove said hose. As I'm doing that, I noticed my cowl vent drain hose. Some long time ago, I put about a 3' hose on that drain and let it end down by the transmission. Something GM should've done with the side window drains. My cowl vent drain hose looks a lot like the correct diameter. The original plan was to cut the end off the old hose and re-clamp. New plan. Cut a section of good hose off the drain and use that. New hose installed, coolant in pans put back in the radiator, fire it up. I let it get to temp, burped the system and checked for leaks. NO LEAKS!! The whole time, knowing that we are going to push after the last round of Nitro, I'm listening to the track. The fuel cars are just barely finished warming up. They haven't even gone to the lanes yet. I'm drenched in antifreeze since I was laying in most of the contents of my engine. Good thing I always bring an extra shirt!
We zip on back over to where our dragster is and wait to get back over to it on the return road, There it is, all alone waiting to put on a show. http://www.bunchobikes.com/1952suburban393.jpg The white, dusty spot behind it is where my Burb went tinkle. Thank you track crew!
After a bit, while fuel funny car was whizzing past at 300+ mph, they let us go out to the dragster and wait. One eye on the track with cars whizzing by, one eye on getting lined up, our driver in the car and getting ready to go! http://www.bunchobikes.com/1952suburban391.jpg The Safety Safari right in front of us! About this time, my phone decided it didn't like taking pictures any more. So, no more camera and I forgot the GoPro, ugh. The next pic, was taken by one of the guys that crewed with us Saturday. You can see the back end of my Burb, next to the Christmas tree, in front of the blue station wagon. http://www.bunchobikes.com/1952suburban392.jpg Man, that was fun!!
